IT IS EITHER AN UMNO-LED GOVERNMENT OR A DAP-LED GOVERNMENT

Most important of all is that one coalition will be Umno-led while the other will be DAP-led. And the Umno-led coalition will support Article 153, the NEP and Islam while the DAP-led coalition would be opposed to all that. So in the end it would be a package of politics, race and religion. It would be a three-in-one formula all over again, one defending it and the other opposing it.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a man you must not take based on what he says. What he says is not as important as what he does not say or what he really means by what he says. Sometimes he gives an appearance that he is confused. Sometimes he may sound confused but what he says is not because he is confused but because he wants to confuse others. As much as Dr Mahathir may at times sound contradictory, in reality he is quite consistent but just tailors his statements to get the desired result, whatever the objective may be at that point of time.

To be able to understand Dr Mahathir you must not take what he says at any one point of time. You need to accumulate what he says over many years, in fact over many decades, and then dissect each period against the backdrop of the political developments of each of those periods. You will then find he is quite consistent but what makes him sound inconsistent is because he moves the goalposts each time he wants to score a goal. Ultimately he is still only interested in scoring a goal and nothing more than that.

Today, Dr Mahathir says that Malaysia needs two strong political parties and that the opposition must be as strong as the ruling party (whoever may be the opposition and whoever may be the ruling party). Then the (strong) opposition can keep the ruling party in check and Malaysians can rotate the government between the two parties, say every two or three elections. This, of course, is the ideal situation and would be sort of like the utopian state. It is like in the UK and the US where you have two main parties that take turns to rule the country.

That is what many Malaysians would like to see — a Conservative-Labour or Democrat-Republican situation. But then in the UK and the US both the main parties are more or less not only evenly matched but do not differ much in composition and doctrine. In Malaysia it is not as clear cut as Dr Mahathir is making it out to seem. It is more complicated in Malaysia than in the UK or the US and this is what Dr Mahathir is not talking about although he knows this. In short, you must read not what Dr Mahathir is saying but what he is not saying. And he is not saying more than what he is saying.

This is the normal silap mata that Dr Mahathir is always fond of playing. And that is the dangerous streak of the old man. He says one thing while meaning something else and he knows that if what he says does happen then Malaysia can expect to see dark days ahead of it. Malaysia, unlike the UK and the US, has to balance many things. And, as they say, it is the fine print that normally gets you if you do not read that fine print properly.

One thing that the UK and the US do not need to balance in politics is race and religion. Race and religion have nothing to do with politics in the UK and the US. In Malaysia, race and religion are part and parcel of politics. You cannot separate race and religion from politics. Race, religion and politics come as a package. And Dr Mahathir knows this because he has said this many times in the past. But today he remains silent on that issue and pretends that politics is politics and has nothing to do with race and religion.

In fact, even in issues like democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, etc., Dr Mahathir has aways said that Malaysia cannot allow full democracy or full freedom, such as, say, in countries like the UK or the US. This is because Malaysia, unlike in the UK and the US, has a very delicately balanced race and religion composition. Hence, in Malaysia, there can only be guided-democracy plus limited freedoms. If not Malaysia would face the risk of a race or religion conflict.

And this is the reason why Dr Mahathir criticised Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for abolishing the detention without trial law, the Internal Security Act (ISA). Dr Mahathir feels that total democracy and absolute freedoms do not work for Malaysia. You need to control what people do, say and think. If not Malaysia would be in danger of chaos. Dr Mahathir, in fact, said that the reason why New York’s Twin Towers were brought down while Malaysia’s Twin Towers are still standing is because of the ISA. And if the US had a law such as Malaysia’s ISA then its Twin Towers would also still be standing.

So that is the real Dr Mahathir, the man who said those things when he was in power. The Dr Mahathir you hear talking now is not the real Dr Mahathir. He is the Dr Mahathir who would say anything you want to hear just as long as he can meet his objective — which is to oust the Prime Minister and replace him with a proxy or puppet who would take orders from the de facto Prime Minister in the form of a Council of Elders or Presidential Council.

And who is going to be that new Prime Minister? Is it going to be a libertarian or democrat who believes in equality for all Malaysians regardless of race and religion? Or is it going to be a Malay nationalist who regards himself as Malay first and Malaysian second?

By the way, Perkasa is opposed to Najib because he is not as much a Malay nationalist as Muhyiddin Yassin is. Dr Mahathir, the man behind Perkasa, has accused Najib of giving in to the Chinese and of giving the Chinese too much face. And this is one of the reasons why Najib must be ousted and replaced. And, most surprising of all, DAP agrees with this. DAP agrees that Najib must be ousted and replaced with Muhyiddin. Does this mean DAP also supports Perkasa and is giving it money?

We must remember that Pekida was formed during the aftermath of the May 1969 general election while Perkasa was formed during the aftermath of the March 2008 general election. And they were both formed when Umno suffered its worst election performance ever and their purpose is to uphold Malay nationalism and to ensure that Umno stays in power. And are not Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin, and all those opposed to Najib, very much involved in both? And it appears like the Chinese do not have a clue about this — bodohnya Cina Malaysia.

So now Dr Mahathir says Malaysia needs two strong political parties and that the opposition must be as strong as the ruling party so that it can keep the government in check and that the government must be rotated between the two parties. That is utter bullshit. Malaysia will never have two strong political parties. What it will have instead would be two strong coalitions comprising of many political parties (parties that would all be weak and cannot form the government without the coalition).

Most important of all is that one coalition will be Umno-led while the other will be DAP-led. And the Umno-led coalition will support Article 153, the NEP and Islam while the DAP-led coalition would be opposed to all that. So in the end it would be a package of politics, race and religion. It would be a three-in-one formula all over again, one defending it and the other opposing it.

So is Dr Mahathir for real? Is he really prepared to hand the country to a DAP-led coalition? And are those who support him and are opposed to Najib also prepared to agree to this? If they do then the first thing they need to do is to distance themselves from Pekida and Perkasa and ask that these two Malay paramilitary movements be closed down.

But I know they will not. They will not because they know if they do then the Malays will turn away from them. So they play the pretending game. When they speak to the non-Malays or to the middle ground they will say one thing but when they speak to the rural Malays they will say something else. And stupid Malaysians like the Pakatuns and the anti-Najib group will swallow all this bullshit hook, line and sinker and do not know they are being played. What a bunch of losers!