Anwar vs Mahathir: Debating with the real PM and not the PM in name only

Mahathir Mohammad has proven it again – as an anachronism and being the de-facto PM of the country by dismissing an Anwar Ibrahim-Najib Razak debate. Mahathir thinks that the people are not ready. This is just a cop out. It's Najib, Mahathir and their Umno party who are not ready.

In any case, it may be pointless for Anwar to debate Najib, who pompous as he is has little substance to offer despite being only in name the Prime Minister of the country.  For starters, Najib's unelected, not having secured any mandate for his administration and therefore has no locus standi. For another, Najib is merely Mahathir's errand boy. He can't decide on anything, even breathe to save himself, unless Mahathir gives the nod.

Najib's political master publicly contradicts anything and everything he tells the people and still, Najib dutifully toes the line and does about-turns like nobody’s business. Recent examples are the timing of the General Election - do it only after the Chinese (read DAP) have been won over, instructed Mahathir - as well as the flip-flop on the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants - read Mahathir-initiated in Sabah in the 80s.

Glass houses

As for Anwar, the Opposition Leader, he has always been dismissive of Mahathir as an anachronism. The first time that Anwar used the term was when Mahathir began sniping at him after he was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister on trumped-up charges of sodomy and corruption.

Those who stay in glass houses, like Mahathir, should not throw stones. You can bluff some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time.  Anwar subsequently repeated that Mahathir was an anachronism when it emerged that the latter was writing his own job description as de facto prime minister, steering Najib's course with his usual heavy-handedness.

When Mahathir's anointed successor Abdullah Badawi was forced to abdicate in Najib's favor in 2009, all doubts about whether Mahathir was the puppet-master was removed. The public perception is that Mahathir has a Big Black Book of Everyone's Sins and has the Umno Supreme Council and Umno branch chairmen in his pocket.

Umno's past has caught up with its present to haunt its future. The chickens are coming home to roost. Umno has been storing up all its sins over the last 55 years and its time to face its karma and get retired. 55 years is the right time to retire. As their political rivals from Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat coalition are fond of telling Umno, no extensions of time are possible for those who are medically unfit and mentally suspect.

Parameters for the Anwar vs Mahathir debate

Mahathir should put his money where his mouth is once and for all and help us move from the past to the future. One way would be for Mahathir to take on Anwar in the Mother of All Debates in Malaysia.

Warlord and de-facto Kelantan Umno chief Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah should be the Moderator, assisted by former Sabah State Secretary Simon Sipaun. The latter, formerly Suhakam vice chairman, is currently Advisor to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC). The choice of two moderators, one from the peninsular south and the other from the so-called Malaysian Borneo, will give it a national, if not a 1Malaysia, touch.

Mahathir should show cause why Umno should not be retired and why the race-based system should be retained.

Anwar should challenge that this is just an excuse for Umnoputra-ism - a euphemism for the elite and those high up in the Umno gravy train - and should be ditched in favor of a needs-based Equal Rights - i.e. no Umnoputras - System which will be as inclusive as possible.

Mahathir should also be asked to account for the US$ 100 billion he’s alleged to have stolen and/or squandered from the Public Treasury during his 22-year-long administration under his campaign theme, “Malaysia Boleh!” which allegedly covered a mountain of corruption.

Anwar should also not let Najib get away with lip service to the idea of an inclusive system without Mahathir’s blessing by asking Mahathir on the spot if he would agree to Najib implementing such a plan.

The debate should resist the temptation to dredge up the past and wash dirty linen in public. This is not about the past but the future. Otherwise, we would be getting into distractions and disruptions and this would be clearly counter-productive.

Sad to say, the debate should also not be the forum to bring up Mahathir's misdeeds during his 22 years in power. For that, a tribunal after the 13th general election would be the more appropriate platform. But for now, let's focus on the future that Malaysia and her people are entitled to.

Looking at Anwar in the eye

If Mahathir chickens out from this truly Great Debate, it would not be unexpected. But neither should the people expect him to shut up and retire in shame.

No, Mahathir being Mahathir would try to twist and turn everything upside down to justify his inability to look Anwar in the eye and not shake in his 86-year-old shoes. If any man has sinned against another, it is Mahathir against Anwar, causing untold misery and suffering to his former deputy and family.

This call to debate is a serious one, preempting needless polemics but then again, where would Mahathir, Najib and Umno be without access to life-saving smokescreens. A public debate is after all a tool of transparency and no way Mahathir or Najib could ever pass such a test.

Even so, it is up to them to prove themselves or accept the guilty verdict the Malaysian public will surely draw if they chicken out on such a discourse.

Malaysia Chronicle