KUALA LUMPUR - Months after his disastrous defeat in last year’s Malaysia general election, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is still in the dark over the reasons why voters rejected him.
Expressing sadness over the turn of events, Tun Dr Mahathir insisted that he did not do anything wrong against voters on the tax-free island of Langkawi in Kedah, where he had failed to retain his parliamentary seat.
“I was voted out and lost 14,000 votes. I do not know what I did wrong. What did I do?” English daily The New Straits Times quoted him as saying.
In the Nov 19 national polls, Dr Mahathir, Malaysia’s longest-serving ex-premier, secured just 4,566 votes, losing his deposit to Perikatan Nasional’s Suhaimi Abdullah who had the backing of 25,463 voters.
It is the 98-year-old’s first defeat in Malaysia’s parliamentary elections since he lost in 1969.
Dr Mahathir admitted that the results were “a little upsetting”, especially since he has done a lot to develop the island.
“I’m not sulking, but I did a lot for Langkawi.”
Dr Mahathir’s loss came despite widespread appreciation for his contributions in Langkawi.
He is widely respected for bringing prosperity and development to the island by declaring it a tax-free haven in 1987, when he was Malaysia’s premier. The move drew a slew of tourism investments, including an international airport, ferry services and luxury hotels.
The loss dealt a final blow to Dr Mahathir’s Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), which contested and lost in all the 121 parliamentary seats nationwide.
Voters were unconvinced by Dr Mahathir’s promise of repairing the country’s economy and bringing back foreign investments and jobs by eradicating corruption within the government and cleaning up some RM42 billion(S$13.05 billion) in national debt racked up by former prime minister Najib Razak.
There were also voters who had grown disenchanted with Dr Mahathir’s leadership after he resigned as premier in 2020 and failed to hand over the reins of government to current prime minister Anwar Ibrahim as promised.
Days after his shocking defeat, Dr Mahathir said he will turn to writing about his country’s history.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s...ys-malaysia-s-ex-pm-mahathir-on-his-ge-defeat
