Yoursay: Dr M, the nation was let down by you first

YOURSAY | ‘The youths want to change the system so that what you did before won't be repeated.’

After town hall meet, Dr M feels let down by cynicism of youth

SusahKes: Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, you feel let down the youth; but remember, the nation was let down by you first. The legacy you bequeathed gave us the incompetence that we put up with today.

It is entirely correct for them to raise the past, as you have a track record of reneging on your position and promises. Why, only five years ago, you mocked Ambiga Sreenevasan, because she was leading Bersih.

You can complain all you want, and while the jury is still out on your political cooperation with Pakatan Harapan, the one thing you cannot achieve is to erase your past. And this will not go away, not until you accept responsibility.

Ian2003: The youth are correct that if the system is in place and executed properly, things will be fixed on its own.

Now, no thanks to you, Dr M, the inspector-general of police (IGP) does not respond to the people as he is no longer independent, and neither is the attorney-general and the chief justice because the system has been skewed towards the centre of power, which is the PM.

If the past is not being acknowledged and the wrongs are not admitted, how do we learn from our mistakes, for if there is no wrong, there would not be any mistake? This is why the past needs to be acknowledged.

Powerstar: What can we say? The youths of today are smarter. They want to change the system so that what you did before won't be repeated.

You want them to forget the past and just remember the present. In those days, you could control the media but today you cannot.

Ronald: You reap what you sow, Mahathir. You were once a young person, too, and many have not forgotten how you slighted our first Bapa Malaysia.

You cannot the blame the youth of today because the system has indeed let them down horribly. But let's move on. As you rightly quoted, the saying is that it is better to choose ‘the devil you know than the angel you don't’.

When you were in power, you never had such questions because nearly everyone feared you and did not have the courage to challenge you.

So, do not feel bad if you are finally getting to taste a bit of your own medicine. What goes around comes around.

Anonymous_1375701728: Mahathir, the fault lies squarely at your feet. During your 22-year rule, you had laid the path for this ruin. There is no point in crying over spilled milk now.

You should have had the foresight then as to where you were leading this country. Law, order, justice and integrity left this nation the day you removed Salleh Abas as Lord President.

Spinnot: According to www.nationaldebtclocks.org, Malaysia's national debt is at around RM654 billion, not RM1 trillion. Mahathir. If you "cry wolf" too often, people won't believe you when you tell the truth in the future.

Don't underestimate the youth. Many of them are well-read, thanks to the internet. They know that not one single international institution or credible media has categorised Malaysia as one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world.

They also know that corruption has been bad since Mahathir’s era, and that politicians don't become angels by crossing over to the opposition. Now that Mahathir is the opposition's "top dog", it's natural that they would equate the present government with the opposition.

Hank Marvin: I do pity him but that is how politics works. Anyway, the rot he started when he was PM is now being continued and capitalised on to the full by Najib who was somehow put there by Mahathir himself.

Anonymous_4171: The youth are the future of any nation and just because they didn't question about the future, it doesn't mean they don't care.

Maybe Mahathir's past history needed confirmation and they had the best opportunity to ask the very person who brought these things to the nation.

The Analyser: Why would the young people want to ask you or your buddy Lim Kit Siang anything about the future? You have never given anyone the slightest hint that you are interested in anything but yourselves.

What could they possibly ask you? Maybe you would have some comments of annulling all the draconian legislation of your era to allow the self-empowerment of future Malaysians?

Both you and Kit Siang are relics of a not-very-desirable past. As a young person I would not be remotely interested in what your thoughts on the future might be.

But thanks for calling young Malaysians cynical. It's not surprising that after having grown up in a society of your making, they would be cynical. Yours is a comment sure to endear you to them and prevent anyone under the age of 70 from voting for you.

Quigonbond: I've been hearing this a lot lately about youth complaining over what's the difference in policy between BN and the opposition, and also questioning what are the policies the opposition has come up with because they don't hear of it.

It's very disappointing. They seem to think that social media alone can fix the imbalance between the ability of the federal government versus the opposition to reach out to voters.

The mainstream media is tightly wound around the fingers of the federal government and spews daily propaganda and fake news about the opposition. That alone should anger anyone who has a semblance of awareness about fairness, fair play and a level playing field.

Without mainstream media, the youth must understand that if they really want to know what the opposition stands for, they need to go find the source of the information.

These youth should go to political party websites and blogs. Don't be lazy about doing some extra reading, as there are plenty of policy differences between the Najib and Mahathir. So, the youth are missing the forest for the trees if they cannot see that BN ‘cakap tak serupa bikin’ (doesn’t walk the talk).

One would think Selangor and Penang are adequate examples of how states can be run well despite lacking the resources of the federal government and these states depict how that can be easily translated to the national level.

I really implore the youth to wake up and do some research instead of expecting information to be served on a platter.

Anonymous_3e93: Our youth’s lack of vision and critical thinking are also our doing. As parents, how have we shaped them to be civil, appreciate what is good and understand what good governance is all about?

As a result of this and coupled with an education system that is too focused on achieving grades but lacking in quality, our youngsters have lost sight of their larger priorities.

Their daily conversations significantly dwell just on issues of survival but are very short on good governance, the environment and public good as a whole.

Mechi: Mahathir is right, the past cannot be changed. We should be embarking on the present and the future.

Our youth are clueless on critical thinking and strategic issues to align with the real issues of the future. It is a pathetic state of affairs after 60 years of indolent Umno rule.

Prudent: The present youths, like my generation, are clueless. More do when they have largely been stupefied by an education system for which Mahathir is also responsible. Just give them space to allow them to mature further.- Mkini