Dr M meets Anwar after 18 years

PETALING JAYA: After 18 years of not meeting face-to-face, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad turned up at the hearing of an application filed by PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to challenge the National Security Council (NSC) Act 2016.

Dr Mahathir was seen shaking hands with Anwar, his former de­­puty prime minister whom he sacked in 1998 and later accused him of sodomy.

Anwar’s wife, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, said in a tweet that the meeting between the two was their first since Sept 2, 1998.

Not confirming if he was making peace with his arch nemesis at the hearing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Jalan Duta, Dr Mahathir said he was there as he was inte­rested in the case.

“This is about the NSC Act. As you know, I have written about the Act in my blog and he is doing the same thing – trying to stop the Act.

“So I met him and had a long chat with him about what he’s doing,” Dr Mahathir told reporters outside the courtroom in Jalan Duta yesterday.

Dr Mahathir declined to say if he and Anwar were now friends or Opposition partners.

Anwar had filed the suit against the Government and the National Security Council on Aug 2 to stop the operation of the Act on grounds that it is unconstitutional.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak was not impressed by the meeting, calling it “political expe­diency”.

“It just shows how desperate Mahathir has become,” he said in a blog post yesterday.

He said Dr Mahathir needed to latch on to Pakatan Harapan “like a space shuttle needs a rocket” as his new party, Pribumi, cannot go far on its own.

“He needs to ‘tumpang’ (latch) onto Anwar and Pakatan. And this is in spite of what Dr Mahathir and Anwar have been saying about each other for 18 years.

“Mahathir shaking Anwar’s hand was like what happened back in 1998 one day before Mahathir destroyed Anwar.

“Mahathir’s kiss is a kiss of death,” Dr Salleh added.