Well Said Tun M

Whether you like him or not, what Tun Mahathir said today does make sense and he has managed to summarize the current complicated situation of Malaysian politics into very clear perspective. Extract below from his FB page:

1. The political state of the confused country is getting more confused by the action taken by some parties. Many have lost their way and are willing to do anything just to get support.

2. Bersatu which was originally formed to bring down Najib has now becomes a party that fight to bring Najib and the National Barisan (BN) back to life.

3. Then out of the blue a Bersatu Leader became the Prime Minister of the Perikatan Nasional Party which doesn't even exist.

4. Hope that the Perikatan Nasional becomes a joint party of three parties which are Bersatu, PAS and UMNO will not come true. UMNO claims that its members are only allowed to support Bersatu to topple the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Government. And yet Bersatu leaders conspire to this evil plan whole heartedly.

5. Now Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional (PN) depends on UMNO. If UMNO people don't support it, the alliance will fall. The irony is if UMNO doesn't support them they themselves will also fall. That's why UMNO has to support.

6. But there are still 5 UMNO people who may be found guilty (one was already found guilty ad is currently waiting for the appeal process to run its course) cannot remain as representatives of the people. If they lose their positions as representatives of the people, Bersatu and PN will fall.

7. To avoid this from happening, the Prime Minister needs to look for replacement. So Bersatu dropped its original principle as a party that fights for the Malays and has now opened its membership to all races. Is the name of PPBM still relevant then? This is the fourth time Bersatu has broke its promises.

8. Now Bersatu decides to join Muafakat. But Muafakat is an alliance of Islamic Malay parties. While Bersatu's is now multi-racial party. What will happen to Muafakat? Is it still fighting for Malay and Islam??

9. UMNO is said to have broken into three. There are factions that disagree with Bersatu joining Muafakat. As well as PAS. Some agree, some are not.

10. Among the parties that support the government, some believe in winning the election some don't like to have the election.

11. Prime Minister is afraid to lose his position if he loses 6 chairs. Looking for a replacement. But from where? Maybe from Keadilan. But the cost is high.

12. Comes Pejuang. Bersatu lost its grassroots. Many leaders but few people to be led. It has become an empty party. Grassroots have moved to Pejuang.

13. In the upcoming general election, Bersatu will not get support from UMNO and PAS, nor from PH.

14. Bersatu may be disbanded and joins UMNO. This will most likely be the end of the stolen party.

15. This is a headache for Muhyiddin. There's nowhere he can turn to.

16. Looking for pain. Pain is what he will get.

Source: Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad Facebook Page

Mahathir Advises The People

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in Penang as part of his cross-country tour – and as a guest of Penang Institute – to gather at least one million signatures for the Citizen’s Declaration he initiated. He spent 20 minutes talking with Ooi Kee Beng in between arriving from KL with Tun Dr Siti Hasmah and rushing off to deliver his speech at the packed Straits Quay Convention Centre. The interview took place in the late afternoon on May 8, 2016 at the E&O  Hotel.

Ooi Kee Beng: Tun, your generation fascinates me. You are of the nation-building generation who dared to imagine that it would not only change the world, but configure it to fit local conditions. The impact of that generation has of course been enormous in all post-colonial countries, but that generation is passing. What advice would you give young Malaysians about the future, given what you see now of global economic dynamics and the political situation in Malaysia today?

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad: The first thing for people to learn is the history of the country, because if you don’t have an understanding of the background of the country, you cannot make an assessment of events or of the improvements that have taken place. Many Malaysians today were born long after Independence. I would tell them that what we are seeing today is completely different from what we had under the British or even in the early days of Independence. So we must be able to make a comparison between the past and the present.

 OKB: If there is one word to describe you, Tun, I would use the word “nationalist”. You are very much, for want of a better word, a situationalist. Your analysis of events and different times shifts as things evolve; you seem very tuned into evolving dynamics. In that sense the methods you adopt would be understood best in a tactical mode. Would that be correct?

MM: I was trained as a doctor, and a doctor approaches a problem with a certain method. He has to know the background, the history of the patient, and do an additional examination to see what the problem is. For a sick person or for a community, it is the same thing. Once you adopt that approach, you recognise a problem much more clearly. And after recognising what the problem is, you can think about how to resolve it. Having been trained as a doctor, I approach most problems that way. I find it to be really very easy. It is methodical and it is very consistent and often quite accurate.

 You may end up with three possibilities, for example, and then you will have to do a further analysis to determine which disease it really is and what the cure should be. It is the same with a community – you have to determine what the problem is first.

OKB: But are there shortcomings to that kind of approach?

MM: Well, I suppose there are. There are of course people who can instinctively see what the problem is and come up with a solution. But instinct is not methodical. It may come or it may not come. You have no control over it. But the methodical process of examination by doctors is something that you do almost automatically, and you eliminate other possibilities to arrive at the right diagnosis.

OKB: One has to always consider multiple factors.

MM: Yes.

OKB: Since you have been in the limelight for an amazingly long time – in fact since after the Second World War, when you started writing as Che Det – you are very overexposed by now, and one would expect people who are overexposed to be very predictable. Yet you are not. You can be very unpredictable. I tend to think that when people are unpredictable, it is usually because they are being misunderstood. People have their own logic and in following that logic, they are really being consistent.

I would like to ask you a straightforward and personal question: “What motivates you deep down?” How do we see consistency and how do we make sense of your actions over the last 70 years? You do know that many think that you are often contradictory.

MM: Like you said earlier, I am a nationalist. That’s what motivates me. I have been exposed to many things inside the country and outside the country. The desire to do things, to achieve and to be proud of what [I] can do… [that] is consistent. You just have to do something to improve any situation. The situation may be already good, but you have to think – what else can you do?

So in that sense, there is consistency all the time. When I was a young boy, I saw poverty, I saw people who were jobless and living very poor lives. I felt it was not right. You see that some people are rich, and some people are very poor, and some people do not even have regular meals. These are social problems and when you see problems like that, you want to do something. We are brought up that way, to be concerned about people who are less fortunate than we are. So if they are less fortunate, what do we do for them?

Throughout my career that has been my motivation, and even the approach has been very consistent. I don’t come up suddenly with some fantastic thing. I think things over to myself. For example, when I wanted to resign [as Prime Minister in 2003], I did not tell anybody. I thought it was time for me to resign and give place to others. So without anybody pushing me out, I resigned.

OKB: I suppose the poor usually can’t help themselves, and so those who have the opportunity have the responsibility to help them.

MM: That is true of course. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer – at least relatively speaking. The rich can get richer because they have the means. For example, in business, they have the capital and if they see an opportunity, they make use of that opportunity to enrich themselves. A poor man may see an opportunity, but he has no capital, so he will forever be poor because he does not have the means. So what we should do is not only give him the opportunity but also give him the means to make use of that opportunity.

OKB: You are practically a socialist, are you not?

MM: Socialism itself is not bad. But it is used sometimes to oppress people, and that is bad. A system is good only if you make use of it properly. During colonial times, the Europeans were the “masters”. You called them “Tuan”, and you think that they are superior and that they know a lot while you don’t. And they can do what you cannot do. And in a way, you feel very inferior. You get an inferiority complex.

OKB: The whole of society, really…

MM: Yes. I asked myself, am I as inferior as they make it out to be? Well, I thought, they are there because of their dominance over the people. They have practically colonised the country, and they are given [good] jobs, authority and power. That was what made them superior people. They could do what you could not do.

OKB: These experiences in your younger days must have affected you very deeply.

MM: Yes, very much. But I was fortunate. I was among the 20 or so boys who had the opportunity to go to an English school. There were hundreds of others who were equally good, but they did not get the opportunity to get a good education. It seemed to me quite unfair.

You had the opportunity, they didn’t have the opportunity. So, the solution to that is to create the opportunity and to give them the means to make use of the opportunity for their own good.

OKB: Being one of the few privileged ones, you felt this to be your responsibility then?

MM: Yes.

OKB: One of the great innovations of your time was Vision 2020. If I ask you to reformulate Vision 2020 today, would there be things in there that would be different from before?

MM: We wanted to be a developed country, but a developed country in our own mold, not just a copy of some other developed country. So we started spelling out what we meant by “in our own mold”. What do you mean by being developed?

If we do not define it properly, people tend to take the simple definition, which is that if you have money then you are developed. So you see the stress on per capita income. If you have a per capita income of [US$]15,000 or 30,000, then you are developed.

But that is not true. I have always thought that thinking in averages is a very bad way of assessing anything. I tell people that they can drown in a river with an average depth of two feet. If one man is a millionaire and 999 men are poverty-stricken, then the average [wealth] is $1000. You see, averages are not a very good measurement of achievements.

So you have to define what you mean by development. And to me, it is not just about per capita income. It is about our capacity. Do we have very well educated people? Do we do research and development? Do we produce things by ourselves? Are we industrialised? All these things must be there before you can consider yourself developed. At the moment, the stress is far too much on per capita income. Per capita is an average, and it is not a good measurement.

OKB: It’s more about people’s integrity and dignity, isn’t it?

MM: Yeah! People must be able to hold their heads up, to stand tall like other people.

OKB: Something that would have happened along the way since the 1990s would be the development of “Melayu Baru” – the New Malay. It’s a new world today and the Malays are in a different place – as a community and also in their relationship with other communities. Are we seeing something that you would have foreseen, that once the Malays reached a certain level of development a lot of conflict would also come into play?

MM: I spent a lot of time when I was Prime Minister to try and change the value system and the culture of the Malays because I believe it is the value system that determines if you do well or not. I must admit that I wasn’t very successful. But a few of them have acquired new values, new ways of thinking. We do see quite a number of Malay professionals and Malay businessmen who do well. But the rest are not doing so well.

 This can be corrected if you can change their mindset.

OKB: You just need to go to the next stage… But do you then think that things are going backwards? I suppose you do.

MM: Now, the focus is not on changing the culture. The focus is now on… well, giving [people] things without their earning those things. That’s bad.

OKB: But people generally don’t like to change, or don’t like to be told to change.

MM: Yes, but we change all the time.

OKB: We do.

MM: Whether we like it or not, we change. If you lived in a kampung and you move into a town, and you still want to live like you did in the kampung, that’s not possible. In fact, we had a problem housing people in places like Kampung Abdullah Hukum and Kampung Kerinchi in KL. They wanted to have a house like they used to, elevated so they can rear chickens underneath, plant some vegetables around the house.

That is not possible in town. In town, you have to have high-rise buildings, you have to live in flats. And living in flats means there are adjustments to be made. You cannot grow vegetables, you cannot rear any chickens. If you don’t make these adjustments, you can’t really live in an urban area.

OKB: One amazing aspect of your life is that you have fought from within Umno and you have fought from outside Umno. And by Umno, I am connoting mainstream politics in Malaysia, really. That has left many people confused, even pundits. It must at times get rather confusing even for you.

MM: Well, when you form a political party, you have an objective. What are you struggling for? When you are running Umno and you forget your objective, and you veer away and you go for other things, then I don’t see any reason why I should be inside the party. Umno is [supposed to be] dedicated to developing Malaysia, to ensure that people enjoy a good life, that everybody has a share of the wealth and power in this country.

But then you find that some leaders do not focus on that. They focus instead on something to make themselves happy. For example, they think that the best thing to do is to give money to people, and in that way, become popular. These are not to be found in the objectives of founding Umno.

That’s why sometimes I am in, and sometimes I am out [of Umno].

OKB: Two Malaysian Prime Ministers ruled for a substantial period of time, and were very influential. These are you and Tunku Abdul Rahman. What is your appraisal of Tunku Abdul Rahman today?

MM: The Tunku contributed a lot to the country. He was the one who won independence for the country. He was also the one who solved a very difficult problem – the problem of multiracialism. Normally, in a multiracial country, there will be conflicts for different reasons. Such countries will not be stable and you cannot develop such countries. But Tunku found a way out for Malaysia. He decided that they should share this country, all these races. He came up with this idea of a coalition – not a single multiracial party because a single multiracial party doesn’t work. Some have tried to have a party with multiracial membership but that didn’t work because people were still not familiar with each other.

So he came up with this idea of a coalition. You remain as you are in your own party looking after your community, and yet you have a common objective [with the other communities], you see? And when wealth is created, then all will have a share. Even the power. You must share the power, you must share the wealth.
So this was put into the Constitution.

OKB: I see your aides are telling us that we have to stop talking now. Let me squeeze in one last question. You are from Alor Setar, not very far away from Penang. Can you share some thoughts about Penang, your reminiscences of the place perhaps?

MM: My father came from Penang. In those days, when you wanted to go someplace different, you went to Penang. Penang was a developed town. But Penang has not changed that much. Some parts are very modern. The quay and all that, they are all still the same – ramshackle buildings and all that, and not very tidy, I must say.

One part has changed, the other has remained as it was before independence. But I think this is a problem with democracy. When you want to do something that is good all round, there will be people who will object. And well, you don’t want to be unpopular, so you allow these things to go on.

I think they did a better job in KL. If you go to KL, you don’t see those ramshackle zinc sheds anymore.

OKB: Thank you for your time and for sharing.

Source: Penang Monthly

Mahathir Under Probe

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today spent 30 minutes answering 37 questions from the police in a criminal defamation investigation triggered by his recent suggestion that the Malay rulers may be under house arrest.

His lawyer Ahmad Bazlan Che Kassim told reporters, however, that most of the questions centred on the Citizens’ Declaration, the petition calling for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s resignation that Dr Mahathir started.

"The questions are about the (police) report lodged against him in making remarks related to house arrest of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. A total of 37 questions were asked and most of them were on Citizen's Declaration," he told reporters outside Yayasan Albukhary, where the former prime minister was interviewed.

He added that both parties were very cooperative during the session and that Dr Mahathir responded to all the questions.

The lawyer also confirmed that Dr Mahathir was being investigated under Section 500 of Penal Code, which covers defamation.

Another lawyer, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali later told reporters that there was no confirmation on whether the former prime minister would face charges.

If convicted under Section 500 of the Penal Code, Dr Mahathir faces a maximum two-year jail term or a fine, or both.

Last month, Dr Mahathir told a forum that he had not been able to secure an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to deliver his Citizens’ Declaration memorandum bearing over a million signatures.

He claimed this was likely because the rulers have been confined to their palaces.

Source: MSN

Gossip Malaysia: Mahathir Wants Najib Removed

Mahathir Mohamad, modern Malaysia’s founding father and former leader, has called for a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Najib Razak, accusing him of halting an investigation into corruption and buying politicians.

“A vote of non-confidence is necessary now because Najib has made BN members of parliament beholden to him by giving them lucrative posts in the government,” Mahathir said on his blog, referring to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

David Cameron presses Malaysian PM on corruption claims

Najib is facing calls to resign after reports that he pocketed nearly $700m (£456m) from the debt-laden state fund 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). 

1MDB was launched in 2009 by Najib, who still chairs its advisory board. Critics say it has been opaque in explaining its dealings.

Mahathir was once a patron and supporter of Najib but has now used his widespread influence to lead the call for Najib to step down on graft allegations, which the prime minister denies, calling them “political sabotage”.

“Najib’s lack of respect for the law and constitution and his willingness to buy politicians and civil servants may mean the end of Parliamentary Democracy in Malaysia,” said Mahathir, 90, who ruled the country for 22 years.

“Even those who had come to me complaining about Najib’s administration before, upon being given posts in his government, have now changed their stand. One of them who claimed to have documentary evidence of Najib’s misconduct, now gladly support him upon being made minister.”

Najib responded to the corruption allegations by changing the attorney general and transferring officers involved in the investigation against him. He also removed deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the second most powerful member of Najib’s party, who has called for an investigation into the allegations.

Source: The Guardian

Gossip Malaysia: Dr. Mahathir Turns 90

 

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is celebrating his 90th birthday today and Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister remains sharp and combative as ever, as he continues campaigning to oust his latest successor Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Dr Mahathir, who was prime minister from July 16, 1981 to October 31, 2003, was born in Alor Star, Kedah on July 10, 1925 but his official birthdate is December 20.

It is understood that a big birthday bash has been organised for the medically trained politician this month.

But age has not slowed him down despite stepping down from public office in 2003. Dr Mahathir remains a key influential figure in Malaysian politics – who helped remove his successor Tun Abdullah Badawi in office in 2009 and now agitating for Najib's ouster because of the scandals surrounding strategic investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The influential politician had cut his support for Najib in August 2014 and in recent months, has ratcheted his campaign against the prime minister, whose father, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, was also prime minister.

He had also asked Najib to resign from the top job, echoing the calls of both government and opposition leaders who are seeking the truth behind The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) revelations last week that US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) had been funnelled into Najib’s bank accounts.

The prime minister has vowed to fight the WSJ claims, saying he did not gain personally from the accounts in AmPrivate Bank. Bank Negara Malaysia has frozen six bank accounts but said none was linked to the prime minister.

Despite that, Dr Mahathir has been asking the authorities, including the Internal Revenue Board, to investigate Najib's wealth and harangue the government to explain the high debt racked by 1MDB.

The auditor-general and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are investigating 1MDB's business but an interim report submitted yesterday had cleared the company of any wrongdoing.

But Dr Mahathir has cleared through the fog surrounding 1MDB to ask one question: why did 1MDB raise that much debt but only spent US$15 billion to acquire land and utilities across Malaysia and Asia.

Najib last week accused his former political mentor of working with the foreign media against him after several exposes in WSJ and The New York Times.

Dr Mahathir has denied the claims but remains a formidable political influence among the 30-million population, most of whom grew up during his rule. – July 10, 2015.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

Gossip Malaysia: Mahathir Or Najib

Umno leaders must decide whether to back Datuk Seri Najib Razak or Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Singapore’s The Straits Times said today, following revelations that funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had been channelled into the prime minister’s bank accounts.

The Sunday Times, the weekend edition of the daily, said Umno leaders were caught in an escalating power struggle between Najib and the former prime minister and “have to choose sides soon”.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said documents showed US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) was moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB, which finally ended in the prime minister's personal accounts at the AmPrivate Bank in Kuala Lumpur, in five separate deposits.

Najib has since denied the allegations, accusing Dr Mahathir of masterminding the latest attack against him.

Today, a number of Umno leaders said Najib should sue WSJ if the claim that 1MDB’s funds were transferred into his account was false.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the allegations were serious and jeopardised Najib's‎ credibility as the prime minister and leader of the Malaysian government.

He also urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia and police, with the cooperation of the attorney-general, to begin investigations into the allegations.

Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, an adviser to the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), was quoted as saying Umno leaders would have to take sides, given how "desperate" Dr Mahathir has become to "get rid of Najib".

Dr Mahathir has been a strident critic of Najib in the last few months, especially on his handling of 1MDB, of which Najib is the chair of the advisory board.

1MDB has racked up debts of RM42 billion and a few government-linked agencies have been accused of bailing out the state-owned fund.

One Umno MP told the Singapore paper that Najib should have asked Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz or AmBank to deny the fund transfers.

"Ask Zeti to deny or AmBank to deny. Nothing!" the MP was quoted as saying. – July 5, 2015.

Source: The Malaysian Insider