Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he don’t believe that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will becoming Prime Minister as Najib had failed to speak up about the real reasons behind Barisan Nasional’s losses in the general election. Dr. M said, when the Pak Lah blamed Barisan’s losses on sabotage, Najib merely agreed to it. However, he added that if Abdullah were to step down now, it would pave the way for a smooth transition as Najib would succeed him in accordance with Umno tradition. Dr Mahathir had earlier this month withdrawn his support for Najib to be prime minister but did not give his reason. Dr Mahathir cited another instance when Najib gave his full support for Malaysia to build a bridge to Singapore despite the republic’s disagreement. But Najib suddenly changed his mind when Pak Lah decided against the project.

On the plan to set up a judicial appointments commission and the goodwill ex-gratia payments to six senior judges, Dr Mahathir claimed it was a political move to boost the government’s popularity. He said there was no reason for the compensation because everything was done in accordance with the law.

Dr Mahathir also felt that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would not be the sole candidate for Prime Minister if Pakatan Rakyat were to win in the next general election. He believed there were other candidates as well, saying PAS was eyeing the post while (DAP’s Lim) Guan Eng could be premier too. The former prime minister claimed that Najib was not “brave enough” to directly say anything that was not liked by his boss.

Here’s some qoute from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

“We see that he is a penakut (coward). He is always saying, ‘yes sir, yes sir, saya sokong, saya sokong (I support, I support).”

“I believe he should rightly explain the real reasons for Barisan’s losses in the election,” he said when asked on the reason for his change of mind about Najib after giving a talk on “Malay, Malaysian and Malaysia: Challenges Ahead” at the University of Manchester on Saturday.

“I’m not so confident (about him taking over as prime minister). Even so, it all depends on Umno to appoint the person to be prime minister.”

“Najib will have to face competition from others such as (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin Yassin, (Datuk Seri Dr) Rais Yatim, you never know.”

“Anwar thinks he will be prime minister. It’s not that they loved him but it’s a marriage of convenience,”.

“If they can show me the removal of (former Lord President) Tun Salleh Abas was against procedures prescribed by the law, please let me know,”.

“How he handles his failure will demonstrate whether he really has the qualities,” Said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad the former prime minister of Malaysia. Dr Mahathir also gave several attributes of a good leader, one of which is that the person should not seek to blame others for failures, but to admit his own culpability. He also added that a leader should be modest and not seek praise and glory.

Dr Mahathir said a leader must have ideas on the direction he wanted to lead, ideas on the things that he and his followers must do or achieve, and ideas on the improvements of their well-being and their surroundings. Equally important, he must know how to turn his ideas into reality. He said the rise and fall of great nations was due to good leadership. Dr Mahathir said no matter how people tried to show the qualities and characters of a good leader, it would still not guarantee that they would not make mistakes.

“When the leaders are incompetent, the countries would fall. The people may be the same, the background and the wealth and resources may be the same, but when leaders are incompetent or just plain bad, then great nations, even great empires, can fall. And, similarly, no matter how much we learn about the qualities which make a good leader, it is still possible for us to choose the wrong one.” said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.