Major component parties rally to Mahathir's side
Major component parties rally to Mahathir's side
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Major component parties of Malaysia's
ruling National Front rallied to Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad's side to voice their undivided support for the premier,
reports said yesterday.
"I am going to tell Datuk Seri Mahathir that we are 100
percent behind him. We will not run away just because the foreign
media want to tarnish his image," said Ling Liong Sik, president
of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), reported Bernama news
agency.
Ling, who is also the transport minister said Malaysians would
not forget the contributions of Mahathir.
"We Malaysians are not the kind of people who easily forget
all the good things Mahathir had done for Malaysia," the
president of Malaysia's second largest component party said.
"Malaysians are such people that we don't run away when
friends are in trouble. In the light of a national crisis, we
stand together," Ling said in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of
Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.
Another component party, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
is expected to pass a resolution in support of Mahathir's
leadership at its party's meeting on Tuesday, party officials
said.
Mahathir is currently on a 12-day four-nation official tour of
South American countries in search of investments and to boost
trade. The premier is expected to return to Kuala Lumpur Monday.
On Saturday, the youth wing of Malaysia's ruling UMNO party
slammed the foreign media for suggesting the 72-year-old premier
should resign amid the country's economic crisis.
These were parties trying to take advantage of the situation
to "isolate Mahathir from the people and to put the country
leaders at loggerheads," said deputy youth leader of the United
Malays National Organization (UMNO) Hishamuddin Tun Hussein.
UMNO is the linchpin of the 14-party National Front coalition
government.
Earlier on Saturday, Mahathir, who is president of UMNO,
staked his reputation on solving the country's currency crisis,
hinting he might step down if he failed.