KUALA LUMPUR: The people are not getting the actual picture of the government’s success under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration although it has made various efforts since taking over the country last year, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pix).
The prime minister said various allegations of the government being disliked by the people arose because certain quarters had gone to the extreme in running down the government to make the people angry.
“Today we had a meeting to discuss various matters including the allegation that if ‘the election is held today, PH will lose’. So we wanted to know why, and we discussed the matter at length.
“We found that there were no mistakes (as alleged). But our communication is not satisfactory. We get so many (representatives) from the press but when we speak about our success, the press asks other questions so that there will be controversy. Some members of the press like controversy.
“We also found that certain quarters play up matters on differences of religion, race and other things,” he said after chairing the PH presidential council meeting yesterday.
Mahathir, who is also PH chairman, said the action of these groups and negative reports by a section of the media would only divide the people and create racial enmity in the country.
He hit out at these groups which are not thankful for the peace enjoyed in Malaysia compared to the conflicts seen in other countries.
“If we allow ourselves to be influenced by extremist groups, (and) the media fans the situation, we will become like the Middle East which are at war although they are of one race and language,” he said.
Mahathir said PH would intensify its cooperation with the mainstream and alternative media to better disseminate information on the actual situation in the country.
He said the Malaysian community is peaceful although it is made up of various races, religions and cultures and everyone should be thankful for this.
“Because of this I appeal to the media not to play up racial and religious issues; if you want to report, file correct reports.
“(If) good things are not reported and we report only the bad ones, I am worried that racial and religious hostility once sparked would be hard for us to put out,” he said.
Mahathir also expressed confidence that PH would win if the general election was held today or in the near future.
“Some said we would lose if the general election is held today. But we are confident we can win. Nobody wants to have Datuk Seri Najib Abdul back because we know he took a lot of money. We did not take money,” he said.
Mahathir said today’s meeting decided to hold a PH gathering on Oct 5 and 6 and to postpone the PH general meeting until Dec 31 the latest. — Bernama
