Najib: 'PM4, 7, 8, 9,' Dr M a strange individual

Former premier Najib Abdul Razak has branded his predecessor-turned-successor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as a “strange individual”.

This is after the nonagenarian said the Pekan MP would want to become prime minister again if he is acquitted next week of corruption and money-laundering charges related to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Although Najib did not mention if he harboured such ambition or otherwise, he, however, suggested that it is Mahathir who appeared to be obsessed with the prime minister post.

“It was him who became PM7 after being the PM4.

“It was him who wanted to be PM8.

“It was him who announced that he wanted to be the PM9 candidate and crisscrossed the nation (campaigning about this).

“But I am the one he accuses of wanting to be PM again. This individual is strange,” he said in a Facebook post this morning.

Mahathir's first tenure as prime minister was from 1981 to 2003.

He later came out of retirement to lead the Pakatan Harapan coalition to topple Najib and BN from power in the 2018 polls.

His second stint as the seventh prime minister ended in 22 months after Mahathir resigned, which led to the collapse of the Harapan government.

Mahathir then mooted the idea of becoming the prime minister of a unity government but this failed to materialise.

Following this, Harapan and its allies claimed to possess the numbers to recapture Putrajaya from the nascent political alliance Perikatan Nasional and proposed Mahathir as the prime minister again for six months with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim serving as his number two.

However, Anwar and PKR refused to accept this arrangement, triggering a stalemate over the prime minister candidate issue.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Mahathir, who was responding to a question, said Najib's chances of becoming prime minister again would be dashed if the latter is convicted.

“If he (Najib) is found not guilty, I think that he will want to be prime minister again.

“If he loses in court, then, of course, he will be disqualified,” he added.

Dr M: Najib will want to be PM again if acquitted next week

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