An Open Letter to Mahathir

Dear Dr Mahathir Mohamad,

With due respect to you, I hereby wish to speak honestly and truthfully what I have seen and observed, prior to, and since GE14.

First and foremost, I am a believer in fair play - righteousness, truth and justice. I had high hopes in Pakatan Harapan and in you being made the prime minister after the historic victory on May 9, 2018.

I believe all Harapan supporters wanted you to clean up the mess you created in the person called Najib Abdul Razak. You were the right man for that job. However, there are many things that you have done, that are not what we voted for.

We did not vote Harapan for you to sing and dance to Umno and PAS' tunes as could be seen in your U-turning on the signing of Icerd and the Rome Statute. We did not vote Harapan for you to fortify Bersatu by welcoming Umno "frogs" and "toads" into Bersatu.

We did not vote Harapan for Bersatu to infiltrate Sarawak and Sabah. We did not vote Harapan for you to appoint incompetent greenhorns from Bersatu to key portfolios and to saturate the cabinet with them.

The fact that Bersatu won only 13 seats (the lowest percentage) at GE14 is a testament that the Almighty did not want to give you or Bersatu more power than necessary.

Since Bersatu only achieved the lowest percentage of seats won at GE14, it is therefore against fair ethics when Bersatu started to welcome Umno "frogs" and "toads".

Instead, an anti-hopping law should have been put in place and firmly enacted to show that Harapan is serious about abiding by good, fair and sound standards and ethics!

We never voted Harapan for you to venture into another national car project. We did not vote Harapan for you to continue Najib's and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's legacy of harbouring Zakir Naik (and granting him VVIP immunity), a fugitive wanted by India on alleged terror-related and money-laundering activities.

We also did not vote Harapan for you to ban the Paralympic swimmers from taking part in the Paralympic swimming meet scheduled to be held in Kuching (Sarawak). Your banning them has resulted in Sarawak losing millions in revenue. 

We did not vote Harapan for you to reinforce a race-based agenda. We wanted you and Harapan to save Malaysia. You and Harapan pledged to save Malaysia but you and Harapan are doing the exact opposite of your GE14 manifesto.

We wanted Harapan and you to keep your promises to all Malaysians (not just to the some Malaysians of a certain race. Must Harapan put some Malaysians on a higher pedestal than other Malaysians?

We did not ask you or Harapan to champion that, did we? It is the Malaysian agenda please, my dear PM and Harapan. Yes, a Malaysian Agenda! That was in your GE14 manifesto.

Then there is your jumping at lightning speed to defend the police against Suhakam's findings on the "enforced disappearances" of Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat. How sure are you that the police were not involved in their abductions/disappearances? I won't be surprised if it is the same with Pastor Hilmy and his wife Ruth.

Justice and truth demand that they are found as soon as possible. And besides these four unfortunate souls, is Harapan doing anything towards getting justice for Altantuya, Teoh Beng Hock, Hussein Najadi, Kevin Morais, etc.?

Regarding Sarawak and Sabah, you and Harapan must work at righting all the wrongs done to the Borneo Partners (not states). As long as Sarawak and Sabah are still regarded as 12th and 13th states, as per the parliamentary bill presented on April 9, 2019, this is incomplete and inaccurate.

Sabah and Sarawak never entered into an agreement with the 11 individual states of Malaya. Therefore a new and more complete/accurate bill must be drafted and presented in Parliament again. Harapan must show genuine commitment, credibility, sincerity and strong political will to right all the wrongs done to Sarawak and Sabah.

Pointing fingers at GPS does not achieve anything fruitful except gaining political mileage, perhaps. MA63 clearly shows Sarawak and Sabah are equal in status to Malaya but why are there so much fewer parliamentary seats allotted to these two partners of MA63?

Another question: If Sarawak and Sabah were equal partners to Malaya, why is it that the PM and his deputy must always be from Malaya only? Did it say so in the original MA63? If it did, then what kind of equal status are we talking about. 

By the way, didn't the exit of Singapore in 1965 nullify MA63? Did Malaysia exist legally after Singapore left? Perhaps the Borneo partners should go for a legitimate referendum.

I am a believer of and an advocate for righteousness, truth, fairness and justice. Righteousness, truth and justice must stand tall together if we truly intend to save Malaysia. Be reminded - we have to give an account to our Maker in due time.

I expect to hear mature and responsible responses from the PM himself and the Harapan partners, especially the leaders in the cabinet. In conclusion, I write this letter not just to the current PM or government (though specifically, yes) but also to every subsequent PM and government-of-the-day.

Thank you.

God bless Malaysia and all Malaysians

Why Mahathir Should Stay On as Prime Minister

The following article by *Mariam Mokhtar* needs to be reiterated and viralized.

COMMENT | Let's be clear about one thing. The only thing I share with Prime MinisterDr Mahathir Mohamad is our initials - MM. That is all. I have been his critic for decades and was persuaded, just a few months before GE-14, to support/endorse Mahathir by two of his former critics, Zunar and Hishammuddin Rais.

Today, there are calls for Mahathir to step down. No! He should not.

The most dangerous political scandal, since GE-14, is finally cracking open like a ripe durian. It is an attempt to bring down Mahathir, his cabinet and Pakatan Harapan.

Mahathir said Malaysia's withdrawal from the Rome Statute was not because the international treaty was bad, but the confusion created by "one particular person who wants to be free to beat up people".

He added, "I find that this particular attempt to get the rulers involved so that they can get leverage, and even trying to get the rulers to sign some order against me."

You may have missed the bit about "getting the rulers to sign some order," because most of us would have been fixated on the "one particular person".

Can you imagine the dangers brought about by a power vacuum after Mahathir's removal? Think Iraq or Libya.

Guess who has been whipping up anti-Harapan sentiments, and re-engineered his image on social media.

Guess who despises Mahathir, because he is the only one with the guts to stand up against them.

Their fatal attraction has been festering for 26 years. How can the rakyat act against people whose business interests are so powerful that they swamp the small-time trader? How can the nation be protected against powerful people who forge long-term business deals with foreigners?

Guess why the ulama have an intense dislike of Mahathir. He dares to scold them and tell them to understand their religion better, instead of confusing their flock with their own warped interpretations.

Guess who else abhors Mahathir. The civil servants who benefited from Najib's largesse, some elite Malays who are crippled by their crab mentality, and the insecure Malays with their siege mentality. These form a volatile mixture.

Mahathir has started the job of cleaning up Malaysia, and he should continue. Moreover, he has to sort out the mess that lies between Putrajaya and that "red dot" across the Causeway.

Only Mahathir has the guts and political will to do this, but ironically, many Malays, on whom he has showered the most help, are among the most fractious, most fragile and most flippant. This is part of his unfinished business, and to ask Mahathir to leave now would be premature.

The Mahathir of today is not the Mahathir of the past. There are flashes of his former self, but by and large, he has most probably realised his mistakes and acknowledged that he needs to correct them before he retires for good.

Mahathir may be dictatorial, in that he brooks no dissent, but he is not a dictator. Mahathir and Harapan were democratically elected. There was no North Korean type of election, with only one candidate.

The Mahathir of today is a "milder" version of his former self. In the "golden age" of Mahathir, newspapers would be in fear of having to stop publication, and people would be locked up under the ISA. He compromised many institutions. He was the architect of Project IC. Having previously been accused of interference, he is now reluctant to be seen as a meddler, or tyrant.

Some of you may have the experience of buying a house, but when you moved in and found that the inside was full of old junk, the floorboards rotten, the roof leaking? You cannot put your own furniture in it, nor decorate it, until the repairs have been completed.

Malaysia is like this old house. Team Mahathir has moved into government and found 61 years of rot. Until most things are fixed, they cannot fully initiate the reforms.

Last year, soon after he was made PM, Mahathir knew who he wanted for attorney-general, and who should helm the key ministries. He has acknowledged that some ministers are disappointing, and he has ordered them to improve their act. Does he have enough capable people to make sweeping changes to his cabinet?

It seems to have taken a long time, but disgraced, former PM Najib Abdul Razak, Rosmah Mansor, Zahid Hamidi, Abdul Azeez Rahim, Isa Samad and Muhammad Shafee Abdullah are being investigated. The rest are being processed. Their time will come.

The waters around Putrajaya are still choppy. Until Najib has been punished for his crimes against the people of Malaysia, we cannot rest; therefore, now is not the time to change leaders.

Nor is it the time to have two leaders; a functioning PM and a PM-in-waiting. There is nothing more destructive than to pit two men against one another, with daily comparisons of their performance, as if it were a tennis match.

We would like to move forward, as a nation, to repair race relations, increase integration and improve the economy. We are sick and tired of the three "Rs" of race, religion and royalty. They are a distraction, especially when there are more important matters. 

Mahathir must resolve the Malay dilemma. He should think long-term, and not opt for short term gains. He should break that impasse.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

Why Nurul Izzah is Wrong about Mahathir

1. It was disingenuous (hypocritical) of Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar to tell Singapore’s Straits Times that she was “broken hearted” at having to work with “a former dictator (Mahathir) who wreaked so much damage, not just on our lives but the system”.

2. Perhaps not many would want to work with Mahathir, but those who do work with him, including the people, do so because they remember the state of the nation before Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over federal power last year.

3. Let us remind ourselves how we got to this situation, where a 93-year-old man had to come out of retirement to serve the nation once more. Who else could have kicked out Barisan Nasional and Najib Razak?

4. Anwar could not have done it on his own. The charismatic Anwar is best known for his oratory and his close ties with the Muslim brotherhood, but he can’t even control the infighting in his party, PKR.

5. Lim Guan Eng could not have done it on his own, either. His party, DAP, has been demonised for decades by Umno and Malay extremists. In a way, Mahathir working with Lim as the finance minister goes some way in repairing the damage for which he is also partly responsible.

6. PAS under Abdul Hadi Awang has little hope of uniting Malaysians. Even if Nik Aziz were still alive, PAS would have gained little traction with the public. Today, PAS hopes to align itself with Umno, using race and religion, to conquer Putrajaya.

7. Even Umno’s Oxford-educated Khairy Jamaluddin, a prime minister-hopeful, failed to recognise the signs of a failing party, a broken economy and a suffering people.

8. Remember, too, that it was Nurul Izzah who allegedly chased after Mahathir when he was in London. Together, they initiated the first steps to form PH and to use the PKR logo for GE14.

9. No one who is lazy or who leaves homework undone should ever attempt to work with Mahathir. Those who are close to him tell me that he is a workaholic. He starts his meetings on time. He goes through the list of items to be discussed with hardly a break. He conducts spot checks. He makes do with little sleep, and he can be a pain when he micro-manages.

10. In his earlier days, when he had a clinic in Alor Setar, Mahathir used to give free treatment for the poor. In the villages, the Malays adore him and many Felda townships welcomed PH canvassers during GE14 when previously they would have been turned away.

11. Neither should anyone forget that Mahathir was the architect of the modern Malaysia we inherited: from the tips of the skyscrapers dominating the Kuala Lumpur skyline to the depths of depravity of the Ketuanan Melayu ideology.

12. Many households in villages are the proud owners of Protons, but on the other hand, those who benefited from the AP system live a life of luxury that few of us can even dream of.

13. When Nurul Izzah said the “former dictator” had “wreaked damaged on Malaysians and on the system”, she did not mention that her father was also part of the problem. Ask any Malaysian who was in school or university in the 1980s about Anwar’s role in the Islamisation of Malaysia.

14. Today, a well-travelled, well-read and well-informed Mahathir has probably realised the mess he created through the imposition of race and religion. In order to preserve his legacy, he knows that he must put things right.

15. Mahathir is aware that ours is a complex nation because past policies have polarised people and forced them to live separate lives. Their children are sent to separate schools, they live in separate housing estates and work in separate fields. Most Malays join the civil service while the rest enter the private sector. Religion is not a unifying factor, and race-based parties compound the division.

16. When he came to power last May, Mahathir wrote to the Agong requesting the removal of Apandi Ali as attorney-general. Apandi was replaced by constitutional expert Tommy Thomas. Thomas was the unanimous choice of all PH leaders, and his appointment, it was hoped, would reassure the business world and the international community and show that PH means business and is serious about reforms.

17. Mahathir is also aware of how far Umno leaders have let things slide since he left office nearly two decades ago. He understands the fragility of the situation and knows that if he introduces a slew of reforms overnight and does too much in one go, he risks alienating Malay support.

18. Remember, too, that many Malays in the civil service are still loyal to Najib. They undermine the current administration. How can they be weeded out? They are not going to expose themselves. Nurul Izzah, of all people, should understand that.

19. Instead of giving up, she should have helped with the effort. She knows that if Najib were still in power, none of the changes made over the past 10 months would have happened. If Malaysians gave up as easily as that, we would never have achieved the success of May 9, 2018. Our work of rebuilding Malaysia is only half-finished. Democracy is not accomplished as soon as the election is over.

20. We still have a lot of work to do to unite Malaysians and to move past racism and religious intolerance. Giving up now because of one man who is in a hurry but who has to work with inadequate tools shows a lack of moral fibre.

TO ALL MALAYSIANS, DON’T GIVE UP ON CHANGES NOW, WE’RE ONLY HALFWAY THERE.