We don’t need a hero. We need brave ordinary folk to rise and reclaim the nation

MSN news reported on 20/72016 that, according to Mukhriz, Mahathir’s new party “will not be radically different from Umno in terms of principles”. – http://www.msn.com/en-my/news/national/mukhriz-new-party-will-be-similar-to-umno-in-principle/ar-BBuyNRo

“Via this new party, we want to show that we can champion the people’s cause”, Mukhriz is reported to have said.

Champion the people’s cause?

Really?

A week later, as reported in Malaysiakini, former US ambassador to Malaysia, John Malott, opined that we should give Mahathir a chance to save Malaysia. – https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/350184

Malott quotes, with approval, the following words of Dennis Ignatius, said to be a veteran of Malaysia’s foreign service : “Mahathir may not be the ideal candidate to lead the charge for change but, like it or not, he is now the only one with the experience, the standing, and the gravitas to seriously challenge Umno-BN.”

Malott’s endorsement of Mahathir as our nation’s messiah is not without conditions.

First, Mahathir must call for Anwar’s release from prison.

Second, Mahathir must call for the dropping of all pending sedition and other political charges.

Finally, Mahathir must agree that all who have stolen money from the Malaysian people must be brought to justice.

To agree to the last would be tantamount to Mahathir putting the hangman’s noose round his own neck.

As to the first, let him make that call and then I might be prepared to seriously consider the possibility that this man may truly regret his past.

Malott offers reasons why Mahathir should be given a chance  to save us all.

“…there is no comparison between Mahathir’s day and the incredible kleptocracy that we see today under Najib. In the old days, people were content to steal millions. Then it was tens of millions. Now, under Najib, it is billions that have disappeared”. 

Really?

Bank Negara’s forex losses of RM20b? Or was it 30?

PKFZ?

“In the old days, Siti Hasmah was respected; today Rosmah is despised”.

Because Siti Hasmah never carried a Birkin handbag, we should give her thieving hubby a chance to save us?

“I recognise how Mahathir subverted Malaysia’s political institutions to achieve his goals for the nation. But in his mind, he did it for Malaysia, not to enrich himself. Agree or disagree, that clearly is very different from the incredible kleptocracy that we see today under Najib”.

Mahathir subverted our political institutions for the nation? He did it for Malaysia, not to enrich himself?

Tun Salleh Abas was sacked for the nation?

106 people ( or was it 112 ) detained under the ISA for the sake of the nation?

Newspapers muzzled for our sake?

Foreigners in Sabah given citizenship to a point where Sabahans are now  a minority in their own land for the sake of Malaysia?

What utter rubbish!

On 31/7/2016, Scott Ng, writing in Free Malaysia Today, reported that Mahathir’s “admission that he was the one ultimately responsible for the country’s current crisis is one of the more stunning developments coming in the wake of revelations in the US about the alleged embezzlement of 1MDB funds.A man as proud as Mahathir would not easily make such an admission. We would have assumed that he’d be concerned about the legacy he would leave behind as he approaches his 91st birthday. But perhaps he is more concerned about the future of the country than about what people might think of him”. –http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2016/07/31/going-beyond-mahathirs-feelings/

Had Mahathir made such an admission?

Checked with friends. No one had seen any such admission.

Checked with reporters. No one had heard of this.

Scoured through the internet. Nothing.

As far as I can see, there has been no such admission.

Give Mahathir a chance?

I’ve made my stand clear on this. Let me now quote two writers, whose opinion pieces, published yesterday, deserve full reading. Read them as a benchmark to measure Malott’s sorry effort to paint Mahathir in a kinder light.

V. Salam, in his letter published in Malaysiakini, and titled “Malaysia desperately crying out for a hero”, says : “…Dr Mahathir Mohamad. If you ask me; he is the father of all that is wrong in Malaysia today. Every sort of malpractice, misdemeanour, illegal and unlawful government act, misuse of power, shackling of democratic rights is allegedly down to him” – https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/350911

He ends his letter with this : “Malaysia is crying out for a hero, a true hero. In our haste let’s not make yesteryear’s villain a hero today”.

Mariam Mokhtar, writing in Free Malaysia Today puts it this way : “According to a report in Sinar Harian, Mahathir claims that he left Umno-Baru because he couldn’t stand the stench of corruption. He urged the rakyat to accept his new party, which he said was formed to fight corruption. He said his new party would field only sincere candidates who would not take dirty money. Mahathir forgets easily. It was he who set the ball rolling in the late sixties and early seventies with his Malay agenda. Later, he would reward close friends and associates with business opportunities. While it was right to try to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Malays, it was wrong to make the mechanisms run like a never ending treadmill. What happened to the time limit, and why was there no serious evaluation of the affirmative action policies to see if they were successful or needed tweaking?…How dare Mahathir tell us that corruption is haram and will destroy Malaysia. If he had not corrupted the politicians, Malaysia would not be a lost paradise now. Today, some of us reject Mahathir’s political plans, and rightly so. Mahathir feels no remorse for his previous actions, even though it was his policies which led us on to this path”. – http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2016/08/03/mahathir-is-40-years-too-late/

I end this post with Mariam’s closing words to her piece.

Mahathir ruined Malaysia. He will certainly not pull the country out of the pit of corruption that it is in. Only the Malaysian public can do that.

-The People's Parliament