Is Mahathir backpedalling on his deal with Perkasa?

What are the implications of a Dr M-Perkasa split for Muhyiddin

Mariam Mokhtar

Perkasa must be furious when former Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad aligned himself with Prime Minister Najib Razak, and likened ‘1Malaysia’ to his own Vision 2020.

He said, “When you say ‘national unity’, you forget your past, your origins, and identify yourself only as Malaysian, you speak one language and don’t ask for privileges just because you are indigenous or non-indigenous.”

He continued to amaze everyone at the dialogue of the third Malaysia-Europe Forum in Kuala Lumpur: “We cannot call ourselves Malaysians of Malay origin, Chinese origin or Indian origin.”

So what were the participants who are familiar with Mahathir’s usual rants to make of his U -turn?

Mahathir appeared to be championing Najib’s ‘1Malaysia’ when he said that its success could only be achieved if the people united by discarding their racial origins. Strange too that soon after the inception of 1Malaysia, Mahathir had voiced doubts about its effectiveness.

Mahathir is crafty and this is possibly part of the masterplan to galvanise those people he has alienated with his racist rhetoric. He appears to be ditching Perkasa and supporting Najib. The general election is too great a prize to lose.

The whole BN-Umno machinery is like a deck of cards. If Umno loses at the next general elections, then Mahathir and a major portion, if not all, of his former Cabinet colleagues, will be made answerable to the public for a variety of crimes towards the Malaysian public.

He won’t be alone and might be kept company by the corrupt politicians from the current administration.

However, Mahathir is being disingenuous when he criticised foreign countries of ‘poaching’ Malaysian talent.

He believed these countries should reimburse Malaysia for the loss in investment - the education of these recruits. He said, “This is a sore subject for me, but what can we do? Foreign countries offer them higher pay….”

Millions of ringgit were invested on students’ education which would be ‘lost’ when students found work in other countries. He said, “I think that when they take our talent, they have to pay us.”

Mahathir has miscalculated the enormity of his words. When the Indonesians take up menial jobs in Malaysia, be it in the homes as domestic help, or in the plantation sector, they free up our women or rural folk so that these Malaysians can go out and be employed in better-paying jobs.

These foreigners may not have jobs which have mass appeal but their talent is to have staying power in a highly repetitive and labour intensive work. They are possibly proud of working in a job that they know they can do or feel qualified doing. Some might prefer the self-respect gained from being in employment to being unemployed.

These people may not possess the ‘talent’ Mahathir describes but they are providing a useful service to Malaysians. Should we be ‘paying’ the Indonesian, Myanmar, Bangladesh governments for their workforce, which we have attracted to our shores?

Or is he belittling their sacrifice and effort?

Without the labourers in the agricultural, manufacturing and construction sectors, many small-and-medium business enterprises, large-scale plantations or food outlets would have floundered and skyscrapers would not have been built.

Has Mahathir forgotten that a majority of Malaysians left out of disappointment with the system? They find it frustrating when academic excellence is not rewarded because of racist policies.

Even graduates feel demotivated when their career, promotion, wage increments and benefits are not available equally, to all races.

Mahathir must know that there is more to money and perks. A new graduate would struggle to live in cities in Kuala Lumpur without the support of his relatives. When he starts his own family, will his child, especially if he is a non-Malay, have equal rights to education?

Can Mahathir sincerely say that our society is a fair and equal one? Is it safe for people to criticise the establishment? Will a normal, decent person want to live with corruption around him?

If Mahathir’s legacy was to dismantle the fabric of Malaysian society, then it is us who have to pay the heavy price for his 'talent'.