October 3, 2014

by Simon Neoh@www.malaysia-chronicle.com (10-01-14)

It did not surprise me when former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad labelled his nemesis, Anwar Ibrahim as a divisive man, when he blamed Anwar for prolonging the entire Selangor Menteri Besar crisis.

Coming from Mahathir, one has to only take it with a pinch of salt, especially when the accuser himself is equally as guilty. While the ordinary man on the street can tell who, between Dr Mahathir and Anwar, who fits the description better, and how Khalid Ibrahim, with the help of his UMNO and PAS state assemblymen, had dragged the Selangor crisis for as long as he could, Dr Mahathirs mudslinging backfires.

As pointed out to me by a self-development coach, this description fits the octogenarian very well: The very things that we see in others which we hate reflect what we truly are and the things that we also hate in ourselves.

Looking back at Dr Mahathirs history as an activist in the early 60s and subsequently when he wrote the book The Malay Dilemma, Dr Mahathir was probably the most divisive person this nation has seen. When he was thrown out of UMNO for his widely-circulated poison pen letter against the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Petra Al-Haj, the Bapa Malaysia had predicted that, if Dr Mahathir is allowed to re-join UMNO, he would destroy the party. He was, and he still is, the reason why UMNO is weak and the urban Malays have become totally disillusioned with the Barisan Nasional government after 57 years of Independence.

The game plan is always to blame others, other himself, as author of the book, The Malays, Their Problems and Future, Dr. Syed Husin Ali wrote: Many UMNO leaders and the Malays blamed the Tunku for the (May 13) incident; they accused him of being too liberal towards the Chinese and as a result the influence of UMNO began to decline, and it lost out to the PAS.

It happened in 1969, and now, Dr Mahathir is trying to use the same strategy to pit one race against another. For example, in Selangor, PAS has won a number of traditional UMNO seats (in fact, more the other two Pakatan component parties), the DAP still gets the blame. This is Dr Mahathirs strategy which he hopes Malays will once again fall prey to.

Note what Syed Husin wrote: Dr Mahathir and many Malays believed that it was due to the Tunkus indecisiveness and liberalism that the Chinese became more outspoken in their demands. Change the word Tunku with Najib, and you will understand what the Mahathir camp is hoping to achieve, but Dr Mahathir has forgotten that he no longer is in power.

Using His Kuncho

Read more:

Comment on Doc Mahathir: Whats Up? by C.L. Familiaris