Save Malaysia - blast from the past and one for future

There appears to be another version of the Save Malaysia text which describes the country as having to face its worst crises since Merdeka.

"My dear fellow Malaysians, in the last few years our nation has experienced some of the most serious crises since Merdeka. Although the economic situation has improved a little, the value of the ringgit continues to fall as prices rise, while corruption, wrongdoing and abuses of power continue to grow.

"The BN government has implemented policies which have caused hardship to the people, and divided the nation. Under the present BN leadership, political and economic power has been concentrated in the hands of a small authoritarian and power-hungry clique.

"In order to retain power, they have amended and abused various laws to violate human rights, indulge in money politics and corruption, divide the people, and manipulate religion for their own selfish needs," read the introduction of the Save Malaysia declaration.

This, however, was not the text read out by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last Friday, in a bid to save the country from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Instead, this Save Malaysia declaration was written by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, to save the country from Mahathir in the run-up to the 1990 elections.

It was a landmark year for Malaysian voters. The first elections to be held after the constitutional crisis in 1988 and split of ruling party Umno.

Mahathir had reaffirmed his position as president and member number 001 of Umno Baru – alongside other BN component parties.

Tengku Razaleigh as his former challenger, meanwhile, had gone ahead to form Semangat 46 and contested the elections in the Gagasan Rakyat pact with DAP and Parti Bersatu Sabah.

The second Opposition alliance in GE9 comprised the Muslim-based parties – PAS, Berjasa and Hamim – dubbed the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah.

Going into the elections in an uneasy cooperation between the two Opposition pacts, Tengku Razaleigh had launched his ‘Save Malaysia’ manifesto from what was described as a time when the country was facing its worst crisis since Merdeka.

Since then, 26 years have passed but little seems to have changed.

The Opposition pact is still fragmented and Malaysia still needs to be saved.

List of economic scandals

Malaysiakini takes a closer look at the documents drafted by Tengku Razaleigh and Mahathir – former allies turned nemesis turned reluctant comrades turned ‘I thought you were my friend?’.

The sense of deja vu is strong in this one as many of the matters highlighted in the 1990 manifesto are eerily similar to the accusations levied against Najib today.

As per the titles, both documents call on Malaysians to save the country, by rejecting BN in the 1990 elections, and by removing Najib in 2016.

Both documents also highlight a laundry list of economic scandals, although the 1990 document has a more varied list compared to the 2016 version which focuses solely on 1MDB.

Among the scandals highlighted in the 1990 document are the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance scandal which allegedly cost taxpayers RM2.5 billion in losses, as well as eroded Petronas funds.

Meanwhile on power abuses, both highlighted the suppression of fundamental liberties, as well clampdowns on the press, such as the suspension of The Star, Sunday Star, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Watan in 1987 during 'Operasi Lalang', and the more recent suspension ofThe Heat, The Edge, and blocking of websites such as The Malaysian Insider.

Version 1.0 and 2.0 of Save Malaysia both have some similar demands too, including for the restoration of public institutions, and repeal of oppressive laws.

A more detailed comparison of the two Save Malaysia documents can be read in the PDF document embedded below.

-Mkini