Road to GE14: Mahathir takes aim at another politician, Najib's version of SkillsFuture

Najib isn't the only politician that Mahathir trades barbs with.

Sulaiman Daud | April 21, 2018, 06:22 PM

As we get closer to the 14th Malaysian general election (GE14), politicians will be travelling across the country, making appearances and giving interviews.

And sometimes, they say interesting things that make you go, “Wait, what?”

Here’s a round-up of the darnedest things that’s happened recently.

Go be a religious teacher at some kampung

You probably know that Prime Minister Najib Razak of the Barisan Nasional coalition and former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad are opposing each other at the polls.

But Malaysia is a big country with many different political players. One of them is Abdul Hadi Awang, the President of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

Hadi is a religious teacher as well as a politician, which makes him suited to lead the Islamist political party.

But he hasn't gotten on Mahathir's good side.

On April 17, 2018, Mahathir took a shot at Hadi, saying that he doesn't understand politics.

"He doesn’t know anything about politics, what more on administration. Just look at what happened to Terengganu under his leadership.

He should not have joined politics in the first place. He should just be an ustaz (religious teacher) at some kampung."

To be fair, this was in response to Hadi saying that Mahathir shouldn't be in politics either, and instead should work for the government as a doctor.

Mahathir studied medicine in Singapore during the 1940s, before working as a doctor in government clinics.

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Mahathir also disparaged Hadi's record in Terengganu, where he was elected Chief Minister of the State in 1999 to 2004.

But on April 19, Hadi defended himself, saying that he earned a Masters' degree in Islamic political science at Egypt's Al-Azhar University in 1976.

He also laid the blame for Terengganu's problems when he was Chief Minister at Mahathir's feet, saying:

"The failure of the state administration at that time was in fact due to the interference of the federal government which was then led by Dr Mahathir.

“There were many economic and administrative constraints as there was an interference by the federal government, which was then led by Tun M, and the interference contravened the state’s development policy at that time."

Hadi added that PAS currently governed the state of Kelantan, which had "grown strong" under their leadership.

One million apprentices

Najib has a million dreams for the world he's going to make.

On April 20 in Kuala Lumpur, Najib launched the new MyApprenticeship programme, which he claims will create one million apprenticeship positions for Malaysian youths.

These positions will be offered at government-linked companies and the private sector until end-2019. Said Najib:

"Apprenticeship is not a new concept in this country, but this programme is designed to be more comprehensive and holistic.

It will ensure that workers will be equipped with skills needed at present and in the future, especially in the landscape of the Industrial Revolution 4.0."

Among the companies involved are AirAsia, Gamuda, Gerbang Alaf Restaurants and Malindo Airways. To encourage them to participate, the government will offer tax cuts for these companies.

Najib also took the opportunity to dismiss claims made by opposition politicians that the country's economy was in trouble.

He cited examples of credit rating agencies like Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch giving Malaysia an "A" rating for 2017, and said:

"All these examples dispute and reject the claims by the Opposition that Malaysia is a bankrupt nation or a failed state that needs saving. Instead, we need to save our country from falling into the hands of those naysayers."

Top image from Mahathir Mohamad and Abdul Hadi's Facebook pages.