Mahathir is no Mandela

The attempt by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to wring some scraps of reputation and standing from a person of the stature of Mandela was sickening, recalls Colin Nicholas.

Mandela and Mahathir at Stadium Negara in 1990

Nelson Mandela was not a name that many in Malaysia were familiar with as he languished in prison for more than two decades.

I was introduced to his name, and not so much his struggle, at a street concert on a trip to London at the end of the 1980s. It was one of the many “Free Mandela” events in Europe then.

I must admit, however, that I was then more attracted to the African drum music than to his plight or struggle.

A year later in Australia, after finishing a short course at the University of New South Wales – on, of all things, diplomacy run by the later-to-be president of Timor Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta – I was in my friend Henry’s home, watching Mandela, on live TV, taking his first steps to freedom.

By then, I was in awe of him, and waiting for the early morning live feed was done willingly.

So when I heard that he was going to be at a rally in Stadium Negara on his first visit to Malaysia in October 1990, just eight months after his release from prison, I saw it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see him.

Contrary to what one newspaper reported recently, there was no 20,000 crowd there to greet Mandela. It couldn’t have been so anyway, as the stadium’s capacity was just 10,000. In fact, despite some last-minute attempts by the organisers to compel civil servants to attend, the crowd was disappointingly sparse.

But Mandela did not disappoint me.

What disappointed me, even disgusted me, was the way our world-statesman-wannabe prime minister tried to compare himself with this lion of a man.

High on the scoreboard, directly in front of Mandela and his adoring host, was a huge sign with “Mahathir & Mandela: champions of racial equality”.

The attempt by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to wring some scraps of reputation and standing from a person of the stature like Mandela sickened me.

Here was a man who, under Operation Lalang, had recently detained more than a hundred political prisoners under the Internal Security Act, and who was now championing someone who had been detained for 27 years as a political prisoner.

But it was Mandela who had the last laugh. He did not come across as someone who was disappointed with the poor response from the Malaysian public to his persona. After all, the visit to Malaysia was not to boost his image.

The party he headed, African National Congress (ANC), was financially broke and it needed a lot of campaign funds for the first-ever democratic elections in South Africa due in a few years’ time (1994 as it turned out).

Mandela was actually on a fund-raising trip.

And he got RM32m from Dr Mahathir. No doubt, it was our money. Perhaps he wanted to let Mandela know that he was a nicer person than Tunku Abdul Rahman.

After all, rumour had it that when Mandela landed in Subang Airport, the first thing he asked Mahathir was, “How’s the Tunku?”

At that time, this would be equivalent to asking Mahathir (or Datuk Seri Najib Razak) today, “How’s Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim?”

The animosity between Mahathir and Tunku was so high then that the issue of Tunku not being given an opportunity to meet Mandela was later brought up in Parliament.

In reply to a question from opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, the Dewan Rakyat was informed that “the question of anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela calling on former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman did not arise at all during discussions on the itinerary of his recent visit to Malaysia”.

It is the kind of answer that we have got used to getting from spiteful leaders from that august house.

For Mandela, meeting Tunku was important because it was our first prime minister who was instrumental in getting the Commonwealth to impose sanctions on South Africa in protest against its apartheid policy.

This was the kick start to a global campaign to condemn apartheid and to seek Mandela’s freedom.

As such, Tunku was always on Mandela’s mind. Not Mahathir – who came closer to mirroring the likes of Mandela’s oppressors both in terms of his advocacy of racial discrimination and his cruelty to his political dissenters.

Malaysia has since been a strong supporter of the new democratic regime in South Africa, taking pride in giving advice, expertise and mentorship to the new leadership after Mandela.

This is the leadership that was booed publicly in front of many world leaders during the memorial for Mandela in Johannesburg last Sunday.

Dr Colin Nicholas is founder and coordinator of the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC)

Source: themalaysianinsider.com (Aliran)