The Politics Of Mahathir And Anwar

Mahathir and Anwar are like two peas in a pod, or as the Malays would say, bagai pinang dibelah dua. They wear a mask, and it is different masks for different occasions and different audiences. They will sing whatever tune their audience expects to hear. But it is all a fake song-and-dance which they put on just to create the impression they are God’s gift to Malaysia.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad became Prime Minister in 1981, the Chinese and Indians held their breath. Since 1969 Mahathir had built up an image of a Malay nationalist. Hence the Chinese and Indians were worried that they would face discrimination under Mahathir’s regime.

But they were soon pleasantly surprised. Mahathir turned out to be a friend of the non-Malays. Many non-Malays became millionaires because of Mahathir, while millionaires became billionaires. Even Chinese businessmen who were on the verge of bankruptcy managed to turn around and became billionaires.

The Chinese began to understand the real Mahathir. When Mahathir meets the Malays, he needs to talk about “Malay issues”. Mahathir may sound like a racist but that was all a show. Mahathir needs Malay support so he needs to say what the Malays would like to hear.

Umno’s partners in Barisan Nasional would just close their ears and let Mahathir continue with his Chinese-bashing, Chinese school-bashing, and so on. Mahathir even calls them communists. That is just meant to make the Malays happy. Behind the scenes, the non-Malays were laughing all the way to the bank.

When the recession hit six years after Mahathir became prime minister, he allocated RM3 billion to bail out the Chinese cooperatives. But he allocated only RM500 million to bail out Malay businesses that were in trouble. There was so much publicity on the RM500 million for the Malays while the RM3 billion for the Chinese was done in secret. No publicity.

The Malays see the Mahathir that he wants them to see. The Chinese and Indians get to see the other side of Mahathir that is hidden from Malay view. Mahathir is a great actor and he puts on a different face for the Malays than the one he puts on for the non-Malays.

In short, Mahathir is a fraud.

When Anwar Ibrahim joined Umno in 1982, many people were very concerned. Anwar was a “firebrand” Islamist, what today they would call “Taliban”. Anwar said those Muslims who dress in western clothes like the kafir (infidels) are kafir. Anwar himself dressed in Arab robes.

Anwar explained to his ABIM supporters that Umno was corrupt and too secular so he was joining Umno to clean up the corruption and turn Umno into an Islamic party. He was going to introduce “nilai-nilai Islam” into Umno.

It did not take too long to prove that Anwar is the exact opposite of what many people believed. Just like how Mahathir turned out to be no Malay nationalist, Anwar turned out to be no “firebrand” Islamist. Both were fakes who were conning the Malays. And just like in Mahathir’s case, Anwar sings one tune to the Malays and a different tune to the non-Malays.

Mahathir and Anwar are like two peas in a pod, or as the Malays would say, bagai pinang dibelah dua. They wear a mask, and it is different masks for different occasions and different audiences. They will sing whatever tune their audience expects to hear. But it is all a fake song-and-dance which they put on just to create the impression they are God’s gift to Malaysia.