Mahathir tells why he was willing to make peace with Anwar

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said that Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional (BN) would have remained in power had he not worked with the opposition at the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018. 

In a video uploaded to his Twitter account, the former Langkawi MP said he had had to put aside his ego, personal feelings and old grudges with his one-time deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in order to block Najib and BN from returning to power. 

He also recalled his meeting with Anwar at the Kuala Lumpur High Court before GE14, a historic moment following 18 years of enmity between the two. 

"When I met Anwar at the court, the main thing on my mind was how to block Najib and his Umno-BN government from remaining in power," he said. 

"At that point, the whole world was reporting about the tens of billions in taxpayers' dollars stolen by Najib. 

"If Najib was not toppled, their betrayal would have remained under wraps and they would have been able to continue stealing." 

The coming together of old foes resulted in success for the opposition as, for the first time since independence, BN was defeated at the federal level.

Mahathir meanwhile replaced Najib as the seventh prime minister. 

But the cooperation came to an end after the change of government in 2020, when Mahathir resigned due to calls from some within Pakatan Harapan (PH) for him to give way to ANwar. 

Mahathir said he had been ready to initiate steps towards reconciliation with long-time enemies, as long as "those who were ruining the country" could be stopped. 

"That was why I was ready to meet with Anwar, because I believed that he, too, felt that way. 

"If I was the one who needed to take the first step, I would do it. 

"If people want to say that I'm shameless, I don't mind. The important thing was that our goal of blocking those who were ruining the country was achieved. 

"The fall of Najib showed that we did something that helped us succeed." 

Political observers had previously proposed cooperation between PH, Perikatan Nasional and Mahathir's Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) through the so-called big tent initiative to retake Putrajaya at GE15. 

However, Anwar has said that he will not work with Mahathir and GTA.