“Jews have always been a problem. They have to be confined to ghettos and periodically massacred.”
Those are the exact words of the notoriously sly former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad which were quoted and carried by news media when he launched the maiden assembly of the General Conference for the Support of Al-Quds (GCSQ) in the capital on Jan 20.
Coming from a supposedly great leader and a champion of the Third World, every single ounce of the speech is irresponsible, inciting and racist, to say the least.
It also goes to reflect the nature of Mahathir’s thinking and his deep-rooted hatred of anything Jewish.
However, it has never deterred him or his administration back then to use Jewish elements as long as it benefits him politically and economically.
Allegedly, the Malaysian government employed the services of disgraced US lobbyist Jack Abramoff to secure an audience with the then US President George W Bush.
He blamed the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis squarely on currency speculators led by one George Soros, a Jew (which he then retracted after a meeting with Soros years later). Mahathir’s administration employed financial giants Salomon Smith Barney and Citigroup, also with clear Jewish links, to assist the country in climbing out of the crisis.
The superficial antagonism of Mahathir towards Jews is a clear paradox to his irrefutable association with them.
In fact, back in the 80’s his rumoured involvement in the Freemason movement put him on the backfoot, to the extent that he had to deny it in his speech during an Umno general assembly in that period.
Mahathir can wear the facade of an anti-Semitic while behaving in the exact manner at almost the same time.
His Jew-bashing speech at the GCSQ event did not end there and Mahathir also spewed venom on the Western imperialists, taking aim at the United States.
The absurdity of his speech reached nonsensical heights when he drummed up a conspiracy theory ala Michael Moore that the Sept 11 attack on World Trade Centre in New York was staged by the US in order to attack Iraq and Afghanistan, i.e. the Muslim world.
Only Mahathir is capable of throwing everything including the kitchen sink towards his victim while nonchalantly absolving himself of all blame.
After being awed by Hollywood’s technological prowess visualised by the brilliantly executed James Cameron sci-fi movie “Avatar”, Mahathir came to an almost seemingly outrageous conclusion that the “self-inflicted” Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York was staged by the US themselves.
While some fringe wannabe commentators (myself included) are unable to fathom the logic and reasoning of Mahathir’s rants, many of his die-hard fans will believe every shred of nonsense that comes out of his mouth.
It goes to show a basic fundamental problem with Malaysians (especially hardcore Umno-ites and Malay nationalists) that this veteran leader is the only hero that they can look up to.
Much revered for his material and economic contributions to the country, these same people seem to easily forgive and forget that Mahathir himself has allowed billions of ringgit (RM100 billion according to Barry Wain’s recent book) to be leaked from the nation’s coffers to satisfy his enormous megalomaniac appetite.
Billions were squandered and lost due to comatose projects like Perwaja and the LRT system, which bear Mahathir’s insignia.
Nepotism, cronyism and abuse of power have been the order of the day.
Mahathir feeds on the dogmatic and Malay-nationalist patriotic junkies with his often racist statements on Malay rights and supremacy of the Malay race.
He started out as an Ultra-Malay, according to the first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Mahathir then ruled the country for 20-odd years, displaying his liberal side but never lost any of his anti-imperialist and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
By wearing the “Keffiyah” symbolising his solidarity with the Palestinians’ struggle, Mahathir has shown his ultimate chameleon side.
For an over-hyped statesman and one that has his own World Peace Conference, implicating leaders from the West with crimes against humanity, ideas of persecuting any race or community is definitely not just and peaceful.
While he criticises and insinuates against everyone that crosses his path, Mahathir comes across as someone who is out of time and definitely out of tune much like how Lee Kuan Yew is for Singapore.
His economic policies have shown failure and the spill over effects are felt up until today, with the country now lagging to even compete with minnows back in the 1970’s like Indonesia, Thailand and even Vietnam.
He built a coterie of cronies that sucked the wealth and resources of the country to the point that it was unbearable for the economy.
His leadership was an absolute nightmare, none more so than the devilish treatment of his once anointed successor, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was stripped, beaten and jailed in 1998.
He has created a political monster in Umno that gobbles up everything in its path and rules the country according to their whims and fancies.
While the tallest and biggest super-structures were built, education, healthcare and welfare of the commoners deteriorated.
This dinosaur of a leader does not deserve the accolades that Malaysians shower him with.
As he is being shunned by the rest of the world except for Venezuela, Zimbabwe as well as Iran, and is being left behind by globalisation and rapid technological advances, Malaysians especially Umno-ites and Malay nationalists need to free themselves from the man called Mahathir, to move on into the real world.
Mahathir, the Jews are not the problem, you are!
*The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
MI
21/01/2010
Those are the exact words of the notoriously sly former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad which were quoted and carried by news media when he launched the maiden assembly of the General Conference for the Support of Al-Quds (GCSQ) in the capital on Jan 20.
Coming from a supposedly great leader and a champion of the Third World, every single ounce of the speech is irresponsible, inciting and racist, to say the least.
It also goes to reflect the nature of Mahathir’s thinking and his deep-rooted hatred of anything Jewish.
However, it has never deterred him or his administration back then to use Jewish elements as long as it benefits him politically and economically.
Allegedly, the Malaysian government employed the services of disgraced US lobbyist Jack Abramoff to secure an audience with the then US President George W Bush.
He blamed the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis squarely on currency speculators led by one George Soros, a Jew (which he then retracted after a meeting with Soros years later). Mahathir’s administration employed financial giants Salomon Smith Barney and Citigroup, also with clear Jewish links, to assist the country in climbing out of the crisis.
The superficial antagonism of Mahathir towards Jews is a clear paradox to his irrefutable association with them.
In fact, back in the 80’s his rumoured involvement in the Freemason movement put him on the backfoot, to the extent that he had to deny it in his speech during an Umno general assembly in that period.
Mahathir can wear the facade of an anti-Semitic while behaving in the exact manner at almost the same time.
His Jew-bashing speech at the GCSQ event did not end there and Mahathir also spewed venom on the Western imperialists, taking aim at the United States.
The absurdity of his speech reached nonsensical heights when he drummed up a conspiracy theory ala Michael Moore that the Sept 11 attack on World Trade Centre in New York was staged by the US in order to attack Iraq and Afghanistan, i.e. the Muslim world.
Only Mahathir is capable of throwing everything including the kitchen sink towards his victim while nonchalantly absolving himself of all blame.
After being awed by Hollywood’s technological prowess visualised by the brilliantly executed James Cameron sci-fi movie “Avatar”, Mahathir came to an almost seemingly outrageous conclusion that the “self-inflicted” Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York was staged by the US themselves.
While some fringe wannabe commentators (myself included) are unable to fathom the logic and reasoning of Mahathir’s rants, many of his die-hard fans will believe every shred of nonsense that comes out of his mouth.
It goes to show a basic fundamental problem with Malaysians (especially hardcore Umno-ites and Malay nationalists) that this veteran leader is the only hero that they can look up to.
Much revered for his material and economic contributions to the country, these same people seem to easily forgive and forget that Mahathir himself has allowed billions of ringgit (RM100 billion according to Barry Wain’s recent book) to be leaked from the nation’s coffers to satisfy his enormous megalomaniac appetite.
Billions were squandered and lost due to comatose projects like Perwaja and the LRT system, which bear Mahathir’s insignia.
Nepotism, cronyism and abuse of power have been the order of the day.
Mahathir feeds on the dogmatic and Malay-nationalist patriotic junkies with his often racist statements on Malay rights and supremacy of the Malay race.
He started out as an Ultra-Malay, according to the first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Mahathir then ruled the country for 20-odd years, displaying his liberal side but never lost any of his anti-imperialist and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
By wearing the “Keffiyah” symbolising his solidarity with the Palestinians’ struggle, Mahathir has shown his ultimate chameleon side.
For an over-hyped statesman and one that has his own World Peace Conference, implicating leaders from the West with crimes against humanity, ideas of persecuting any race or community is definitely not just and peaceful.
While he criticises and insinuates against everyone that crosses his path, Mahathir comes across as someone who is out of time and definitely out of tune much like how Lee Kuan Yew is for Singapore.
His economic policies have shown failure and the spill over effects are felt up until today, with the country now lagging to even compete with minnows back in the 1970’s like Indonesia, Thailand and even Vietnam.
He built a coterie of cronies that sucked the wealth and resources of the country to the point that it was unbearable for the economy.
His leadership was an absolute nightmare, none more so than the devilish treatment of his once anointed successor, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was stripped, beaten and jailed in 1998.
He has created a political monster in Umno that gobbles up everything in its path and rules the country according to their whims and fancies.
While the tallest and biggest super-structures were built, education, healthcare and welfare of the commoners deteriorated.
This dinosaur of a leader does not deserve the accolades that Malaysians shower him with.
As he is being shunned by the rest of the world except for Venezuela, Zimbabwe as well as Iran, and is being left behind by globalisation and rapid technological advances, Malaysians especially Umno-ites and Malay nationalists need to free themselves from the man called Mahathir, to move on into the real world.
Mahathir, the Jews are not the problem, you are!
*The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
MI
21/01/2010
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