Cheers for Azmin, shame on Mahathir
Ibrahim Sani, Free Malaysia Today
Perhaps Ramadan has a lot to do with the rather subdued campaigning in the run-up to tomorrow’s by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar. There has been little mudslinging of the kind we’re used to.
Indeed, in Sungai Besar, there’s even a sort of camaraderie between the contending parties, most obviously between the PAS and Pakatan camps. Certainly, this has to do with Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s unenviable position of having to please PAS as a member of his administration as well as Amanah as a member of the Pakatan coalition. But he appears to have dealt with the situation rather well.
While he has thrown his weight behind Amanah candidate Azhar Shukor, as he must, he has also poured praise on PAS candidate Abdul Rani Osman.
Azmin has clearly been trying to promote a relationship oriented towards bridge building among political players in his state, and he deserves recognition for that. This is in contrast to what former PM Mahathir Mohamad has tried to bring to the campaign.
The senior statesman’s participation in the opposition campaign has drawn more flak than praise from politicians and members of the general public alike.
A resident of Manong (a town in the Kuala Kangsar District) aptly commented: “Why is Mahathir campaigning against BN? Isn’t he the one who put BN’s boss there?” This simple comment alludes to the notion that the mess that Mahathir seems to think BN is creating largely originates from himself.
BN politicians have also disparaged Mahathir’s role in the campaign. Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said, “Mahathir is a non-entity in the campaign.” Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed went so far as to say that “Mahathir is a traitor to party and race.” Indeed, Mahathir did show a determination to promote Umno’s race-based policies during his time in power.
But perhaps the comment that placed everything about Mahathir in the proper perspective was the one that came from the Lembah Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar. She said it was the opposition that was setting the agenda for reform, not Mahathir. The opposition is working with him only in the pursuit of a programme under that agenda, which is to change the country’s top leadership and which happens to coincide with his agenda. Nurul Izzah stressed that it was the opposition, not Mahathir, that was dictating and directing the agenda for reform.
Indeed, that makes sense. How can Mahathir now ask for the reform of policies that he himself set in place through nearly three decades?
So it would be ludicrous for him to say that he is initiating a reform agenda. Neither can he stake a claim on the restructuring agenda that PM Najib Razak is pursuing. Mahathir is truly trapped in no man’s land.
Ibrahim Sani is an FMT columnist
