Mahathir the Maha Manipulator

This is an excerpt from Wikipedia under the search "Saleh Abbas" - for those who don't know, Saleh Abbas was the Lord President of the Supreme Court during a period of Mahathir's rule.

Anyhow, the excerpt is such:

Mahathir was upset with the judiciary's increasing independence, and in 1988, the government tabled a bill in Parliament to amend Articles 121 and 145 of the Constitution. These amendments disvested the courts of the "judicial power of the Federation", giving them only such power as Parliament might grant them. The Attorney-General was also empowered to determine the venues in which cases would be heard.[6]
At this point, Salleh Abas, who was then Lord President of the Supreme Court, began making strong statements about defending the autonomy of the judiciary. However, he did not name Mahathir, and spoke in rather general terms. However, Salleh was pressured by his fellow judges into taking stronger action. He convened a meeting of all 20 federal judges in the national capital of Kuala Lumpur. They decided not to directly challenge Mahathir, and instead address a confidential letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) and the rulers of the various states. The letter stated, "All of us are disappointed with the various comments and accusations made by the Honourable Prime Minister against the Judiciary, not only outside but within the Parliament." However, instead of calling for any direct action to be taken, the letter only stated the judges' "hope that all those unfounded accusations will be stopped".[7]
Ironically, the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia), who was also the Sultan of Johor — Sultan Mahmood Iskandar Shah —, who as heir apparent to the Johor throne had been prosecuted by Salleh Abas when he was Public Prosecutor. The Sultan was eventually convicted of homicide and sentenced to six months in jail. It is not known what the King did upon receipt of the letter, but it appears he informed Mahathir, and that they agreed to take disciplinary action against Salleh Abas.
Salleh, who had gone overseas soon after the letter was sent, was summoned by Mahathir upon his return. Salleh later claimed that at the meeting, Mahathir accused him of bias in the UMNO case, and demanded his resignation. Salleh was also immediately suspended from his post as Lord President. Although Salleh initially agreed, when he was later informed that his suspension would be backdated so as to nullify some of his earlier actions in then pending cases such as the UMNO case, he withdrew his resignation. The government then initiated impeachment proceedings against Salleh.[8] Salleh would later claim that the government attempted to bribe him to resign.[9]

This is just one extent of how Mahathir not only influenced and manipulated the legal mechanism to favour his decisions, but also unfairly used his position of influence constitutional amendments.

And now that he is in a situation where his past indiscretions can be exposed by a Prime Minister who is not afraid to do the right thing, he sends smokescreens and threatens Malaysian peace by resigning from the party that kept him in power for 22 years.

UMNO members must remind Dr. Mahathir that when he was PM and now in retirement, his popularity is largely because of the fear he instills. Stop the sandiwara TDM!