Enough with words, Mahathir

Zulhilmi Zainal, Free Malaysia Today

Despite all the accusations and criticisms being levelled at Prime Minister Najib Razak, his power over Umno and the government seems to grow stronger by the day.

Nevertheless, there are still Umno members who defy him, and the most prominent of these has got to be former premier Mahathir Mohamad. Unfortunately, he is not doing enough in his defiance. All he seems to have done is give speeches and interviews and write blog posts condemning the man he himself picked to lead the country.

For a while, however, it seemed like he was going to lead an actual rebellion. He made a surprise appearance at the Bersih 4 rally, and then got chummy with the ousted deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. At one point, it even looked like his son Mukhriz, the Kedah Menteri Besar, would join the anticipated rebellion.

But Mahathir has not done much more since, at least overtly. He has returned to using mere words in his rebellion, and Najib is left to do as he pleases.

At the moment, it seems that the only rebels left to carry Mahathir’s torch are a smattering of Umno branch heads, sacked Batu Kawan Umno vice-chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and former Langkawi Umno member Anina Saadudin. But as earnest as they seem, they have barely tickled Najib’s grip on power.

Mahathir needs to do more than write blog entries and talk. Surely he knows that his allegations have got him nowhere.

This is not a plea to a hero to champion the cause of his people. This is a reminder to an old man that he has the obligation to clean up the mess he created while he was in power.

What is he afraid of? He is already 90 years old. Whatever reprisal he might face if he went all out is surely not going to have much effect on the quality of his remaining years.

Is he afraid that the country would go through an upheaval if he committed more effort and resources into toppling Najib? Come on, it’s not as if he ever cared much for the people.

Mahathir needs to be more proactive in restoring Malaysia to the state it was in before he put it on the road to ruin.