Dr Mahathir the only Malay warrior to lead charge against Najib, says former minister

The only way to remove Datuk Seri Najib Razak from power is to mobilise the nation behind Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is the only Malay leader willing to take on the prime minister, former Umno minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said. In the text of his speech delivered to a gathering at the Royal Selangor Club and posted on his blog, Zaid, once a critic of the country's longest-serving prime minister, urged people to rally behind Dr Mahathir. He said this was necessary because the country could only have meaningful change when Malays were willing to accept the changes, and that they would only accept change from a Malay leader whom they could trust. "I urge all Malaysians especially Malays to rally behind Dr Mahathir. "He is the only one who dares, who has courage and, I assure you, he has the country at heart," said Zaid, who served in the Cabinet under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration but quit in September 2008 over disagreements with the administration on the use of the now-repealed Internal Security Act. The former defacto law minister said that the government today was run by Najib and his "lackeys", adding that the prime minister had become "dangerous" to the nation as seen in his recent moves to obstruct investigations in alleged corruption scandals that implicated himself. Zaid, who also had a stint with the opposition PKR, said there seemed to be nothing to stop Najib from doing whatever he thought would preserve his power. "The longer he rules the worse our future will be. We must therefore act and do our bit. His removal must be our common priority. "To do this there is only one option available – either we rally behind Dr Mahathir, or we have to live with Najib for a long time," Zaid wrote. He acknowledged that some people were "allergic to Dr Mahathir" but repeated that rallying behind the retired statesman was the only workable solution. "I would rather try to remove Najib first, simply because on paper, it's easier to achieve. Change comes in small doses." He said people should be willing to work others who were "moderate and law-abiding, even those from Umno". "Today, there is no Malay leader who is willing to take Najib on except Dr Mahathir, and so we must support him," Zaid said. – September 3, 2015.