Najib is worse than Mahathir... and that's not yet including ROSMAH!

It is said that hell broke loose whenever Dr Mahathir Mohamad could not get things done his way. People who knew him would testify to it.

A good example is when former prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted in “The Awakening” describing Dr Mahathir as someone who “… believes his way is the only way. When I tried to do things differently, he believed that I was doing things wrongly. But that is Dr Mahathir.”

Full stop. That’s Mahathir to Abdullah Badawi. It was bad enough for Abdullah Badawi to talk in this manner about his predecessor. But recently, a Malay daily flashed the story of the Malaysian maverick’s daughter, Marina Mahathir who said that Najib Abdul Razak is even worse than her father. Really?

If Marina had said it, and she was not quoted out of context, chances are it is true, but let’s set aside the emotions and look at the facts.

M is for Mahathir Mohamad...

The octogenarian, often dubbed the Malaysian Frank Sinatra, belongs to the ‘Me Generation’ of the past. Paul Anka, who penned the lyrics for the popular song, “My Way” described Frank Sinatra as someone who would use words like ‘I ate it up and spit it out.’

This reminds me of Mahathir himself. He would spew out venom, without thinking twice. When former prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi chose not to proceed with some of the old man’s pet projects, I remember Mahathir blatantly throwing out a tantrum, including quitting the party which he created just to gain some sympathy.

If Frank was what Paul Anka had described him, then, he is as despicable as the recalcitrant Mahathir is even to this day.

Very few good leaders would finish of their own deputies, but the ferocious Mahathir had three whom he raised up, then discarded them whenever he was being challenged. Good leaders are those who would groom up their successors, and for this reason, UMNO Baru has difficulties finding a good leader who can lift the country out of the pits.

What is more despicable in my opinion of Marina’s father is that, although a Mamak by birth, he denied his own Indian roots from Kerala, India. While Marina’s auntie continued using the family name Kutty until the day she died, Mahathir had along the way shed off his Indian roots, and took on his mother’s lineage instead.

This is strange, as there is no culture in this world where the children follow the mother’s lineage. There is nothing wrong being a Mamak, who like the Babas, are from mixed parentage, but Mahathir is ashamed of his “Mamakhood.” He should have taken on the name of his mother, Dr Mahathir bin Wan Tempayan.

We don’t need to go further and dig out the same old stuff which have been written by others, but the fact is – we have a standard of despicability in Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I can only imagine how many people were whistling happily when Mahathir went to campaign for Ibrahim Ali in Pasir Mas, and recently, in the Batu Puteh by-election. The candidates lost!

And when he personally campaigned for his own son, Mukhriz, Mahathir had no reason to blame the Chinese for his son’s defeat in the UMNO Baru vice presidential race; instead, he lashed it out on UMNO’s money politics. I wonder who gave UMNO Baru elites so much money to splash out every time there is a race for the UMNO Baru Vice Presidency! Wasn’t it the man who is dubbed the Malaysian maverick?

That’s Mahathir, in retrospect! But what would a future generation looking back at Najib’s era say of him? Unlike Abdullah Badawi, who won the biggest mandate in 2004, Najib’s ascension to helm UMNO – and automatically became the nation’s sixth prime minister -- was a decision by some 20 Supreme Council members.

The Two Faces of Najib

The 13th General Election last May was Najib’s acid test since taking over the mantle from Dr Mahathir. With the popularity votes swinging across to Pakatan, Najib’s leadership was clearly rejected by the urban and semi-urban folks. No wonder after GE13, Najib’s silence is seen in a number of cases where his own generals were ruffling a few feathers here and there.

His slogan, 1Malaysia and all the goodies that he had splashed out, did not endear him to any race. ‘The goodies we take, but BN we will reject!’ This slogan did not come from an Indian or a Chinese, but from the mouth of a Malay (ex-army) gentleman whom I met for the first time two weeks before GE13.

On one hand, Najib was the Santa Claus with all the goodies; on the other hand, he was also the one who allowed the extremists in UMNO Baru and the likes of Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali, Zulkifli Noordin, to play up racial sentiments. What is obvious now is that the entire game of divide and rule has backfired on him, when 52 percent of Malaysians voted against his ruling coalition.

To Dr Mahathir I would say, “The goodies that Najib has distributed out are never wasted. It’s the people’s money, and if it goes back to the people, it’s better than for it to go into the pockets of UMNO elites!” After all, whose sons are now two of the richest men in the country if not the son of Tun Razak Hussein and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad?

Najib’s silence over the PKFZ scandal will also cost him, and the BN coalition, a great deal. What appears on the surface is that former MCA president was made a scapegoat, and there could be more worms in the can. Apart from possibly suffering from Dementia, why did Mahathir keep saying his famous words, “I cannot remember”? Now, no one would expect the Altantuya’s case would go beyond the Court of Appeals. Where is justice!

Malaysians are generally more skeptical these days. You can’t blame them. There are many questions on everyone’s mind since the recent acquittal of Najib’s two personal bodyguards after they were convicted of murder. As pointed out by Opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim in his blog: “The acquittal of Razak Baginda (Najib’s advisor) without his defence being called was highly questionable.”

Questions are still unanswered: Who then is responsible for the death of Altantuya Shariibuu? If today, the ghost of the Mongolian model were to return to haunt her main murderer, who would it be? Would it be a male or a female? How did the two bodyguards smuggle out the C4, which we all understand should be under heavy security at the military depot?

When such questions are not answered, you cannot blame anyone for linking the Altantuya case to the Scorpene scandal (when Najib was defence minister and deputy prime minister), currently being investigated by some French judges. When Suaram brought the case to the French court, and the NGO was subsequently being intimidated by federal authorities, it is hard to believe that the entire episode was had nothing to do with the man in question.

So, who is the Winner?

Help me to give an answer to Marina. Is it her father or Najib who is the most despicable? Perhaps, she is right; perhaps, both Marina and I are wrong, but what Malaysians deserve are better leaders who are less corrupt and fairer in every sense of the word.

After 22 years in power, what Mahathir has achieved is enriching a bunch of his cronies, and perhaps, his own children. He has set the culture, where altruism no longer exists in UMNO, but people going for the greater plunder. The rest of us are either poor or are still stuck in the middle income trap, while the other three economic tigers like Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong have gone way ahead!

I cannot help but to end this article with one last observation. Recently, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in his old age, had pointed fingers at the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Al-Haj Petra, when commenting on Project IC in Sabah: “The Tunku was worse than I am when he gave away ICs to the Chinese and the Indians.”

For that, Mahathir has earned another label given by Azmin Ali of PKR, who said Mahathir is an “unscrupulous manipulator of history”. In my opinion, had Tunku not given the ICs to Mahathir’s own forebears, the country would have been a more peaceful and prosperous nation! By now, there would be more immigrants than the citizens, and Great Britain would not have granted Independence to our beloved nation.

With the diminished public support, Mathathirism is finally coming to an end, and to Najib, I would say this: “If you do not hold your horses, you and your wife may end up more despicable.”

Malaysia Chronicle