“That’s his thinking, I don’t care. He is a small boy, and that’s his interpretation,” the former prime minister said, referring to Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, whose father, the late Mohamed Rahmat, had been a member of Mahathir’s cabinet, as information minister.
Yesterday, Nur Jazlan called Mahathir’s returning of the awards an insult to the honour of the awards given to him.
He added that such action was also not a reflection of Malay culture.
Mahathir and wife, Dr Siti Hasmah Ali returned the awards last week, in the wake of strong criticism against the PPBM chairman by Selangor ruler, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister later said his decision to return the awards was because he was “not fit for such decorations”, in what is apparently a reference to the Selangor sultan’s strong rebuke of him as an “angry man”.
The sultan had first criticised Mahathir following the latter’s speech during Pakatan Harapan’s “anti-kleptocracy” rally in October, in which he referred to Prime Minister Najib Razak as a “descendant of Bugis pirates”.
The Selangor royal household took offence to the remark as they are descendants of the Bugis people.
Mahathir has maintained that his remarks were only against Najib and not directed at the Bugis community.
The sultan further criticised and condemned Mahathir in separate interviews published by The Star and Utusan Malaysia.
The late Selangor sultan, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, had bestowed the Seri Paduka Mahkota Selangor (SPMS) award on Mahathir in 1978.
In 2003, a month before Mahathir’s retirement as prime minister, Sultan Sharafuddin awarded him with the Darjah Kerabat Yang Amat Dihormati (DK).
Siti Hasmah received the Datuk Paduka Mahkota Selangor and Seri Paduka Mahkota Selangor awards from Selangor in 1983 and 1994 respectively.
The Selangor palace later revealed that it is in the process of annulling the awards to the couple.
When asked if his decision created a backlash, Mahathir said: “If you read what is said in social media, you can have an idea what the backlash is. I don’t want to say anything, but you read social media.”
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