So this cannot be allowed because in 2018 Mukhriz Mahathir must be given a parliament seat to contest. By then Najib, according to the plan, would no longer be the Prime Minister, if Dr Mahathir can have his way. Most likely Muhyiddin Yassin would be the Prime Minister. And the Prime Minister would appoint Mukhriz as the new deputy Prime Minister and soon after 2020, the date of the end of Dr Mahathir’s ‘Wawasan 2020’, Mukhriz would go on to become Malaysia’s new Prime Minister.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Tunku Abdul Rahman was Prime Minister for 13 years from 1957 to 1970.
Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was Prime Minister for six years from 1970 to 1976.
Tun Hussein Dato’ Onn was Prime Minister for five years from 1976 to 1981.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003.
Tun Haji Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was Prime Minister for six years from 2003 to 2009.
And that brings us to the current Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, who has been Prime Minister, so far, for six years from 2009 till today, 2015.
There are many Tunkus in Malaysia. But when we say ‘The Tunku’ every Malaysian knows we mean the First Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Father of Independence (Bapak Merdeka). Sometimes we do not even need to say ‘The Tunku’ but just ‘Tunku’ and people will know we mean Tunku Abdul Rahman.
‘Tun Razak’, of course, refers to the Second Prime Minister and ‘Hussein Onn’ to the Third. You do not call them by any other name. You cannot say ‘Razak’ or ‘Hussein’ or else people will not know whom you mean. You must refer to them as ‘Tun Razak’ and ‘Hussein Onn’.
Now, as Praba Ganesan wrote in The Malay Mail today, there are many Malaysians holding the title ‘Tun’, the highest title in the land for a commoner. However, when we say ‘Tun’ it means only one man, Dr Mahathir. We do not even need to say ‘The Tun’. It is just ‘Tun’. And ‘Tun’ means Dr Mahathir and not any of the other Tuns.
We all know who ‘Pak Lah’ is, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. But if you refer to him as ‘Tun Abdullah’ people might not know whom you mean unless you say ‘Tun Abdullah Badawi’. So ‘Pak Lah’ for short does the job of identifying the person you are referring to.
Then we have Najib Tun Razak who we can just call ‘Najib’ and you know who that is, mainly because he is the current Prime Minister of Malaysia.
My generation, the Merdeka generation of the 1950s, grew up with the Tunku as the Prime Minister. We always thought that while in Britain the Monarch rules for life and the Prime Minister is changed every five years, in Malaysia it is supposed to be the other way around.
The Tunku was not just our Prime Minister. He was our ‘father’. He led us through Merdeka. He led us through the war against the Communists. And he led us through the war with Indonesia.
No doubt the war against the Communists was downplayed and called an Emergency. But this was for purely economic reasons. If war was officially declared then all the acts of sabotage by the Communist Terrorists cannot be covered by insurance. Since it was only an Emergency the insurance company paid for the damage.
Anyway, an Emergency sounds less frightening than a war.
The war with Indonesia was also not called a war although they did try to invade us in Johor and East Malaysia. It was called a Konfrontasi (confrontation), like what is happening between Dr Mahathir and Najib.
The Tunku, therefore, was more or less Malaysia’s version of Britain’s Winston Churchill. He was the father we looked up to who kept us safe from the Communists and the Indonesians who wanted to swallow us up.
And we always thought that the Tunku would be Prime Minister forever. Imagine our surprise when he resigned and made way for his Deputy to take over. I was only 20 then and not politically savvy in those days. Most of us weren’t. But the Tunku and Tun Razak were friends, or so we thought at that time, so this was merely a transfer of power from one friend to another.
It was not until later that we realised the transfer of power from the Tunku to Tun Razak was about a power struggle and the Tunku, in fact, had been ousted. Anyway, Tun Razak appointed Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman as his Deputy and that was probably the best thing that could have happened to Malaysia.
Tun Dr Ismail was a stern and no-nonsense man. He is reported to have said he would arrest his own mother if she broke the law. In a meeting with the United Nations Security Council to complain about the intrusion by the Indonesian army, Tun Dr Ismail sneaked in a number of weapons captured from Indonesian military personnel to prove his case, which upset the Council President who told him to remove the weapons.
Tun Dr Ismail was also opposed to Lee Kuan Yew and he felt that the Tunku had badly handled the matter, resulting in Singapore’s exit from Malaysia. Tun Dr Ismail resigned from the Tunku’s government soon after that in 1967, citing poor health as the reason.
Tun Razak took over as Prime Minister in 1970 and Tun Dr Ismail was persuaded to rejoin the government as the Deputy Prime Minister. Tun Razak felt that Malaysia needs a benevolent dictator with an iron fist to restore order after the May 13 incident the year before that. Tun Dr Ismail, however, did not agree.
In fact, Malaysia had declared martial law and Parliament had been suspended because of May 13. And this was at the behest of Tun Razak although General Ibrahim Ismail disagreed and told Tun Razak, “I cannot provide any guarantee that I will be able to hold back the members of the armed forces who might take over control of the government.”
It was Tun Dr Ismail who persuaded Tun Razak to end martial law and to restore the powers of Parliament. If not, if Tun Razak had had his way, Malaysia would probably still see a military regime to this very day because there were some who felt that Singapore should be taken back through military action. Tun Dr Ismail, however, disagreed with this course of action.
So Tun Dr Ismail played a perfect balance to check the ultra-Malays in Umno, Tun Razak amongst them. Unfortunately, Tun Dr Ismail died in 1973, after just three years in office. Tun Razak, in turn, died another three years later in 1976.
I have always wondered what type of country Malaysia would be today if Tun Dr Ismail had not died in 1973 and when Tun Razak died in 1976 he took over as Prime Minister. Sadly, Tun Dr Ismail died before Tun Razak and not the other way around. If not Malaysia would not be what it is today.
Because Tun Dr Ismail died in 1973 followed by Tun Razak in 1976, this allowed Tun Dr Mahathir to take over as Deputy Prime Minister in 1976 and subsequently Prime Minister five years later in 1981. If not, today, no one would remember the name Dr Mahathir.
Dr Mahathir is still the Grand Old Man of Malaysian politics because he was Prime Minister for 22 years. He is like the Mafia Don who has retired. The Mafia Don may have retired but they still kiss his hand and he can still order the assassination of those who offend him.
So no one should be allowed to remain Prime Minister for more than six years, at least as far as Dr Mahathir is concerned. If they remain Prime Minister for more than six years and are allowed to exceed ten years then they become too powerful and it would be very difficult to oust them, as proven by Dr Mahathir himself.
They tried to remove Dr Mahathir after six years as Prime Minister. That was in 1987. But they failed. In 1990 they tried again, and again failed. After that Dr Mahathir became too powerful to remove.
So the plan is: Najib must not be allowed to exceed six years as Prime Minister. He is already in his sixth year so he must be ousted now. If he is not ousted this year and he stays as Prime Minister until 2018, and if Barisan Nasional manages to retain power in that general election, then Dr Mahathir would go to his grave with Najib still the Prime Minister.
So this cannot be allowed because in 2018 Mukhriz Mahathir must be given a parliament seat to contest. By then Najib, according to the plan, would no longer be the Prime Minister, if Dr Mahathir can have his way. Most likely Muhyiddin Yassin would be the Prime Minister. And the Prime Minister would appoint Mukhriz as the new deputy Prime Minister and soon after 2020, the date of the end of Dr Mahathir’s ‘Wawasan 2020’, Mukhriz would go on to become Malaysia’s new Prime Minister.
By then Dr Mahathir would be about 95 and judging by his family’s history of longevity would most likely still be around and beaming from ear to ear. But this can only happen if Najib is ousted this year and is not allowed to remain Prime Minister until 2018. If not all this would not happen.
Well, fate dealt Malaysia an unfair blow by taking away Tun Dr Ismail before Tun Razak. I suppose we shall have to leave it to fate to decide what happens in 2015, which will determine what happens in 2018 and in the post-Wawasan 2020 era as well.
It sure sucks when our future has to be left to fate, does it not?
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