Najib must keep cronies and family members at bay, says Mahathir

Bernama(12/10/08): Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should not be surrounded by cronies and family members when he is prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said here Sunday.

"There are several former members of parliament and experts whose advice he should seek to run the country," the former prime minister told Bernama after addressing a Malaysian youth seminar at the University of Melbourne.

"There is a lot of work to be done to restore the confidence of the people in the government," Dr Mahathir said.

"But Najib must not try to do everything himself. He must get proper advice from the right people.

"He should not be surrounded by cronies and family members as this will not be good for the country."

Dr Mahathir, however, did not identify them.

He said Najib, his deputy, Umno and its partner component parties must work hard as a team to win public support for the government which suffered a setback at the last elections.

"The votes we lost were protest votes. Malaysians were not happy and this was reflected at the ballot box," he said.

Dr Mahathir said sections of the public felt that the government had become arrogant and out of touch with their needs.

"Some MPs felt, that once elected and given a ministerial position, there was no need for them to go back to their electorate to talk to the people, to discuss issues and find out what needed to be done and to explain government policies," he said.

Dr Mahathir said he hoped that this would change under the leadership of Najib.