Revenge is a dish best served cold and in Sunday's attempted coup, Malaysians watched Dr Mahathir Mohamad being delivered an ice-cold enema; his much anticipated but failed "Wawasan 2020" had morphed into "Mahathir's Purge of 2020", with Malaysia becoming a pariah state.
Ironically, he wants to form a unity government, but the nation is divided. He is still prime minister, but there are no ministers to govern.
For Mahathir, resigning was his cold revenge against his "frenemy", the impatient prime-minister-in-waiting, Anwar Ibrahim. Resigning freed him, from fulfilling his succession "promise", and those who can see through Anwar's charade were given temporary respite.
Who is worse? Mahathir or Anwar? Neither. They are equally bad for the country in their respective ways. Mahathir was given the mandate to clean-up the nation and if the MPs had just focused, we could have judged their performance to evaluate them for re-election in GE15.
I viewed Sunday's event as a good episode in the history of the nation and a blessing in disguise. We can now press the reset button.
Sunday saw greedy, power-hungry, impatient and desperate politicians being stripped naked. They could not contain their blind ambition, their avarice, and more importantly, their utter contempt for the rakyat who had voted for them.
Criticisms, like tagging him "Emperor-for-life" slid off Mahathir's back like dew off a waxy leaf.
Before GE14, Mahathir was already PM for life, but not in name. It was alleged that he oversaw the handling of major projects by his successors. This stopped when disgraced Najib Abdul Razak's spouse, the self-styled First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM) probably said to Najib, "Can I advise you something? You are the PM, but you take orders from me."
Like Russia's Vladimir Putin, Mahathir has also engineered his return as leader. Putin was president, then prime minister, and bounced back as president. Mahathir was twice PM, and will probably assume a presidential role, with the proposed unity government.
It is ridiculous to call Mahathir selfish. If he is selfish, what does that make the politicians who served themselves? Charitable?
Of course, Mahathir thwarted Anwar's plans to be PM, but Anwar has only himself to blame. He behaved like a spoilt brat, with his incessant pestering and goading of the rakyat to force Mahathir to step down.
Sunday's mess could have been avoided if Anwar had transformed Port Dickson (PD) into the jewel of the Middle East, Dubai, when he secured his by-election win. The transformation was to be done with help from the AirAsia boss, whose recent "offsets" had alarmed the public.
Come GE15, the rakyat would have said, "Anwar has delivered his promise. He should be PM."
Triggering a by-election, by forcing the former Port Dickson MP's resignation, was a selfish move.
Instead, Anwar acted like the petulant toddler on a long journey. The parents' car has hardly left the driveway when the brat shrieks, "Are we there yet?" He continues until they arrive. The politician's cue is, "When is my handover?"
Mahathir is trying to steer "HMS Malaysia" through choppy waters, but Anwar had to seek relevance by distracting the largely untrained crew.
In September 2018, fed-up with his many critics, Anwar labelled them 'Super Liberals' and appealed to the conservatives in an act of supreme irony when he claimed that the LGBTs were demanding same-sex marriage. They were not. These actions contrast sharply with his recent remarks that he is "patient and confident".
'Our fortunes will improve on the day we...'
We are the product of our politicians' machinations. Today, some people claim that Mahathir is the cause of all our problems and that he should go. Really?
Aren't we also responsible for our problems? During Mahathir's first tenure, discriminatory and affirmative action policies were pushed through with few objections from the Malays, and Umno-Baru. The result? Today's Malays have developed a fear of crosses, dogs, pigs and red lanterns, and think that speaking English is unpatriotic.
We invited Mahathir through the front door at GE14 to remove Najib (above). When his hand was forced, Mahathir executed Plan B, and floored everyone.
Mahathir is not the cause of our problems. We are.
Our fortunes will improve on the day we change our attitudes and mindset, treat politicians with a firm hand, and punish those who misbehave, without compromise or exceptions. Only then, will politicians learn to serve us.
Only one question will suffice, to see if you are ready for change.
Are you prepared to accept a non-Malay PM, if he is the best man (or woman) for the job?
Many Malays will fume. "Why allow a non-Malay PM to sully our bumi-Tanah Melayu?"
They forget that corrupt Malay politicians and civil servants have no maruah (dignity).
After 40 years of brainwashing, the non-Malays shortchanged themselves by suppressing their ambitions, and taking the position, "Now is not the right time for a non-Malay PM."
So, when will be the right time? At GE15? In 10 years? After a century? The Malays will always ensure that it is never the right time.
The only way to make Malaysians accept a non-Malay, is through drastic measures.
In physics, the order is created after chaos. My only regret is that the Umno-Baru/PAS rebel government failed, and PAS' Hadi Awang was not made PM.
If Hadi were to install a syariah government, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would bypass Malaysia, women would become more submissive, corrupt officials would roam free, human rights will be ignored, art, singing and dancing will be banned, indiscriminate logging will increase, women will be stoned for adultery, the LGBT will be whipped for being deviant, and the economy will hit rock-bottom.
Only then will Malaysians wake-up and demand that the best man, irrespective of race or religion, becomes PM.
There could be one major snag. Malaysia might be beyond repair, and the good will have fled, or been exterminated.
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