The fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981-2003, continues to cast a dark shadow on the politics and future of Malaysia – long after his retirement ten years ago.
Yesterday, Mahathir made the ridiculous proposal for a royal commission of inquiry into the granting of citizenship of one million foreign immigrants in the Federation of Malaya before Merdeka, two days after Mahathir asserted that what he did in Project IC or Project M in Sabah was “lawful”, and that Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman “had done worse by giving citizenship to one million unqualified people in peninsula Malaysia” before Merdeka.
Mahathir even rhetorically asked: “Why is it when he does it, it is not wrong, and when I do it, it’s wrong”.
In one fell swoop, Mahathir had smeared the memory and good name not only of Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, but all the Umno/Alliance leaders involved in the Merdeka struggle, including Tun Razak, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthan.
It is utterly shocking that three days have passed without a single voice from the UMNO/MCA/MIC leadership to defend Tunku, Tun Razak, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthan.
I myself find it most unbelievable that after the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting on Thursday night, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could mention with seeming agreement and approval Mahathir’s claim about Tunku giving citizenship to one million Chinese – which was why I called on Najib yesterday to clear the name not only of Tunku, but also Tun Razak and the one million citizens of Merdeka generation from Mahathir’s defamation.
Although Mahathir later tried the soften the shock effect of his ridiculous proposal by saying that his call for a RCI on one million pre-Merdeka citizenship was merely a suggestion, Sabahans and Malaysians must not allow Mahathir to divert attention from the central problem before Sabah RCI, i.e. illegally legalising illegal immigrants in Sabah during 22-year Mahathir era – which is not 200,000 but could range from 1.5 million to 1.9 million as the nefarious Project IC or Project M is only part of the long-standing problem which have reduced genuine Sabahans into a minority and strangers in their own land in less than half a century.