When Mahathir shoot first and whistle later Only one thing is clear in this dust storm of fierce argument. We are not interested in truth. A complex reality has been distilled into campaign fodder in election season. Politics is the petrol that can turn such a fire into conflagration.
Reports that Malay bloggers in support of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had conspired to topple his successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, were never denied, Abdullah has said in his latest book.
Abdullah, popularly known as Pak Lah, said in Awakening that many of the bloggers were “richly” rewarded with titles and money and that “a lot of money was spent” in the campaign against him.
“Some reports on Wikileaks have come out to suggest that the Malay bloggers, pro-Mahathir bloggers had a meeting in Tengku Razaleigh’s house to plan how to oust me,” said Abdullah in the book edited by political analysts Bridget Welsh and James Chin, which will be out later this month.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a veteran Umno lawmaker, has tried several times to be prime minister, but to no avail.
“These reports have not been denied….one person from Kelantan claims he was given RM4 million by PAS to write articles to topple my administration,” said Abdullah.
The country’s fifth prime minister said that the opposition attacks against him may have been because he was “the biggest vote-getter for Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2004.”
“So part of their game plan was to inflict as much damage on personally. Unfortunately, detractors from my party, who were resistant to the reforms, also used the same medium to attack me personally,” he added.
In Awakening, Abdullah blamed Dr Mahathir for “unwarranted attacks” that had led to his eventual ouster after serving for just one term.
Although handpicked by Dr Mahathir to be his successor, Abdullah later came under relentless attack from the nation’s longest-serving prime minister and ultimately was forced to relinquish his presidency of Umno and position as prime minister to Datuk Seri Najib Razak in April 2009, after BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008.
“Mahathir cannot deny that he contributed to the erosion of BN’s support in the 2008 general election through his open and unwarranted criticism and attacks,” said Abdullah..
“Calling my administration, which included a majority of people from his own Cabinet, as a ‘half-past-six government’ and accusing us of corruption and all kind of things,” he added.
BN won a resounding mandate in the 2004 general election after Abdullah, known as “Mr Clean”, pledged to eradicate endemic corruption and institute political reforms.
But Abdullah’s reforms, such as passing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Judicial Appointments Commission and Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) Acts, came after Election 2008, only just months before he later stepped down in 2009.
A brief clarification, if I may be permitted, concerning Terence Netto’s column “Pah Lah’s book to reignite embers of feud with Dr M” (7 August).
Not uniquely – indeed, it seems already to be a very widely held view – Terence Netto seems to be under the impression that this is a book by Pak Lah, and that the former prime minister has now suddenly chosen to break his “elegant” silence.
That is not the case.
‘Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years in Malaysia’ is a collection of commentaries and essays by some 35 writers and observers.
It is of the same overall conception and character as the volume entitled ‘Reflections’ that was produced as a composite retrospective view of the long Mahathir premiership shortly after Dr Mahathir’s official retirement.
This book has been “in the works” for some considerable time.
It is not a book by Pak Lah, although it apparently includes a very significant interview with him by the book’s editors.
Long in production, the book might well have been ready for release earlier this year.
But, as I have been given to understand the matter, it was the explicit preference of Pak Lah himself that the book should not be published during the “run-up” period leading to the recent national elections.
It was his fastidious and dignified preference that the book and its contents should not play any role, or become implicated in any way, in the campaign process.
So, its release has been a little delayed.
Its appearance has been held back until after the elections and until after the fasting month, when life will again return to “normal” – whatever that term may mean these days in troubled and torn Malaysia.
Former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has claimed that his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin did not have “undue influence” on him while serving as a member of his administration.Abdullah Badawi and all his cohorts in UMNO are cut from the same cloth. They are invariably inveterate liars, trying to spin away their egregious mistakes, to protect their own vested interests. For Abdullah Badawi, I must admit the man himself has a warped sense of humour, so aptly naming his book “Awakening..”. For once, the rakyat admires his candour in owning up to this sleepy years in office but are not taken in by his spin that his son-in-law did not have an undue influence on him. The impending UMNO elections must have forced him to speak up in his SIL’s defence to help the latter’s election chances.
You owe us an explanation now that you’ve asserted that if we knew about your family, we wouldn’t question the suspension. Are they far Right? Like you are far out? Or is it something worse? Like maybe, brought up little Khairy Jamaluddin to become an “omigosh” with the balls to take on a bunch of thieves and we know what illustrious families these thieves come from..Again, the frenzy and the din that would have normally accompanied such headlines was missing. All we had was the deafening silence of complicity. Sometime over the next few hours, the report disappeared. It is no longer available on the website of the newspaper. But someone had forgotten the whiz-kids – and the power of web-caches. Within a few hours, the whole episode was neatly documented. Again, the frenzy and the din that would have normally accompanied such headlines was missing. All we had was the deafening silence of complicity. Sometime over the next few hours, the report disappeared. It is no longer available on the website of the newspaper. But someone had forgotten the whiz-kids – and the power of web-caches. Within a few hours, the whole episode was neatly documented.
An incompetent leader cannot do as much damage to a country as a leader who is greedy, cunning, corrupt and self-centred. An incompetent leader may not bring much progress to the country but the other kind can do severe damage to the country, its finances, race relations and international image with the effect lasting generations. We Malaysians ought to know this, since we have had both types.a confirmation from Abdullah himself. Long time coming, but welcome all the same. But there is a method in Mahathir’s madness: he will continue to pull the strings to get the present leadership to do things his way, quite simply because they are all indebted to him. But what goes around comes around. Mahathir will live to see his ‘madness’ get at himself and his offspring.a confirmation from Abdullah himself. Long time coming, but welcome all the same. But there is a method in Mahathir’s madness: he will continue to pull the strings to get the present leadership to do things his way, quite simply because they are all indebted to him. But what goes around comes around. Mahathir will live to see his ‘madness’ get at himself and his offspring.Unfortunately, our country has no firm-footed leader who dares to stand against the 85-year-old man. Much of my growing years were under Mahathir’s leadership and I sincerely want to keep those good memories untainted. I hope very much Mahathir steps away with what ever dignity he still has. It is indeed very sad.
Pak Lah advice to Najib seem more relevant given the current PM’s indecisiveness after the polls.faced with pushback from special interest groups within Umno and the civil service, Abdullah chose the path of least resistance and after the initial flurry of policy statements about fighting corruption and improving governance, he reverted to speaking and acting as the president of Umno, instead of as the prime minister of Malaysia. Pak Lah and the Umno he led then had neither the scrotum nor courage to put Mahathir in his place. Which is why Mahathir understands the Malays better than Pak Lah. “Mahathir cannot deny that he contributed to the erosion of BN’s support in the 2008 general election through his open and unwarranted criticism and attacks.” But BN performed even worse with Mahathir back in BN and actively campaigning for BN in the 2013 general election. Abdullah confirms what we all already know, that Mahathir is a megalomaniac who refuses to accept that there are people who are cleverer than him. Abdullah’s book is going to eat the old man up, for certain. Mahathir has done much damage by manipulating his deputies. Now, he is manipulating the PMs. As far as Mahathir is concerned, success is because of his strategy, failure is to blame the PMs. Always a win-win for Mahathir by pulling the strings from the back.
Abdullah sets out clearly his regret at not using more forcefully the mandate he won in 2004 to bring about reforms expected by Malaysians, a decision which led to Barisan Nasional’s poor performance in 2008 and his forced departure from Putrajaya.‘Mahathir is the Pied Piper of Malaysia and he will lead Umno and the nation to the grave if we do not wake up from his tune. He is playing his song of personal gain and for his family. Malaysians have to wake up from this hold, otherwise the public of all races will suffer but not him, his family and cronies. and he will lead Umno and the nation to the grave if we do not wake up from his tune.’ the cause of the downfall of Pak Lah is Mahathir and the downfall of the country is Mahathir. It is clear that Mahathir thinks he knows everything and he is the best.
Like Najib, Abdullah said he had to deal with a Malaysian public which expected reforms and those within his party and the establishment who were resistant to anything new Pak Lah advice to Najib seem more relevant given the current PM’s indecisiveness after the polls.Umno needs to reform, said its former president and former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad 
With corruption so deeply entrenched in the party coupled with weak mandates at the past 2 general elections, religious and racial baiting is the only way to maintain status quo. The only way for UMNO to reform is to lose a general election and then implode. Thereafter we will see the emergence of a reformed party, hungry to serve the rakyat again.
Ketuanan Melayu is nothing but a nice term for the malay elites/supremacists to rape and blunder the country blind and as a tool for them to maintain political power amongst themselves over the country. It is also cleverly used to champion the rights and special privileges of the malays. I wonder how many years more can the special privileges be maintained and sustained given the ever growing size of the malay/bumiputera population in the face of dwindling petroleum resources and the shrinking numbers of non malay population who are contributing the major portion of the taxes to the national coffers. Can 15% of the population support the other 85% with the special privileges a decade down the road? Even now our national income is 5 times less than that of Singapore because of corruption, a culture of mediocrity and a entitlement mentality. It would be a earth shaking decision to do away with mediocrity, entitlement mentality and fight entrenched corruption in the system to stop the rot Malay supremacy has the same parallel with Hitler version of Aryan supremacist race and the South Africa race theory of apartheid on separate development. Most non Bumi accept the special privileges of Malay as a political fait accompli. We think all citizens must be treated respectfully, decently and equally. To perpetuate this myth of supremacist worldview is obnoxious, odious and offensive. I am surprised that Pak Lah doesn’t see the difference.Najib has not used his office as prime minister to lower the temperature. Although he gave a press conference in London, he didn’t mention the attempts to oust the Vatican ambassador, growing questions over promised repeal of the country’s sedition act, which hasn’t taken place, or the racial tension fanned on both sides but mainly … Read more
