Perhaps Dr M speaks from experience


YOURSAY ‘Many things can be destroyed in five years, said Mahathir. But are you speaking based on your own experience of destroying the judiciary, freedom of speech and press...'

Mahathir: Even 5 years for Pakatan is dangerous

your sayFerdtan: Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is dangerous for Pakatan Rakyat to rule for even five years but he offered weak reasons. His attacks were mainly aimed at Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, the person.

Mahathir, Pakatan is not about Anwar; it is more than that - it is a coalition of three equally strong partners. It is unlike the dictatorial Umno, which acts as the undisputable boss of BN.

Whatever Umno decides, the other larger partners such as MCA and MIC in BN would not dare oppose, even if they disagree. It is not wrong to say that BN is Umno, and Umno is BN.

We are not sure Anwar practices nepotism and cronyism. But how can that be worse than BN, which has been doing it for the last 50 years?

We have heard before of Mahathir's accusation of Anwar being chummy with the bad guy, the IMF (International Monetary Fund), for blindly following its recommendations during the 1998 Asian financial crisis when he was the deputy PM.

After being exposed that he, as PM, hypocritically had asked for IMF loans to bail out the country - he now modified his statement to say it was Anwar's shortcoming that he implemented IMF solutions even without the IMF loans. See, Mahathir is always ‘right'.

Jaded: Many things can be destroyed in five years, said Mahathir. But are you speaking based on your own experience of destroying the judiciary, freedom of speech and press, the electoral process, our education system and the police force?

Abasir: To repair the damage inflicted on this nation by Umno and Mahathir over the past five decades will take a lot longer than five years.

US President Barack Obama's challenge is to undo the economic havoc wreaked by George W Bush over just eight years.

The party that takes over Putrajaya will have to clean out the proverbial Aegean stables, while being continually sniped at and sabotaged by the outgoing leeches and parasites.

The Selangor situation is a preview of what is to come. Pakatan needs to build up its resources for a Herculean task.

Swipenter: I think it would take at least 10 years for Pakatan to correct all the mistakes of his 22-year reign. Problems like corruption, cronyism, nepotism, racial and religious discrimination won't disappear overnight.

Reforms would take years to bear fruits. It would need many unpopular measures over years to correct the ills afflicting the country. The majority is not always right. Many policies would have to be based on conscience and not necessarily on the will of the majority.
Slumdog: Mahathir's comments are all about self-preservation and the anxiety he is feeling should the opposition win government at the next election. He speaks as though he is perfect, angelic and without fault.

He is always right and anyone else who dared have a contrary opinion to his, is wrong. He bullied, intimidated, demonised and incarcerated political foes.

He is the man who single handedly destroyed the fabric of Malaysia's multiracial society, public and private institutions by championing endemic corruption, cronyism and made lying an art form.

Adilawan: If it can be established that Wikipedia's original postingwas true to the facts (based on this Malaysia Chronicle report), then the question we want answered is how Mahathir could amass so much of wealth (estimated US$44 billion) on the salary and allowances he received as prime minister.

As an exemplary god-fearing Muslim, he is duty bound to explain to the public the sources of his wealth.

If he won't, then the presumption arises that his wealth is not legitimate and accordingly, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) ought to investigate him for corruption.

Not Convinced: Adilawan, I checked the Wikipedia's posting whenMalaysia Chronicle ran the report before Mahathir's name was removed from its list of ‘Heads of state and government by net worth'.

The source which led to Mahathir's inclusion in the list is from thisposting in an anonymous blog, FinanceTwitter.

You can read the posting yourself on how the blogger came up with its rough estimation of Mahathir's wealth.

The blog has a disclaimer: "FinanceTwitter publishes news, information, gossip (*evil grin*), rumours (who could resist this?), conjecture, opinions, and commentary... You should be skeptical of any information on FinanceTwitter, because it may be wrong."

While many of us hate Mahathir for what he had done, and is still doing, but let us criticise him based on facts, not on wild conjecture.

OMG!!: What caused the Asian Financial Crisis? It was irresponsible governments such as the Mahathir's then government which ramped up twin deficits - balance of payment and budget - and private and public sector debts to build monuments in the name of development.

That gave currency speculators such as George Soros the opportunity to attack the ringgit, which was artificially pegged against the US dollar and not supported by fundamentals.

The then government's remedy was to print money, just as the Western countries are doing now, to prime pump the economy. If the IMF medicine had been taken, Mahathir would have been forced to dismantle his cronyism and nepotism.

He would not be able to bail out his own son who sold his ailing shipping and logistic company using government agency Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC).

The innocent and ignorant rakyat are still paying the price of his medicine. Indeed, the country's debts level and budget deficits have not recovered since.

Ma Lay Sian: I agree with Mahathir - five years of Pakatan is definitely dangerous. As a matter of fact, one week is bad enough for you:

Day 1: Win Putrajaya. Day 2: Swearing in. Day 3: Issue warrant of arrest. Day 4: Charge you in court. Day 5: Convict you. Day 6: Turn down appeal. Day 7: You go to jail.

Wish you good health till that day, Tun. - Malaysiakini

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