Mahathir’s coronation as eminence grise in Najib premiership
Many Malaysians must have very mixed thoughts about Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s appearance at the Bukit Gantang by-election hustings this morning and in particular at the 90-minute live telecast by TV1 of the entire event.
The first thought is that the Najib premiership has made no real difference with the continued unchecked and blatant abuse of government power and resources for Umno and Barisan Nasional purposes, the shocking lack of integrity in the inability of those in power to make the important distinctions among government, party and self which is the root cause of rampant corruption and abuses of power in a government dominated by Umno hegemony.
How can a government channel, TV1, give a live telecast to what is clearly a by-election campaigning by Umno/Barisan Nasional? TV1 is no different from RTM1, what it was known previously, which I had described as Radio/Television Mahathir in the 22-year Mahathir administration.
However, what must have occurred to many who happened to watch the live telecast was that they were not just watching Mahathir campaigning for Umno/BN in Bukit Gantang by-election after rejoining Umno, but a “coronation” of Mahathir as the eminence grise in the Najib premiership and the formal burial of the Abdullah legacy in Umno and Barisan Nasional!
These events happened quickly within 10 days of Najib taking over as the Umno President from Abdullah.
