The greatest Malaysian hero

So sensible and wise are Dr Mahathir Mohamad's words but no one bothers to listen and treat it as the incoherent ranting of an old man.

COMMENT

It is of great concern that frivolous allegations against Dr Mahathir Mohamad have come to a head. Our beloved former prime minister is an unwilling victim of slander and unfair reporting all done in the name of freedom of the press.

Accusations against him have grown to such an uncomfortable level that concrete steps must be taken to stop the mockery of a great Malaysian hero. Malaysians must accord him the respect worthy of a statesman.

Lately, the opposition has stepped up its wild allegations against him that border on the insane. It is slandering a dear, wonderful and harmless old man, who has given his best years to the country just for the sake of winning a general election.

Yes, 22 years of his youthful life spent sacrificing for the nation and retiring with hardly a penny more than when he first became prime minister.

We should remember him as the longest-serving prime minister and chief architect of the Multimedia Super Corridor and the Look East Policy, among other things. Here is a man who selflessly and against all odds, managed to unite the country and its people and is solely responsible for enriching the nation and its citizens.

Outrageous slander

An article on Finance Twitter claimed that Mahathir may be the second richest head of state in the world with a net worth of about US$44 billion. That works out to be around RM133 billion.

Other news media rumoured that his daughter in Kobe, Japan, is looking out for all the ill-gotten assets that Mahathir purportedly owns. Any sane person would roll on the floor with laughter at reading such fictitious allegations.

And that he has a financial empire with properties stretched across the globe and obscene amounts of money in Singapore and Israeli-related banks. There are even attempts to link him to the capital flight of RM871billion from the country. Doesn’t that sound a little insane and that Elvis is alive? Why are they trying so hard to smear his good name?

They even said that he holds a little black book on those in the Umno supreme council and that he has them eating out of his hands. They say that he harbours the dream that his son Mukhriz may one day be prime minister. But tell me which father wouldn’t harbour that sort of dream?

They also said that his meddling in the government had caused ex-premier Abullah Ahmad Badawi to constantly stay awake while poor premier Najib had to be constantly on his toes.

They accused him of being the puppet master pulling the strings behind Umno, whipping up a storm for Najib to tame. They also alleged that he was behind the appointment of Mukhriz to the ministry, while the poor Umno Youth chief was left out in the cold.

They accused his hardworking sons of being billionaires without an iota of proof, that he condones cronyism, and that his sons vastly benefited from his position as prime minister. Can a father not advise his son on how to succeed in business?

Also, accusing him of pulling the strings in the Umno administration is so unwarranted. Don’t the people realise that he once resigned from Umno in utter disappointment due to the corruption enveloping Umno? Of course, he wants the best for Umno Baru which is his brainchild.

He has also been unfairly accused of stirring up Malay sentiments against the other races which is so absurd.

And lately, they are alleging that the dear old man may have had a hand in the latest scandals involving Deepak Jaikishan’s damagingexposé against Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor. Boy, these idea-less accusers really do have a vivid imagination, probably from too much viewing of reruns of the “Men in Black” (MIB).

The reality

These same accusers failed to mention that Mahathir was responsible for upgrading the economic status of the Malays, that he engineered an affirmative action to allow worthy Malays to attain fabulous wealth and become towering Malays.

Anyone who rubbed shoulders or crossed paths with him became wealthy beyond their dreams, and while he created wealth for the Malays he himself retired with modest savings, and surviving on a stingy pension, sales commission from his book – “A Doctor in the House” – and from giving lectures, speeches and invitational talks.

His successful children contribute a little towards his needs like filial children, so that he may enjoy some of the finer things in life.

Put it simply, if there is any truth in any of these accusations, action would have been taken against him. But until today there are no police reports made against him.

They said that he was responsible for the rot that is Malaysia today. Blaming him for everything under the sun: the divide-and-rule policies, cronyism, capitalism, racial segregation, corruption, racism, and even the educational rot in this country.

They called him a racist and taunt him as a Mamak even though the Malays have accepted him as a true blue-blooded Malay.

They said that he had a hand in Sabah’s Project M but we are still way short of the 70 million population target of Vision 2020. So does it come as a surprise that there were affirmative policies to woo more foreigners to become citizens?

Some even called on the people to boycott his only little retirement investment in the Loaf restaurant. If everyone were to heed such senseless suggestions, how is he going to survive in this cold and cruel world?

Time and time again, Mahathir has lamented that he is surviving on his dwindling savings and can hardly afford a new set of wheels. Well past his prime, he still plods on wearily to make extra income from invitational talks and speeches, so that he can afford some Christmas gifts and Raya ang pows for the grandchildren.

The only reason we are beginning to hear more of his penetrating views is because he remains a sane voice in this confusing, corrupted and divided nation.

Unlike Najib who is dishing out another RM500 to the 2.3 million unfortunately this February, Mahathir hardly has any funds for philanthropy.

Trying to link him with Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa which he innocently consented to be a patron of the NGO is really debasing.

His words of wisdom and advice

Today, the ex-premier continues to give advice to all who will listen, that Malaysia is not ready for change, race-based parties are still badly needed and that absolute democracy may lead to absolute anarchy.

Umno and BN cannot be replaced unnecessarily. Malay supremacy must prevail and Malays must not be slaves in their own land. Malaysians must not gamble their future away.

Pakatan Rakyat is too corrupted, too greedy for power and too green to rule a nation as diverse as Malaysia.

So sensible and wise are his words but no one bothers to listen and treat it as the incoherent ranting of an old man.

When he was in power, everyone feared him. When he resigned from politics everyone criticised and crucified him, calling him all kinds of names from Mahafiraun to some too obscene to mention.

But when face to face, these same people would smile and kiss his hand.

Everyone cringed when he invited PAS to unite with Umno for the sake of Malay unity. But he received no praises when he disallowed Kelantan and Terengganu to implement the hudud.

No one takes him seriously when he warned that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is a dangerous felon and he would ruin the country in five years what he took 22 long years to build.

How can anyone allow Anwar to become prime minister when we have so many god-fearing leaders like Najib and Muhyiddin Yassin?

Everyone knows that Najib wields the power, while Mahathir is a one-man show, so all these allegations were designed to drive a wedge between the dear old man and the powerful prime minister in the hope that Najib would remove Mahathir from all governmental positions and unleash the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the allegations against him.

But seriously, the underrated Najib compared to other political leaders in BN happens to be the cleanest leader among the thorns, and would be the logical choice to spearhead the next BN victory in the election, while Mahathir has solemnly pledged his support for him and Umno.

So, we should seriously refrain from slandering a great gentleman like him and allow him to live his remaining days in peace and harmony, and like Lim Keng Yaik he will be honoured as a great statesman, and forever go into the annals of history as Malaysia’s greatest hero.

And no, despite all the fairy tales, he is definitely not in panic mode or scheming like an evil dictator trying to take over the country.

This dear old man is retired and harmless, and whether BN retains the government or not, is of no concern to him. All he wants is for Malaysians to heed his advice and embrace the BN dream.

Tour consultant, sports pilot and naturalist Iskandar Dzulkarnain has been writing a few years now. He is a FMT columnist.