You divided the Malays, Dr M told

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PETALING JAYA: Two political analysts have disagreed with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that the Malay community became divided only after he left office as prime minister and Umno president in 2003.

Ilham Centre’s Hisomuddin Bakar and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Mazlan Ali said the discord among the Malays had its roots in the internal conflicts which arose during Mahathir’s lengthy tenure as the party’s president.

Hisomuddin said Mahathir’s decision in 1998 to sack Anwar Ibrahim as deputy prime minister and Umno deputy president split the party’s strong Malay support base.

“As a result, PAS benefited by increasing its parliamentary seats, gaining 20 more seats compared to the previous general election,” he told FMT.

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