Huzir Sulaiman tackles the thorny issue of Ketuanan Melayu (repost)

The Malaysian Insider

A middle class Malay perspective
WIDE ANGLE WITH HUZIR SULAIMAN
Sunday Star, December 14, 2008

The children of the Establishment tackle some difficult issues.

IN the strident and unnecessarily unpleasant debate over the concept of ketuanan Melayu and the Malay community’s political future, the quiet voices of urban middle-class Malays have yet to make themselves heard.

As a partial corrective, I spoke to several members of a tribe that, while small in number, is intriguing from a social anthropology perspective.

The Malays of the anak Datuk class – the children of senior civil servants and technocrats whose parents’ careers in public service predated the Mahathir era – are interesting in that their values and ideas about Malaysia must have been formed at least in part by their families’ experiences of nation building.

As their parents made the country, it stands to reason that they would have a considerable emotional stake in how it develops in the future.

Even within this rarefied sub-caste of children of the Establishment who are not themselves involved in politics, however, their feelings about ketuanan Melayu show a marked diversity.

Fahmi Fadzil (The Nut Graph)

Fahmi Fadzil, 27, is a writer and performer. He is the son of Datuk Fadzil Yunus, the former director-general – and later general manager – of the Felda group of companies, and Datin Fauziah Ramly, a senior civil servant who was most recently a Commissioner with the Public Service Commission.

I asked him what he makes of the concept of ketuanan Melayu.

“I never grew up thinking about it very much. My parents never spoke to me about it. Even when I was in college the whole matter was never really present in how I saw things.

“I think because I live in KL – and especially because my parents came from that group of earlier middle class Malay civil servants – I don’t think I would subscribe to ideas of ketuanan Melayu.”

But does he subscribe in any way to the idea that the Malays are the natural leaders – or in some way the owners – of Malaysia?

“No. On my father’s side I’m the fourth generation born on this peninsula, on my mother’s side just the third generation, so I see myself as a pendatang too. I don’t subscribe to the idea of a natural leadership role for the Malays.

“More than that, as a Muslim, I don’t see the need for this. There is no such thing as one group being ethnically superior to another.

“The thing I remember most from school, from kelas agama, (is that) from the early days of Islam there was a clear message that you were all the same. Whether you were Arabs or not, you are all the same now.

“We should be talking about values and principles held by people rather than subscribing to simplistic ideas of certain ethnicities being the owners of the land. I don’t subscribe to that, and even if I did, I think the rightful owners would be the Orang Asal.”

Zahim Albakri (The Nut Graph)

Datuk Zahim Albakri, 45, the director and actor, is the son of Datuk Ikmal Hisham Albakri, the first Malay architect and the first President of Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia, who designed the National Library, Putra World Trade Centre, and the Bank Bumiputera headquarters in KL.

Zahim’s grandfather, Datuk Seri Mustafa Albakri, of the Malayan Civil Service, was the first Commissioner of the Election Commission and the first Keeper of the Ruler’s Seal.

For Zahim, coming to grips with the concept of ketuanan Melayu means dispelling ambiguity: “There seems to be a confusion between the bumiputera policy (the New Economic Policy) and the idea of ketuanan Melayu. The bumiputera policy was a reaction to the riots of 1969, whereas ketuanan Melayu, in the Constitution, I don’t think is particularly giving special privileges or rights to the Malays, it’s to ensure that the Malay Rulers have a certain place, to ensure that those institutions continue.

“I grew up in a family where we were brought up with the understanding that the Malay rulers are there, and this is our history, our culture.

“I grew up with my granddad being proudly Malay, and proudly Orang Perak. There was this sense of being proud of our culture. But never were we made to think that being Malay gave us a right to something beyond.

“I was brought up (to believe) that every citizen in Malaysia was equal. I was never brought up believing that Malays should have more than everyone else.”

How would he feel about a non-Malay Prime Minister?

“I have no problem with a non-Malay PM. It should be about their competence. It should be the best person for the job.”

Saidah Rastam

The composer Datin Saidah Rastam comes from a family steeped in public life. Her maternal grandfather was Perak’s 14th Datuk Panglima Kinta, who held 56 public service posts at the time of his death. Her father is Datuk Rastam Hadi, the former managing director of Petronas and former deputy governor of Bank Negara. Her husband is the urbane lawyer-turned-banker Datuk Charon Mokhzani (who, with exquisite politeness, declined to be interviewed for this article).

Says Saidah, “I think the races should be treated equally and the biggest thing that makes me uneasy about the concept of ketuanan Melayu is that it’s increasingly being used in fascist ways.”

She believes that the NEP “was a necessary thing at the time, given the racial tensions, but that’s different from the concept of Malay supremacy”.

She points to the historical record: “Tun Razak said that that was only for that time, and this NEP thing would end at some point, so that’s different from the notion that there’s an inherent Malay supremacy that can’t be questioned, which I’m very uneasy with.

“I’m somebody who benefited from the policies which favoured Malays – at the outset I’m happy to admit that. But looking at things today, my personal view is that we should give everybody equal opportunities because the policies favouring Malays haven’t been used properly.

“And given that the people who are supposed to safeguard the correct implementation of the policies are the same ones who benefit from them, I’m not optimistic that those policies will be correctly implemented.”

Dain Said

Dain-Iskandar Said is a writer and film director. His father was Datuk Mohamed Said Zain, a diplomat and intelligence officer.

He sees the concept of ketuanan Melayu as “outmoded, out of step with the times we live in, when the world is becoming more and more global. The world over, people are bringing down barriers of race, yet we are trying to instill and install those outmoded values.”

In his eyes, there are many aspects to the problem. “First, what is a Malay? Most Malays I know are some kind of mix, so who defines being Malay? Who are the guardians of the definition?

“The definition of ketuanan Melayu seems to be Umno; it always seems to lead back to Umno’s agenda.

“I’m not saying that outside of it it’s not valid; it may be valid to a lot of people. I can understand that. The main problem is the way it’s implemented. The tone of it is fascistic.”

Mahathir Mohamad: the ultimate Melayu?

For him, the promotion of the tenets of ketuanan Melayu “exposes deep insecurity, because if you really believe you are leading this country, what are you so scared of? I don’t think any of the other races want to take that away from you. They can’t, because in the Constitution are enshrined certain precepts.”

Dain argues that our debate is impoverished. “While many of us middle class Malays can be liberal and open, there’s never been any kind of infrastructure that supports ideas or traditions of openness.

“So on the one hand you have people who are willing to be open and liberal, but on the other hand it is so easy to destroy it, because there is no critical, intellectual or educational infrastructure to support those ideas.

“When you attack something that has no support, it is so easy to play to the rural Malay masses, to instill that kind of fear, and make people feel extremely powerless.

“There’s no tradition of talking critically about race and identity politics. You’re almost suspended in a vacuum.”

This is a vacuum that we need to fill with the plurality and diversity of our opinions. It has always been the position of Wide Angle that Malaysia’s many problems and tensions should not be ignored; they need to be addressed by continued, forthright yet respectful debate by citizens, and the issue of ketuanan Melayu is no exception.

-----
Huzir Sulaiman writes for theater, film, television, and newspapers. 

[First posted 18 May 2012, reposted 11 July 2014 & 16 july 2019]

Trapped by their own greed and stupidity! (reprise)

Umno/BN, after 22 years of Mahathirism, has degenerated into a robber baron regime paralyzed by a complete failure of imagination and rendered powerless to adapt to changes in the political terrain by the sheer inertia of its own overweening arrogance and greed.

Najib Razak and his grotesque wife Rosmah Mansor were pushed into power by 191 corrupt and inept Umno division chiefs - just as George W. Bush was muscled into the White House in 2000 - to take the flak and serve as a target of public ridicule, so that the nouveau riche Umnoputra elite could continue to rob the nation with impunity and hide the loot in numbered accounts and property investments abroad.

With their control of the law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, civil service, the armed forces and the tribal monarchies, Umno believes it can continue to misrule - by brute force if necessary - through deliberate aggravation of artificially engendered racial and religious differences.

The majority of urbanites have long woken up to Umno/BN's dirty strategies and will never again be fooled. In the rural areas where the only source of news are the mainstream media, the awakening is slightly more sluggish but inevitable. 

Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin created a financial buffer against political defeat by nurturing an ultra-rich entrepreneurial class to feed the Umno/BN electoral juggernaut (hence the lopsided contracts signed with Independent Power Producers and utility corporations privatized to political cronies). This unwholesome conspiracy between centralized government and capitalist self-interest to bamboozle the public will grind to an abrupt end when Umno/BN is booted out - and that's why we see panic breaking out in the hysterical headlines and perverse spins of crony media like Utusan Malaysia and TV3. 

It's time to draw a clear line in the sand, people. It's time to open your windows, stand on a street corner, and shout...

"We're as mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore!"

[First published 19 June 2011... reposted 5 January 2013... 6 January 2014... now one LAST time!]

Trapped by their own greed and stupidity!

Umno/BN, after 22 years of Mahathirism, has degenerated into a robber baron regime paralyzed by a complete failure of imagination and rendered powerless to adapt to changes in the political terrain by the sheer inertia of its own overweening arrogance and greed.

Najib Razak and his grotesque wife Rosmah Mansor were pushed into power  by 191 corrupt and inept Umno division chiefs - just as George W. Bush was muscled into the White House in 2000 - to take the flak and serve as a target of public ridicule, so that the nouveau riche Umnoputra elite could continue to rob the nation with impunity and hide the loot in numbered accounts and property investments abroad.

With their control of the law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, civil service, the armed forces and the tribal monarchies, Umno believes it can continue to misrule - by brute force if necessary - through deliberate aggravation of artificially engendered racial and religious differences.

The majority of urbanites have long woken up to Umno/BN's dirty strategies and will never again be fooled. In the rural areas where the only source of news are the mainstream media, the awakening is slightly more sluggish but inevitable. 

Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin created a financial buffer against political defeat by nurturing an ultra-rich entrepreneurial class to feed the Umno/BN electoral juggernaut (hence the lopsided contracts signed with Independent Power Producers and utility corporations privatized to political cronies). This unwholesome conspiracy between centralized government and capitalist self-interest to bamboozle the public will grind to an abrupt end when Umno/BN is booted out - and that's why we see panic breaking out in the hysterical headlines and perverse spins of crony media like Utusan Malaysia and TV3. 

It's time to draw a clear line in the sand, people. It's time to open your windows, stand on a street corner, and shout...

"We're as mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore!"

Mahathir's Dodo Dynasty

A friend forwarded me an email with a selection of photos taken at a recent gala housewarming party hosted by Mukhriz Mahathir. The images were from a local gossip blog and merely revealed without commentary the Gatsbyesque garishness and pompousness of Mukhriz Mahathir's lifestyle preferences...

I decided to turn these images into a blogpost and began editing the photos. When I was ready to upload I discovered my Streamyx connection down again (third time within two weeks!) - this time it was due to a dysfunctional phone line. That happened around 3:00PM Saturday.

It's almost 2:00PM Monday as I type this and Telekom has been unable to get my line working. Each time this happens I think of Mahathir and his privatization program and vow to do everything within my power to prevent Mukhriz Mahathir from establishing a Mahathir dynasty.

We need another dynasty of arrogant mediocrity like we need a great big hole in our wallets!

This blogpost comes to you from the same cybercafe I had to use every day for 3 years, while waiting for Telekom to provide me a land line.

Back in 1975, when I was living at 7 Pesiaran Ampang Hilir, I applied for a phone and was made to wait nearly 3 years. Telekom's monumental lack of enthusiasm over the notion of progress is perhaps a quaint and wonderful cultural trait - but I don't think it does a telco's public image any good.

Looking at the new mansion that Mukhriz Mahathir built, one can't help but speculate about how much it might have cost...

A wild guess might put the overall cost between RM15-20 million.

Apart from shooting his mouth off at every opportunity and coming across as an overconfident moron (the worst type of moron, if you ask me), what DOES Mukhriz Mahathir actually do? Does he have any marketable skills or special talents?

Is he a financial whizkid, for instance? I doubt it. Mutual friends assure me that Mukhriz Mahathir can be quite a charming and affable fellow. Maybe so, but does being "charming and affable" mean you can afford to live in a multi-million ringgit mansion?

I know his elder brother Mirzan is ranked among the richest men in Asia (read somewhere he was worth USD8.5 billion a couple of years ago)... I guess when your daddy is Mahathir or Suharto it's impossible to fail in business, no matter how hard you try.

So how do you suppose Mukhriz amassed his fortune? Surely not on his cabinet minister's salary? Does he have a couple of hit albums on the charts?

I don't have a problem with people who strike it rich by fortuitously stumbling on a cave filled with pirate treasure... or who inherited a fortune from their tycoon fathers... or who invented something the world finds useful - like the personal computer or iPhone or Google...

But Mukhriz Mahathir's dad is a politician. To be precise, he was prime minister for 22 years. He has publicly lashed out against corruption and Umno-style money politics (while privately stashing his store of nuts away in offshore hiding places, no doubt). So did daddy give Mukhriz this mansion as a birthday present, for boldly speaking out against Abdullah Badawi's lameness and making snide remarks about the seriousness of Anwar's sodomy accusations?

Guess we'll never know... unless Marina spills the beans!

MALAISEA: A Political Overview (Reprise)

NOTE: THIS ESSAY WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN 15 APRIL 2001. IT WAS UPDATED AND POSTED ON THIS BLOG ON 8 FEBRUARY 2007. I AM REPOSTING IT AS PART OF MY PERSONAL CAMPAIGN FOR REFORMASI VIA A SPECTACULAR WIN FOR ANWAR AND PAKATAN RAKYAT AT PERMATANG PAUH.

Only a decade or so ago people were looking forward to a great future - no matter what their outlook or worldview. Rich folk believed they were going to get even richer. Poor folk felt they had a fair chance of at least getting a bit of furniture in their homes and maybe their kids would be geniuses at school and be given full scholarships all the way. Industrialists eagerly anticipated taking over the action from flagging western economies; social activists and environmentalists formed themselves into energetic little NGOs and found their opinions gaining some ground. 1996 was a jolly time to be a Malaisean! People were buying computers for their kids and everyone was getting on the Internet.

True, some of us knew a lot of stupid, ugly stuff was going on in business and politics - like everywhere else - and that the government was in the hands of highly sophisticated hoodlums descended from the great space pirate lineages. But we thought that sooner or later enough citizens would awaken from their consumerist trance and restore a measure of accountability and democracy in government. All it would take is a sizeable middle-class with access to good information and proper education - and we were definitely getting there.

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?

The Asian Tigers suffered a collective stroke in July 1997. Overnight, currencies like the Thai Baht, the Malaysian Ringgit, and the Indonesian Rupiah were devalued by approximately 40%. The Icarus Effect kicked in: from being among the highest flyers in the Asia-Pacific Area, the wings of the Malaisean economy suddenly melted and we plummeted feetfirst towards terra firma and almost broke our spines when we landed on hard reality. But what was really badly bruised were the inflated egos of Malaisean prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his wheeling-dealing Wild Bunch of Umnoputras (UMNO = United Malay Nationalist Organisation; Umnoputras = the swaggering political party leadership).

As long as the economic bubble was visibly expanding, nobody wanted to look too closely at the shenanigans and shady businesses underpinning the Malaisean success story. Nobody wanted to know how much had been borrowed from which banks by whom and how in hell they hoped to ever repay their astronomical debts. Nobody wanted to cut the administrative body open and figure out how many cans would be needed to hold the wriggling worms that had gorged themselves off the fat of the land for decades.

Suddenly finding his megalomanic dream of building his very own Evil Empire and turning Malaisea into his personal Death Star project thwarted, Mahathir's paranoia took a turn for the worse. He knew his hand-picked successor to the throne, the charismatic but enigmatic Anwar Ibrahim, was more than ready to take over his job. Anwar had the support of most of the younger generation and was already holding two important posts: deputy prime minister and finance minister.

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin - Mahathir's invisible Grand Vizier, Undisputed Godfather of the Malaisean Mafia and Master Manipulator - saw the end of the Mahathir era rapidly approaching. With his entrepreneurial protégés all facing bankruptcy proceedings, Daim couldn't survive a sea change in party leadership. So he came up with a plan to discredit Anwar and stop him from cracking down on corrupt party members with heavy business connections. They would circulate rumours that Anwar was a freestyle fornicator with a penchant for anal sex and thereby force his resignation.

The plan backfired (pun unintended) when Anwar refused to take the money and run. Instead, he turned around and openly challenged Mahathir for the nation's top job. On September 2nd 1998, Mahathir sacked Anwar. Thousands of sympathizers flocked to Anwar's residence pledging their support. In less than three weeks, Anwar was leading protest processions through the streets of Kuala L'impure, the national capital. Some say the crowds reached as high as 80,000; others estimate the numbers at no more than 40,000. In any case, Anwar Ibrahim's unceremonious dismissal inspired the largest gatherings of dissenters in Malaisean history. The velvet glove was removed and Mahathir ordered Anwar's arrest on the evening of September 20th 1998.

Since that shameful night the entire country has been plunged into moral darkness. All the excesses and weaknesses of the system have been grossly magnified; all the leaks are letting in water like crazy (and even the pipes are leaking!). There's no more pretense at democracy. The well-behaved press has been further intimidated into serving as mere conduits for government propaganda.

Over the 22 years of his beady-eyed and heavy-handed rule, Mahathir quietly castrated the royals, offering them a handsome share of the Big Business ball game as compensation while securing his own financial dynasty through his children á la Suharto of Indonesia.

By now Mahathir was the uncrowned Emperor of Malaisea - dubbed Mahafiraun (Great Pharaoh) by his detractors in Umno. When the people demonstrated, a snarling Mahathir (as home minister) greeted them with water cannons and tear gas. His specially trained goons infiltrated street marches and sparked off rioting, thereby giving the police an excuse to crack down hard on the young hotheads calling for the prime minister's resignation.

On the night of his arrest Anwar Ibrahim was brutally assaulted by the Inspector General of Police. Anwar's associates were picked up and tortured into signing affidavits claiming they had been sodomized by the erstwhile deputy prime minister. Highly paid, well-dressed witnesses came forth and denounced Anwar as a profligate. The trial judge declared all evidence of a political conspiracy irrelevant - and pressed on relentlessly for a guilty verdict on a ludicrous charge of corruption which was delivered on April 14th 1999. Anwar was given a 6-year prison term after having been held in custody for nearly 7 months without bail. The whole thing stank.

[On August 8th 2000, Anwar Ibrahim was found guilty of sodomy by another kangaroo court and sentenced to an additional 9 years behind bars! If he had been charged in a Syariah or Islamic Court, Anwar would most likely have been acquitted, as Syariah Law states that accusations of sexual indiscretion must be corroborated by four male witnesses of indisputable integrity who must swear that they saw the deed with their own eyes!]

And this reek of evil has permeated every facet of Malaisean society. Indeed we are in grave danger of getting inured to abuse of power and moral indecency in high office. It's truly a wonder that one wicked uncle and his gang of trained hyenas could have systematically corrupted the police force, the judiciary - indeed, the entire machinery of governance, including the mass media. The only avenue of dissent left open is the Internet. To win a victory in the streets we'd need 250,000 assembled in Freedom Square. They'd have to call out the army - and, hopefully, the troops will join the people in demanding a whole new government founded on decency, justice, freedom, and truth.


The key to power has long been Divide & Rule. Mahathir is a past master at the game, pitting different ethnic interests against each other, stirring up petty quarrels within each faction, capitalizing on the base human emotions of fear and greed. Without access to the mass media, opposition groups find themselves preaching to the converted. When it comes down to it, most Malaysians still vote with their bellies, not their conscience. By banning 680,000 newly registered voters from the general election on November 29 1999 (in addition to the usual bribery and fraud) Mahathir managed to steer his regime to a narrow victory with a mere 105,000 vote margin. But that was enough to buy him and his business associates a little more time.

Time in which to cover their financial backsides and wear down all political opponents. "We're bullish on bouncing back!" screamed the press advertisements. "Economic recovery expected with 6 months!" boasted the well-connected pundits. Well, wander around KL and see how many public phones you can find that actually work. Check out the public transport system and see how many sweaty commuters can fit into a single overworked bus. Find out how many factory workers and construction crews have been retrenched and repatriated to Bangladesh and Indonesia. How many Filipina maids have been harassed and sent packing. These are the real indicators of the Malaisean economy - and they don't look too good. All the energy and power is concentrated within a tiny segment of society; less and less of it trickles down to the masses these days. Essential services like electricity, water, and telecommunications have all been privatized (more precisely, piratized) - and even education and health care are headed that way.

When Pak Lah stepped in as prime minister after Mahathir's compulsory retirement (Umno stalwarts could see that Dr M, like G.W. Bush today, had become a liability to his own political party), it appeared that we had underestimated the man. It was refreshing to see a PM with less of an ego problem who seemed a great deal more open to public opinion and learned advice. Indeed, by releasing Anwar Ibrahim from Sungei Buloh Prison, Pak Lah effectively took the wind out of Opposition sails. People had little anger left to discharge and gladly returned to business-as-usual.

Now, a little more than three years after Pak Lah took over, we are seeing age-old problems re-emerge - problems that have never been courageously faced and resolved once and for all. The notorious ISA and OSA remain in place to prevent hardnosed investigators from unmasking corruption and abuse of power at its source. Samy Vellu is still in cahoots with corporate highwaymen and threatening to jail anybody who reveals his secret deals with greedy concessionaires. Sensational scandals have raised many unanswered questions, and rumors implicating prominent ministers are rife. In an era when presidents and prime ministers find themselves charged with war crimes, genocide, corruption, deceit, and rape - cold-blooded murder would be just another high-profile scandal. But, unless justice is seen to be done, it could cause the ruin of an entire country. Intimidating bloggers and whistle-blowers can only postpone the inevitable.


Socially, Malaiseans are fast becoming a bunch of self-serving ruffians. We have the ethical integrity of a gnu in heat. Nobody trusts the police. Everyone has at least one cousin or uncle who's turned to crime just so he can support his family. Or drug habit. Young people with ideas are forced underground, linking up with international anarcho-punk networks. Older artists and theatre practitioners have sold out - or dropped out. The best writers in the country have a hard time finding publishers who can offer a straight deal. Nobody has the money to fund a feature film - unless the plot is absolutely banal and the script insults human intelligence. True, a few adventurous souls have recently begun making powerful personal statements with low-budget digicam movies. But mediocrity and malice continue to rule with an iron hand in poor, benighted Malaisea. All it takes is one evil-minded nincompoop with access to the Malay press to get adventurous films banned, and a popular film club shut down.

Indeed we seem to be in the cultural and spiritual doldrums. The mental atmosphere is stagnant, and everywhere you turn there's a toxic stench of putrefaction and industrial pollution. The rainforests are almost non-existent now and so is the political will to conserve the environment. Indigenous tribes are being driven off their traditional lands and forced to take their place as society's lowest stratum. Their dignity and freedom - which is all they own - is being confiscated. The rest of us lost ours ages ago.

IS THERE REALLY NO HOPE FOR US?

To answer this we have to sit back, relax, and look at the Big Picture. The deadly drama playing out in Malaisea is a hologram of the spiritual crisis facing all humanity. No system of governance exists today that can stand up to thorough scrutiny; all of it ultimately leads to Big Brotherism or one of its many permutations - despotism, totalitarianism, fascism, nazism. In short, the New World Odor - yup, the familiar stench of the old feudal hierarchies, thinly concealed as the Corporate Superstate.

The only way to deflect this life-denying reality from taking complete possession of our destinies as autonomously evolving individuals with free wills is to reconnect with our inner selves and scan our deep memories for corrupted files. Clear out our neural circuits and regain our youthful innocence, so we can once again look at the twinkling stars and wonder what they are - if not our true origins. That's right, folks. We have to get cosmic and quit rolling around in our own mental excrement, trapped in our claustrophobic pigpen 3D realities. We have to get multidimensional and stay heart-centred - because our heads are too dead to appreciate the awesome mystery of life.

But first things first: we have to remove reactionary politicians from high office; yank them all out like rotten teeth. Or their poison will go to our brains and kill us in our prime.

Antares © 2001-2008

[Written April 15 2001, updated February 8 2007, reposted 24 August 2008]

DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!

Mahathir: 22 fiascos in 22 years of power

Photo by Waziri

This hard-hitting piece by "Batman" was first published in Malaysia Today on 13 April 2008. In view of Mahathir's recent maneuvers to topple Abdullah Badawi and regain control of the country by proxy, I'm prompted to republish it.*

Many of those who worship Tun Dr Mahathir cannot understand why Malaysians blame TDM for the woes of the country. I have compiled excerpts of articles published in the media in past years to refresh the memories of Malaysians, as to why many Malaysians feel TDM did more bad than good for the country in his 22 years.

These 22 fiascos are presented in the form of questions directed to TDM:

1) On clean government
You came to power in 1981 and introduced the slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah (Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy). What did you do to further that? Did you make the Anti-Corruption Agency more independent and effective? Did you ensure that the police and judiciary did their jobs properly and reduce corruption in their ranks? Did you censure ministers and chief ministers who received incomes beyond legal means? How many big guns were prosecuted for corruption during your tenure? What happened to Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah?

2) Press freedom
Your criticism of the government got plenty of coverage in the local media whereas, during your time, criticisms against you by two former prime ministers were muted in the mainstream newspapers. Editors in Umno-linked newspapers too were removed for not toeing the line. What did you do to advance the cause of responsible press freedom?

3) Proton
You went ahead with the national car project in 1983 despite a number of experts disagreeing with you, especially with respect to the lack of economies of scale. Isn’t it true that Proton’s profits over the past 20 years came from the vastly higher prices that the Malaysian public have had to pay to subsidize Proton, resulting in considerable hardship for Malaysians who need cars because of the poor public transport system? Why was it necessary for Proton to buy a stake in a failed Italian motorcycle manufacturer when it could not even produce cars competitively?

4) Heavy industries
Why did you push into heavy industries such as steel and cement in the 1980s, ignoring studies which suggested developing natural resource-based industries instead? They caused major problems and billions of ringgit in losses.

5) Immigration
Why did you allow hordes of people to immigrate, mainly from Indonesia, in such an unregulated way that there are as many or more illegal immigrants than legal ones now, accounting for some two million or more people? Did you not realize that this would cause serious social problems?

6) Operasi Lalang
Why did you have to resort to this move in October 1987, when you used the Internal Security Act to detain over 100 people, close down four newspapers and cause a wave of fear throughout the country? Was it to consolidate your tenuous hold on power then by using an oppressive law?

7) Judiciary
What motivated you to take action in 1988 to remove the then Lord President and several Supreme Court judges from their positions under allegations of judicial misconduct, a move which was heavily criticized by the Bar Council and other bodies? Was it because you needed more compliant judges whose rulings would not threaten your position of power in a number of cases in court? Was this the first step in dismantling the judiciary’s role as a system of checks and balances against the legislature and the executive? What have you to say to repeated assertions by many, including prominent ex-chief justices, who maintain that this led to the erosion of judicial independence?

8) Education
Why did you allow our national school system, which is the ideal place to develop ties among young Malaysians, to become so divisive? Why is it that our local Universities, once the preferred choice of tertiary education, have deteriorated to a level that even students who have gained admission prefer to enroll in local private colleges and universities?

9) Malaysia Airlines System
Why did your government sell MAS (privately) to Tajuddin Ramli who had no knowledge whatsoever about running an airline? Why did your government then later bail out Tajuddin by paying RM8 per share when the shares were trading at only RM3.60 in the open market, costing close to RM 1 billion of the rakyat’s money.

10) Privatization
Why did you allow privatization to take place in such a manner that the most profitable government operations were sold away like Telekom Malaysia, Pos Malaysia and Tenaga Nasional? Toll concessionaires were guaranteed toll increases and compensations in the event traffic projections were not met. Independent power producers had contracts that guaranteed profits at the expense of Tenaga Nasional. What was the justification of privatizing the government medical stores to Southern Task Sdn Bhd, and the resulting increase of prices of medicines?

11) Putrajaya
What is the justification for spending RM20 billion on a grandiose government city at a time when there was a glut of office space in Kuala Lumpur? Could the money not have been put to better use, such as improving educational resources?

12) Indah Water Konsortium
What was the basis of granting Indah Water Konsortium a concession to manage the national sewerage system? Can you explain the RM1.4 billion soft loan to IWK which has suffered irrecoverable losses?

13) Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad
Why did you rescue Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad (then owned by Mirzan Mahathir) and which had debts of RM1.7 billion using funds from Petronas? Was it not your administration which forced Malaysian International Shipping Company (MISC) to acquire the assets of Konsortium Perkapalan Nasional?

14) Time Dotcom Bhd
Why did your administration bail out Time Dotcom Bhd which was saddled with a RM5 billion debt? Why did your government use RM904 million from Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen to buy up 273.9 million of unwanted Time Dotcom shares incurring an instant loss of RM280 million?

Did you not force the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to buy 81.6 million unsubscribed public portion of the initial public offering (IPO) of Time Dotcom Bhd at RM3.30 per share when the shares were trading at only between RM1.95 and RM2.10 and in the process incurring an instant loss of RM100 million?

15) LRT
Why did you bail out the light rail transit operators Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA), which belonged to Renong; and Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd (STAR) using almost RM600 million from EPF, which still resulted in EPF having to write off RM135 million with a share loss of RM96 million?

16) North-South Expressway
Why did your administration award the North-South Expressway concession to UEM (who then formed Plus) and then provide them with a loan of RM1.6 billion which was half of the tender price of RM3.2 billion. What was the justification for your administration to grant Plus such overgenerous terms, which included annual increment of toll rates and guaranteed traffic volumes?

17) PSC Industries Berhad
Why did your administration in 1998 award a RM24.3 billion contract to PSC Industries Berhad, together with an advance of more than RM2.5 billion to build naval patrol boats? Why were they also given exclusive rights to service the Malaysian navy’s entire fleet? Could you confirm that the first two ships built by PSCI could not even pass pre-delivery trials? How would you answer to the Public Accounts Committee’s revelation that it will cost the government another RM120 million just to salvage the first two vessels nearing completion after seven years?

18) Bakun Dam
Why did you award Ekran Bhd the contract to build the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam in Sarawak? Why did your administration take over the construction of the dam by bailing out Ekran by almost RM200 million for ‘work done’?

19) InventQjaya
What was the basis of inviting Libyan-American Sadeq Mustaffa to Malaysia to set up InventQjaya Sdn Bhd and to also give him a grant of RM440 million? What was the benefit for Malaysia and how has Malaysia benefited? What has happened to InventQjaya now?

20) Forex Losses
Why did your administration dabble in the money market which ultimately cost Bank Negara almost RM9.3 billion in losses?

21) Bank Bumiputra
Why did you allow the mismanagement of Bank Bumiputra, to the extent that it had to be bailed out 3 times, costing the country a total of RM 3 billion? Again, dipping into Petronas’s funds?

22) Perwaja Steel
Why did your administration allow Perwaja Steel to be mismanaged resulting in RM 2.9 billion of the rakyat’s money being squandered?

There you are, 22 fiascos in 22 years. The bad news is that there are actually more than 22! Remember the APs, Maminco, Renong and many more. Those who remember, please add on to this list.

Batman

Flag-waving Mahathir in 1999 (courtesy of John Wishii)

Original cartoons by Antares © 1984

P.S. For me Mahathir's greatest crime was that his megalomanic ambition totally obscured the Horizon of Decency. A lot of young Malaysians growing up during the Mahathir years seem completely clueless about ethics. This is particularly true of a large segment of Melayu Baru (members of Mahathir's Umno Baru, no doubt) - who got disconnected from their original graciousness, patience, and openness of heart - and became arrogant, jingoistic, ruthless and rapacious big-time wannabes. Indeed, Mahathir's influence was so all-pervasive, even minibus conductors and office clerks turned into Little Napoleons during those dark days under the Incurable Dr M!

*I have just been informed that "Batman" may have rehashed his article from an original feature - Question Time: 22 Questions for Mahathir - by P. Gunasegaran, published in The Edge.