When spoilt brats become a blight on Malaysia

Some political brats are the blight of Malaysia. Many have a sense of entitlement, like the former "special adviser to tourism" Nedim Nazri, or the ambitious Nurulhidayah Zahid who said that the Bersih 4.0 protest was "stupid".

Or the "self-made" banker, Nazir Abdul Razak, who fell out with his convict brother Najib and claimed that he supported Pakatan Harapan at GE14, and yet had failed to make this support public.

Or Marina Mahathir, whom many Malaysians quietly wonder, "Whose side is she on? Her dad's? Ours? People who stand in the middle of the road will get run over."

You've heard the expression, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".

In 1983, the Education Ministry started a programme called Program Susu Sekolah (PSS) to provide primary schoolchildren with free milk.

If only the ministry had provided them with an apple instead of milk because there is one doctor who is bad for the nation's health. Mahathir Mohamad.

When two books by the children of two former prime ministers appeared within two weeks of one another, many questions were asked.

Nazir's memoir was titled 'What's in a name?' The second book, 'The Apple and the Tree' is a story about Mahathir's daughter.

In Malaysia, as in many Third World countries, trading on your father's name, especially if he is a former prime minister, can mean a life of unimaginable wealth without having to do much work.

The right name is like saying "Open Sesame" because it opens up a world of business, educational, and trade opportunities. The police will provide a speedy response to a crime. The doctor will treat you immediately. The bank will lend you money.

The right name gets you to the top of the queue. For service. For restaurants. For airlines. For lucrative government contracts. For scholarships. The shame is that the right name deprives other hardworking Malaysians the same opportunities.

Seeds of the mess

The apple does not fall far from the tree because children often inherit traits which resemble that of their parents.

One is curious to know if, in both books, the authors would justify their silence on certain issues, like their failure to speak out against corruption, double standards, or injustice. Or did they cherry-pick safe issues, to be vocal?

Marina's opinions may sometimes contradict Mahathir's, but the irony is that many who dared to express an opinion during her father's tenure were locked up, and Sabahans who were furious with Project "M" were ignored.

The seeds of the mess that Malaysia is in today were sown by both Abdul Razak Hussein and Mahathir. Abdul Razak had rescued Mahathir from the political wilderness after he had been sacked from Umno in 1969 for criticising the erstwhile Umno president, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Successive PMs refused to undo the bad policies that both men started. These include affirmative action policies or trying to outdo PAS in being more Islamic. Malaysian society has been crippled by cronyism, corruption, and religious and racial intolerance.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) which had a shelf-life of 20 years should have ended in 1991, but was prolonged, despite its failure to produce the desired results in the Malay community.

Silver spoon

There was bad blood between Umno and PAS in the 1980s. Both parties were trying to court Malay votes by proving that one was more Islamic than the other.

With Mahathir focused on pushing industrialisation in Malaysia, he enlisted the help of the then leader of the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (Abim), Anwar Ibrahim, to show the Malays that Umno had the perfect Islamic credentials. This signalled the beginning of letting the genie out of the bottle. Ironically, PAS politicians have today shown that they can be more dictatorial than Mahathir.

The two authors were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Would they have been as successful and as wealthy if they were just plain Cik Minah or En Mat, with no political pedigree?

CIMB may have become one of the region's biggest banks and it is easy to boast about one's success, especially as one's brother was the deputy prime minister at the time CIMB was making inroads into the world of banking. In one fell swoop, customers of Southern Bank Berhad, a successful Chinese-owned bank, became the customers of CIMB. What happened?

We know why some institutions employ the children of Umno Baru politicians. Their children may possess the necessary educational qualifications because they had access to the right schools, universities, and scholarships. However, their most important qualification is their parents.

Their father's position at the top of the greasy political ladder is seen by private companies as a good investment. It is an extension of the “You help me (my child), I help you” Umno Baru culture, propagated in Sibu.

Companies will have easy access to confidential information, and possibly influence a particular government policy in the company’s favour. Perhaps, in some cases, the company has no choice, but to obey.

Easy access to taxpayers’ money

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claimed that Anis, the daughter of Jamaluddin Jarjis, the late Malaysian Ambassador to America, had been hired by Goldman Sachs. Her employment occurred at the time that Goldman Sachs became advisers to 1MDB, and she was paid above-average commissions in 2012 and 2013.

Taib Mahmud justified the millions of ringgits which his children made from lucrative business deals by claiming that his children were intelligent, unlike the majority of the Sarawak population.

Politicians’ children have easy access to taxpayers’ money via major government deals, like the provision of air-traffic control systems, and the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal.

Power is the lifeblood of Putrajaya and in Malaysia, every politician, their children, and cronies will demand a slice of the action. It may be nauseating to read the challenges and accomplishments of these spoilt brats. I'd rather read Beano or Dandy. - Mkini

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.