Letter to Editor
TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Mahathir continue their age-old tango as members of the opposition – with both hinting an olive branch at each other. It is unfortunate then that the only people who remain interested in a Mahathir-Anwar team up are the two dancers themselves.
The public is clearly tired of the nonagenarian with many placing blame on Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) stormy time in government to his intractable and stubborn nature – on top of what many have called needless paranoia in his moves to prevent Anwar from gaining power towards the end of PH’s term in power.
If anything, a meeting between the two should only be seen as a courtesy call and any notion of cooperation should be rejected outright – only because of the people who have flocked around him in his latest venture of Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA).
We have already seen what a “new UMNO” can look like under Bersatu, and we should all fear what it may look like under GTA – the great filter of course works in mysterious ways.
It would be insanely naive for Anwar or anyone else for that matter to even to Dr Mahathir at face value, regardless of how well he waves and offers his “expertise” in gaming the Malaysian political system that he had established.
One only has to see his constant delay over passing the leadership baton during PH, the constant attacks against Anwar through his proxy, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (now MUDA president) and his dangerous (and real) courtship of UMNO-PAS in an attempt to build his grand “Malay ummah” ambition that has already been burgeoning in his attempts to build Bersatu, his Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, GTA or any other Malay-centric movement that he has in mind.
He is a master of building nostalgia, playing upon Malay disenchantment, fears of the other, and general deception in order to meet his goals.
Ask anyone from his first tenure as prime minister (PM) at how well the leopard can change its spots. His opponents – no matter the size, no matter the credibility, no matter the position – would all bow down or face punishment.
This is not to say, those who bent the knee were not rewarded, after all many are familiar with the Dr Mahathir crony complex.
In his words to his now disgraced successor Datuk Seri Najib Razak: “I don’t have cronies, only capable people”.
Many of the “well-respected” tycoons of today, the same ones who became billionaires, including his own children, did so because of his policies and actions that are based on cronyism.
Dr Mahathir’s privatisation policy actually was “pirate-isation” of government-linked companies (GLCs) and agencies, many of which ended up being owned by crony companies.
Perwaja, Telekom, MAS, toll concessions, power plants, shipping (MISC Bhd), monorails and major contracts on Daya Bumi, Petronas Twin Towers, North-South Highway, KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) and Putrajaya are just some of them.
Indeed, he is responsible for the terrible state of this country. All his policies have segregated the races and we are now on a runaway train heading towards the rocks.
I guess he will never admit his mistakes and his biggest sin when he refused to hand over the reins. Voters in Langkawi had punished him for this at the polling booth during the recent 15th General Election (GE15). – Dec 2, 2022
Susan Ooi
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
