No one party would be able to command more than 50 per cent majority in the upcoming general election expected to be called soon, said former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday (Aug 27). He said this is because many parties are expected to throw their hats into the ring and each wanted to have a prime minister from their own party.
"I am confident that this time there is no party which can get more than 50 per cent," he said.
He also denied he had any influence in the case of former premier Najib Razak, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence for graft linked to the 1MDB scandal.
He said three courts have found Najib guilty. "There were three courts - namely the High Court, the Appeal Court, and the Federal Court. There were nine judges who all had the same opinion," he said. He was responding to critics who claimed possible influence in the judgment meted out as Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat as she was appointed by Dr Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan government. Dr Mahathir said he had no influence over the selection of judges and had instead merely approved their appointments.
He also said that he did not have any influence over what the courts decided. He said Najib's case had stretched over four years when former deputy prime minister and current Opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim's case only took the courts nine months.
Najib was sent to prison after the Federal Court upheld the High Court's 12 years' jail sentence and RM210 million (S$65.52 million) fine for misappropriating RM42 million funds from a company linked to the 1MDB scandal. On Tuesday (Aug 23) a five-member bench led by Justice Tengku Maimun dismissed Najib's appeal to set aside the conviction and sentence imposed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 28, 2020.