Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has warned that the Malays will "lose their power" if the Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power, and he went on to label Pakatan leaders as a bunch of self-serving and racist politicians.

The elder statesman said such a situation would not be not far-fetched, as illustrated by the way the opposition ran the states it had won in the watershed March 2008 general election, when the ruling BN coalition lost control of five states.

NONE Taking the example of Perak when it was still led by PAS's Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar, Mahathir ( left ) said the former had "followed DAP's orders" until he fell.

"So they call it a Chinese government. We might get a prime minister who is like Nizar... his name is Malay, he is a Muslim but he is not actually free. He is a tool of others and this could happen," he said in an exclusive article sent to Umno-online .

However, Mahathir included a disclaimer, saying his statement was not racially-tinged but focussed on "stability".

He also took the opportunity to brand DAP as a racist party for repeatedly raising racial issues for as long as he could remember.

'PAS using Islam to garner support'

Mahathir continued his tirade against PAS and Nizar, who was deposed after a spate of defections in the state assembly swung a simple majority in favour of the BN in 2009, accusing the Islamist party of using Islam as a means to garner support.

utusan mahathir malay losing power 240910 He also took a potshot at PKR, saying the party was merely posturing when claiming to fight for the Malays, when its actual goal was to fulfil the personal ambition of de facto leader and Mahathir's former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, to become prime minister.

"Unfortunately, Umno dropped this person, and in anger that he lost his opportunity, he formed another party. His struggle in singular, and it is not for race, religion and country but to become prime minister."

Mahathir went further to accuse the entire PKR leadership of being self-serving, saying they were only interested in using the party for their individual benefit.

"That is the basis for (forming) Keadilan (justice). Keadilan is just a name... (they) formed Keadilan as if this country has no justice," he said.

In a response, Nizar brushed aside former premier Mahathir as having a “racist mind”.

He said the elder statesman was clearly taking a racist position by claiming the Malays will lose power under Pakatan.

The PAS central committee member also denied Mahathir’s claim that PAS was using Islam as a front to garner support, saying the party works on Islamic principles to “save Malaysia from a racist Umno”.

nurul izzah going for veep 230910 01 “Umno will surely lose power and their voice if Pakatan takes state and central (federal) rule. Tun Mahathir said Malays will lose power and their voice... this is a racist and seditious statement,” Nizar said in an article on PAS party organ Harakahdaily .

In another response to Mahathir's statement, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar ( right ) challenged the former premier to a debate on what he meant by the Malays risking their "power" if they sided with Pakatan.

Nurul Izzah, who is also known as Puteri Refomasi, described his statement as "irresponsible" and a "desperate attempt to destabilise the nation".

Does he mean the Malays, or Umno?

"... while declaring he is not a racist, (he) appears to play the race card by warning Malays that they would lose power if Pakatan Rakyat came to power.

"Not only has the race card been used to incite but also to perpetuate the only approach that Umno and its leaders (past and present) have used with impunity, which is the ‘politics of fear'," she said in a statement.

Nurul Izzah, the first born of Anwar and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, accused Umno of continuously degrading, confusing and paralysing Malays by indoctrinating them with a "victim mentality".

She said this only perpetuated the political hegemony of the few ruling Malay elites, adding that other BN component parties, including MCA, MIC and Gerakan, have been complicit in their "silence and omission to act responsibly".

"Therefore, with the aim of constructive engagement to build a ‘Better Malaysia for All Malaysians', I humbly offer to debate with Tun Dr Mahathir to clarify if his ‘fear' for the Malays is really about loss of power or in reality, loss of wealth for the chosen few," she added.

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