Mamakthir said that he would migrate when Anwar Ibrahim takes over as Prime Minister. He is afraid that he had to migrate and that is why he said many things to urge Malays to retain UMNO in power. He suddenly remembers that in 1964 he boasted that he did not need Chinese votes and lost his seat in Kedah in a dominant Malay constituency, and thus he tries now to pretend that he was human sometimes hoping that some non-Malays would be stupid enough to vote for BN in the coming GE 13. But his remarks raise more questions than answer.

His statement that Najib was spared the ISA because he was provoked confirmed that he practiced double standards, and he applied the laws selectively. If that is how law in Malaysia should be applied, then those who are provoked by government policies discriminating against them would have the right to act just like Najib did.

Either Malaysians were stupid or unfortunate to have a person of that caliber head the government for two decades. That is no wonder too after having found huge oil resources from the 1970s when the country was rich enough to finance all the students through tertiary education Mamakthir sticked to implementing racial quota, and in some case a 100% reservation for Malays only. That divide and rule racist policies gave him the excuses to treat national coffers as his piggy bank. That policy of discrimination under NEP sent millions of well educated non-Malays, and now Malays, overseas resulting in Malaysia falling into low income trap.

Najib said to the Chinese community that distribution is not as important as increased in earning. Sounds sensible if there is no NEP. But he would sing a different tune in the company of Ibrahim Ali Katak and Mamakthir. The 30% demand has been on for 40 years and it should have an end date now. For that Najib should order an accurate accounting on the status of the actual equity shares owned by Malays. Should there is any shortfall which EPU was good at lying Najib should deployed Petronas funds to buy shares until the 30% target is achieved. He should then distribute the shares to Malays and declare NEP achieved success. Only when NEP is removed would Malaysians overseas consider returning to rebuild this country. Is Najib waiting for the person who overstayed his welcome in this world to depart before he would dare to order a proper accounting of Malays ownership in equity shares vis-a-vis the 30% target?

by Loh on Sunday, 13 February 2011 – 11:02 am

Mahathir’s interview

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/13/nation/8056686&sec=nation

///KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the New Economic Policy must continue even though many Malays had misused the opportunities given to them, such as selling off their business licences and contracts.

The former prime minister said that if the Malays had made the best use of those opportunities, they would have attained not only 30% of the nation’s wealth but much more than that.

He said the NEP had to be continued because the Malays had yet to attain the quota, but they should continue to strive to avoid becoming the most backward race in the country.///– The Star

Why should non-Malays continue to bear the brunt of suffering discrimination when government actions have provided sufficient opportunities to allow Malays to surpass the target of 30% equity capital in the corporate sectors. Mamakthir has cunningly used the term 30% wealth which was never the NEP target. The target was to have Malays participating in commerce and industries, and the 30% equity capital was used as a proxy by the EPU to measure Malays’ participation. Wealth was never a target as a measure of economic participation. Mamakthir conveniently chose whatever he felt easy to justify that NEP target had not been achieved. He mentioned properties in urban areas are of higher values than rural areas, and he certainly forgets that one sleeps away their interest paid to the bank more in urban areas than in rural areas. In an interview with BBC some years back while he was still in power, he mentioned that there were still Malay drivers employed by Chinese tycoons and thus NEP had not achieved its target. So to Mamakthir the target of NEP success depends on his wishes. It just goes to show that Mamakthir and the bunch of UMNO leaders nurtured by him have no sincerity to honour the promise made by Tun Razak that NEP was for 20 years, and that the 30% was an indicator that NEP aims for. Now the 30% has been used by UMNO to place it on any issue and to declare that NEP is still needed. Further, UMNO lies with statistics in the computation of Malays ownership of equity share capital. Relevant statistics such as ownership of lands and commercial activities by FELDA, which have been created by government funds counted for nothing for Malays in EPU data series. Clearly UMNO goes through all venues to make NEP permanent.

///“The Government will safeguard our position, but there will come a day when it will not be able to defend national policies,” he added.///– The Star

National policies are formulated by the government for the benefits of the people. In a democracy, voters choose the government based on the policies. Mamakthir obviously has his mind fixed on implementing government policies aims at bully a sector of the population to give incentives to the beneficiaries in the majority and yet winning enough votes retain power in forming the government through the pseudo-democratic voting system in the country.

///Dr Mahathir was delivering a keynote address at a symposium on The Malay Dilemma: Perspective and Conclusion, organised by the Persatuan Alumni Pemimpin Mahasiswa Aspirasi Malaysia at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

To a question from the floor on why the NEP should be continued when he had admitted that there were abuses, Dr Mahathir said: “If you don’t give, then nobody will have it.

“But if you give, they may misuse it. So, we need to be more selective.

“It is not the policy that went wrong but the implementation.”///– The Star

It was Einstein who said that it was crazy to do the same thing over and over again and hope for a different result. But UMNO are crazy only for money, and they do the same thing over and over again so that their bank account grows. The same result gives them the excuse to continue with implementing NEP. A 20 year NEP has entered its 41 years, and counting.

///To a question whether the country’s leadership had been too greedy and whether the Chinese and Indians had been working hard while the Malays became spoilt, he said the Government could not not spoil the Malays because the opportunities were their rights.///–The Star

No where in the constitution does it say that Malays have more rights than others. The constitution of Malaya and later Malaysia recognizes only that Malays, because of their special position, needed assistance. That special position refers to a condition that can be improved upon. It was never based on ethnicity which should be fixed, though some Mamaks called themselves Malays. Somebody stated much earlier on that it would be a tragedy for Malaysia if the special position of Malays is viewed as a special right for Malays. That tragedy is the greatest when the person who harbours such misconception, purposely or otherwise, happened to be the Prime Minister of the country, and worse for over two decades. As Malaysia’s fate has it, the harms continued after Mamakthir left office, and he tries to delay his departure to the next world.

///However, added Dr Mahathir, the Malays should not rely too much on the Government.

To a question by DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua on the Government’s RM6bil allocation to buy six offshore patrol vessels for the navy, Dr Mahathir said it would not be a problem for the Government to explain.

“The cost of things have gone up,” said Dr Mahathir, who had warned the Government in his address not to get into an arms race with neighbouring countries.///– The Star

It was not arm race. It was alms race; as if the persons who have a hand to land arms contracts are poor.

///At a press conference after his address, Dr Mahathir was asked about reports that DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang had accused him of re-writing history by putting the blame on police for the arrest of 106 people under the Internal Security Act in 1987.

Responding to the allegation, Dr Mahathir was adamant that he met opposition leaders before Ops Lalang and had assured them that they would not be arrested.

“I have no reason to make the claim unless it (the meeting) had happened

I met them and assured them, but, of course, I don’t expect opposition leaders to be grateful to acknowledge anything from the Government, particularly myself,” Dr Mahathir said.///–The Star

Mamakthir might as well say that he said it so it must be true. He seems to realise that he is not popular after all.

///Lim had commented on the book Doctor M: Operation Malaysia – Conversations with Mahathir Mohamad, which revealed the former prime minister had said the 1987 crackdown was a police decision.

He also denied that Dr Mahathir had met him and other opposition members.///– The Star

The people in the country know whom to believe.