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Dr Mahathir 'sad' that he is barred from visiting Anwar in hospital

KUALA LUMPUR - Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was not allowed to visit jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in hospital on Wednesday (Jan 10) evening, with hospital officials telling the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman that they had received instructions not to allow him in.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad (centre) seen at the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital with PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar (left). Dr Mahathir has been barred from visiting jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at the hospital, with staff citing orders 'from the top'. Photo: The Malaysian Insight

Dr Mahathir Mohamad (centre) seen at the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital with PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar (left). Dr Mahathir has been barred from visiting jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at the hospital, with staff citing orders 'from the top'. Photo: The Malaysian Insight

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KUALA LUMPUR - Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was not allowed to visit jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in hospital on Wednesday (Jan 10) afternoon, with hospital officials telling the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman that they had received instructions not to allow him in. 

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed has since confirmed that the orders not to permit the visit came from the Prisons Department.

This was supposed to be Dr Mahathir's first visit to the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader after the former was picked to be PH's prime minister if the opposition coalition wins the coming national polls. 

Dr Mahathir claimed that the order barring him from visiting Anwar came from “high level” authorities in the Home Ministry.

“I felt sad because I just wanted to meet him to say thank you for his support in nominating me as a candidate,” he told reporters outside the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital.

“They (prison department personnel) only said they received orders from someone up high — which means the minister of Home Affairs — that I’m not allowed to see Anwar.”

Some 30 Prisons Department personnel led by the Sungai Buloh prison director Abdul Kadir Rais were stationed outside Anwar’s ward, barring entry to visitors.

The incident comes after Anwar received visits from Prime Minister Najib Razak, his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz.

All the visits were in November last year, after Anwar had undergone surgery for a shoulder injury suffered during a September car crash involving a Prisons Department vehicle.

Dr Mahathir, who arrived at 4.30pm and left about 20 minutes later, criticised the decision disallowing him to visit Anwar, labelling Mr Najib a dictator unsuitable to be prime minister.

"He is in fact a dictator, from his actions, not his words. I was said to be a dictator, say anything you like but I never did things like this (denied anyone from visiting)," said Dr Mahathir.

"I am sad because our country is a democratic country, and this kind of thing has never happened during my time. Even when I was told that I was a dictator, never had I barred anyone,” he added. 

"Of course, Anwar has a long history of confrontation with me and it’s not easy for him to accept the consensus to approve me as the next prime minister should PH win in the coming general election. It is a big thing." 

Explaining the government's decision, Mr Nur Jazlan said Anwar was still a convict and anyone who wants to visit him must get permission from the Prisons Department.

"A convict is not a free man. His (Anwar) life is controlled by the Prisons Department. No one is allowed to meet him other than the family," Mr Nur Jazlan told The Malaysian Insight.

Anwar's daughter and PKR vice president Nurul Izzah said the government was not being consistent.

"Certain individuals like Cabinet Minister Nazri Aziz were allowed in. There is no consistency," she said.  

The four-party PH had announced at its convention on Sunday that its prime minister and deputy prime minister candidates would respectively be Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman Dr Mahathir and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is Anwar’s wife.

Anwar is due to be released from jail in June after serving time for sodomy. The parties had agreed that if PH win the election, Dr Mahathir would secure a royal pardon for Anwar so that he would be eligible for politics and take over as premier.

But Dr Mahathir’s nomination has sparked dissent among PH’s ranks with the Selangor wing of PKR refusing to endorse him and a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) taking to Facebook to criticise the choice.

Leaders from PKR and DAP had previously accused Dr Mahathir of abuse of power during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dr Mahathir reiterated his criticisms of a number of policies and measures by the current administration, including the annual cash handouts under the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) which he said was not adequate to help the low-income group cope with rising living costs.

During his first-ever Policy Talk broadcast “live” on his official Facebook account, the 92-year-old also said that Malaysia should cut down its reliance on foreign labour, claiming that the migrant workers were robbing Malaysians of job opportunities and would also cause an outflow of ringgit from the country due to their remittance of their wages to their home country.

He said however that a PH government will find ways to solve problems faced by local industries that need migrant workers and hear out local businessman, noting that the migrant workers would not be sent off in one sweep.

He also said it was better for Malaysia to not have foreign direct investment that relies fully on migrant workers that would again send their wages home, arguing that the country should instead choose foreign investments that would rely more on local labour that would be trained in fields such as IT.

By being selective about foreign direct investments, Malaysia would increase job opportunities and income levels for the locals and would also be able to control the outflow of the ringgit, he said.

“This is the policy that should be used by us, so Malaysia can get maximum returns from foreign direct investment,” Dr Mahathir said. AGENCIES

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