I never sack my deputies for insubordination, says Dr Mahathir

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin must have committed a great crime that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had to remove him from the Cabinet. Dr Mahathir, in his usual casual demeanour at a book launch in Putrajaya, insisted that compared with Najib, he never sacked his deputies merely because they were not supportive of him. "I suppose Muhyiddin must have committed some great crime, so he should be removed. "All criminals should be removed in this country, we won't allow criminals to rule this country," he said in what seemed to be another criticism aimed at Najib. Dr Mahathir was earlier asked if he was flattered that Najib appeared to be following his footsteps of removing deputy prime ministers. "I didn't sack my deputy for not supporting me. Musa resigned on his own, I didn't ask him to resign (and) Anwar committed something that I could not accept, so I had to drop him," he said in reference to Tun Musa Hitam's resignation in 1986 and his sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998. Muhyiddin, who had openly questioned Najib's handling of debt-ridden state investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), has joined the ranks of Anwar as the second deputy prime minister to be sacked in Malaysia's history. On July 26, Muhyiddin renewed his criticism of 1MDB at the Cheras Umno division annual meeting where he asked for Najib to tell the truth about the state investment firm's problems and about The Wall Street Journal's allegations of money transferred to the prime minister's personal bank accounts. Muhyiddin also revealed that he had advised Najib to relinquish his post as chairman of 1MDB's advisory board, but said the latter did not listen to him. On Tuesday, Najib sacked Muhyiddin as deputy prime minister and also as education minister. Muhyiddin, however, remains deputy president of Umno. The move has been criticised as an attempt to silence critics over 1MDB, and took place on the same day as the removal of Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail as Attorney-General, while he was in the midst of a probe into 1MDB. – August 1, 2015.