I support Dr Mahathir when he is right

''Truly I am ashamed to expose all these, especially in front of the other people, in front of the whole nation and the world. But they all already know all these. I am not exposing anything that they don't know,'' said Dr Mahathir about the Malays whom he called ''lazy'' and prone to rely on ''the easy way and the quick way''.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Back in mid-2002, during the Umno general assembly, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said some very nasty things about the Malays. He was so upset about the Malays he even resigned as the Umno President -- which would also mean as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Dr Mahathir was in tears when he announced his resignation and Rafidah Aziz -- who rushed forward to ask Dr Mahathir “Why? Why?” -- even broke the heel of her very expensive designer shoe, either out of shock or due to a serious weight problem.

It took some time for Umno to persuade Dr Mahathir to withdraw his resignation. Finally, much to the relief of the entire world, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came back on stage to announce that Dr Mahathir had reluctantly agreed to delay his resignation for 15 months till the last day of October 2003.

Though some say it was during a moment of temporary weakness that Dr Mahathir resigned, 2002 was not the first time he had whacked the Malays. And this was also not the first time he cried on stage during an Umno general assembly because of his extreme disappointment with the Malays.

2002 was just the last straw and he could no longer tolerate the Malays, whom he said in an interview soon after he left office he had failed to change. That was why he no longer wanted to be the Umno President or Prime Minister of Malaysia.

“What is your greatest regret in 22 years as Prime Minister?” Dr Mahathir was asked during the interview. And his reply was: my greatest regret is that in 22 years as Prime Minister I had failed to change the Malays.

Some say I appear to admire Dr Mahathir too much and they don’t like that. Others, however, say I am too critical of the Malays and they don’t like that either. Then there are those who say I am not whacking Dr Mahathir enough -- as they would like to see me do -- and they don’t like that.

Well, many people do not like either Dr Mahathir or what I say, but then since when was I ever concerned about what people like or don’t like about me? And why should I whack Dr Mahathir when he says the right thing? I only whack him when he does the wrong thing and I have done enough of that when he was Prime Minister -- which resulted in my arrest and, later, detention under the Internal Security Act in 2001.

For example, Dr Mahathir feels that, in the next general election, Barisan Nasional should field some non-political party members from amongst the professionals and civil society movements. I too feel the same and that is what the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) will be trying to achieve.

Dr Mahathir and I never discussed the matter prior to this and it is purely coincidental that we are both seeking the same thing, although we may be doing so along different routes -- Dr Mahathir through Barisan Nasional and I through Pakatan Rakyat.

Anyway, to refresh your memory, see the following news reports on the matter.

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Mahathir criticises Malay community

BBC, 16th June 2002

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, has launched a strong attack on the majority Malay community, saying it had failed to make real progress despite being given special privileges for more than 30 years.

In a newspaper interview ahead of a five-day meeting of his party the United Malays National Organisation or Umno, Dr Mahathir criticised Malays for being too complacent and unwilling to work hard.

He said that after more than 20 years in office he had failed to change what he called this culture of extravagance.

Malays make up more than half of the 23 million population but receive special privileges because the Chinese minority is seen as having disproportionate wealth.

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Mahathir warns Malays to brace for end to privileges

Kyodo News International, 20th June 2002

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday defended his country's affirmative action policy but warned ethnic Malays that their rights and privileges are ''far from being safe.''

''The Malays are clearly far from being safe. Do not think that the power of the Malays in the political arena is permanent, that it will guarantee the safety of the Malays forever,'' the 76-year-old premier said in a two-hour speech to open the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) annual assembly.

If the special status of the Malays, or ''bumiputeras'' as they are also known, is challenged today, he said, Malays will not be able to survive.

''They are not prepared to face any competition at all. They are so afraid of the other communities. Without the experience of competing with others, if the protection is suddenly withdrawn, they will not be able to survive,'' Mahathir, also UMNO president, said.

As head of the party that deems itself the custodian of Malay culture, Mahathir put his newly gained political fortune on the line recently when he dared to pry open the three-decade-old New Economic Policy (NEP) to provide more opportunities for non-Malays, although only in education.

The NEP, Malaysia's affirmative action policy, guarantees Malays 30% corporate equity, easy credit, contracts and projects from the government and places in public universities.

The policy, which came about following the 1969 clashes between the poorer, rural Malays and the economically more dominant ethnic Chinese, is now called the National Vision Policy.

Recently Mahathir stirred up a controversy by changing the race-based quota system for university entrance to a merit-based one. Then he ordered 10% of places to be allocated to non-Malays in government-run colleges and that English, instead of the national language, Malay, be used to teach science and mathematics.

Malay nationalists are up in arms crying treachery. But Mahathir is adamant, saying the NEP has made Malays ''lazy'' and prone to rely on ''the easy way and the quick way.''

''Because of that, when licenses are given, they sell the licenses...No work is done other than to be close to people with influence and authority in order to get something because they are Malays,'' he told the 2,000 delegates attending the three-day assembly.

''Truly I am ashamed to expose all these, especially in front of the other people, in front of the whole nation and the world. But they all already know all these. I am not exposing anything that they don't know,'' he said.

Mahathir expressed his disappointment that after 21 years at the helm of the country he has failed to change the Malay mindset.

''Mostly I feel disappointed, disappointed because I achieved too little result from my principal task -- the task of making my race a successful race, a race that is respected, a race that is honorable, a race that is highly regarded. I beg your pardon because I have failed,'' he said.

But despite his criticism of Malays and their over-dependence on government assistance, Mahathir defended the benefits of the NEP although he said it has slowed down national development.

''What slowed down the national development was because the government had to try and try again to balance the economy of the Malays against that of the non-Malays at all levels and in all fields,'' he said.

But the NEP, he said, has succeeded in closing the gap between the Malays and non-Malays.

Those who condemned the NEP, he said, have ignored the fact that government scholarships and opportunities have allowed thousands of Malay children to enter universities.

The government has also provided 3 billion ringgit as capital for the National Equity Corp. to initiate unit trusts which succeeded in making 7.28 million Malays shareholders in big corporations with investments totaling 34.89 billion ringgit.

The shares allocated to the NEC were the result of the restructuring of new companies that are required by the NEP to provide 30% of their equity for bumiputera.

''In truth, without the NEP, the unit trusts and the governmental institutions which were managed on behalf of the Malays, today the NEP would achieve only 2% of the target,'' Mahathir said.