Hardcore Pakatan Harapan supporters do a U-turn on Mahathir

After hailing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the saviour of Malaysia in May 2018, the Pakatan Harapan supporters seem to have changed their minds about the opposition’s choice of prime minister

Apa Nama: This ultra-Malay called Dr Mahathir Mohamad started his plan, or what I call as “spewing his racial venom”, since his Umno days.

Thus, the sayings “a leopard never changes its spots” and “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” suit him very well. The older generation who are commenters here may agree with me, since many of them had observed his behaviour over the past few decades. This includes Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.

Mahathir became worse and worse since publishing his “The Malay Dilemma”, followed by his sacking by Tunku Abdul Rahman back in 1969, and he screwed up Malaysian education back in 1974 as education minister under Tun Abdul Razak’s administration. The education system has not recovered since then.

One could blame Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn for not stopping this ultra-Malay, but Malaysian voters should also shoulder part of the blame as many kept voting for BN until 2018.

All Malaysians, here and abroad, should totally disown and ignore him until he stops issuing statements.

Cogito Ergo Sum: Unable to see anyone but himself at the nation’s helm, Mahathir will be a persistent obstacle to anyone harbouring ambitions to be prime minister. At 95, he is like a child who can’t share or even let someone else have his favourite toy – the top political post in Malaysia.

While he must be credited with helping Pakatan Harapan overthrow Umno/BN, Mahathir also must be blamed for Harapan’s unexpected and premature demise. Why he is still on the Malaysian political landscape is, to a large extent, because he has managed to thwart any meaningful leadership succession plan.

We must move on. We need to ensure Anwar Ibrahim is the next PM so that he can dismantle Mahathir’s disgraceful legacy and pull us out of this downward spiral.

OrangeViper4306: According to Mahathir, Anwar is not fit to be prime minister but what about all those he appointed as deputy prime ministers and prime ministers? He brought them in and he cut them down.

In his mind, only he is capable despite all the major scandals, starting from Maminco, and the list goes on till his children are super tycoons. With three MPs backing him, he still says he should become prime minister for the third time. What a joke.

Ahmed: Mahathir has declared that Anwar is not suitable prime minister material. Personally, I wouldn’t give his view any weight, if you consider his appalling record in judging people.

He fell out with Musa Hitam (the best deputy prime minister Malaysia never had) and with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, another talented politician. And don’t forget it was he who strongly endorsed Najib Abdul Razak and made it possible for him to become a prime minister.

Given Mahathir’s record of bad judgments, his rejection is an excellent reason for supporting Anwar for the top post.

Dato Ganesan: Don’t blame others. In 2018, Ramasamy, Anwar and the Lims (Kit Siang and Guan Eng) made use of Mahathir as a stepping stone to get to the positions they all wanted.

Malaysians had high hopes that 2018 was the year for ‘Merdeka’. Did you voice your objection against Mahathir as prime minister in 2018?

P Ramlee: Ramasamy, I am not interested in talking about his first term in office, but Mahathir has done many good things for us after 2018. So, I would appreciate it if you can be a bit more objective and also critical about Anwar when necessary. Some facts to refresh your memories:

He led Harapan and the rakyat to bring down the 60-year BN/Umno government while Anwar was still inside Sungai Buloh. Do you think Anwar can achieve this?

PKR held unnecessary party elections just four months after the 2018 general election and the subsequent infighting forced the winning faction to leave Harapan and form Perikatan Nasional (PN). Why didn’t Anwar postpone the elections?

When our beloved king gave all MPs a second chance to prevent the backdoor guys from forming the government, all 92 Harapan MPs voted for Anwar when Mahathir already had 66 votes. Why can’t you vote for him?

When Mahathir claimed that he had the numbers to regain control a few months ago, Harapan/Anwar refused to endorse him, why?

Anwar claimed that he had the solid majority a few weeks ago (with the ‘thief’?), what happens now? Are you happy to work with the thief?

A Malaysian: @P Ramlee, could the old fox have done it without the original Harapan components?

With only 66 votes compared to Anwar’s 92, why didn’t he support Anwar, instead of selfishly wanting to be prime minister for the third time?

Why did he resign in the first place and demand the post this time with only a handful of supporters? Use your brain a little.

Appum: This old fox thinks he is equal to Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew.

But compare the factual situations of both countries, one is stagnating and still trying to move to developed status, whereas the other one is far ahead (despite not having any natural resources).

Mahathir could have done better than Lee, but he chose to follow his narcissist path, creating racial and religious divisions, pitting bumiputera against non-bumiputera, and coining terms like ‘pendatang’.

As a result, he has caused this nation to regress, rather than progress. Of course, he has gone to build grand projects like the Petronas Twin Towers and Putrajaya to reinforce his legacy. What legacy has he achieved for the people compared to Lee?

Are there any mass housing schemes and a high-quality education system? Playing up to race and religion to get support is the easiest and most degrading effort a leader can do. What happens to the state in the end? Stagnation, regression and doomed to failure.

IndigoTrout2522: Yes, say goodbye to Mahathir. He cannot be trusted in any way because he is power-hungry. The only thing he cares about is his own agenda and personal ambition. To him, no one is capable of being prime minister except him.

Just look at his record. It is his way or the highway for all those who had worked with, or for, him. Anwar is no exception and so the issue is not Anwar but Mahathir. Harapan just needs to move on.

Just a Malaysian: Mahathir is like a horror movie. Just when you thought you had defeated the monster, it comes back again to bite you. You keep fighting to kill the monster but it just won’t die. It keeps coming back in different forms and keeps spewing the same poison.

Even when you think the movie is over, just before you leave your seat, out he comes again.