Dr M Arrogant Pua Behaved Like A Minister During Harapan Administration

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Dr Mahathir Mohamad has trained his guns at DAP's Damansara MP Tony Pua, calling the latter arrogant and behaving like a minister during his tenure as the political secretary to former finance minister Lim Guan Eng.
At a virtual media roundtable ahead of the launch of his new memoir, the former prime minister said businesspeople were against the previous Pakatan Harapan administration due to such an attitude.
"Lim felt that Najib Abdul Razak's government was crooked and he should do away with all the contracts entered by the previous government.
"But when you do that, you hurt the contractors and whoever gets their jobs, including workers, suppliers and supporting companies. So, we cannot simply just do away with the contracts nor reduce the contracts by force," Mahathir said. 
Citing a concession contract involving a tunnel project, he said about 20,000 workers would lose their rice bowls if it is terminated.
"You can't do that (terminate contracts under Najib's administration) easily, you have to make considerations. Although the contractors may have bribed the (then) prime minister, he had given up a portion of his profit," he added. 
Not part of political secretary's role
Mahathir further said the implementation of government policy was not part of Pua's role. 
"As the political secretary, you (Pua) are supposed to report on the politics of the country, not go around implementing government policies," he added. 

The nonagenarian politician pointed out several businesspersons had complained about Pua's arrogance.
"(While) I cited only one example (in my new book), other businesspersons, (including) a Chinese, told me that he was very arrogant. That's the word they used. He behaved as if he was the minister," he said.

Damansara MP Tony Pua
Mahathir, who admitted that he favours businesspersons due to the wealth and job opportunities brought by investors, said a political secretary should not go around threatening the business community.
"Because of this person, a lot of businesspersons are against the government because they think the government is not sympathetic to their cause," he said without mincing words.
In his memoir "Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia", the Langkawi MP said he had to put a stop to an advisor to the then finance minister for overreaching his authority on civil servants.
Mahathir did not name Pua in his book.
He said the advisor participated in business negotiations involving the government despite not being empowered to do so and resorted to threats.
Lim today questioned Mahathir's memory, calling it "faulty" after the former premier singled him and Pua out in his new book.
In a statement yesterday, Pua defended himself and rebutted what he claimed as a false allegation by Mahathir. 
Pua also said he was perhaps a convenient target for anyone unhappy with the Finance Ministry trying to clean up Najib's mess. - Mkini

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