We Are NOT Stupid, Mahathir!
The Unspoken Truth
These days, former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad grouchily gripes about the Mahathir days and recently, about how stupid are Malaysians. If he shifts the blame to the preferred victim of the season, it is a blatant hint he wants the entire nation to revert to the good old days when things were moving to his so-called good old ways – which failed anyway, even by his own measure. His ability to surprise, even shock, owes as much to that complexity as to the content of his policies.
Today, when Mahathir opens his mouth, his innate gift to outrage or to provoke anyone seems to have lost its sting, despite the complexity and inane predisposition of his senile logic.
Mahathir deceptively veered the nation off-course with his divide and rule infamousMahathirism via racism, religious extremism, corruption and cronyism thereby securing an immovable position in Malaysia’s hall of notoriety.
Once the country was on autopilot via his authoritarian rule, he skillfully undermined foundation of civil administration, educational institutions, independent judiciary and ultimately, the trademark peace and harmony long enjoyed by Malaysians, especially those in pre-Mahathir years, thanks to Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Before us today is a Malaysia at its peak of divisiveness, dissension, and disinformation. Important institutions operate in mediocrity and ambivalence – the trademark of Mahathir years. Yet, he condemns his successors for failing to match his accomplishments.
Mahathir mudah lupa.
Paradoxically, Mahathir forgot gave himself the irrevocable license to single-handedly select his successors and then the divine right to condemn them at his leisure and pleasure without ever acknowledging his error in choices or role in killing democracy.
There is only one explanation for this inextricable enigma that is Mahathir – the sum total of his personal response to political demands shows how Mahathir first, foremost and last – a ruthless politician with an insatiable need for power.
He forgot one thing. His father was a teacher from India whilst his mother was Malay with distant relationship to Kedah royalty. The other Prime Ministers either had blue blood or family members entrenched in politics. A former goreng pisang seller at the market, Mahathir seldom refers to being an outsider with humble beginnings.
If Mahathir feels Malaysians are stupid, does he know how, with the swish of a pen, he irreversibly undermined the standard of education in Malaysia? If he thinks Malaysians are stupid, he is responsible for our ‘stupidity’. Unknowingly, he has exposed his own vulnerability and desperado mode with such an insulting statement.
In mid-November, Mahathir accused Putrajaya of implementing education policies, which have resulted not only in widening the gap between races but also the rich and the poor. He claimed he wanted every Malaysian child to go to national schools where the medium of teaching would be Bahasa Malaysia. He has really forgotten what he did to the Malaysian education system.
As Minister of Education in the 1970’s, Mahathir implemented the national policy of using the Malay language as the medium of instruction in the national schools and public universities.
