00:00Dr. Mahathir Mohamad today said that he became less popular among the Malays due to Ahmad
00:07Zayed Hamidi's allegedly defamatory statement.
00:11The former prime minister told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that this was the reason he decided
00:16to file his defamation suit five years after Zahid insulted him.
00:22Mahathir is suing Zahid for allegedly calling him kuti, which the former said was intended
00:27as a derogatory reference to him.
00:30He claimed the statement was meant to imply that he was not born a Malay or Muslim and
00:36that his original name was Mahathir son of Iskandar Kuti.
00:40In his defense, Zahid said the name was in reference to information contained in a copy
00:46of an old identity card.
00:49Mahathir said people believed Zahid because he was the deputy prime minister in 2017.
00:55He said he did not realize the impact of Zahid's statement until after the 2018 general
01:00election.
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