《金融时报》5月28日採访首相敦马哈迪医生；报导所引述的一些话值得「啃噬」，即便不依之评断。
敦马拒绝为他过去担任22年首相期间，被指建立专制政权致歉。
他不认为自己建立了一个有缺陷的体制，进而衍生拿督斯里纳吉时期的滥权；换句话说，他不认为自己在体系的因果效应中扮演其角色。
他对509大选前作出的「公开道歉」，現在另一番说词；终归一句话，就是坚持自己过去掌权时，并不专政。
敦马表示理解，当时被指控曾做「错事」，过去是个专制、独裁的领导者，如此贴他标籤是为了让民众去相信及把重返政坛的他拒绝。
「现在，如果他们还说什么，我已经是首相了，他们所能做的最多就是把我给甩掉。」
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Dr M unapologetic over claims of authoritarian 22-year rule, Financial Times reports
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad refused to apologise over claims of building an authoritarian regime during his 22-year tenure as the nation’s fourth Prime Minister, Financial Times reports.
In an May 28 interview, Dr Mahathir was reluctant to acknowledge his role in building a flawed political system that led to systematic power abuse during former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration.
“When I was in power, I was no authoritarian,” Dr Mahathir said, dismissing his pre-election public apology for politeness and “Malay custom”.
“The fact is that people say I did something wrong. I do not agree with them,” he was quoted as saying.
Financial Times said Dr Mahathir’s “revolutionary changes” answers his detractors who labelled him as “authoritarian” and a “dictator”.
Dr Mahathir responded to those labels, saying that it does not affect him.
“When I came back into politics, I found that the labels that I got tend to cause people to believe that I was really like that and therefore they should reject me.”
“Now, if they say anything, I’m already Prime Minister. The most they can do is to throw me out,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also insisted that his former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had learnt his lesson after being sacked and subsequently incarcerated on sodomy charges in 1998.
“I think he is quite a different man now. I think he realises that things do not just go the way you want it to go. So he will have to be a bit more patient,” Dr Mahathir said of Anwar who is expected to take over the Prime Minister’s position in two year’s time.
However, Dr Mahathir apologised for appointing Najib to his cabinet and promoting him in the latter’s bid to become Prime Minister in 2009.
He described it as the “biggest mistake” of his life.
Dr Mahathir told Financial Times that his priority now is to restore democracy in Malaysia and reduce the capacity for abuse by the Prime Minister.
“Soon I’ll be 93… I will try to accomplish as much as possible in the short time given to me,” he said.
Financial Times said Dr Mahathir, who previously played with racial politics, is now heading a more racially diverse government.
Yet, Dr Mahathir admitted that racism in the government still runs deep.
“At the top level, there’s less racism in this government,” he said. “But at the ground level, the racial feeling is still very strong.”