Fake letter from Dr Mahathir to Israeli’s Ehud Barak resurfaces
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad slams nameless cybertroopers for resharing an old fake letter.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter, or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was today forced to yet again issue a denial regarding a letter he allegedly wrote to his former Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak requesting for funds.
In the letter which surfaced many years ago, Dr Mahathir had allegedly written to Barak requesting Barak’s help to get in touch with the Clinton Fund to “withstand the onslaught of Islamic fundamentalists in Malaysia” in facing the 1999 general election.
As he did in 2008, Dr Mahathir today again denied he wrote such a letter to Barak.
Back then, Dr Mahathir had pointed out several irregularities with regard to the fake letter.
He said the font was different than the one his office used. Also different is the Malaysian coat of arms on the letterhead. The address is also different compared to the one printed on Dr Mahathir’s official stationery.
“Often no address is printed, only ‘Prime Minister Malaysia’ in the top right hand corner,” he said 15 years ago.
In a Twitter post today, Dr Mahathir said the fake letter had been around since the 90s. What also remains the same, according to him, is that the spread of the letter is being done by nameless individuals.
DOKUMEN PALSU
— Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) September 5, 2023
1. Terdapat dua perkongsian di media sosial menuduh saya pertamanya, mengarah tekanan dilakukan ke atas seseorang untuk membuat kenyataan palsu terhadap Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
2. Kedua, saya kononnya mengutus surat kepada Ehud Barak, PM Israel meminta bantuan…
He said if the letter is real, then it was better to lodge a report with the authorities instead of using cybertroopers to share the letter.
Why the confusion?
The sharing of the fake letter is being supported by old news reports that Dr Mahathir, during his tenure as prime minister the first time around, had written to three Israeli prime ministers.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak, when he was prime minister, had declassified the letter that Dr Mahathir wrote to Barak.
The letter, written in 1999, was released by the Foreign Ministry to Bernama in 2012.
“This will enable the people to understand the reason why Tun Dr Mahathir wrote the letter was to champion the Palestinian struggle to establish a sovereign nation,” Najib had said on his decision to release the letter.
Dr Mahathir at the time said he had no qualms over the letter being made public.
He said he had wanted to do it himself, by publishing it in his book, but the government did not allow it then.
“Now that the government wants to reveal the content of the letter, I can only express my gratitude,” Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying.
The letter spoke, among others, of Malaysia’s wish for the formation of a free Palestine state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The letter was written in June 1999 and not August as seen in the fake letter. Also, there was nothing about requesting to access the Clinton Fund in the June letter.
Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Threads.
