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Is Mahathir's reputation fading away?
Ihtesham M Choudhury
There is high political temperature in Kuala Lumpur (KL) these
days. It is literally activated by the recent leadership
conflict between the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad -- who is considered the father of modern Malaysia --
and the ruling Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Interestingly, the two belong to the same political party,
United Malay National Organization (Umno). Mahathir had
personally chosen his deputy Abdullah, a mild-mannered
politician known as Pak Lah or "uncle," as his successor when he
decided to step down from politics in 2003.
He now openly regrets this, saying that he made a mistake and
has attacked Abdullah's government over four issues: issuance of
Approval Permits (APs) to unqualified candidates for selling
vehicles, scrapping of half-bridge (some say crooked bridge)
replacing the Causeway, removal of national car Proton's former
head Tengku Mahaleel, a Mahathir man, and the sale of MV
Augusta, a subsidiary of Proton, at one Euro ($1.3).
In the 2004 election Malaysians gave anoverwhelming mandate to
Abdullah shortly after he took over power from Mahathir. The
latter declared that he would not participate in active politics
anymore the way Lee Kuan Yew was then doing in Singapore,
serving the city state as "Senior Minister" after handing over
power to Goh Chock Tong. Yet Mahathir was consistently persuaded
by his colleagues to play a role in the background as "Senior
Statesman" or "Senior President" in Umno. But his only reply:
no.
In his bitter criticism of PM Abdullah, who has earned the image
of good guy in this region, Mahathir has cleverly chosen
nationalistic and pro-bumiputera (son of the soil) stand to
argue his allegations. For aborting the half-bridge, he
disparaged Pak Lah for being non-patriotic and not standing up
against Singapore. He also quashed the explanation of the
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid. Trade and Industry Minister Rafida
Aziz was also blamed for not awarding APs to deserving
bumiputeras.
Dr Mahathir, indeed, organized road-shows to voice out his
grievances, inviting the members of opposition. There, he
outrageously criticized Abdullah for sidelining the policies he
left with the government and also for rescinding the giant
projects (mostly unproductive) that were his legacy. He mocked
the cabinet ministers with comments such as "they are like a
chorus line; they are all dancing; when one kicks, all will
kick."
Understandably, Mahathir's lambasting of the ruling party has
well been received by the leaders of opposition: especially
Patri Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), an Islamic fundamentalist party,
trying to implement Shariah Law and a rival of Umno, has found
it as good omen for them to fish in the troubled water. Last
time, with same strategy, they defeated Umno in Terengganu state
election after Mahathir expelled his deputy Anwar Ibrahim in
1999.
In fact, the former premier's road-shows, with audience of PAS
members, have become a serious issue within the leaders of Umno.
In support of PM Abdullah, cabinet ministers and Mentri Besars
instantly expressed their regrets over Mahathir's association
with the opposition, they say he is sleeping with enemy, and
advised him to stop his attacks on the government.
They said his insensible comments could be used by the
opposition to weaken the government and disarray the people and
thus, they questioned his loyalty to Umno. One Nazri Aziz, a
minister in the prime minister's office, who also served the
former premier, has even gone further asking him to leave Umno.
If Mahathir belongs to an opposition camp, asserts Nazri, it
will be easier for the administration to deal with him.
Malaysia's deputy PM Najib Razak, whose loyalty is widely
believed a key factor to defuse this explosive situation, also
rallied behind his embattled boss Abdullah and appealed to the
party members and the rakyat (people) to give full support to
Pak Lah.
Throughout the political struggle in his life, Mahathir never
ran away from the battlefield of politics. In his 22 years rule,
he picked up political fracas with Malaysia's kings, judicial
authorities and party members in Umno. Every time he came out
the winner. Mahathir, now 80, is still strong enough to take on
his opponents.
In his early days of doing politics, Mahathir wrote a fierce
letter, criticizing the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman
soon after the deadly race-riots in 1969 for his (Tunku's)
failure to uphold the dignity of Malays. This led to his
dismissal from Umno. The following year he wrote a book, The
Malay Dilemma, for which Mahathir became champion as "Malay
ultra." The book was, however, banned for sometime. He was later
readmitted to Umno when Tun Abdul Razak was prime minister.
A challenge by the former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh
Hamzah for the position of Umno president in 1987 was muted by
Mahathir with narrow victory. He immediately sacked Razaleigh
along with five Cabinet ministers who sided with him, including
Abdullah who was then defence minister. Later he (Abdullah) was
reappointed after he won the post of Umno vice-president.
Sacking of lord president of the supreme court of Malaysia, Tun
Salleh Abas, together with three other judges by Mahathir in
1988 is largely viewed as an interference with the judiciary.
Malaysia's kings were seen to pay the price for abusing their
powers in 1992. Mahathir took them to task by implementing a
code of conduct for them, getting it approved in the parliament.
Abdullah's recent measure to investigate the past cases of
corruption and other financial irregularities among government
officials, says one analyst, perhaps provoked Mahathir in the
past weeks. The prime minister is seen not only going for new
policies having more transparency to attract foreign investments
but at the same time looking into the cases of misappropriation,
corruption, and mismanagement of Mahathir.
As it is expected, former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was
framed by the then Mahathir's government for sodomy charges and
later acquitted by a panel of three judges of the Federal Court
in 2004, has urged Malaysians not to be unduly distracted by the
political drama, saying that Mahathir's criticisms are not
addressed for the reforms but to suit his personal benefits. His
recent victory over former police chief, Rahim Noor, infamous
for giving Anwar a black eye, and possible defamation suit
against his ex-boss are perceived by political observers in KL
as another possible ground for Mahathir to be rancorous with the
administration.
Even if Mahathir hardly lost any battle with his opponents in
the past, some analysts suggets that the times are different now
and the Cabinet ministers are solidly behind the Prime Minister
Abdullah. Exactly. Much depends on how Mahathir, a shrewd
strategist, will maneuver his political game-plans in the months
ahead to see if he can remain as a stalwart in Umno.
Ihtesham M Choudhury is Managing Partner, i3-P International and
a freelance writer.
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