KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today told the High Court that he is not an Indian Muslim, but said his ancestors on his father’s side could have been Muslims from India.
Testifying in his defamation lawsuit against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid, Dr Mahathir confirmed that Indian Muslims in Malaysia are sometimes referred to as “mamak”, and said members in two local Indian Muslim groups ---- Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (Iman) and Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) --- know him but do not consider him to be an Indian Muslim.
“I cannot be a member of Kimma and Iman because I am a Malay, not Indian Muslim,” he said in response to Zahid’s lawyer Mohamed Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman’s question of if he could also join those two groups since his ancestors are Indian Muslims.
Shown a past video recording by The Star of him having said that he has a “few spoonfuls” of Indian blood left in his body but that he is a Malay, Dr Mahathir said: “Yes, a few drops of Indian blood I suppose, but I’m a Malay and my father is a Malay”.
Dr Mahathir said his grandfather was in Penang and was a Muslim but did not know if he has Indian blood, and it was most likely that his great-grandfather was also a Muslim from India. Later, he said he believed they were Indian Muslims from Kerala in India.
Finally, when asked by Zahid’s lawyer Mohamed Shahrul Fazli if his grandfather and great-grandfather’s lineage was his opinion or his truth, Dr Mahathir said it was his assumption that they were likely to be Indian Muslims from Kerala.
“As far as I can see, there is no record, I was not told by my father. All I can do is to assume that since my great-grandfather was a Malay Muslim, and most Malay Muslims in Penang have got some Indian blood, therefore my great-grandfather and beyond that must have been Indian Muslims,” he said.
Among other things, Dr Mahathir today disagreed that he has “Malayalee blood” in him, and also disagreed that his family has Yemen ancestry.
Towards the end of today’s hearing, Dr Mahathir appeared to voice his objection over Zahid’s lawyer’s repeated questioning about his heritage and his ancestors based on multiple different publications including blog posts regarding his family’s history, noting that those articles and publications contained a lot of “lies” about him.
Dr Mahathir pointed out that his defamation lawsuit was instead on whether Zahid had lied about his actual name being “Mahathir anak lelaki Iskandar Kutty”, and that his defamation lawsuit is not against those multiple publications.
”I find that you keep on asking of my heritage, my ancestors and all this. I was being asked about my heritage, whether Muslim, when we were Muslims etc, but my case is whether Zahid Hamidi told a lie or not, to apologise for ‘fitnah’ (defamation) case against me. I’m not asking whether his father is a Muslim or non-Muslim.
“Please show that he has evidence that my name is ‘Mahathir anak lelaki Iskandar Kutty’, that is his claim. And I’m saying that by saying that, he is insulting me, not insulting my grandfather, not insulting anybody else. He is insulting me by saying that I am not Mahathir Mohamad when the whole world knows I am Mahathir Mohamad. He is saying ‘no’,” he said, before saying that Zahid should prove his claim in court by showing an identification card as “that is the official way of determining who the person is”.
Dr Mahathir then said he would not be answering questions from Zahid’s lawyer that is irrelevant to his own case against Zahid.
High Court judicial commissioner Gan Techiong then remarked that Dr Mahathir had given clear answers so far which is “quite remarkable for a gentleman your age who is almost 100 years old”, adding: “Such clear mind, I’m sure everybody in this courtroom is impressed that your mind is clear, you are able to answer questions clearly. So I hope you give your cooperation to this court as a witness to continue to answer questions to the best of your ability Tun.”
After further explanations by Gan including that the questions by Zahid’s lawyers are part of the usual court process as this was the cross-examination stage and that he would have the chance to provide clarifications to his own lawyers in the re-examination stage, Dr Mahathir appeared to relent by saying he would answer questions posed: “I agree, I will answer, but he keeps on asking the same questions with the same answers.”
Zahid’s lawyer Mohamed Shahrul Fazli then said his questions may feel unpleasant as it relates to Dr Mahathir’s ancestry, but also explained that this is part of the court process of showing Zahid’s defence in the defamation lawsuit and asked for Dr Mahathir to bear with those questions.
The High Court will continue to hear this defamation lawsuit on October 14 to 17, and on October 29 to 30.
In his lawsuit filed on July 20, 2022 at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Mahathir wants the court to order Zahid to pay compensation and to give an unconditional apology, and also wants a court order to stop Zahid from repeating the defamatory remarks.
