In his first blog posting for 2021, Mahathir said that no one should act above the law, no matter how high their positions.

“Malaysians should feel safe, should believe the law is there to protect them,” he said.

He also mentioned cases in the past where people were detained but no charges were later brought against them.

One such case was that of former Sabah chief minister Shafie Apdal, who was arrested with fellow Warisan leaders over corruption allegations.

“They were arrested, detained for eight days, had to wear the orange shirt and thrown into cells with no bed. So far, no charges have been made against them,” Mahathir said.

(Shafie was arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in April 2017 and later charged with misappropriation of RM1.5 billion in public funds. However, de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong told the Senate in August 2018 that the public prosecutor had dropped all charges for lack of sufficient evidence.)

Mahathir also cited three other examples, but said he had no evidence that these incidents were true. One was of a man allegedly detained for five days but whose arrest was not made known; another was about a man placed in detention without trial for two years; and of a woman who was kept in a dark cell.

Mahathir gave no hints about who these three were, but said of the second man that “it would seem that some powerful person ordered his detention” while of the woman, he said “her sequestration was ordered by powerful people”.

He added: “It seems that powerful people are above the law.”

Mahathir said he hoped such stories about the woman and two men would not turn out to be true. “These rumours seem to be contrary to the rule of law if they are true. These are frightening stories. I have no evidence to prove they are true. But the rumours keep circulating,” he added.