KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “Tun” title should be revoked if he continues to disparage the royalty, Jelutong MP RSN Rayer told the Dewan Rakyat.
“We see that he has carried out a proclamation and may cooperate with Pagoh (former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin). These two want to destroy our country.
“They are also preventing Tambun (Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim) from doing his job and taking care of the welfare of the people.
“If Mahathir continues with his attacks on the royalty, the government should consider revoking his ‘Tun’ title,” he said when debating the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report, in an apparent reference to a statement by the police that they were investigating Mahathir for allegedly insulting the royalty during the launch of his “Malay Proclamation”.
Rayer called on the police not to compromise if Mahathir continued to “attack” the royal institution.
Separately, he called for an audit into an apparent RM207 billion paid by the Japanese government in reparation for atrocities committed in constructing the Death Railway.
The Death Railway, also known as the Burma Railway, was built by Japan during World War II to connect Bangkok and Rangoon as a supply route for its forces in Burma.
The construction was marked by brutal conditions with a forced labour of around 180,000 civilians and 60,000 prisoners of war (POWs), resulting in the deaths of about 90,000 labourers and 12,000 POWs.
In recent years, claims have been made in the media that the Japanese government had paid Malaysia RM207 billion in the 1990s when Mahathir was the prime minister.
But Mahathir has denied receiving any compensation on behalf of the Malaysian victims or their families as claimed.
Ten years ago, Anwar, as opposition leader, had claimed that both Japanese and Malaysian officials were in possession of “evidence” that the money was sent to the Malaysian government but that it did not go through the Treasury.