Umno-Pas merger like a cat-goat crossbreed, says Dr M

Dr Mahathir and wife Dr Siti Hasmah at the press conference. - Picture by Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 – Umno will not able to rule this country with only Pas as its partner, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today, adding that a merger is akin to a cat and goat crossbreed.

"Umno must not forget its partners MCA, MIC and Gerakan although they are only a shadow of their former selves. Tunku Abdul Rahman once said that if MCA only has three members, he will still stand by them," the outspoken former prime minister told reporters at his 86th floor office in the Petronas Twin Towers.

"So any negotiation must involve their partners as well. Sabah and Sarawak feel they deserve better treatment. And if there is any goodies being given to Pas, they wouldn't like that," said the retired politician.

For him, the current talk between his former party and Pas is a very strange thing.

"Of course, Datuk Seri Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) would like to achieve his two-thirds majority and he can get it if Pas joins Barisan Nasional. Pas on the other hand is not very happy with being the smallest party in the opposition where the biggest say goes to PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat)," said Dr Mahathir, a trenchant Abdullah critic who quit Umno last May in order to force his successor to quit.

But to merge the two parties, he said, ”It is like crossbreeding a cat and a kambing (goat). We know that it is now a science but it is a difficult science and we have not been able to make such a clone yet."

"I would like to see how Pas gives up hudud law (Islamic criminal law) and Umno embraces it," he mused.

The former prime minister felt that first and foremost, Pas ought to come up with a distinct stand as its leaders seemed to be confused and kept changing their mind.

Dr Mahathir was speaking to the press on behalf of the Perdana Global Peace organisation who are protesting former British prime minister Tony Blair's visit to Malaysia. "It is sad that we should play host to a war criminal," he said, adding that he was disgusted that Blair had been invited to speak on the rule of law, good governance and human rights.

With him was his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah and son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.

Earlier today Dr Mahathir had written in his blog that Singapore was only claiming the waters surrounding Pedra Blanca as theirs because the present government has always been ready to entertain any claim by the island-state "no matter how ridiculous it may be."

"Thus the Malaysian government has agreed that it has no right to touch the Causeway even on its side of the Strait of Tebrau unless it obtains the permission of the Singapore government," he wrote.

He added that even though Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim had reacted against Singapore's claim, there was no guarantee that Abdullah would not reverse the stand.

"We have seen this before. When the deputy prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) said publicly that we would go ahead with the scenic bridge, he was made to look silly a few days later when the prime minister said we will not build the bridge at all, neither straight nor crooked."

-TMI