[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 15 Aug 1999
Time: 20:17:27
Remote User: -
MALAYSIAN SOLIDARITY FOR DEMOCRACY AND REFORM
Position Statement 16th August 1999
MAHATHIR’S CHINA TRIP: SEEKING TO BE ASIA’S DARLING
This week, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will visit The People's Republic of China. For a man who has vowed to his confidantes that he will not allow a Suharto to be done unto him, this China passage is part of a ploy to save himself, his sons and his political and business cronies. He wants to use the China card to appease his own people, particularly Malaysia's Chinese community.
Mahathir considers himself the spokesman of Asia. The slavish Malaysian media lauds him as the "hero" of the Third World. A sycophant admirer recently even declared that the he is the greatest leader in the world after the Prophet Mohammad.
Critical observers will argue that this self-appointed spokesman of Asia man is nothing more than a megalomaniac and master manipulator of the first
order. He now rules according to his whims and fancies. His period of rule saw various moves to attain absolute power for himself. And absolute power is the midwife of abuse and dictatorship. His "popularity" is the manufactured product of a servile media which he controls.
In spite of this, his ASEAN neighbours prefer to shun him. Except for the few African potentates whom he annually regals in Langkawi on the expense of the Malaysian state, he has few friends left in the civilized world. In
short, in a few short months since last September he has become an international pariah.
His fate will be in the hands of an electorate that he fears will throw him and his ruling coalition out of office. Despite controlling his party and the instruments of power, including the police and the election commission, Mahathir is hesitant to call the general election which he must hold by
mid-2000.
Malaysians have remained confused by the chameleon-like antics of their
leader. He has turned from being an admiring fan of globalization to become its most virulent critic. He wants foreign investment but he accuses them of being Jewish conspirators and closet imperialists bent on recolonizing Malaysia. His anti-west bashing is nothing short of racism and has embarrassed Malaysians used to living in a tolerant multicultural environment.
The people were aghast by his cowardly acts when he sacked, arrested, imprisoned and then sanctioned his police chief's brutal beating of a handcuffed political successor turned political challenger, Anwar Ibrahim. While his courts convicted his protege with trumped up and unproven charges of corruption and sexual misconduct, his police chief, who finally confessed to his criminal act after two investigations and much public and foreign pressure remains a free man out on bail. Mahathir has shamed his country by this most indecent act.
Like Suharto and Ferdinand Marcos, Mahathir shamelessly continues his KKN (the Malay abbreviation for corruption, collusion and nepotism) practices. He protects corrupt politicians and ministers, public officials, and businessmen. His hold to power is held together by a web of such corrupt officials which he so cleverly built. Mahathir's redeeming quality is that his actions have lighted the torch of freedom in the hearts of all Malaysians.
Last month, Anwar Ibrahim lodged two police reports on the corrupt conduct of two of the most senior ministers in Mahathir's cabinet: Daim Zainuddin, the finance minister, and Rafidah Aziz, the trade and industry minister. A third report was lodged on a scam in the state-owned Perwaja Steel company to the tune of USD$1billion that involved the Mahathir himself and one of his better known business cronies, Eric Chia. A report by the independent international accounting firm Price Waterhouse was attached for evidence. It implicated both in the abuses. The police are silent on the allegation and Mahathir has predictably attacked Anwar for revealing state secrets.
Malaysians are finally awakening to the reality. The truth is that Mahathir has used his considerable powers to enrich himself, his family and cronies, oppressed his political opponents, and created a police state. His infamous US$500 million bailout of one of his sons with the monies of the state-owned oil company, Petronas, is an open and vile secret which even his closest ally has not attempted to deny or justify. His privatization programme is the epitome of waste and crony capitalism. Even now contracts worth hunderds of millions USD are awarded to cronies without competitive tender at inflated prices. The high costs of these projects are then passed on to the people in the form of various fees and increased toll charges.
This same man who has defended the largesse to his sons and cronies has
lambasted poor farmers and plantation workers for daring to ask for higher wages and crop prices as lazy and ungrateful. He routinely attacks the "subsidy mentality" of these farmers but sees no contradiction in the bailout of crony companies. He prefers to enrich the few and impoverish the majority.
Not content with exploiting his own people, Mahathir not long ago began thinking of raping his neighbour's wealth. Confirming his utter dislike of Singapore, Mahathir is now engaged in allowing his cronies to loot the savings of 170,000 Singaporeans who had invested several billion dollars in the CLOB. His utter contempt for decent and accepted standards of behaviour has confounded many Malaysians and angered many Singaporeans.
On the political front, Mahathir has mastered the art of manipulating the people. Eager to secure the support of the Chinese community to compensate his dwindling support among the Malays, he has exploited their latent sense of insecurity by pointing to the anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia. At the same time, he warned the Malays of the dangers of being overwhelmed by the Chinese. One of his ministers even went to the ludicrous extent of warning the Malays that Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, leader of the new alternative
multiracial coalition party, the National Justice Party, is Chinese and
therefore cannot lead the country.
Mahathir has pursued a policy of sowing distrust and enmity among his people. This racist policy is highly dangerous. Malaysians are becoming
increasingly conscious of the dangers of such manipulations. They see in Mahathir a man who will stop at nothing to cling to power and protect his family and crony capitalist friends. Contrary to Mahathir's hope, the recent decision of the Federation of Chinese Associations in Malaysia to not endorse or campaign for any candidate or party in the forthcoming general election is a signal that the people have become less afraid of him. This is very significant because in the past this association has supported Mahathir's ruling coalition.
Mahathir is a relic of the past. He has been consigned to the annals of
history as nothing more than another Asiatic tinpot dictator. Regardless of what he does now to change his image he will be always remembered for his excesses and megalomania, and for destroying Malaysia's smooth transition into the next millennium.
His trip to China is a last ditch effort to refurbish his image. He believes the China card holds the key to saving his dictatorship. Mahathir is increasingly isolated in ASEAN and in the world. He goes to court China for a limited goal: to survive. He will sing praises of China and eulogize her with his anti-western, anti imperialist rhetoric. He wants his servile media to portray him as a leader who stands tall with China, a superpower, and he will claim that China endorses his policies and idiosyncratic views. And he hopes this will, at a minimum, endear him to the Chinese community in Malaysia.
But Mahathir forgets an important imperative. The Chinese leadership has consistently criticized interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and has stood firm on this principle of sovereignty. Mahathir should not go around shopping in his neighbours' backyard to prop up declining support for him back home. As a responsible power, China is well aware of the destruction that the Milosevics of the world can cause. Like the Chinese people, the people of Malaysia want to live in a secure and free environment in harmony with each other and its neighbours.
End
Dr. Abdul Rahim Ghouse Malaysian Solidarity for Democracy and Reform Plaza Exim Penthouse, 31st floor Jl. Gatot Subroto Kav. 36-38 Jakarta 12190 Indonesia TEL: (62-21) 524 0030 (O) FAX: (62-21) 527 5354 e-mail: msdr99@hotmail.com