Mahathir circulates letter claiming right to speak

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12, 2006 (AFP)

Malaysia's former premier Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday began circulating a letter to the country's ruling party claiming his right to question the government amid alleged attempts to stifle him.

The letter is being distributed to some three million members of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), whom Mahathir said were prevented from hearing his views after a series of party speaking engagements were cancelled.

"What are they afraid of? This is what worries me," Mahathir told reporters after speaking at an UMNO local division meeting west of Kuala Lumpur.

"I think they are trying to hide something, that's why they don't allow people to hear," he said, referring to the government, whom he accused of "an abuse of power".

Copies of the letter were available at the meeting, the first UMNO event Mahathir has addressed since the start of a bitter row earlier this year with the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The former leader said in the letter that several local UMNO divisions and groups had retracted their invitations for him to speak under duress from the party, lead by Abdullah, also UMNO's president.

"They tell me they are being pressured heavily. Where is freedom? " said the letter signed by Mahathir and dated August 11.

"Why is the leadership of UMNO afraid to let UMNO members meet and hear my explanations? They are in their hundreds, they have power, they have control over the newspapers and television," he said.

"I am alone. No power, no media of my own," he added.

Mahathir has vowed to continue his attacks on a number of government policies, including the scrapping of plans for a bridge to Singapore, as well as alleged nepotism in business dealings by some of Abdullah's family members.

The argument with Abdullah, who has appeared on national television to counter some of Mahathir's claims, has raised fears in UMNO of party divisions, but the former premier denied it was causing a rift.

Quarrels within UMNO have also previously led to splinter parties but Mahathir, insisting he was a party loyalist, ruled out leading his own UMNO branch.

"No, no. No breakaway branch. UMNO is whole. Only one or two leaders ... is wrong," he said in a veiled reference to Abdullah.

A spokesman for Mahathir's office said the letter was being sent by "various means" to UMNO members.