Mahathir’s unfinished business: abolish the monarchy
Many say that is the old Mahathir. Many say the new Mahathir has changed. Mahathir has repented. Mahathir is a reformed person. That is not true one bit. Mahathir still wants the monarchy to be abolished and for Malaysia to be turned into a republic. And Mahathir has put in place a plan to make sure that by 2020 Malaysia would no longer be a constitutional monarchy but the Republic of Malaysia.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
In 2006, around three years after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad handed power to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the PERJUANGAN BELUM SELESAI campaign was launched. Basically, Mahathir was telling Malaysia his ‘struggle’ is not over yet or he has unfinished business.
And it is no coincidence he said the same thing last month after he took over as Malaysia’s Seventh Prime Minister. He told the country he has unfinished business or ‘pejuangan belum selesai’.
So, Mahathir’s ‘perjuangan belum selesai’ campaign is not a new campaign launched just 40 days ago. It is an old campaign launched 12 years ago, which only now can Mahathir continue with. And this is what Mahathir wants to do before he hands power to the Eighth Prime Minister, whoever that is going to be. He wants to complete his 12-year-old campaign before he leaves office or leaves this world.
And what is that perjuangan or struggle that belum selesai or has not been completed yet? As what Mahathir hinted 12 years ago, and which you can read in that poem below, it is to turn Malaysia into a republic.
Mahathir’s 1980s anti-monarchy campaign
Back in 2006, Mahathir toured the country (from Kedah, down to Johor, and up to Kelantan) to give a speech. It was one speech, the same speech repeated in all places. And the speech was about how the Raja-raja Melayu (Malay Rulers) betrayed the Malays and sold out the country.
Mahathir related how the Raja-raja Melayu signed the Malayan Union in 1946 that not only surrendered the powers of the Raja-raja Melayu but also the sovereignty of the Malays and reduced them to slaves in their own country (hamba di negeri sendiri).
The Malays were outraged, said Mahathir, so they formed Umno to oppose the Malayan Union. After two years of protests and demonstrations all over Malaysia, the British finally relented and abandoned the Malayan Union in 1948 in favour of the Federation of Malaya or Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.
The 1946 anti-Malayan Union protest
Umno had saved the Malays, Mahathir said. In fact, Umno had even saved the Raja-raja Melayu, argued Mahathir. If Umno had not opposed the Malayan Union, both the Raja-raja Melayu and the Malays would have lost the country to the non-Malays. The non-Malays would have owned Malaysia while the Malays would become slaves in their own country like what happened to Melaka in 1511.
Mahathir mentioned Melaka many times in his speech and stressed that at one time the Malays lost power to foreign powers. And the Malays almost lost power again in 1946 if not because of Umno. The Raja-raja Melayu had betrayed and sold out the Malays while it was Umno that not only saved the Malays but saved the Raja-raja Melayu as well.
In this 2006 speech that Mahathir went all over Malaysia to deliver, he never once mentioned that Umno was formed in the Sultan of Johor’s Palace. He also never mentioned that the orang istana or nobility were the ones behind the formation of Umno. He also never mentioned that the anti-Malayan Union protests and demonstrations were not organised by fishermen and farmers but by the aristocratic community or golongan bangsawan of Malaya.
Mahathir is again being portrayed as a pendekar Melayu who is going to save Malaysia and democracy from the Raja-raja Melayu
Mahathir’s objective for this 2006 nationwide campaign was to turn the Malays against the Raja-raja Melayu just like he did 20 years before that in the mid-1980s. Mahathir wanted Malaysia to be turned into a republic and for that to happen the Malays have to view the Raja-raja Melayu as traitors who collaborated with the British to sell out the Malays and give the country to the non-Malays.
Many say that is the old Mahathir. Many say the new Mahathir has changed. Mahathir has repented. Mahathir is a reformed person. That is not true one bit. Mahathir still wants the monarchy to be abolished and for Malaysia to be turned into a republic. And Mahathir has put in place a plan to make sure that by 2020 Malaysia would no longer be a constitutional monarchy but the Republic of Malaysia.
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PERJUANGAN BELUM SELESAI
Sesungguhnya tidak ada yang lebih menyayatkan
dari melihat bangsaku dijajah
Tidak ada yang lebih menyedihkan
dari membiarkan bangsaku dihina
Air mata tiada ertinya
sejarah silam tiada maknanya
sekiranya bangsa tercinta terpinggir
dipersenda dan dilupakan
Bukan kecil langkah wira bangsa
para pejuang kemerdekaan
bagi menegakkan kemuliaan
dan darjat bangsa
selangkah beerti mara
mengharung sejuta dugaan
Biarkan bertatih
asalkan langkah itu yakin dan cermat
bagi memastikan negara
merdeka dan bangsa terpelihara
air mata sengsara
mengiringi setiap langkah bapa-bapa kita
Tugas kita bukan kecil
kerana mengisi kemerdekaan
rupanya lebih sukar dari bermandi
keringat dan darah menuntutnya
Lagi pula apalah ertinya kemerdekaan
kalau bangsaku asyik mengia dan menidakkan,
mengangguk dan membenarkan,
kerana sekalipun bangganya negara
kerana makmur dan mewahnya,
bangsaku masih melata
dan meminta-minta di negaranya sendiri
Bukan kecil tugas kita
meneruskan perjuangan kemerdekaan kita
kerana rupanya selain memerdekakan,
mengisi kemerdekaan itu jauh lebih sengsara
Nukilan
Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohammad
