Friday Jottings: An unwitting tribute to a legacy

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad turned 99 a couple of days ago. His being just one year short of becoming a centenarian is a feat in itself.

It is not just about the longevity but the way Dr Mahathir had lived and continue to live is the measure of the feat, unprecedented and unlikely to be emulated, not only by Malaysians but by others in the four corners of the globe.

Indeed, there had been health scares but that is only expected of someone of such an advanced age and a heart patient to boot. And age has also caught up with him with signs of aging showing.

Otherwise, he had retained much of his youthful looks, still erudite and articulate with much of his wit, accompanied by his wicked sense of humour and sarcasm, intact.

What is probably the most impressive of his traits is his discipline and dedication to work.

These traits, if emulated by others, politicians and civilians alike, would take them very far in their lives. Of course, his other traits such as courage, intelligence and persistence are required as well, if they want to be as successful.

Unfortunately, his political opponents refuse to acknowledge it and work overtime to mock and ridicule him, trying to paint him as evil and dictatorial and when all else fails, calling him senile and irrelevant.

Ironically, if Dr Mahathir is senile and irrelevant as they accused, it is these very opponents who are stating it otherwise, with their daily attempts to debunk and expose his misdeeds.

On numerous occasions, whenever cornered over misdeeds and bad decisions, his opponents had to “use” Dr Mahathir as the term of reference albeit negatively.

Take the issue of the rabidly pro-Israel BlackRock Inc. taking up substantial shares in the Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when cornered over the decision to allow the transaction retorted that BlackRock had existed in the Malaysian financial sector for some time that they held equity in 100 Malaysian companies and that Dr Mahathir, during a meeting with investors in London in 2018 and among them were BlackRock representatives.

For Anwar, it seems that to defend his position, he must bring Dr Mahathir into the equation despite arrogantly publicly promising a year ago that he would make Dr Mahathir irrelevant.

Unluckily for Anwar, despite using Dr Mahathir as a comparison to shore up his credentials, the public could see through him.

It was pointed out by Anwar’s detractors quite succinctly that BlackRock’s presence was via the open market and that their holdings in most of the Malaysian companies are a meagre one percent equity.

Apart from the fact that BlackRock took up shares in the open market and that the MAHB deal is offered by the Malaysian Government, the most fundamental regarding the issue is the current ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

The fact that the Israel war machine is fuelled by weapons supplied by companies which BlackRock controls and that the BlackRock head honcho had publicly declared his support of the Israel genocide is of the essence.

Enter Anwar’s backer who wanted to prove that Dr Mahathir was complicit with Israeli entities by pointing out the legendary Dawn Raid of the London Stock Exchange which saw the return of Guthrie into Malaysian hand as being assisted by a Rothschild financial team.

If the backer intended to demonise Dr Mahathir, it only reminded the rest of the Malaysian public of how capable, nationalistic and intelligent Dr Mahathir was when he was helming Malaysia.

Before that, for years Anwar’s supporters had been claiming that Dr Mahathir was not the architect of the Dawn Raid and that it was the late Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was the one.

While Dr Mahathir never claimed that he was the only one behind the raid, it cannot be denied that the move only occurred under his leadership.

But the attempt by Anwar’s backer to link Dr Mahathir to Rothschild and that it was all his doing only contradicted their previous claims that Dr Mahathir was not key in the Dawn Raid.

Of essence too is that while Dr Mahathir used a Jewish connection to regain Malaysian assets, Anwar had chosen to depart with a strategic and profitable Malaysian company’s share to a company that supported Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and that the deal is done at the very time when the genocide is being committed.

Some may have missed it but when Anwar was asked in Parliament recently whether the Government’s decision on targeted diesel subsidy and the increase in diesel prices by more than 50 percent was a prescription from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) he went all over the place in making his reply.

First, he claimed that it was when he was Finance Minister in the 1990s that he ended all loans from the IMF and World Bank while it was Dr Mahathir who chose to take up loans from the World Bank.

He was not replying to the question which was premised on a debate Anwar had in 2008 with then Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek. Leading the Opposition then, Anwar had accused the then Government of adopting the IMF prescription in deciding to withdraw subsidy and increase the fuel price by some 40 percent.

If Anwar had accused the Tun Abdullah Badawi administration of adopting the IMF prescription when it withdrew subsidy of fuel in 2008, should he have explained that subject instead of going all over the place?

More to that, by drawing Dr Mahathir into the issue, he only reminded the public that under Dr Mahathir’s watch, the price of fuel was kept at a reasonable rate, inflation was controlled, and the nation enjoyed double-digit growth despite the subsidy.

That meant, Dr Mahathir had not adopted the IMF prescriptions which were only keen to ensure the capitalists’ and investors’ interests were at the expense of the general populace.

But obviously, to Anwar, his exit strategy when cornered is to demonise Dr Mahathir. It is no different with his self-proclaimed commitment to combat corruption. Every time he speaks about it, without fail he would allude to Dr Mahathir of enriching his children and cronies.

Even this has become stale. Dr Mahathir had sued him since a year ago for making such accusations and urged him to furnish proof. After all, he had been making the accusations since he was sacked in 1998, more than a quarter of a century to prepare his case against Dr Mahathir.

To that, the boxes of proof he and his ilk claimed to have had not been submitted to the courts no matter how many times Dr Mahathir had challenged him to do so.

A supporter of his reminded the nation that Anwar was declared the best Asian Finance Minister in the 1990s.

To this, his detractors asked aloud who had made such a declaration and how could Anwar be given such recognition judging by his present performance. Well, he was probably one in the 1990s but obviously not anymore.

And he was because Dr Mahathir was the PM then.


  • Shamsul Akmar is an editor at The Malaysian Reserve.