Mahathir: saviour or destroyer?
Those in business say corruption today is worse than before GE14. Corruption is not only still there but the price has gone up. People have to pay more “under the table” than before. This has had a negative effect on the economy and businesses are suffering. If this continues, by GE15 in 2023 Malaysia is going to be in dire straits.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the saviour of the opposition bloc called Pakatan Harapan. Just 18 months later and he is being condemned by the same people who made him Prime Minister as the destroyer of Pakatan Harapan. The honeymoon did not last very long and even before the wedding cost has been fully paid there are already talks of divorce.
Such is the fate of marriages born out of hate. Yes, it was not a marriage of love. It was a marriage of hate. It was an unholy alliance of partners who hated one another but hated the common enemy even more. Hence, they united to topple that common enemy while at the same time never really trusting each other and contemplating how to get rid of their partner-in-crime once that common enemy has been buried.
Many Chinese, especially the business community, regard the Malaysian Cabinet as a bunch of clowns
It has happened before. The US teamed up with the USSR to face Nazi Germany and then tried to bury each other in the post-WWII “Cold War”. The US teamed up with the Taliban to oust Russia from Afghanistan and then turned on each other. The US allied with Saddam Hussein to neutralise Ayatollah Khomeini and then hanged Saddam after a kangaroo court trial.
History is full of adversaries turned allies to fight common causes and after the deed is done they wipe each other out. Hence what is so surprising about Pakatan Harapan and the Dr Mahathir-Lim Kit Siang-Anwar Ibrahim alliance formed to oust Umno-Barisan Nasional and how fast it disintegrated as soon as the new government was formed?
It is clear that in the Umno-Barisan Nasional alliance there was only one boss, Umno. MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP and all those other partners in the alliance danced to Umno’s tune and toed the party line — or else suffer the consequences.
That, said DAP, is bad because it made all the others mere running dogs of Umno, unlike Pakatan Harapan — and Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Alternatif before it.
DAP is becoming more Communist than before GE14
That may be bad in the books of DAP. But at least the Umno-MCA-MIC alliance lasted more than 60 years. The Pakatan alliance was formed in 1999. Collapsed in 2001. Formed again in 2008. Collapsed in 2013. “Reinvented” in 2015. And now is on the verge of collapse again.
So, Umno may be the “bully” in Barisan Nasional, according to DAP. But at least Umno kept law and order in Barisan Nasional. Pakatan Harapan is proud that no one is the boss and that everyone is equal and that they do things by consensus — and if they cannot reach a consensus then they will agree to disagree (to quote what Anwar Ibrahim said so many times). And that, says Pakatan Harapan, is a good thing.
Yes, in theory that may sound good. Even Communism in theory is good. But whether theory when put into practice is still good is another matter altogether. And Pakatan Harapan’s theory a “good” marriage is as good as having a Communist government to lord over us.
And now Pakatan Harapan’s doctrine of no one is the boss and they do things by consensus and if they cannot reach a consensus they will agree to disagree is breaking down.
The succession problem is going to be the death of Pakatan Harapan
PKR is disintegrating due to an internal power struggle. DAP is propagating communism and is trying to revive the Communist Party of Malaya or Parti Komunis Malaya. The succession plan is not working and Mahathir may not retire and hand power to Anwar Ibrahim by or before May 2020, according to what they claim was a signed and sealed agreement. They promised the voters so many things and after 18 months still cannot deliver — and they keep blaming Najib Tun Razak for Pakatan Harapan’s failure.
Yes, the Promised Land is still nowhere in sight and just like Moses they may need to wander in the desert for 40 years in search of the promise. But Malaysians are not prepared to wander for 40 years waiting for the promises to be delivered. They are not even prepared to wander for four years. After just one year, Malaysians want out. And this is because they were promised delivery in 100 days or less and it is now 572 days.
But what Malaysians are seeing is pure nonsense from Pakatan Harapan. Promises not delivered. Blaming Najib for Pakatan’s failures. Corruption under Pakatan Harapan worse than when under Barisan Nasional. Incompetency and ludicrously of the Cabinet. Hypocrisy and no reforms as promised. Power struggles at many levels. Propagating Communism and anti-Islamic culture.
Corruption involving foreign workers is worse now than before GE14
The list of sins under Barisan Nasional may be long. But under Pakatan Harapan the list is even longer with new sins added to the list and the perpetuation of the old sins. If at all “Animal Farm” has any meaning, since May 2018 it had special meaning in Malaysia. The question is who are those Animal Farm “pigs” in Pakatan Harapan’s Malaysia? Yes, an interesting question indeed.
Those in business say corruption today is worse than before GE14. Corruption is not only still there but the price has gone up. People have to pay more “under the table” than before. This has had a negative effect on the economy and businesses are suffering. If this continues, by GE15 in 2023 Malaysia is going to be in dire straits.
They say May 2018 was the revolution that changed Malaysia — a la the Storming of the Bastille like during the French Revolution. Students of history will know that the First French Revolution was a failure. The First French Revolution brought the Reign of Terror. It is the Second French Revolution that brought order.
Hence to equate May 2018 to the First French Revolution is bad feng shui because the Second French Revolution was required to correct the mistakes of the First French Revolution. And the Second French Revolution came after the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, the man who crowned himself Emperor of France and of the whole of Europe.
So, after the grave mistake of the First French Revolution, a dictator emerged. And after the death of the dictator the real change came. Is that what we are going to see in Malaysia? If so then the promised reforms are not going to happen under Mahathir or Anwar. It has to come under another generation of leaders down the road. That is what the history of France taught us. And that is the same road the history of Malaysia seems to be travelling.
