Mahathir Please Shut Up!

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is a frustrating man. When all is said and done, he’ll go down as the father of modern Malaysia, and even his critics have to admit that he’s done quite a lot to make his country a reasonably well-functioning nation. But then there are times - and I don’t know quite what sets him off - when he’s capable influence on the grassroots UMNO's.

It is not right because it is clear that Dr Mahathir is full of anger and uncontrolled vengeance.

Mahathir’s overweening ambition, arrogance and megalomania that corrupted an entire generation of Malaysians - especially the UMNO's - and destroyed almost every vestige of decency and democracy in what was then a very young and vulberable country. What did he accomplish apart from squandering trillions of ego props like Dayabumi (a very elegant white elephant), the Petronas Twin Towers, KLIA and the Orwellian nightmare that Cyberjaya and Putrajaya symbolize. Most annoying of all, that power-hungry old fool refuses to shut up or wise up!

Mahathir is an egostic man; he thinks he is the only just man in the land who is a wise man. Mahathir double speaks throughout with the sort of sophistry that does not bear out to close examination in many of his statements he made and faithfully pronounced like words of wisdom by the most slavish media. He was successfully dictatorial because of complicity of feudal politics and the turned over media. An unfair man at home who cried the loudest about international unfairness.

The fact that no bronze image has been casted for him(he didn’t want one) does not make him any less dictatorial in his ways. In later years especially, it was often hard to find an issue of the Star that does not carry his picture somewhere when it does not appear on page1. He was presented as the only great intellectual and leader of Bolehland.

He was very successfully cunning precisely because there was no real opposition and because his own party is also predatory and in symbiosis with his grandiose diktates and aim. Racism also enables such dictatorship because it effectively a considerable section of the populace by default.

Malaysians are being insulted till this moment when Mahathir continues to speak his mind. Probably he cannot feel the wind of change. He needs a typhoon to sent him away for good.

Mahathir is the root of all evil in Malaysia for much of the past 50 years. Every 10+ years he will cause chaos and break apart UMNO to consolidate his own empire. Late 1960s he started agitating the grassroots against Tunku and was part of the ultras whose racist rhetoric led directly to violent clashes between races in Malaysia & Singapore. This led to Singapore being expelled from Malaysia (Mahathir hates Singapore due to his own personal experience). The coup & violence of 1969 is also a direct result of Mahathir and the ultras racial posturing.

In the late 1970s he did the same thing to Hussein Onn. He agitated the warlords to defy Hussein Onn by calling UMNO to vote to release the chief architect of May 13 - Datuk Harun Idris from jail (for corruption, although it was an excuse by Hussein Onn to punish this mass murderer). He pretended to support Hussein Onn after Hussein Onn’s position became untenable and promised to hand over power later to Razaleigh..something the power hungry Mahathir would never do (until now).

In 1987, Mahathir caused the breakup of UMNO and formed the illegal party UMNO Baru after barely surviving a challenge by Razaleigh. The only reason he won was because he jailed opposition and civil society leaders under ISA, sacked the Supreme Court judges and put his own ball carriers there, subverted the police, curbed the powers of the royalty, banned newspapers etc.

In 1998 Mahathir strikes again when he sacked Anwar, put him on trial in a kangaroo court and jailed him, whacked Anwar, arrested pro-Anwar people under ISA. The Malay community became polarised and divided. Chaos on the streets. That is all acceptable as Mahathir strengthened his hold on power.

And now 2008, Mahathir is poised to strike again. How many upheavals can Malaysia withstand before collapsing due to one power hungry egomaniac called Mahathir?

Corruption, cronism, nepotism, 30% pre-election nomination (umno), Tun Salleh dismissal, destroying the judicial institution, Eric Chia’s case were some of the masterpiece of Mahathir’s and these are just the tip of iceberg. He had 4 deputies, at least 2 of them quit abruptly (to say in the most mild manner). He was absolutely 100% responsible in appointing Abdullah as his successor;no one had any say except him. Now he turned around and so spiteful. His evil plan was to have an average successor hoping to control him from behind so that he could continue to plunder the country’s wealth. Just look at the way he handled the crooked bridge issue; this is because simply his son and and his cronies lost an avenue to enriched themselves’ revenue. He had no heart for the nation from the beginning. Never ever.

Given Malaysia’s resources, we should be at least the richest country in Asia (if not the world); but Malaysia is so lagged behind in many fronts versus Singapore which has nothing apart from a relatively clean govt. WHY? because the standard of corruption, bribery, nepotism and cronyism at their “best” during Mahathir's time.