NAJIB HAS A LOT MORE TO DO, SAYS DR M

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Najib Razak had a lot
more to do after two years at the helm as prime minister.

The former prime minister said Najib inherited a bad government and he was
trying to put things right and having a difficult time to do that.

"(You) see, sometimes he (Najib) fails, sometimes he succeeds. Sometimes he has
good ideas and sometimes his ideas are not so good. That is to be expected," Dr
Mahathir told reporters after delivering the keynote address at the
International Forum on "The Creation of Global Citizens: Media Liberation and
New Political Realities", here, Monday.

Dr Mahathir hoped Najib could garner the support from the people because "the
alternative has somebody who is worse and will spoil things if he has power".

On United Malays National Organisatio (Umno)'s 64th General Assembly from
Tuesday until Saturday, the former Umno president hoped the country's biggest
Malay political party would be fully restored and win back the people's
confidence.

"Sometimes (I) don't know what Umno is doing. I don't have the power now. I can
make comments but sometimes they even shut me up.

"Couldn't talk to Umno nor the ministers. There was a total blackout by the
media but people said that I had blacked out," he said.

At this juncture, Umno executive secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh interjected, saying
this was no longer the case.

On the New Political Model mooted by Najib for Umno's continuity as the pillar
of the government, Dr Mahathir said what were crucial were not systems or
consensus but individuals who could control the situation.

"Nothing good will happen if the individuals are bad, although the systems are
good," he said.

On the National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) proposal that they should be allowed
to regulate themselves using a media council as the mechanism instead of the
Home Ministry having the say, he said they couldn do that but would not have the
strength if people broke the regulations.

"That is why the government have a say in it. You can still control just like
you a have a club, which has by-laws and you're supposed to regulate your club
functions. But when you step beyond that, the government has to impose the
rules," he said.

On the government's investigation on certain bloggers, Dr Mahathir said while
there was press freedom, the government was also free to investigate such cases
and ultimately, an independent body would make the decision.
-- BERNAMA



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