Pakatan will pay for Dr M’s philandering with truth
Given Mahathir’s history of playing the blame game, his expression of remorse for sacking Anwar Ibrahim has backfired
Jeswan Kaur, Berita Daily
There is fake news and now there is fake confession. While the former is often blamed on dissenting voices against the Barisan Nasional government, the latter, however, has everything to do with just one man – Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former premier who led Malaysia for 22 years before making a comeback under the opposition banner of Pakatan Harapan.
Unlike the federal government’s rantings surrounding fake news, Mahathir’s admission of how he failed his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, whom he sacked from the posts of deputy prime minister and finance minister before Anwar was jailed in 1999 for corruption, smacks of nothing but desperation.
On Tuesday, the 92-year-old Mahathir, who is also Pakatan chief and its prime minister candidate, in an interview with Sin Chew Daily claimed he made the wrong decision in firing Anwar but promptly justified it, saying he “had no choice”.
Mahathir bemoaned that if he could turn back time, sacking Anwar would never happen.
In the interview, Mahathir said he “should not have followed the law completely” in making the decision.
“From a political point of view, I would not have done this (sacking Anwar). When I was the prime minister, I promised myself not to do anything that would make people hate me,” he was quoted as saying.
Mahathir rued that he had no choice but to dismiss Anwar after police presented evidence to him.
Denying that he led the country along the lines of a dictator, Mahathir told the newspaper had he indeed been one as per people’s perception, he could have ordered that Anwar be jailed immediately.
Instead, he said, Anwar got a trial.
Truly mind boggling that it took almost 20 years before Mahathir’s conscience vis-a-vis the sacking of Anwar decided to prick him. Or is there more to the so-called confession than meets the eye, given that Mahathir now bears the responsibility of helping Pakatan savour success in the coming 14th general election (GE14)?
In any case, with Mahathir’s history of playing the blame game, his latest attempt at whitewashing Malaysians into believing he is all heart and was truly remorseful for having ruined Anwar’s political career has just as swiftly backfired.
Mahathir no messiah
One such salvo against the country’s longest serving prime minister came from former opposition PKR member Badrul Hisham Shaharin who, like many Malaysians, is baffled with the declaration made by Mahathir.
“It was last year that he said he did not regret sacking Anwar; now he is saying he regrets it,” he bemoaned.
Badrul, populary called Chegu Bard, slammed Mahathir as nothing but the king of U-turns as the latter stayed consistent in shirking responsibilities.
“Mahathir never changed. Those who fought against him changed. Mahathir is the king of U-turns. In 2019, he is probably going to say that he was wrong in wanting to oust Najib Razak.
“He is a classic case of Machiavelli. He made it clear that his motive is only to kick Najib out. That’s all,” Badrul decried.
Badrul has a valid point. This out-of-the-blue owning up by Mahathir is not ineluctable. On the contrary, the takeaway message that the Pakatan chairperson has sent out is this – that the coalition is extremely desperate to outdo its rival BN in the looming GE14.
To play on the Anwar imprisonment is going to cost both Mahathir and Pakatan dearly for it would yield contempt from Malaysians who are averse to Mahathir’s philandering with the truth.
Should Mahathir regret having sacked Anwar, what about the former’s role in Operasi Lalang on Oct 27, 1987 which saw the indiscriminate arrest of activists, opposing politicians, students and academicians under the now defunct Internal Security Act?
Was it not Operasi Lalang which stamped Mahathir’s style of government – authoritarian?
For that matter, just when does Mahathir intend to come clean over his involvement in the Nov 19, 1985 Memali massacre?
To soft-soap the rakyat into thinking that he is not the vengeful type will not work to Mahathir’s advantage. With GE14 around the corner, it would be best if the Pakatan leader stops resorting to manipulating voters’ conscience into hailing him as the people’s messiah.
