KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today appeared to riff on his political foe Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s sarcastic blog post earlier in the morning, by teasingly asking if a new party named “Anak-anak Daddy” is being established.
In a brief Facebook post, Najib wrote a short comment questioning if such purported “news” was legitimate.
“Good morning Malaysia. Heard that a new political party named ‘parti Anak-anak Daddy’ will be formed? Is this news authentic? Just asking,” the former prime minister and former Umno president wrote in Malay, with the name of the purported party roughly translating to “daddy’s children”.
Although Najib did not elaborate further, the name ‘parti Anak-anak Daddy’ shares the same initials as the acronym that Dr Mahathir gave in the latter’s blog post on a fictional and hypothetical party named “Parti AAD” or “Parti Apa Aku Dapat”.
Earlier today, Dr Mahathir sarcastically suggested the founding of a new political party to enrich Malays who have yet to receive positions and financial perks.
He observed that the Malays seem to like setting up political parties, before remarking in apparent jest that he wished to form an additional “Malay political party” after noting that the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) which he had previously founded was now split in two.
“The name of this party is Parti AAD or ‘Parti Apa Aku Dapat’,” he said, with the term in Malay roughly translating to “What I can get”.
Dr Mahathir said the purpose of such a hypothetical party would be to “enrich Malays who have yet to receive” benefits, with no membership fees required and with an invitation to anyone who has yet to receive such advantages to apply to become a member or for party posts such as president, deputy president and vice-president.
Such a party would enrich the Malays by appointing them as officers in organisations set up specifically to fulfill the desire of giving lucrative incomes to those who have yet to receive benefits and wish to receive more, Dr Mahathir said.
Dr Mahathir did not elaborate further on his “suggestion”, but his blog post comes two days after his June 10 blog post where he criticised the current government under Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership.
Dr Mahathir had claimed that many of the current Cabinet were appointed if they accepted offers to support the current administration under Muhyiddin, suggesting that such candidates were asked what they wished for before their appointments and that some positions were created in return for their support.
He had also claimed that almost two-thirds of the MPs who support Muhyiddin were appointed as ministers and deputy ministers, while the rest were appointed as chairmen of government-linked companies and institutions including those he said were facing criminal charges in court.
