This was the opinion of Sabah Speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, who wrote in his blog today that Dr Mahathir didn't care about what Najib had to say and that the former premier had already made up his mind that he wouldn't accept the Prime Minister's explanation.
"In fact, that was the very purpose Tun Mahathir turned, so he could do just that.
"Dr Mahathir has reduced himself from the level of a statesman to that of a street brawler. And this is most unfortunate. What is even more unfortunate is that Dr Mahathir expects the Prime Minister to also come down to this level," said Salleh.
He said he was relieved that the event was called off and that the public dialogue, that was going to be turned into a public brawl between Najib and Dr Mahathir, was a bad idea.
A screenshot of Salleh's blog
“First of all, I do not see what such a brawl can achieve. There are no winners and losers in something like this. I remember when a public debate was held between PKR Youth and UMNO Youth, also held at the PWTC, and it was reduced to a jeering match with both sides claiming they had won the debate.
“All it did was to reduce the dignity of the debaters to the level of the crowd who were only interested in seeing a fight and were not interested in the facts that the debaters had to argue.
“This is what would have happened today. No one would have been interested in what the Prime Minister had to say. What they wanted to see was for Dr Mahathir to 'hentam' Najib in public,” he said.
Salleh said the event would be undignified if Najib had turned up, and it was good that the premier didn’t.
"It was therefore, a very good idea that Najib did not turn up. I dread to think what would have happened had he turned up and tempers had gone out of control. Under such a situation it does not take much for words to turn to violence."
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