Ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad: Malaysia 'will go to the dogs' - UpFront

• Report rights infringement
• published: 25 Jun 2016
• views: 59130

Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, wants to "save Malaysia" and oust the country's current prime minister Najib Razak over claims that he mismanaged the economy, suppressed free speech and allegedly took hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, all accusations Razak denies. The "Save Malaysia" movement, led by Mahathir and made up of opposition leaders from across the political spectrum, is centred around a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal that alleges that nearly $700m found in Najib's personal bank accounts came from the state-funded 1Malaysia development fund. Najib, however, says the money was a campaign donation from Saudi Arabia that has since been returned. Mahathir, who served as the country's prime minister for 22 years, says that Najib must "go" and that his "leadership undermines" Malaysia's institutions. In this week's Headliner, Mehdi Hasan challenges Mahathir on his campaign to oust the current prime minister. "He's gone off track," Mahathir says. "He has done a lot of things which are actually wrong, and as a result he has put the country in a very bad position." Commenting on Malaysia's future, Mahathir adds, "If Najib is there, this country will go to the dogs." In a wide-ranging interview, the former prime minister also discusses his political future, his legacy and his history of anti-Semitic remarks. More from UpFront on: YouTube - http://aje.io/upfrontYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/ajUpFront Twitter - http://twitter.com/ajUpFront Website - http://aljazeera.com/upfront