Dr Mahathir Mohamad charged recently that the negative portrayal of the so-called “Green Wave” was simply an attempt to spread fear about Malay rule. Mahathir said that the Malays had dominated the government for 60 years; during that time, the country progressed rapidly and non-Malays did well. There was, therefore, no reason to fear another Malay-majority government.
Mahathir is, of course, being disingenuous in conflating the genuine concerns that Malaysians have about PAS with anti-Malay sentiment. The issue here is not about whether non-Malays have a problem with a Malay-majority government. As Mahathir noted, Malaysia has always had Malay-majority governments. Even the present unity government is a Malay-majority one. In fact, there are more Malays in cabinet today than there were during Mahathir’s second term as prime minister.
The real issue is whether the so-called green wave – a reference to the rising power of PAS – is good for the country or not. There are plenty of reasons to be wary of PAS which is led by a man whom Mahathir himself has, at various times, called confused and dishonest amongst other things.
PAS has promoted religious extremism at every turn. PAS also insists on sidelining non-Muslims and depriving them of their rights as citizens in the name of religion. On top of that, PAS is incompetent and incapable of running a modern state. As Mahathir himself noted, Hadi Awang has ““zero political knowledge and is unfit to lead any government”.
Just look at Kelantan where the people do not even have decent drinking water despite decades of PAS rule. PAS-ruled Kedah is also having similar problems. When they were in power in Putrajaya following the infamous Sheraton Move, their performance was just as dismal. They enjoyed all the perks of office but did nothing of any substance for the people or the nation. PAS president Hadi Awang, for example, was paid thousands of ringgit as a special envoy but did next to nothing to deserve it.
If PAS takes over the federal government, investors will flee and the economy will go into a tailspin. And of course, Malaysia will begin to look more and more like a Taliban-ruled country. PAS has also shown itself disrespectful of the institution of the Malay rulers. It has defied the rulers’ edict on politicians preaching in mosques, defied the Sultan of Selangor on the Bon Odori issue and is now accusing the sultans of being, in effect, manipulated by the DAP. Such an accusation is both insulting and deeply disrespectful.
Clearly, this isn’t a party that champions ‘bangsa, agama dan negara’, as it claims; it is a party that will trample upon everything that makes Malaysia unique, including our system of constitutional monarchy, in order to win power. No surprise then that Malaysians remain wary and distrustful of PAS.
Mahathir likes to pretend that he is a Malay nationalist but really all this grousing is simply about his own deep-seated personal animosity towards Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. As far as Mahathir is concerned, any government – no matter how extremist, incompetent or corrupt – is better than one headed by Anwar.
If Mahathir really cared about the Malays and the country, he should be supporting Anwar’s unity government not fighting it. After all, it is a Malay-majority government and is upholding Islam, the Malay rulers and the special position of the Malays as per the Federal Constitution. It has also taken a clear stand against corruption, something that other Malay-majority governments including his own were lax about, to put it mildly.
If only Mahathir could get over his own personal animus towards Anwar, he might see that the unity government is now the best hope we have for rebuilding Malaysia. Close cooperation between Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional and parties from Sabah and Sarawak (unthinkable until now) offers the possibility of a strong and stable government, one that has the potential to uplift all Malaysians.
By all means hold Anwar’s feet to the fire if he does not perform; behaving like a flag bearer for PAS, however, just looks like the antics of a man who simply can’t get over the fact that his nemesis in now prime minister despite all his efforts to block it. - Dennis Ignatius
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has filed a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and is now seeking compensation totalling RM150 million as well as an apology and retraction of the alleged defamatory remarks. In the lawsuit filed in the High Court in Shah Alam on May 3, Dr Mahathir referred to alleged defamatory remarks by Anwar on March 18 at a special national congress.
Dr Mahathir cited Anwar's speech at the event titled "Kongres Nasional Khas Malaysia Madani: 'Perlaksanaan Sebuah Idealisme'' at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam, which he said was streamed live on Anwar's own Facebook page and PKR's YouTube channel. According to Dr Mahathir, Anwar's remarks were clearly referring to him as he had been prime minister twice (for 22 years and 22 months in his two terms).
Dr Mahathir claimed Anwar had alleged that he purportedly discussed issues concerning Malaysians only after losing power, also listing Anwar's other allegations as purportedly including suggestions that he was racist and encouraging racial division.
In his lawsuit, Dr Mahathir is claiming for RM50 million in general damages and RM100 million in exemplary damages over Anwar's alleged defamatory remarks, as well as a court order for Anwar to immediately retract all of his remarks.
Dr Mahathir is also seeking a court order for Anwar to cause the immediate removal of the sharing by others of Anwar's remarks on social media platforms and in the media. He also wants the court to order Anwar to make a written unconditional and open apology, including an undertaking not to make any statements touching on his reputation and integrity, with both the apology and undertaking to be subject to his satisfaction and agreement. - mm
Vengeful old man who confirms again he'd always hated Anwar, and never intended to honour promise to pass the premiership to him in his last government.- KS
Since the old man sued, it’s time for DSAI to let the cats out of the bag. Some old people just don’t know how to exit gracefully and needed to be put in Sg Buloh - Harimau_arif
The old fox at it again. He is now shaking the tree to weaken the unity government state election. This is the next step to unrooting the unity tree. Alas, as a former statesmen, he should be thinking of 30m Malaysian instead of toppling one Anwar Ibrahim - MKMM
Now PM Anwar need to go all out and expose how this menace and nuisance fellow is able to enrich himself together with his children.Even though we suspected Mahathir's wealth all this while but we do not have any tangible evidences to prove in any court of law. Just words of mouth.Therefore, once PM Anwar produce the proofs in open court, Malaysians and people around the world will be able to see themselves how Mahathir accumulate his wealth during his 22 years tenure by means of cronyism and nepotism.Let the game starts and make no mistake, it will be game over for Mahathir. - Apa nama is back
“Mahathir contended that the defamation suit should serve as a lesson to any leader to never issue statements with malice to smear any individual.” He should follow his own advice then. Back in 1998, he accused Anwar of sexual misconduct even demonstrating it on TV, for crying out loud! His vengeful attitude knows no bounds. Just because Anwar refused to do his bidding (bailing out his son from enormous debts) his wrath and anger surprised the whole country, especially the Malays.So, go on ahead and proceed with the lawsuit and see all your secrets exposed by PMX. In Malay, this is called ‘senjata makan tuan.’ Clearly you deserved to see all your wrongdoing and shenanigans from other people’s perspective. - Moontime
No court is going to award Mahathir damages in the sum of RM150 million just because he asked for it. The quantum of damages is for the judge to determine and not Mahathir or his lawyers. To date the courts are against awarding punitive sums as damages in defamation cases. If Mahathir is lucky he may get at most RM1 million or less. Since Mahathir claims to be a pensioner with no assets in his name, Anwar should seek security for costs in the amount of RM15 million from Mahathir to cover his costs if Mahathir loses the case. The power lies with Anwar and not Mahathir. Who do you think has control over the police, MACC, the IRB and the media? Thanks to Mahathir's 22 years of dictatorship, the concentration of power in the office of the PM of Malaysia even surpasses that of the US President. - Gerad Lourdesamy
It will be an out of court settlement! - Maya
Tapi PAS dah mensucikan segala dosa2 Tun...
cheers.
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