JOURNALIST A. Karthirasen is right in saying that the past Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed is the right person to contradict the present one.
Returning to Dr Mahathir’s past as prime minister for 22 years, his countless speeches are rich with the fact that non-Malaysians, Chinese, and Indians have not yet become Malaysians in accepting Malaysia’s political reality.
Thus, for 22 years, Dr Mahathir bemoaned the fact that some sections of the population are not fully Malaysians yet.The separate cultural identity and the perpetuation of the vernacular school system were instances of the lack of integration between Chinese and Indians.His argument then was that if the Malays were generous in accepting the non-Malays as citizens, then there was a parallel need to accept the Malayness of Malaysia.Before becoming prime minister under the Pakatan Harapan government, he went the extra mile to defend the DAP’s multi-racialism. He even chastised MCA, Gerakan and MIC for being less nationalistic than the DAP.Of course, he wanted the support of the DAP for him to be the prime minister after the 2018 general election. Not to mention, 42 DAP MPs supported him. He was willing to accept the argument that he was the puppet of the DAP.Why didn’t he oppose the multi-racialism of the DAP then? Why didn’t he say that DAP was working against the Malays of the Federal Constitution?If he can describe Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the puppet of the DAP with 40 MPs and four ministers then he was the worst puppet of the DAP with 42 MPs in 2018.The Dr Mahathir of the past, the bygone years, contradicts the present one on matters of multi-racialism, nationalism and others. It is not his memory that is failing but he has certainly developed the art of selectively picking from his memory.In other words, the former Langkawi MP wants to remember what he wants to remember. If somebody points out his blatant contradiction, he might turn around and say that he doesn’t remember things clearly.Dr Mahathir’s marriage of convenience with the Perikatan Nasional (PN), the opposition’s endorsement of the Malay Proclamation and the attack against DAP and Anwar have certainly come at an opportune time—the state elections in the six states on Aug 12, 2023.Moreover, by engaging in extremes, he wants to outdo Bersatu and PAS as the leading person behind the opposition front. In other words, Dr Mahathir is saying the extremism of former PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS leader Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang is nowhere compared to his.Dr Mahathir’s marriage of convenience might function with the sole aim of removing Anwar from power. Whether this can be done or not remains to be seen.But one thing is sure, PN leaders might put up with Dr Mahathir speciously but they know that the cunning fox cannot be trusted. – July 6, 2023
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the DAP state assemblyman for Perai. He is also Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main photo credit: Utusan
