Kuala Lumpur (dpa) – Former Malaysia strongman Mahathir Mohamad, who banned and crushed street protests during his 22-year rule, made a surprise visit Saturday to an anti-government rally in the capital to show his support for the protesters.
Mahathir, 90, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, said street protests are now necessary in Malaysia because all the legitimate avenues for people to air their grievances have been shut down by the present government.
The frail-looking Mahathir and his wife, Siti Hasmah, were cheered by demonstrators who were preparing to hold an overnight vigil in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.
“Continue, continue,” Mahathir told the protesters as he and Siti Hasmah weaved through the crowd.
“This is people’s power,” Siti Hasmah said.
Many protesters tried to get their photographs with the former leader, who left the protest site after about half an hour.
Earlier in the day, Mahathir complained at a talk in Pasir Gudang town outside Kuala Lumpur, “Police reports against the wrongdoings of the present leadership are not investigated.”
“Instead, those lodging reports are harassed and investigated,” he charged.
Mahathir cited the case of the late Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos, who used government institutions to oppress the people “until one day, the people revolted and ousted him.”
“We do not want this to happen,” Mahathir said. “We want things to be done in accordance with the law and federal constitution, but the law is no longer there.”
Mahathir has been leading the call for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s resignation over allegations of corruption.
Najib’s woes started last month after a report in The Wall Street Journal that suggested 673 million dollars in his accounts had been misappropriated from a state development fund.
The government denied the accusations and said the money came from donations from unidentified sources in the Middle East.
