Marina shares untold anecdotes of Dr M in new book

KUALA LUMPUR – The insights behind the fall of Pakatan Harapan continues to be unravelled following the release of Datin Marina Mahathir’s latest book The Apple and The Tree: Life as Dr Mahathir’s Daughter.

In a recent interview by Ben Ibrahim on Great People Television, the eldest child of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad recalled instances of what her father was going through during the infamous Sheraton Move early last year.

Marina recalled being in his room as her father was about to sign his resignation letter from his former party, Bersatu.

“He didn’t tell me that he quit, but I read it over his shoulder. I didn’t know what happened in the last few days, but I understood.

“He has always said that when people don’t want you, you should go. Because his own party turned against him, he said that if they don’t want me then I’ll just go.

“It was for a very simple reason. They didn’t want him because he didn’t agree with them to join with the people that were ousted in the last election,” she said.

Additionally, she also agreed with the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the guilty verdict of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, over the SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption scandal, which was announced yesterday.

She stated that many people want to see justice being served, especially when the issue has been hotly talked about since 2016, adding that hopefully the people will not need to wait too long before justice is served.

Answering questions of using her father’s position in the past to gain leverage and get things done, Marina said that she had always shied away from doing so except for a single instance.

“It was an emergency-related issue about a HIV positive blood transfusion that had shocked the public away from receiving and donating blood,” the Malaysian AIDS Foundation patron said.

Otherwise, she admitted to once being put on a nine-month waiting list to lobby her cause, as her father’s officials reminded her that she does not get a special pass to the prime minister just because she is his daughter.

In her book, Marina reveals more about what having differing views with her father was like, as she sought to bring them to her father’s table. – The Vibes, December 9, 2021