“I will talk to them. No schooling, just talk,” Mahathir said when asked about a blog post by Kadir yesterday hitting out at P Waytha Moorthy, a minister in the PM’s Department and Education Minister Maszlee Malik.
Kadir, in his personal capacity, had rebuked Waytha over his “conduct” in the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple issue while Maszlee was rapped for trying to “inject” more religion into national schools.
When asked if Mahathir was satisfied with the performance of Waytha and Maszlee as ministers seven months after they were sworn in, Mahathir said: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re doing their best.”
Kadir had pointed out that although Waytha was the minister in the PM’s Department in charge of unity and social well-being, his recent actions had not helped strengthen either.
Kadir also said Mahathir had already “advised” Waytha on the issue. However, he did not say what the advice was.
“But our prime minister is kind-hearted and even when he is angry, people may not realise it. Waytha, who has not known Mahathir for a long time, should not be so gung-ho and comfortable with his position.
“Remember, you were not chosen by the people. You are a senator appointed by the king and made a minister by Mahathir.
“Please do not embarrass our king and prime minister,” he had said, inviting Waytha to leave a comment in his blog if he was unhappy with his words.
The temple relocation saga has seen a lengthy legal battle and chaos, including burned vehicles, mob violence and damage to property.
Maszlee, on the other hand, had also been “lectured” by Mahathir, Kadir claimed.
Kadir said he agreed with Mahathir the country already had many religious schools and there was no need to inject more religion into national schools.
Such schools, he said, should go back to their original objectives of being schools to unite all races and religions.
“It’s unlikely that an intelligent minister like Maszlee does not know many non-Malay parents no longer send their children to national schools as they have become more like religious schools.
“On the other hand, more Malay parents are sending their children to Chinese schools because they want their children to excel.”
Kadir added that his singling out of Waytha and Maszlee didn’t mean the “rest” had succeeded, just that it wasn’t “their” turn yet.
“Think of me as an elderly visiting teacher, sitting at the back and watching their actions,” he said.
‘Investments coming in’
Meanwhile, Mahathir was asked about a Bloomberg report that said Malaysia remained at the top of the emerging-market list, thanks to its current-account surplus, relatively stable economic growth outlook and valuations.
Mahathir said it was a given due to all the investments coming in.
“Well, we are doing very well; everybody knows that. They say it’s very stable, a lot of investments are coming in. Investments are coming in three times more than last year,” he said.
On Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for the possible by-election in Cameron Highlands, Mahathir, who is the coalition’s chairman, said: “We have not decided this yet. Too early.
“We will find one. We have a lot of candidates.”
Earlier today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court, sitting as an election court, nullified MIC’s election victory in Cameron Highlands during the 14th general election, saying there was vote-buying involved as alleged.
The ruling today means that Cameron Highlands incumbent C Sivarraajh runs the risk of losing his parliamentary seat.
He has 14 days to file his appeal to the Federal Court and has said he will do this, with Barisan Nasional backing him.