ALOR STAR: Once considered arch enemies, PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu looked like best friends instead as both shared the stage at the national Amanah convention here today.
The PPBM chairman praised Mohamad, more popularly known as Mat Sabu, for being a good cook and said that he could vouch for it, having eaten a meal at his home once.
Mahathir described his attendance at the convention as a strange and extraordinary circumstance, as he had been invited by his foe to speak at the party convention.
Interestingly, Mahathir also made light of the period when Mat Sabu spent time in detention in Kamunting (in Taiping), under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in the late 1980s, during the former’s tenure as prime minister.
“I still remember sending Mat Sabu to learn cooking in Taiping. He was paid 80 sen, which was the British rate at that time,” he said during his speech at the Amanah convention.
“I can vouch that his cooking is very good, because I tasted it when I was invited to his house.
“It was so delicious. If he is out of a job, he can become a chef,” Mahathir said, as the crowd erupted in laughter.
Mat Sabu, in his speech later, added on to the banter by saying Mahathir had been confident and daring enough to go to his house and eat the food he cooked, without his officers even testing the food first, “in case I put poison in the food”.
“He did no such thing. He just ate. He should have let his aides try the food first. Who knows?” Mat Sabu said in jest.
Earlier in his speech, the former prime minister said the political situation today was extraordinary as foes had become close to each other and were cooperating.
Aside from Mat Sabu, Mahathir said this was also the case with jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, all of whom were once his political enemies.
“But today we reject and forget our old animosity. Even when it is sad and hurtful, we will not let it be a problem that ruins this country.
“We are putting our differences aside to face bigger challenges. There are bigger challenges which require us to forget old animosities and face new enemies,” he said.
Also present were PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Guan Eng and PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin.-fmt news-
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