Mahathir's Self-Centeredness: Only What Mahathir Thinks and Wants That Matter, Not UMNO or Malaysia

We say,

Dr.Mahathir could have been a respected elder statesman after his retirement. He could have been a lightning rod for unifying the nation.

With 22 years at the helm of UMNO, he could have reformed UMNO into a relevant political party that could be respected by all races. Instead UMNO became more feared than respected and much hated by others.

He could have made Malaysia into a matured nation, where every race can feel he/she has an equal place in the sun.

No, Dr. Mahathir chose to be a divisive leader. Even more so after his retirement from politics. On second thought, in fact, he NEVER retired, rather, he had no intention of retiring, from politics.

His political style when he was Prime Minister was divisive. He cowed the leaders of other races in the BN Coalition into total subservience to enable his cronies have a free ride to ill-gotten wealth and influence.

He single-handedly destroyed the integrity of the judiciary. He sacked the top justices of the country by sheer manipulation of his political power.

He used UMNO's absolute power to cut down the constitutional powers of the royalties.

The Lingam Tape Scandal occured during his watch as the Prime Minister. It happened because Mahathir had created a political environment that encouraged a scandal of this nature to happen.

He used the castrated judiciary to pile up dubious allegation against his former Deputy Prime Minister's (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) moral and personal integrity.

Throughout his 22 years, he let loose the thuggery side of UMNO Youth into an organisation which became, and continues to become, a power unto itself and answerable to no-one. Even the security apparatus of the country is seen as fearful of them. Umno Youth became the modern equivalent of Hitler's Brown-Shirt stormtroopers who terrorised others opposed to Hitler's racist-Nazi ideology.

Despite being no more responsible for running the country, Mahathir sought to destabilise the man he chose to succeed him. Not only that, he became personal. He, against the cultural norm of the Malay society, began to publicly insult the present Prime Minister; saying publicly Abdullah Badawi was NOT his first choice.

When Najib stood by Abdullah Badawi and rightly so, as Abdullah's deputy, he railed against Najib, the man he said was his first choice as Prime Minister.

In his early political career he played the race card and gained from it. Now that he has retired, he again played the race card.

Karpal Singh described Mahathir as "a gutter politician" .

When UMNO, the party he led for 22 years, rightly backed the present President of UMNO, he sulked and sulked to no avail. Since he could not get his way, he became a defeatist. He quit UMNO and thus became a poor role model for the modern Malay.

Worse still, he is asking UMNO members to join him to quit UMNO and only to join back when UMNO has become a creature of his making.

Malaysians have asked: Why is the man who helped build Malaysia's extensive urban infrastructure decides to be petty?

There can only be one of two reasons: firstly, his extremely huge ego in wanting to retain his legacy as a former prime minister. Secondly, a more likely reason, so as to continue to protect his cronies.

We cannot help but to conclude that Dr. Mahathir was a divisive and vengeful UMNO leader. He still is.

Mahathir's interest revolves around what only Mahathir thinks and wants, not that of UMNO or Malaysia.

If Dr. Mahathir cannot bring himself to be a wise and respected elder statesman, his resignation from UMNO should be best regarded as good riddance to bad rubbish.
- Malaysian Unplug

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COMMENTARY

From Malaysiakini: Read here for more

Marion Tharsis:
Pak Lah should grab this opportunity to charge Mahathir for the numerous ill doings committed during his 'reign of terror'. Some are surfacing and he is diverting attention.

Instead of using his twilight years to perhaps seek forgiveness for his wrongdoings and offering good and sound advice, this old man is just getting on everyone's nerves by his unproductive and damaging remarks, comments and action. We thought it was the end of a very long and bad episode in Malaysian history when he resigned. But it lingers unabated though he may no longer hold the reins.

He is again harping on racial matters that could incite and stir trouble and unrest. If you notice, he has nothing good to say about anybody (except about his very small circle of friends who are discarded by the world) and seems to get his pleasure by causing chaos and confusion. His modus operandi has not changed a bit i.e. drive in fear and keep the people divided.

I think the Umno leaders are wise enough not to jeoprdise their positions listening to a spent force who will only lead them to their ruin. He is history and should be kept in the past. Remember, united you stand, divided you fall. No one benefits at the end.

Hibiscus:
When Tun Dr Mahathir took office as PM in 1981, his theme was ' Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy'. When he left office 22 years later in 2003, people by and large find so many things stinking. I believe the bad smell contributed much to the BN losing so much ground in the recent general elections, especially as the BN leadership was not seen to be quick enough to clean up the mess left by 22 years of misrule.

In 1981, the ringgit was equal in value to the Singapore dollar. By the time TDM left office, it has lost so much ground that the Singapore dollar has become more than double in value against the ringgit.

With such dismal performance, TDM should realise he has lost all moral rights to criticise his successor. He should retire quietly and not stir up things that remind people of the unpleasant 22 years of his rule so that Malaysians can move forward as one nation and find its place in the ever challenging globalised environment.

Athiru:
Dear Ex-PM Dr M, this is enough. Please go and don't destroy this beautiful nation of ours. The rakyat has had enough of your aristocratic iron-fist rule for the last 22 years. You hid yourself under the ISA and OSA and literally destroyed the nation in terms of integrity and self- respect.

See for yourself what you did during your 22 years of arrogant and aggressive rule - the judiciary is in shambles; corruption is at its peak with civil servants, police, customs and immigration having a field time; university ratings have taken a beating with your race-based NEP; local graduates can hardly speak proper English and are unable to get employed in the private sector; citizenship is given to foreigners (Indonesians and Filipinos) in Sabah so much so that they exceed the locals; Petronas earnings are for you and your cronies to spend leaving the poor rakyat (eg in Kelantan) in extreme poverty.

Stop playing the race card and ‘Ketuanan Melayu’. We want to be known as Bangsa Malaysia - NOT Malay, Chinese or Indian. We were born here and we are rightly all Malaysians. That's it. So please let the younger generation decide on this nation's future.