Kuan Yew & Badawi: Can their negative revelations curb Dr M's influence in the Umno poll?

KUALA LUMPUR - Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is more used to 'dishing' it out to his foes. The 88-year-old is seldom at the receiving end, partly because most people who know him would also know better than to cross him.

Mahathir is also famous for his selective memory, which is what his counterpart across the causeway - the 90-year-old Lee Kuan Yew - is also known for. Both men are notorious for their vindictive streak towards their opponents, whether past, present or even future.

So when both men who openly dislike each other began to trade barbs, it was quite expected and considered quite 'normal'.

Not so though, when Mahathir's immediate successor, Abdullah Badawi, also happened to sling arrows at his former boss at the same time.

So those who suspect some sort of conspiracy against Malaysia's most controversial leader may be forgiven for jumping to conclusions. However, they are likely to be partially wrong in their presumption.

Despite Kuan Yew's stature, it is Badawi who delivers the stunner

While Kuan Yew cheerfully whacked away at Mahathir in his usual no-holds-barred style, nothing that he wrote in his new book One Man's View of the World about Dr M was really new.

It was just Kuan Yew repeating his views in a more direct way than usual about how Mahathir's misguided policies had and were still ruining Malaysia.

Instead, it was the 74-year-old Badawi who pulled off the real surprise with his book Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years In Malaysia . The book is due to hit the stands later this month and Badawi can look forward to it landing on the bestseller's list.

Who would have thought the reticent, shy and sometimes even cringing Badawi would dare to lash out at his old boss in such a head-on way?

“Can you imagine, if I had succumbed to Mahathir’s continued pressure to spend when the deficit was already so high, how could Malaysia have weathered the oil and financial crisis which subsequently came in 2008?" Badawi said in the book edited by Bridget Welsh and Wong Chin Huat.

“The deficit which we brought down to 3.2 percent crept up again due to subsidies for oil and essentials and hovered again at the 5 percent level. If we had not been prudent then, continued to spend, I can tell you we would be bankrupt by now."

All eyes on Mahathir's 'revenge'

Of course, Mahathir will not be keeping silent. He is bound to retaliate and try his best to make 'mincemeat' of gentle, old Badawi. Indeed, all eyes are on Dr M's blog and what he will say there or to reporters in the days to come.

Apart from the 'free' entertainment provided by the 2 books, there is also speculation as to the timing of Badawi's book release. At 90, Kuan Yew can he say he can't wait but not so for Badawi.

According to those close to Badawi, he had delayed the book's launch until after the May 5 general election so as not to split his Umno party in the run up to the national ballot. Hence the August launch, Badawi's camp say.

But wait, that's a good 3 months after the general election and only about 6 weeks to go before the October 5 Umno internal poll.

Could not Badawi wait until after the Umno election so as not to influence the thinking and views of the 145,000-odd delegates who are due to vote in a new  central leadership for the party?

Or is Awakening and Badawi's expose's on Mahathir timed specially for the Umno poll?

Crimping Dr M's influence on delegates?

One can only hazard a guess. What is for sure is that battle lines are being drawn on the Umno chessboard, and knights, queens, kings, bishops, castles and pawns are already up and being shuffled by war-weary generals hiding in the background.

With or without the Umno poll looming, it is good to take Mahathir down a peg or two. Really his 'achievements' are more than offset by his enormous mistakes. Malaysia is still paying the price for his reckless spending policies and separatist social engineering.

Perhaps with Badawi officially and openly kicking down the Superman myth that Mahathir has always taken care to build around himself, easily influenced Umno members might finally be able to see Dr M as he really is. A mere mortal with more than his fair share of warts and all and a ruthless leader who rose to great heights on the back on a lethal cocktail of racial and religious bigotry.

For sure, the 2013 Umno poll looks set to be a historic tussle and whether Mahathir's influence over it can be crimped and to what extent by the 2 telling books against him remains to be seen.

Malaysia Chronicle