Mahathir’s legacy in tatters

The former prime minister is hopping mad over the political climate in Malaysia.

COMMENT

By Christopher Fernandez

When the financial crisis loomed in 1997, then prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, decided to postpone his impending retirement to get the country and economy back on track.

Once this was done, he handed over the reins to his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The retirement he expected to enjoy as a result of this handing-over of duties was not to be as he immediately took a strong dislike to the manner in which Badawi was going about managing the country.

Mahathir was horrified, so absolutely incensed, so terribly upset that he engineered the ouster of Badawi by Najib Tun Razak.

But his sigh of relief was short-lived as he soon found himself dissatisfied with Najib as well.

It is clear the two prime ministers after Mahathir have unwittingly shred Mahathir’s long established and carefully nurtured legacy to pieces.

This is the only real reason why Mahathir is livid with Badawi and Najib.

The question on our minds

The question on the minds of most Malaysians is: “What is Mahathir going to do to save his legacy?”

The fact is, there is nothing much the ageing UMNO strongman can do.

Though it is perceived he wants all archaic and obsolete laws to stay in place to keep Malaysians in line, the truth is, times have changed much to his dismay.

Mahathir realises that the propaganda so often churned out by Barisan Nasional-UMNO through the mainstream media no longer have the same effect simply because Malaysians are better educated and better informed and have learned to filter fact from fiction.

What is even more unnerving for the former prime minister is that so much dirty linen (over his activities while in power) is being washed in public now via alternative media to the point his legacy has lost its lustre.

If that is not enough, the man whom the international community recognises as a dictator, has been keeping up a rigorous schedule to ward off personal attacks on him from further damaging his legacy.

It has become so bad that people are even beginning to echo musician M Nasir’s famous quote in the early 90s of “Siapa Mahathir?” (Who is Mahathir?)

It is not that Malaysians have forgotten this man as he often hogs the limelight. The fact is Mahathir has become fodder to Malaysians who now see him more as “bahan gurauan” or the butt of jokes, than a visionary leader.

The once esteemed but dreaded Mahathir is now languishing not only as a person who is morally bankrupt, the truth is, Mahathir and his cronies, through engaging in nepotism and collusion, have made corruption a standard operating procedure for Barisan Nasional’s governance.

What of the future?

Instead of fair play, justice and meritocracy, Mahathir as prime minister, did much tinkering with democracy causing suffering and sorrow for most Malaysians as he strove to establish a governing elite in this country.

It is this governing elite, Malaysians now acutely realise, that consists of cronies and sycophants, that hold sway over the people and oppress and deny them the real opportunities to move forward.

As more dirty linen emerges of Mahathir’s many wrongdoings, as more evidence and proof surfaces of his biased, prejudiced, racist and chauvinistic governance, Malaysians are now set to forever treat him more as a person who fared well not for the entire country or population but only for his family, cronies and sycophants.

Malaysians are now well aware that all he says has to be taken with a pinch of salt as not only his legacy but his credibility as a national leader is in grave doubt.

It is time Mahathir stop painting a false picture of himself as the hero of Malaysia.

It is up to the real heroes, the true blue political leaders of Malaysia to further unmask and dethrone Mahathir from his pedestal and bring him down to earth completely to set free the nation forever from his influence.

Christopher Fernandez has been teaching and writing throughout Asia since 1984