Archive for category Mahathir
Dr. M – you started all the rot in Hamlet in your 22 years as Prime Minister
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has declared that I am not a communist but he called me an “authoritarian”.
I do not know whether I should thank Mahathir for clearing me of the “communist” charge which is still hurled against me by UMNO cybertroopers together with other lies and falsehoods like being the cause of May 13 race riots in 1969.
Mahathir wants probably to clear his name for he would look extremely foolish to have allowed a “communist” to operate freely in Parliament, having been Prime Minister for 22 years and Home Minister for nearly 15 years.
If I had been a “communist”, then Mahathir would be a failure as a Prime Minister and Home Minister not to know it.
I am intrigued by his accusation that I am an “authoritarian” and wants my son, Guan Eng, to replace me.
I would not accuse Mahathir of senility although he is capable of pretending to be senile and even pretend to suffer from amnesia, which was quite a show that he staged during his appearance at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Videotapes, when he suffered from so many lapses of amnesia which had not been repeated.
Read the rest of this entry »
Something? No, some things are rotten in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Judiciary, Mahathir, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 11 February 2015
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
11 February 2015
The inimitable Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad didn’t quite hit the nail on the head when he paraphrased Shakespeare to say something is rotten in Malaysia.
One, it is not about people not being paid for so-called work done. Or their permits pulled. Or their proposals copied. Or local white knights having their bids to take over companies rejected without even a look.
Two. It isn’t something. It is a lot of things.
here do we begin? Read the rest of this entry »
Why is Najib the only one of six Prime Ministers to sanction, condone and defend the totally indefensible rabid racist statement of one of his Ministers?
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building on Sunday, 8 February 2015
The rabid racist statement by the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob calling on Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses has snowballed from the aberration of one errant Minister to a crisis of an entire errant Cabinet of 35 Ministers because of the extraordinary and outrageous decision by the Cabinet to sanction, condone and defend Ismail’s racist fulminations.
Today is the first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman’s 112th birthday anniversary. I have no doubt that if the Ismail Sabry episode had happened in Tunku’s time as Prime Minister, Ismail would have been made to apologise for his racist fulminations and even been sacked from Tunku’s Cabinet.
This was why in my statement six days ago on 2nd February, I had said:
“If a past Minister had done what Ismail did under the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn, he would have been sacked on the spot immediately after the expression of such racist sentiments, for it would be conclusive proof of his total unsuitability to continue as a Cabinet Minister in a plural society.
“I think such a Minister would have been sacked by Tun Dr. Mahathir during his 22 years of premiership although Mahathir may now look for excuses to come to Ismail’s defence or rescue.” Read the rest of this entry »
Squabbling politicians leaving Malaysians without much leadership or hope
Posted by Kit in DAP, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Wednesday, 28 January 2015
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
28 January 2015
Nearly two years after the last Malaysian general elections, both the ruling and opposition coalitions are imploding – one with internal leadership crises and the other with public quarrels over policies.
In the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno and MIC leaders past and present are tussling for influence and leadership, the MCA is largely irrelevant while Gerakan and PPP are absent.
On the other side, Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) DAP and PAS are crossing swords and PKR is just opposing everything with a street protest always a handy tool to keep it seen as championing a cause.
The big loser? Ordinary Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Najib be Mahathir’s sixth scalp or is Malaysia hauling the first “tiger” or “crocodile” to court and prison in the country’s anti-corruption campaign?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Corruption, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Razaleigh Hamzah on Friday, 23 January 2015
The country’s politics is abuzz with extraordinary news recently, raising the question whether the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia will be the sixth scalp of the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia or whether the country is hauling the first “tiger” or “crocodile” to court and prison in Malaysia’s anti-corruption campaign.
In the past 45 years, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had collected five scalps of top political leaders in the country, starting with Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, two Deputy Prime Ministers who might have gone on to become Prime Ministers, Tun Musa Hitam and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the eternal Prime Minister-aspirant Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
The question now is whether Mahathir will add the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to his collection of six top political scalps in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Epitomising Dr M’s criticisms of the gov’t
By Ganeshwaran Kana
Malaysiakini
6:43PM Dec 29, 2014
COMMENT Dear Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I would consider “vociferous” as the best and most suitable word to epitomise your criticisms against Malaysia’s government of the day in recent times. As a citizen of Malaysia, one has the right to speak of and criticise his or her government.
Although some of your arguments have gained public support, the current generation of Malaysia has all the rights to question policies and actions of your governance in the past.
To set the record straight right at the start, I am neither a supporter of Umno nor of “the other side”.
Nevertheless, being a civic-minded citizen of Malaysia, I would like to request your explanations pertaining to various issues spanning throughout your 22 years in your journey as the prime minister of Malaysia.
Although I duly recognise your contributions to Malaysia, any flaw and mistakes that took place under your long premiership should be taken as your mishandling. This is what real leaders do.
And, hopefully, this commentary of mine is not to be seen as seditious. Read the rest of this entry »
Finding ‘dirt’ on the 25 is dirty, to say the least
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 23 December 2014
-Dr Azmi Sharom
Rakyat Times
22 December 2014
Ah, Awang Selamat.
One can always depend on you to say the most ridiculous things.
Today, I read that this ‘person’ (in reality the collective editorial voice of that paragon of journalistic virtue: Utusan Malaysia) wants the 25 Eminent Malays investigated.
Their backgrounds and lifestyles should be put under the microscope, they say.
I guess this is so that the erstwhile ‘newspaper’ can find out any “dirt” on the 25 and then they will be able to dish it out with orgasmic glee.
In this way they can detract from the fact that respectable individuals, who are essentially conservative people who have served the nation all their working lives, and who I am sure would be happy to spend their retirement in peace with their grandchildren, have felt that this country is in such a poor state that even they have to say something about it. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr M fear-mongering, playing race card to keep Umno in power, say analysts
by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
22 December 2014
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s warning that the Malays are losing political dominance and may end up being left behind was meant to strike fear into the community and ensure that Umno remained in power, analysts said.
Observers said the former prime minister was also looking at matters through a racial lens, which was ironic considering that he was a proponent of Bangsa Malaysia policy of an inclusive national identity.
Professor James Chin said it was impossible for the Malays to lose power to the minority races in the country as all the top positions, from the Malay rulers to the civil service, were dominated by that community.
Citing examples, the academic with Monash University Malaysia said the posts of prime minister and deputy prime minister, at least half the Cabinet postings as well as senior positions in the government service were held by Malays.
“He is stating that to play up the racial card and to scare the Malays to ensure Umno remains in power,” Chin told The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »
Challenge to Mahathir to a public debate on “Whether after 57 years of UMNO government and six UMNO Prime Ministers, Malays have lost political power and become beggars in their own land”
Yesterday, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir repeated ad nauseam his politics of fear, hate and lies that Malays have lost political power and have become beggars in their own land.
Does Mahathir really believe such garbage, that after 57 years of UMNO Government and six UMNO Prime Ministers – with him ruling for 22 years or 39% of these 57 years as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia – that the Malays have lost political power and become beggars in their own land?
If so, then this is the most powerful reason why the Malays and even Malaysians must throw UMNO out of Putrajaya in the 14GE, for there can be no greater indictment of the failures of 57 years of UMNO rule under six UMNO Prime Ministers (including his 22 years as PM) than the fate Mahathir insists the Malays have been reduced to – stripped of political power to become beggars in their own land!
But does this fearsome scenario tally with reality?
Malaysia had not only been ruled by the UMNO Government under six UMNO Prime Ministers for 57 years, the DPMs, the heavy-weight Cabinet Ministers like Finance, Home and Education; the Attorney-General; heads of the civil service, judiciary, the police, the armed forces and the army, navy and air force; secretaries-general of all important and the overwhelming majority of ministries; heads of key government departments and statutory bodies, the Vice Chancellors of all public universities – they are all helmed by Malays.
The UMNO mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, recently quoted the Public Service Department (JPA) director of organizational development Datuk Norzam Mohd Nor as saying that a whopping 60 per cent of chief executives helming government statutory bodies appear to have little knowledge about their agencies.
Is this fault to be laid at the doors of the Chinese in Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »
Why such uneasiness among Muslims over ‘Allah’?
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Malaysian Dream on Saturday, 20 December 2014
By Stephen Ng
Malaysiakini
Oct 12, 2013
As the nation anxiously awaits the Court of Appeal’s decision on Monday regarding the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims, a short chapter on the controversial issue in former Tenaga Nasional Bhd chief’s latest book, ‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’, is both apt and timely.
Representing the “endangered species” of broadminded Malays who grew up in multicultural Malaysia, Ani asks, “Why there is so much uneasiness among Muslims to hear others using the word loosely?”
Ani is referring to the dispute on the use of ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims in Malaysia, which has gone all the way up to the appellate court.
It has also created tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in the country, which led to a few churches being fire-bombed following the High Court decision to allow the Catholic weekly The Herald to use the word ‘Allah’ for God in Bahasa Malaysia, the language used by many Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.
Pig’s heads, wrapped in plastic, were also found in two mosques in Kuala Lumpur, but to date police have not arrested the culprits. Read the rest of this entry »
Ani Arope on how TNB got a raw deal from IPPs
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Malaysian Dream on Saturday, 20 December 2014
By Stephen Ng
Malaysiakini
Oct 11, 2013
In his book published by the Fulbright Alumni Association of Malaysia, former Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) executive chairperson Ani Arope reveals how, after the landmark blackout in Peninsular Malaysia in 1992, TNB was forced to surrender the land it had acquired in Paka (Terengganu) and Pasir Gudang (Johor) to a third party for power plants.
This started the era of the independent power producers (IPPs) and the first was YTL Power Generation Sdn Bhd.
This was followed by a slew of other IPPs – Powertek Bhd, Genting Sanyan Power Sdn Bhd, Segeri Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd, Malakoff Bhd, Tanjung plc, EPE Power Sabah Energy Corp, Alpha Intercount’l Bhd, Sutera Bhd, Cergas Unggul Sdn Bhd and Ekran Corp.
Although Ani, who is Malaysia’s first Fulbright scholar, had felt that the power purchase agreements with YTL for a period of 21 years – from 1994 to 2015 – were “too darn generous”, he was pressured to ink the deal, which had been drafted by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU).
Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the man who “engineered” the rise of IPPs.
“There was no negotiation; absolutely none. Instead of talking directly with the IPPs, TNB was sitting down with the EPU. And we were harassed, humiliated and talked down every time we went there. Read the rest of this entry »
Ultra Malays out to polarise nation, warns Ani Arope
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Malaysian Dream on Saturday, 20 December 2014
By Stephen Ng
Malaysiakini
Oct 10, 2013
To say that Ani Arope epitomises a true Malay statesman is an understatement.
In his recently launched ‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’, the former chairperson and chief executive of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (1990-96) portrays himself as a good communicator who speaks fluent Hokkien, passable Cantonese and Mandarin and reasonably good Tamil and French.
Yet, he did not at any point lose his identity as a Malay, a person well-respected by family and friends as ‘Pak Ani’ or Uncle Ani.
Lamenting that a lot of today’s woes are the result of gutter politics played by politicians bounded by arrogance, boastfulness, avarice, hate and jealousy, the octogenarian says his major concern is “to see a more stark polarisation of races in our schools and institutions of higher learning”.
Ani, the country’s first recipient of the Fulbright scholarship in 1964, said such polarisation opened the door to prejudice and bigotry among the various races. Read the rest of this entry »
Race riots could be costly, warns Ani Arope in memoirs
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Malaysian Dream on Saturday, 20 December 2014
By Stephen Ng
Malaysiakini
Oct 9, 2013
Collateral damage resulting from a race riot or a civil strife is too great a cost of human sufferings, the former Tenaga Nasional Bhd executive chairperson Ani Arope has warned.
“It should never be our political option,” he says in his book, ‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’.
The 81-year-old outspoken Malay statesman said although the issue of special rights for Malays and other bumiputeras is and will always be a delicate issue, he hopes to see the loopholes of the New Economy Policy plugged.
If these rights will benefit Malays and other bumiputeras who truly deserve, then Malaysians will view the whole matter in a different light,” he notes.
“However, it appears that these rights have been skewered to benefit the privileged Malays. The rural folk and those who really need help are getting the smallest of crumbs, if at all.” Read the rest of this entry »
The politics of inequality
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Saturday, 20 December 2014
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
20 December 2014
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not mince his words. Not since he started in politics and definitely not now, more than a decade after stepping down as Malaysia’s fourth prime minister.
But there are days where you wonder where is he coming from. Today, he said the Malays’ grip on politics was weak due to disunity and them having to beg from other races for support to remain in power.
“Now Umno, PKR, and PAS have to beg for support from DAP Chinese to win the general election. When we become beggars, we no longer have power,” he said in his keynote address at a youth leadership programme in Kuala Lumpur.
He added that even if the country achieved developed-nation status, the Malays might be left behind. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian Dream Phase 2 – Call on Malaysians, regardless of political party, race, religion, region, gender or age to unite and stand up as patriots and moderates of Malaysia to practise the politics of inclusion to save the country from extremism, intolerance and bigotry
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, DAP, Mahathir, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Wednesday, 10 December 2014
When I contested Gelang Patah in May last year in the 13th General Elections, it was in pursuit of the Malaysian Dream which envisions Malaysia as a plural society where all her citizens are united as one people, rising above their ethnic, religious, cultural, linguistic and regional differences as the common grounds binding them as one citizenship exceeds the differences that divide them because of their ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural and regional divisions.
Nineteen months after the 13th General Elections, the Malaysian Dream is more relevant and even more important than ever.
The UMNO General Assembly in the last week of November is the classic example of the divisive and deleterious politics of exclusion in Malaysia, which emphasises and deepens the differences among Malaysians especially over race and religion, which will even condemn Malaysia to the fate of a failed state if these trends are not checked and arrested, with worsening disunity and greater racial and religious polarisation as happened in the past 19 months since the 13GE.
In the UMNO General Assembly, as well as at the various conferences running up to it, Malaysians saw the worst examples of the politics of fear, hate and lies, creating imaginary fears and fighting imaginary enemies – that the Malays and Islam are under threat, that the Chinese are out to grab the political power of the Malays, that ”if UMNO loses, Malays may never rule again”, that the Malays have become slaves in their own land, that the Malays could suffer a fate similar to Red Indians in the United States and the “mother of all lies”, that the Chinese in Kedah burnt the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Why after 57 years of Umno/BN government, and the “seminal” 22 years of Mahathir premiership, Malaysia is producing minnows instead of towering personalities so much so that we have to appoint an “orang putih” to save MAS?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Mahathir, Transport on Monday, 8 December 2014
The suggestion by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir that Malaysia should have a white man (orang putih) as Prime Minister is most amusing and even comical, coming from a person who had breathed fire and brimstone in the last general elections, throwing all political scruples to the winds in falsely accusing me of spearheading a Chinese grab of the political power of the Malays by contesting in the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency, who suddenly produced a “new rabbit from his hat” – an ‘orang putih’ Prime Minister in Malaysia.
Of course, Mahathir was indulging in his classic “tongue-in-cheek” Mahathirism in objecting to the appointment of a German, Christoph Mueller as MAS chief executive officer to manage and save the revamped national airline, MAS from next year.
I agree with Mahathir that it is an indictment of Malaysia’s talents, skills, expertise and intellectual prowess that we could not find a Malaysian to save MAS.
Are Malaysians so bereft of talents, skills, experience and expertise that we have to go outside the country to source for a saviour for MAS?
The question all Malaysians must ponder is why after 57 years of Umno/BN government, and in particular what is regarded as a “seminal” 22-year Mahathir premiership, followed by the Abdullah and Najib premierships, to produce Towering Malaysians, Malaysia seems to be producing minnows instead of towering Malaysians in various fields of human endeavour whom we can export all over the world to help other countries in distress with their talents, skills, experience and expertise?
How can we save the world when we cannot even save ourselves?
Why have we been increasingly reduced to a near “basket case” as to have to appoint an “orang putih” to save our national airline? Is there not a single soul in Malaysia who could be appointed to do the job? Read the rest of this entry »
Call on all Malaysians to unite to expose The Big Lie that after 57 years of UMNO government under six Umno Prime Ministers, Malays and Islam are under threat and facing life-and-death struggle
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 8 December 2014
I fully endorse what the DAP MP for Raub, Datuk Mohd Arif Abdul Aziz, said in the latest entry in his blog Sakmongkol AK47 that all right-thinking Malaysians must expose The Great Lie – that after 57 years of UMNO government under six UMNO Prime Ministers, Malays and Islam in Malaysia are under threat and facing a life-and-death struggle.
In the recent UMNO General Assembly, The Great Lie was the underlying theme of all the UMNO, UMNO Youth, Wanita and Puteri assemblies, even in various State UMNO Conventions and UMNO-sponsored conferences in the run-up to the UMNO General Assembly proper.
This was why both before and during the UMNO General Assembly, the rhetoric and politics of fear, hate and lies were in full swing, full of racist, extremist, provocative but baseless statements and warnings which do not bear up to a second of scrutiny, like “If Umno loses, Malays may never rule again”, “We have become slaves in our own land”, call for the use of “1Melayu” in replacement of “1 Malaysia” slogan and the lie of all lies that the Chinese in Kedah burnt the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.
Of the six UMNO Prime Ministers, the first three have passed away – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein.
Tonight, I want to challenge the three remaining UMNO Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir who was the longest PM of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, Tun Abdullah who was the fifth Prime Minister for five years five months and Datuk Seri Najib Razak who has been Prime Minister for five years eight months to explain to all Malaysians, and in particular to the Malays, how Malays and Islam in Malaysia are under threat and facing a life-and-death struggle after 57 years of UMNO government, and specifically, after 33 years of Mahathir, Abdullah and Najib as Prime Minister?
If Mahathir, Abdullah and Najib cannot explain how after 57 years of UMNO government, and 33 years of their stewardship as Prime Minister, Malays and Islam in Malaysia are under threat and facing a life-and-death struggle, it is then the patriotic duty of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, to unite to expose The Big Lie which will be the greatest poison of united Malaysian nation-building. Read the rest of this entry »
If Tunku is alive today, instead of being the “happiest Prime Minister” he would be the “unhappiest Malaysian”
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Mahathir, nation building, UMNO on Saturday, 6 December 2014
On this day 24 years ago, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman passed away at the age of 87.
If Tunku is still alive today, instead of being the “happiest” Prime Minister which had been his greatest wish, he would have been the “unhappiest” Malaysian in the country.
Together with the third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn, Tunku’s efforts to form UMNO Malaysia when UMNO was deregistered in 1988, was sabotaged and quashed by the then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir who set up his own UMNO Baru which Tunku refused to join, questioning its legitimacy and integrity to his last breath.
Tunku would have been horrified at the proceedings of the recent UMNO Baru General Assembly where race-baiting and religious incitement based on the primordial politics of fear, hate and lies were given free rein, with delegates made to believe that after 57 years of UMNO government and six UMNO Prime Ministers, Malays are under siege and Islam under threat, causing one delegate to declare that Malays have become “slaves in our own land”, another to call for the use of “1 Melayu” instead of “1 Malaysia slogan”, while a third to demand that UMNO elect MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders into the Barisan Nasional supreme council. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr M is biggest winner at Umno general assembly
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 1 December 2014
By Koon Yew Yin
Malaysiakini
Dec 1, 2014
COMMENT Syabas Dr Mahathir Mohamad – you were undoubtedly the biggest winner at the Umno assembly meeting. Although some observers have dismissed your influence over Umno and party thinking, you knew that your finest hour was at hand. This is why, despite being sick and possibly against doctor’s orders, you made your way to the meeting.
There, surrounded by thousands of your admirers and supporters, your cup can be said to have runneth over.
You witnessed the humiliating surrender of the prime minister in his attempt to repeal the Sedition Act. How dare Najib Abdul Razak dismantle the Act which has been one of your main weapons to ensure Umno’s supremacy in the country? Is the man so ignorant of the country’s political history that he is not aware that the selective application of the Act has enabled the party to muzzle its opponents and extend the party’s shelf life?
You had repeatedly urged its retention. To see the prime minister not only put up the white flag but also announce that the Act would be further strengthened was indeed sweet satisfaction. Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO must draw the line in the sand and the UMNO General Assembly this week is the last opportunity for UMNO to demonstrate whether it stands for moderation or extremism
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 25 November 2014
The Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak asked the very pertinent question on Sunday at the Federal Territories UMNO Convention on Sunday, “Where have we gone wrong?”, lamenting that whether UMNO had built mosques, set up parent-teacher associations or provided housing, none of these efforts had translated into political support because UMNO leaders hoarded handouts for their own supporters instead of giving it to the community.
Two former Prime Ministers and UMNO Presidents have given different responses to Najib’s question.
In his blog, Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad blamed the “warlord” mentality in UMNO, and urged the UMNO delegates at this week’s UMNO General Assembly to criticize the party leadership on several issues which are “hot” now.
He said previous UMNO Presidents had also been criticized and emerged victorious afterwards, citing as examples Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein.
He said he himself was “attacked and almost lost my position”. Read the rest of this entry »
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Mahathir category.
