MANY Malaysians are annoyed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks, which question the loyalty of the Indians and Chinese because of their supposed failure to assimilate into Malay society.
In a way though, I feel sorry for the former prime minister, who’s in the twilight years of his life.
Without doubt, those of us who were present during his 22-year tenure as PM will remember him fondly and proudly for building Malaysia into a nation clearly on a path to modernisation. He put us on the world map with the construction of the Petronas Twin Towers and bringing Formula 1 racing to Malaysia.
Under his stewardship, we enjoyed double-digit economic growth, and he inspired Malaysians by instilling confidence in us.
Many of us even chose to adopt a more lenient outlook then as Dr Mahathir tore down reforms and civil society the way we knew it as he moved pieces in the judiciary system, including sacking the Lord President then, and diminishing the powers of our Rulers.
During his tenure, his dissidents were arrested and jailed and newspapers which refused to toe the line were temporarily shut down.
But worst of all, he undermined every single one of his successors. In his eyes, none of them were fit to be PM.
Unfortunately for him, his legacy is now firmly consigned to the history books.
Malaysians have stopped according him the respect he likely desires.
He should know that by now, right? Or has someone forgotten to give him that memo? After all, he managed to garner only 4,566 votes, which is 12.5% short of the vote threshold to retain his deposit to hang on to his Langkawi parliamentary seat.
Incredibly, he was quoted saying he doesn’t understand what contributed to his disastrous defeat.
The reason was staring at him, but his sycophants probably didn’t have the heart to tell him.
Malaysians, including the predominantly Malay voters of Langkawi, essentially just want Dr M to retire for good.
He had 22 years as PM and even came back for a second hurrah as PM at the age of 92, and he was certainly back with his usual combative style of politics.
Plus, he was also glaringly out of sync with how things worked in the modern age. Dr Mahathir was a man caught in a time warp as he talked about policies and formulas which sounded archaic.
We can forgive him for believing he’s still a political icon and legend.
After all, ours is a society which accords respect and reverence to the elderly, especially our leaders.
Many of us will still request wefies with the nonagenarian, but let’s hope he doesn’t get carried away with delusions of grandeur.
His time ended some years back. A new Prime Minister – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim – has been in power for a year.
Crumbling record: Tun Dr Mahathir will always be credited for putting us on the world map with the construction of the Petronas Twin Towers, among others. However, he is fast losing respect with his recent remarks and antics. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
Dr Mahathir barely has any clout, but like all politicians, he, too, thrives on publicity to prove his imagined relevance. He knows the controversies, including his nasty remarks, earn column inches and attention.
The media should just ignore him, though. His divisive sound bites don’t make Malaysia better, but instead, unnecessarily generate discontent. Instead of dedicating his time to writing elder statesman-like essays to share his experiences and wisdom on nation building, he has opted to continually spew toxic race and religion narratives.
Loyal Malaysians including Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, Ibans, Kadazans and others are the ones who toiled for our beloved country.
The disloyal Malaysians are the corrupt leaders who have stolen, plundered and looted from our nation’s properties and coffers, including government-linked companies, and perpetrators include many cronies, too. Malaysia had bled profusely long before the 1MDB scandal, and this was the final straw for our people.In our history’s national fiascos, many of those implicated, unfortunately, are elites with political connections, including those from the time of Dr Mahathir’s reign.
So he has no moral standing to lecture us about loyalty to Malaysia, where most of the people born and raised here would surely desire to die in this country as well. Our loyalty should never be questioned.
Malaysia is what it is today because of the contributions every single one of us has made.
Some of us may have linguistic inadequacies and the inability to integrate, but our hearts and minds are truly Malaysian, and that’s what matters most.
With due respect, Tun, please stop talking about loyalty and calling us pendatang.
In case you’ve forgotten, this is 2024.
