Dr Mahathir is back as “flavour of the season”?
The "political" season refers here, as dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and hence determined mainly by its President, who is Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak since the last UMNO General Assembly in March 2009.
For five long years under the Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in the political wilderness. By a turn of fortune, his "obedient" subject-mentee Najib, with a little help from his friend-cum-mentor, retired the Mr "Nice Guy" prime minister aka Pak Lah, prematurely.
So now, Mahathir is riding high once again, a beneficiary of an adminstration under constant siege and hence, Najib can do with Mahathir on his side rather than needling him on the sides, a fate that befell a half-dazed Abdullah Badawi whom many dismissed as too weak a leader in the Internet age, and hence he rode into the sunset as a forgettable prime minister.
On the other hand, the Malaysian sun has never really set as far as Mahathir is concerned — for the 84-year-old politician has as this main capital a "BIG mouth"– in his own words spoken at the BUM2009 gathering in Subang Jaya on May 16, 2009. This maestro uses this capital to the hilt, and as an orator Mahathir, standing tall most times, can hold the audience spell bound for hours contrasted with Pak Lah who would put most people to sleep within minutes, standing up or sitting down. So fellow Malaysians must prepare themselves for more of Dr Mahathir on the PWTC Stage once again as long as the good doctor's actions and thinking aloud suit and feed the UMNO-dominated Barisan Nasional agenda, determined largely by UMNO President Najib of course.
The ex-PM's presence was only obscured for five years by Pak Lah in the national CEO's driver seat, and his famous son-in-law as co-driver manning the steering wheels, by more or less "blacking out" Mahathir from the mainstream media (MSM). But the new media offered Mahathir a new window of sunshine, and he found new friends in former foes in the Internet-based media (like malaysiakini.com who once flagged Mahathir as among the World's Top Enemies of the Press!). The new found allies have flourished from Dr Mahathir's entrenched Bill Of Guarantees embodied in the high-profile Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) which ensures "no censorship" of the Internet.
And playing a prominent role in putting Dr Mahathir again back under the spotlight is the media, both old and new, local and foreign. And in the past year, Mahathir has embraced the Fifth Estate like no other senior citizen — he started a blog as a counter measure to the Fourth Estate "boycotting" him at the behest of Pak Lah's Fourth Floor boys at Putrajaya. The prolific writer in him achieved quite a feat unlikely to be repeatedin Malaysia — in his first year of blogging from May 1 last year, at chedet.com, he registered 19million hits.
To me, Dr Mahatir is a natural newsmaker. With great intellect, he was among the few Malays who took up medical studies — all his three predecessor-PMs were schooled in law, and if I am hinting that a doctor would indicate possession of higher IQ than arts-based minds, I do indeed plead guilty, but offer no apologies. Also, the man is witty — some would say he's sarcastic most times, flashing his inimitable smirk! — and provides many quotable quotes, which without fail would warm the cockles of any journalist's heart.
