Dr Mahathir’s dilemma – Andrew Gomez

The year was 1998 and I was having lunch at Lau Pa Sat in Singapore with my colleague, Kenneth. He summed up what we were discussing quite succinctly, as follows:

“In Singapore, the government is smarter than the people. In Malaysia, the people are smarter than the government.”

I’ve never been quite sure I agree with that argument, though.

When the Iron Man of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew passed away, he was Minister Mentor. His son Lee Hsien Loong explained his rationale in appointing his father as MM (paraphrased) as follows:

“ A person would have to be a damned fool to NOT tap LKY’s wealth of vision and experience.”

It probably is very telling that Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was left to his own devices after he voluntarily stepped down after 23 years as the Iron Man of Malaysia.

He’s pushing 90 years old now and is no less the consummate politician than he ever was.

Kuan Yew correctly assessed Dr Mahathir’s penchant of “undermining his successors” and obviously had little respect for the latter.

As a contrast to Dr Mahathir, Kuan Yew took great pains to ensure that Singapore’s junior ministers were trained to see the “Helicopter View” which was an euphemism for seeing a larger picture than most other Singaporeans.

Indeed, Kuan Yew’s gifts of foresight, insight and hindsight coupled with his ability to see the larger picture formed a large part of the reasons for Singapore’s success, in transitioning from a “sleepy fishing village” Third World nation to a First World country.

It remains to be seen if Malaysia can emulate Singapore’s success in this regard.

Malaysians are, no doubt, very aware that Malaysia’s Iron Man has “come out of retirement” and is now pulling none of his punches.

What exactly provoked Dr Mahathir to “go ballistic” in this instance though? Well, it relates to Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak’s condolence message video on Facebook to Hsien Loong on the passing of the latter’s father:

“Lee Hsien Loong I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your father. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. On behalf of all Malaysians, my deepest condolences to the people of Singapore. Founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew's achievements were great, and his legacy is assured.”

Now only a Martian from Mars would not know that Kuan Yew’s legacy is assured; after all, who on this planet is unaware of Kuan Yew and what he did for Singapore?

This statement is incredibly superfluous... or is it? In fact, it was a backhanded slap against Dr Mahathir, whose own legacy is now by no means assured.

Effectively, what Najib is saying publicly is that he intends to reveal the truth behind Dr Mahathir’s 22-year iron-fisted reign. And this has visibly riled Dr Mahathir who now feels he needs to protect the thing he cherishes most – his carefully-crafted lies that describe his legacy.

Consequently, Dr Mahathir will stop at nothing to ensure that Najib is toppled. Ultimately,who will win this “Battle Royale”? Stay tuned.

* Andrew Gomez reads The Malaysian Insider.