THE DEVIL WITH DR M: We can't hang him, should we jail an 87-yr-old, how do we PUNISH HIM?

The sacking of deputy prime minister and finance minister, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998, was the start of Malaysia’s real problems as the incorrigible Mahathir Mohammad sought to stay in power despite him being one of the main trigger causes of the financial meltdown across Asia back then.

You see what happened was that Mahathir, with funds sought from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), was, on the grounds of pure greed, hoping to make a killing by speculating on the currency market much to the discomfort and displeasure of Anwar.

Anwar was absolutely petrified by Mahathir’s grandiosity, but power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Mahathir as dictator of Malaysia overruled Anwar’s pleas and went ahead on his gambling spree.

Unknown to Mahathir, across the Atlantic, hedge fund supremo, George Soros was eyeing his scalp and money. The speculation by Mahathir began to go awry and much of the BNM funds were lost to Soros and the shrewd Hungarian Jew was even cheeky enough to give a US$ 500 million donation to a Russia in distress from his winnings.

The distraught Mahathir in a bold cover-up laid the blame squarely on his deputy and made him the scapegoat for his gambling tryst. But Anwar’s sacking was not unexpected. Past deputies of Mahathir such as Musa Hitam and Ghaffar Baba had met with a similar fate at the hands of the Malaysian dictator.

This was the catalyst, the trigger that launched Malaysia into real problems after seemingly a long spell of economic growth and prosperity. When this incident took place a backlash of events began to explode into action to divide and tear asunder the nation for the first time in its history.

The drama that then began to unfold

Not only was Anwar sacked from the Barisan Nasional government, a political conspiracy, as he alleged began to unfold in a most dramatic way causing charges of sodomy to be preferred against him.

This event, till today, has caused many Malaysians of all walks of life to opine differently on his guilt. But he was found guilty and sentenced to jail after a much-publicized court trial that drew the attention of the international community.

Prior to this a bashing from the then Inspector-General of Police that caused a black eye which caused a furor and sparked outrage among Malaysians and his growing number of sympathizers and supporters created a backlash and the emergence of Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Since Anwar was incarcerated, PKR was helmed by his wife and he was envisioned by many to be the de factoleader of the new political party. From his cell in prison, Anwar was already beginning to make an impact on the psyche of Malaysians.

A string of revelations of wrongdoings by Mahathir and his cronies began to emerge to shock and rivet the attention of Malaysians and the world at large. Despite all this dirty linen being washed in public, Mahathir was hardly bothered by the ruckus as he knew that as far as he was concerned he lived above the laws of this country.

Mahathir made nonsense of all the allegations leveled against him by Anwar “despite enough proof and evidence to nail him.”

This caused Malaysians for the first time in their lives to gain a shocking insight into the way and manner in which Mahathir governed Malaysia as being a dictator who lived above the laws of the nation and did according to his whims and fancies to champion racism and Malay chauvinism.

There was never an inkling of meritocracy that was practiced by him and his government and he finally caved-in under the growing dislike of many Malaysians to retire in disgrace as the fourth prime minister of Malaysia.

A dictator never dies?

Despite having stepped down as prime minister, Mahathir busied himself to see that the governance of this country went according to his wishes by tinkering with the administration of his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

By this time more and more Malaysians had had enough of the grasping menace that Mahathir had become and considered him nothing more than a public nuisance by his atrocious views and comments and remarks.

Malaysians voted with a vengeance to signal that they wanted change and reform in the 12^th GE. The political alliance of PKR, PAS and DAP showed how formidable they had become by seizing power in five states of peninsular Malaysia.

Mahathir, ever the tyrannical dictator, flew into a rage and orchestrated the ouster of Badawi as prime minister to set up Najib to helm the most powerful seat of government. If Badawi was a lame duck, Najib till today has done no better than to try and suck up to the people to stay in power.

The abuses and wrongdoings of Najib and members of his cabinet along with their cronies have been leveled against them by persons far and wide but till today there has been no appropriate action taken to rectify the wrongs of their governance.

Not only Najib, but Mahathir and all the gang of thieves and their cronies are merrily functioning as people who live above the law. Any threats or accusations made against them are merely swept under the carpet by the law enforcement agencies in this country.

Mahathir, despite retiring in disgrace and his legacy starting to end up in tatters as a “bad guy” until today is recalcitrant and stubbornly refuses to let go of the governance of the country wishing instead to see his will imposed upon the people.

It looks as if a dictator never really dies, and Mr Barry Wain, influential former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, in a book aptly disclosed how Mahathir as dictator of Malaysia misappropriated billions of ringgit in money belonging to Malaysians when in power as prime minister.

Malaysians owe him 'big' & their money 'rightfully' belongs to him - is that so?

The reason, if read carefully for Mahathir’s behaviour problems, is owing to the fact that he believes that he is solely responsible for developing Malaysia and therefore he has to have the final word in everything.

He does not see the concerted effort and suffering and hard work of Malaysians from all across society as being the bulwark of this success and instead he sees the success and development of Malaysia as a solitary effort on his part alone.

With this thinking and being on his part, with Mahathir wanting to lay claim and hog the limelight, his megalomania being insatiable, Malaysians are under heavy oppression from the dictator who continues to throw his weight around though most Malaysians think of him as being senile and by now redundant.

Mahathir honestly believes that Malaysians owe him big and that is why he personally feels much of the wealth that has been created “rightfully” belongs to him, his cronies and sycophants.

The rest of Malaysians to him are merely spectators and should be reduced to the pedestrian level as they were merely like the cog in a wheel over which he stamped his power, will and authority.

More is to come from the dictator Mahathir Mohammad as he professes to come from a family tree that has longevity in their favor and therefore he plans to be around for as long as possible to see that he gets his and gets away with anything he wishes as dictator.

This means for Malaysians that they have to endure a sad way of life under his tyranny and oppression and they must be by now wishing that they had never endorsed him to sit in the most powerful seat in this country in the first place.

The only way to ensure that Mahathir makes a quick and permanent exit from Malaysian life is to remove BN from the seat of power as the government of the day. This should effectively shut Mahathir up and reduce him to the dustbin of history where he rightfully belongs.

Malaysia Chronicle