Doc Mahathir: What’s Up?

October 3, 2014

by Simon Neoh@www.malaysia-chronicle.com (10-01-14)

It did not surprise me when former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad labelled his nemesis, Anwar Ibrahim as ‘a divisive man’, when he blamed Anwar for prolonging the entire Selangor Menteri Besar crisis.

Coming from Mahathir, one has to only take it with a pinch of salt, especially when the accuser himself is equally as guilty. While the ordinary man on the street can tell who, between Dr Mahathir and Anwar, who fits the description better, and how Khalid Ibrahim, with the help of his UMNO and PAS state assemblymen, had dragged the Selangor crisis for as long as he could, Dr Mahathir’s mudslinging backfires.

As pointed out to me by a self-development coach, this description fits the octogenarian very well: “The very things that we see in others which we hate reflect what we truly are and the things that we also hate in ourselves.”

Looking back at Dr Mahathir’s history as an activist in the early 60s and subsequently when he wrote the book ‘The Malay Dilemma’, Dr Mahathir was probably the most divisive person this nation has seen. When he was thrown out of UMNO for his widely-circulated poison pen letter against the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Petra Al-Haj, the Bapa Malaysia had predicted that, if Dr Mahathir is allowed to re-join UMNO, he would destroy the party. He was, and he still is, the reason why UMNO is weak and the urban Malays have become totally disillusioned with the Barisan Nasional government after 57 years of Independence.

The game plan is always to blame others, other himself, as author of the book, “The Malays, Their Problems and Future,” Dr. Syed Husin Ali wrote: “Many UMNO leaders and the Malays blamed the Tunku for the (May 13) incident; they accused him of being too liberal towards the Chinese and as a result the influence of UMNO began to decline, and it lost out to the PAS.”

It happened in 1969, and now, Dr Mahathir is trying to use the same strategy to pit one race against another. For example, in Selangor, PAS has won a number of traditional UMNO seats (in fact, more the other two Pakatan component parties), the DAP still gets the blame. This is Dr Mahathir’s strategy which he hopes Malays will once again fall prey to.

Note what Syed Husin wrote: “Dr Mahathir and many Malays believed that it was due to the Tunku’s indecisiveness and liberalism that the Chinese became more outspoken in their demands.” Change the word ‘Tunku’ with Najib, and you will understand what the Mahathir camp is hoping to achieve, but Dr Mahathir has forgotten that he no longer is in power.

Using His Kuncho

Recently, Dr Mahathir said that UMNO is now weak because its leaders are unwilling to criticize the party President.Yet, it was Dr Mahathir who cast the UMNO culture of “NO QUESTIONS ASKED!” in concrete, after helming the political organisation for 22 years. Former Prime Minister, Abdullah A. Badawi in his book, “The Awakening” wrote an apt description of Mahathir: “You have to agree with Mahathir on everything or he’ll try to destroy you.”

Of late, Dr Mahathir appears to be trying to stir up his ‘kunchos’ in UMNO, in the likes of people like former NST managing editor, Kadir Jasin and another former minister, Zainuddin Maidin, to stir up trouble for Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak. Like Dr Mahathir, these are all ‘former’ so-and-so. Therefore, their influence is not there, since they no longer hold the gravy train or dish out big contracts. Whether Dr Mahathir will be able to throw out Najib is something yet to be seen in the months ahead.

After declaring that he was pulling out his support from Najib, Dr Mahathir hopes to set the tempo for concerted efforts to smear Najib’s reputation and throw him out of his office. He now says UMNO is weak, when Najib’s own men are loyal to him.

Mahathir, Mahathir! What an irony for someone who had turned his UMNO Baru into nothing but a ‘dumb dumb’ party, whose leaders can no longer think on their own but follow the instruction from one man, and in the past, merely follow the whims and fancies of one man himself – Dr Mahathir Mohamad!

Reviving Malay Dilemma

By calling the Malays ‘lazy’, Dr Mahathir is again trying to pit the Malays against the Chinese. This is one attempt to play on their emotions and to rub salt into the past wounds. However, he fails to understand that times have changed. There are many Malays who are equally as hardworking as their Chinese or Indian counterparts but, because they are not UMNO cronies, they are not being noticed by Dr Mahathir.

The ones who come under Dr Mahathir’s radar are probably UMNO cronies who depend on government contracts. These are the ‘Mat Rempits’ and the others are the Ali Baba’s who do not have to work, but get a clean cut from every contract that is dished out to them.

Mahathir’s description of the Malays as being lazy therefore involves less than ten percent of the entire Malay population. Dr Mahathir has not seen the lady who has to wake up four o’clock in the morning to prepare nasi lemak for her husband to sell by the roadside. Or, the fisherman who has to go out into the sea and when the tides are high, they are left low and dry.

Strangely enough, champions of the Malay race like PERKASA President, Ibrahim Ali, the Universiti Pertahanan Malaysia ultra-kiasu Ridhuan Tee Abdullah and scribe, Kadir Jasin are defending their political masters describing Mahathir’s disparaging remarks about the race as nothing but a ‘fatherly advice.’ One can only wonder if these words had been uttered by DAP supremo, Lim Kit Siang, whether the forces of Hell would break lose!

Again, when Dr Mahathir called the Malays lazy, even Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who vowed by the name of Allah that all police reports against sedition will be probed within 24 hours, preferred to remain silent when questioned by Kit Siang.

This was a serious oath to any Muslim man, but Dr Mahathir appeared to be more important to Zahid than to keep to his oath. It was more than a week ago and even Dr Mahathir had thrown his challenge, “If I am supposed to be arrested under the law, then go ahead.” Why did Zahid remain silent? Instead, constitutional expert, Professor Aziz Bari became the latest victim.

Plot to destabilize Najib

In my opinion, the spate of sedition charges that we are now seeing is nothing but an entire plot to destabilize Najib. This may not be true, and only God knows what lies behind the things that we read in the news every day.

Assuming that my theory is right, Dr Mahathir, in knowing that the people will add to his momentum and eventually kick Najib out of his office. This has happened during Tunku’s era, as well as during the recent removal of Pak Lah.

The cycle is the same: Mahathir declares he withdraws his support, then (despite saying he has no intention to attack) starts throwing mud at Najib until it reaches the climax, where he will do something drastic like deciding to resign from UMNO. It is all down to draw more support from within UMNO against the party president. Another episode comes to an end, and the octogenarian gets what he wants.

After Najib steps down, Dr Mahathir’s warlords know that the next person in the succession plan is none other than Najib’s own cousin, Hishammuddin Hussein, but some UMNO grapevine is saying that the warlords are apparently also trying to block him.

 What is Mahathir Up To?

The question is: What is the old man up to? What is on his mind now? It’s hard to tell, but there are several theories. Mine is simple, but it explains what is possibly happening.After his son, Mukhriz became the Menteri Besar of Kedah, Dr Mahathir is possibly scheming for his upward movement within UMNO.

Rumours have it that Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin will quit instead of aiming for Najib’s office. If this is true, the next person in line would be UMNO Vice-President, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who will be picked as the Deputy Prime Minister. This will be the triumph of a son of an Indonesian migrant in Malaysian politics.

When Najib is eventually out, moving up as Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid would need a deputy, which comes handsomely in the person of Mukhriz Mahathir. It is likely that in the race, UMNO Youth President, Khairy Jamaluddin would not stand a chance to move up although he and Hishammuddin are next in line after Zahid.

Najib too liberal with the Chinese?

This is all done on the pretext that Najib, like Tunku, had been too liberal with the Chinese. The Chinese community would once again become the punching bag under Mahathir’s scheme of things. I hope I am wrong, but there are signs that point us in that direction.

As one writer, Nawawi Mohamad puts it in his writing, “Causing trouble in UMNO and pushing Mukhriz up the ladder”: “Mahathir stubbornly refuses to accept or to admit to his mistakes. This is one man who refuses to face up to reality. He is not really interested in the welfare of Malaysians at all, not even the Malays or UMNO. He only wants to save his face and to make sure that his son Mukhriz will become prime minister no matter what deals he has to execute with the current batch of UMNO warlords to effect this.

“Ruthless and completely selfish, Mahathir would think nothing of creating chaos just to fulfill that ambition. After all, he could de-register UMNO just to stay in power. Imagine what he won’t dare to do to get Mukhriz in as UMNO President. But it is this incessant interfering and trouble-making in UMNO that will be his tenth and last mistake.”

If Nawawi’s prediction comes true, “Mahathir will doom UMNO, and in imploding, UMNO will very likely take Mahathir down for the count.”

Another blogger, Din Merican wrote about Mahathir’s game plan and how it has destroyed UMNO: “The original UMNO, which is synonymous with Tunku Abdul Rahman and independence, suffered an ignominious end because of Mahathir. Until then, if Mahathir, the offspring of a migrant from Kerala, is allowed to have his own way, it is the Malays who will again be losing out. Already being labeled as L-A-Z-Y” by Dr Mahathir himself, they become his tool to achieve his own objectives.

I fully agree with commentator, Mariam Mokhtar who wrote an insightful piece: “Malays need protection and Islam needs defending. These two myths have long been peddled by UMNO Baru but the effect has been to belittle the Malays and demonise the religion.

“Few Malays ever ask UMNO Baru: “Why do we need protecting? From whom or from what?” The irony is that Malays need to be protected from UMNO Baru because it is an extremist party. If for any reason Malaysia ceased to exist tomorrow the Malays would still survive but UMNO Baru would be defunct.

“If UMNO Baru were to fold up tomorrow, Malaysia would thrive and the Malays would flourish. The most valuable resource of this nation is not so much the natural wealth of the country like timber, oil, oil palm and rubber. Our most valuable resource is the people. Malaysia would not be where it is today if not for the collective efforts and sacrifices of everyone, including the non-Malays, who built the economy, risked their lives in the two World Wars, the Emergency and the Confrontation.”

Thank you, Mariam, Din and Dr. Syed Husin for hitting the nail on the head! You have opened our eyes, and we will pray that Malaysia will experience wind of change. -MAILBAG