Mahathir’s art of war: Turning foes into allies

Zakiah Koya, The Heat

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has displayed his own art of war by turning former enemies into allies just to serve his purpose. Mahathir has turned to the foreign media to continue his attacks on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to pressure him to step down.

At one point of time, Mahathir had brazenly fended off “the demonisation” of Najib by the international media. Najib came under fire from the foreign press when he was appointed as prime minister in 2009.

At that time, the first in line of his defence was none other than Mahathir who wrote on his blog, CheDet, that Najib should ignore the foreign media. The international press went to town with Mahathir’s blog entry defending Najib.

Umno-owned The New Straits Times wrote on April 22, 2009: “Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been advised to ignore negative reports about him in the foreign media”

Mahathir then said the western media had launched a concerted effort to demonise Najib.

“From France to Britain to Australia, the articles are identical and carried the same message. The PM is said to be corrupt and involved in a murder case,” said Mahathir, who as the fourth prime minister, ruled the country from 1981 to 2003.

“Included in the condemnation of the new PM is the allegation that he would bring back Mahathirism. By this, the Western press seems to imply that the fourth PM was a dictator who detained for no reason, manipulated the judiciary, controlled the press etc.”

The foreign press targeted by Mahathir was Australia’s The Australian, Britain’s The Telegraph and France’s Libération, which had written: “The murder of a Mongolian interpreter, in the heart of a thriller mixing arms sales, jet set and power, could jeopardise the future of the country’s strongman.”

In his blog, Mahathir continued to defend Najib, saying: “As the person concerned, I will leave it to Malaysians to judge and to define Mahathirism. They are the constituents which Najib should care about. The foreign press has an agenda of their own.

“And their friends in Malaysia are feeding them with the anti-Najib stories as they fear Najib would put a stop to their control of the media. Najib can expect to hear more of this kind of demonisation from the foreign press but it is what Malaysians think that counts. It is with them that Najib has to clear his name,” said Mahathir.

It is a well-known fact that Mahathir had then all along wanted Najib to take his place, but as Najib was not “ripe enough”, he chose Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as his immediate successor.

It was said that Abdullah was too laid-back during his tenure. When his arch enemy, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was released from prison, Mahathir decided that Abdullah had to go. He then started criticising Abdullah until the latter stepped down and Najib took over.

Najib hasn’t given in to Mahathir’s demands, which among others included the building of the crooked bridge linking Malaysia with Singapore. Najib had no intentions of being Mahathir’s puppet.

As the mainstream media defends Naiib as it does for every prime minister of the day, Mahathir has now taken to embracing the foreign press he once despised and gone on a character assassination campaign which he had previously accused the international media of doing.

On June 17, Mahathir gave an exclusive interview to The New York Times, accusing Najib of wastefulness and lavish spending.

“Mr. Mahathir is pressing allegations of malfeasance in a sovereign wealth fund, criticising the ‘lavish’ lifestyle of the prime minister’s wife, and has resurrected troubling questions about the murder of a Mongolian woman, the mistress of a former top aide to Mr. Najib,” stated The New York Times article.

In defence of Najib, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Minister in the PM’s Department Datuk Idris Jala had penned letters to the foreign press, saying Mahathir is merely out to get his own back against Najib.

While everyone is taking a wait and see approach on whether Najib buckles and resigns or is forced out of office, one thing is certain though – Mahathir will not let up in his art of war until he gets his way and using the foreign press is just another mean to meet that end.