Mahathir’s First 100 Days
He is literally repeating what he said in 1981 that never materialized throughout his 22 years tenure as the Prime Minister.
Tajuddin Rosli
“The first hundred days 22 years ago also started with a war against corruption and a revamp of the civil service, encapsulated by the now discredited ABC – amanah, bersih, cekap – slogan of a clean, efficient and trustworthy government. Twenty-two years down the line, all these earlier promises of a clean, incorruptible, open, accountable, efficient and people-oriented government have come to naught, with people groaning under an even more inefficient and insensitive civil service while corruption and financial scandals have worsened more than thousand-fold, from millions or rarely tens of millions of ringgit to billions and even tens of billions of ringgit!”
-Words of Lim Kit Siang in 2004 when he compared Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s first 100 days as Prime Minister to Mahathir’s first 100 days-
Pakatan’s chairman Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad recently revealed the Opposition’s anti-corruption manifesto. How befitting it is to get an anti-corruption manifesto released by the same man who is the Father of Corruption of the nation. It is akin to asking ISIS to release a manifesto to fight against terrorism.
Mahathir’s pledge of going after all corrupt officials in the first 100 days after coming to power is so hilarious that it puts Russell Peters to shame. He is literally repeating what he said in 1981 that never materialized throughout his 22 years tenure as the Prime Minister. Which is why nobody sane can take Mahathir seriously.
The ACA Dilemma
Mahathir also vows to revamp the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to make it answerable to Parliament and not the Prime Minister. Back then during the days of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), was it answerable to the Prime Minister who was Mahathir? Why didn’t Mahathir change it then? Why only now when he is a commoner lusting for the power he once had?
During Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s trial, the previous Director of ACA Datuk Shafee Yahya gave a sworn testimony in the court of law on an investigation the ACA conducted against the Ketua Pengarah of the Economy Planning Unit (EPU) in the past. In his testimony, Datuk Shafee clearly mentioned how Mahathir interfered in the investigation and instructed the ACA to close the case against the EPU chief. When Mahathir was asked about this after the court hearing, he responded saying he could not remember. I am sure if today you ask Mahathir about this incident, he would say Shafee was lying in court. Tun’s Selective Memory decides on his feet when to remember what.
Muslim Only Toilet
Not long ago when the nation was rocked by the ‘Muslim-only laundry’ incident in Johor, a lot of individuals from the Opposition camp condemned Najib for not publicly taking a stand. It is an irony though that these same individuals hero-worship the man behind the idea of ‘Islamic toilet’.
Tun Musa Hitam revealed that during Mahathir’s tenure as Prime Minister, the latter wanted to invent an “Islamic toilet” to improve public hygiene, and even made a prototype for which he asked the cabinet to inspect
For those of us who lived through Mahathir’s atrocities, we would never be fooled by the ruthless dictator’s words and promises. We have heard and witnessed too many of his lies. Mahathir can whine and cry till the heavens come crashing. To most of us he is just the boy who cries wolf.
