KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Police today stepped in to stop Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad from speaking at a forum on debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak pulled out from making an appearance at the last minute.
Najib was supposed to attend the dialogue session organised by the Malaysian Volunteer Lawyers Association (SukaGuam) with some 1,500 representatives from NGOs and civil society groups expected to turn up and get his side of the story on 1MDB and other issues related to his administration and leadership.
Yesterday, however, Dr Mahathir — who has been Najib’s biggest critic over the 1MDB fiasco — indicated that he would most likely attend the forum, potentially setting up a face-off between the two leaders after months of trading barbs through the media.
Earlier today, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar issued an order on Twitter for the forum to be shut down in the interest of public order.
But despite the order, Dr Mahathir’s supporters insisted that they allow the former prime minister speak to participants of the forum, which later led to a commotion at the entrance of the Tun Hussein Hall A as his followers pushed through the blockade to get Dr Mahathir in.
Immediately after he was allowed on stage, Dr Mahathir spoke to the audience and explained why he had attended today’s forum.
“This is not about Najib and me, this is about all of us. About the thing that belongs to all of us,” the country’s longest-serving prime minister said, referring to the 1MDB scandal.
But half way through, police immediately came up the stage and told Dr Mahathir to stop.
At this point the crowd responded angrily, hurling shouts towards the police and warned them against hurting Dr Mahathir.
It is understood that Umno officials also instructed the microphone that Dr Mahathir was speaking with be switched off.
Speaking at a press conference immediately after, Dr Mahathir jokingly said he was told to stop talking because the audience was too noisy.
“You all are too noisy, so he told me to stop la” he said.
He also said that he did not disobey the police when he was told to stop.
“I stopped when I was told because I am an obedient citizen,” Dr Mahathir said smilingly.
The organisers later revealed that Najib had decided against coming for the forum after he was advised not to by the IGP out of security concerns.
SukaGuam president Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat said the police had ordered the event cancelled due to the group’s inability to handle the large number of attendees.
There were also talks that the police had supposedly received intelligence information that someone was planning to cause a commotion at the forum.
It was reported that a commotion took place outside the hall when Dr Mahathir was speaking and that an arrest was made.
But most of the audience and supporters of Dr Mahathir believed that the commotion was started by an agent provocateur with the intention of justifying Najib’s absence.
