Tun Mahathir was forced to step down because of the February 2020 Sheraton Move.

In the general election that followed in late 2022, he only managed to win 4,566 or a mere 6.84% of the votes in Langkawi, ranked second last among the five contestants.

Nothing to be ashamed of, as a mater of fact, but he grumbled that whenever he was voicing up the “truth”, social media users would ridicule that he couldn’t even keep his RM10,000 election deposit, and should just retire from politics.

He said he couldn’t understand why then people did not allow him to talk, adding that people used to call him nyanuk (senile) in the past, but now wanted him to shut up just because he lost his deposit.

As a civilian, sure enough Tun M can appropriately voice up against the authorities. But like the rest of the country, he should know what to say and what not to say.

For example, he should avoid sensitive 3R issues (religion, race and royalty) because no one can guarantee nothing will happen to this country if anyone crosses the red line when voicing up.

As such, Malaysians generally agree that 3R issues should be avoided at all costs.

But for an old man that has been in politics for over half a century, Mahathir thinks that stopping people from raising sensitive 3R issues is a tactic by PM Anwar Ibrahim to gag the opposition.

He said he insisted to defend the country, race and religion because that was his right.

“I want to speak up for my race. I don’t want to see my own race lose the country that belongs to them. If even I am not allowed to talk about my own race, who else will speak up for us?”

Mahathir has said more than enough “wrong” things throughout his life. Prior to this, he said Chinese and Indian Malaysians are not loyal to the country, and was subsequently asked by the police to give his statement because of that.

Mahathir’s office informed the media that time for the police statement was changed from 11 am to 3 pm Tuesday.

Giving police statement is not something one can take a lot of pride in, and any normal person with some senses will try to evade this question as far as possible, but the old man made it public to make sure the world knew about it!

Over the years, he has created countless of troubles for this country, claiming that the Malays would disappear from this land, the Chinese and Indians are pendatangs, and the Chinese and Indians rob the Malays’ wealth… in an attempt to jeopardise inter-community harmony.

Take former PM Muhyiddin Yassin for instance, when he was still in Mahathir’s cabinet back in 2019, he said someone had tried to stir up sensitive 3R issues in an attempt to shake the new administration. He said the new government facing various issues threatening social order and peace, as some people tried to exploit 3R issues to topple the government.

Tun M was the PM then, so 3R issues were a no-no, because it could bring down the government. But then why is he taking the lead now to talk about 3R issues? Is it because he has the intention of taking down the Anwar administration?

Mahathir insists he will not take the directive banning 3R issues as a law he must abide by.

It is absolutely necessary to enact a law to stop Mahathir from making inappropriate remarks. Unfortunately, national unity minister Aaron Ago Dagang said there is no need at this juncture to enact a new law against racism, hateful remarks and to protect the minorities, as the existing laws are sufficient to preserve inter-community relations, and the government can investigate and prosecute anyone making remarks that will jeopardise racial and religious harmony, under several laws, such as Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948, Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588), as well as Sections 295, 296, 298, 298A, 504, 505 and 506 of the Penal Code.

But will existing laws have a deterrent effect on potential violators? Perhaps they work on ordinary people. Not Mahathir, though.

He said Malaysia’s laws did not say 3R issues must not be raised, and that it was the PM’s own cognisance. He said he had gone through the country’s Constitution many times to see whether it was possible for the PM to enact a law, and his conclusion was “no”, as only the Dewan Rakyat can do so.

He said if he is not allowed to raise 3R issues, then take the matters to parliament, and once they are agreed in both the Upper and Lower Houses and consented by the King, they can officially become law.

He insisted that he would not take the directive banning 3R issues as a law he must abide by.

If we do not enact a law that encompasses sensitive 3R issues, irresponsible politicians like Mahathir will keep flirting with them, saying anything they want to say to instigate the public.