Dr Mahathir quits Umno.......

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced Monday at 12.35pm that he is quitting Umno. On Sunday, Dr Mahathir said everything deemed as Malay privileges had been questioned and challenged by the non-Malays. He said he was quitting the party, which he led for almost 22 years until handing over the reins to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2003, as a sign of no confidence in his successor's leadership.

"I will only come back to the party when there is a change in leadership," the ex-premier told a crowd at a forum in his home state of Kedah this morning.He also called on all Umno ministers, deputy ministers and all levels of party leaders to join him in leaving the party.

However he asked these members not to join any other party."Wait till Abdullah to quit as the prime minister and party president and then we can return to Umno," he said.

In a related development, Mahathir said that the Malays have loosened their grip in political power to the point where non-Malays no longer respect them and their institutions He said everything deemed as Malay privileges had been questioned and challenged by the non-Malays.And the Malays are not doing anything to counter all these and strengthen their positions. Instead, he said the Malays asked others to defend their position.“But this is 'passing the buck' including the excuse that it is all because of Dr Mahathir who led for 22 years and chose Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as his successor.”

Dr Mahathir said that in the 50 years of independence, political power was in the hands of the Malays and they could call themselves tuan (masters). However, he said the Malays could only become tuan if they were capable and successful economically and socially. “This can be achieved if we are willing to master knowledge and skills in the IT era. But we are lacking efforts in that direction.

Dr Mahathir said the fate of the Malays was in their hands. He said Malays could not call themselves tuan if they had to depend on others and it was pointless to call themselves tuan when they were actually slaves. “We can be tuan if we act boldly, we are willing to face risk, we make efforts to conquer knowledge and efficiency until there is no need to depend on anyone.

“Denying reality will not result in anything. Only by admitting that we have a big problem and we act to overcome it, can we redeem our dignity. Then we can call ourselves tuan. The world will recognise us as the real tuan,” said Dr Mahathir.

In Johor , when attending a forum he labelled all Umno division chiefs as traitors to the Malays as they did not have the courage to stand up to Pak Lah “In a democratic system, the people can force a leader to step down if he is wrong. - Star,18 May 2008

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Only time will tell whether his diehard supporters,including Mukhriz will follow him in droves. As an UMNO member, UMNO will always view him as a traitor to the party. But being an outsider, Mahathir can fire more ammunitions at Pak Lah. Is he forming another party or join PAS or PKR......its anyone guess...............

cheers.