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"A charm offensive by Najib Razak, Malaysia’s disgraced former prime minister who is out on bail awaiting trial on corruption charges, is an “abuse of free speech”, his successor Mahathir Mohamad has said. In an interview with the South China Morning Post , the 93-year-old leader also downplayed the significance of a new pact between Najib’s Umno party – now in opposition after its defeat in last May’s general election – and the hardline Islamist outfit Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). Observers and some of Mahathir’s allies see the alliance between Umno (the United Malays National Organisation) and PAS as a way for Najib’s party to shore up its Islamic credentials and win back the support of Malays. But Mahathir said that Umno, which he had himself spearheaded before crossing aisles to defeat Najib, was a shell of the party it once was. “Well, it is a threat. But not the biggest threat,” he said of the alliance. “As you know, Umno has been depleted already, it is not the former Umno. Many of them have left Umno,” said Mahathir, referring to defectors who joined his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), one of the members of the Pakatan Harapan coalition that won the May election. “So what is left of Umno is now joining up with PAS.” With nine Umno defections in the last 10 months, PPBM now has 22 seats in the 222-seat parliament, up from the 13 it won in the election. More defections are expected to strengthen PPBM’s hand. I’d side with rich China over fickle US, Mahathir says In contrast, Umno now has 37 seats – a far cry from the 133 it won in 2013. “Some people will find that this is a good alliance and they might want to return to Umno,” said Mahathir, who led the party from 1981 to 2003 during his first stint as prime minister. But “Umno has lost its credibility, principally because of the period when Najib ruled the country.” He said it was unlikely Umno’s long time coalition partners the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Malaysian Indian Congress – which alongside Umno ruled the country for 61 years until last year – would accept PAS. PAS has polarised views in Malaysia because it favours a greater use of sharia, the Islamic penal code. NAJIB ‘QUITE FREE’ Mahathir said his one-time protégé Najib was “quite free, relatively speaking”, when asked to comment on the former leader’s campaign to rehabilitate his public image. Once reputed for patrician airs, Najib has recently embraced a “ malu apa bossku ?” [what’s there’s to be ashamed about, boss?] public relations campaign. Najib’s reputation was left in tatters when, in the wake of his crushing election defeat, his houses were raided by anti-graft officers investigating the multibillion-dollar financial scandal surrounding the state fund 1MDB . ‘Chinese by nature are very good businesspeople’: Mahathir’s interview in full Najib faces 42 criminal charges and is awaiting trial after pleading not guilty. A first trial has been delayed after initially being scheduled for February. As part of his campaign, Najib’s supporters have attended his roadshows wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his new slogan. The campaign also features strong use of an image of Najib sitting on an inexpensive Yamaha moped – the two-wheeler of choice of Malaysia’s infamous Mat Rempit hell riders. Critics say the campaign is orchestrated by public relations professionals rather than by grass roots supporters, as Najib claims. Mahathir said Najib’s activities showed just how different their administrations were. He cited the example of Shafie Apdal, a cabinet minister-turned-Najib critic who was detained on corruption charges for 10 days before being offered bail during the era of the ex-prime minister. Shafie, now the chief minister of the state of Sabah, was paraded in front of the media wearing a prison uniform after a brush in with the anti-corruption agency. “He [Shafie] was arrested, no charges yet, only suspicion, yet he was made to wear this orange shirt, and then he spent almost 10 days sleeping on the floor in the jail,” recalled Mahathir. Mahathir Mohamad: ‘I’m pro-Malaysia, not anti-Singapore’ Najib could expect fairer treatment, Mahathir said. “But we are going according to the rule of law. If judges feel he should be arrested, he will be arrested. But if the judges say that he is out on bail, we respect that,” he said. “Of course, he has taken advantage of that, to make use of that period when he is out on bail to rebuild his own image by saying that the government has been unfair to him.” Said Mahathir: “I don’t know what is unfair when we allow him to go around making speeches and making claims, denying his wrong deeds and all that. But this is a democratic country, we have to allow people to have free speech. He is of course abusing free speech the way he used to abuse power.”"
<https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2189165/najibs-charm-offensive-abuse-free-speech-malaysias-mahathir>