Tun M - Mixed Feelings
Written on 3/31/2008 10:32:00 am by sikapitan
Since GE 12, Tun has been more than willing to share his views on many things, especially the present situation in UMNO. His long-standing disapproval of Pak Lah was partially vindicated by the stunning lost for Barisan. Recently, he was even more forthright in interviews and forums.
It was reported in the Star today that Mahathir was very candid (and a bit non-pc for my taste…but that’s Tun) of his views on Anwar. Below are excerpts taken from the Star:
“Everybody loves him. He is a convincing orator. He talked bad about me to foreigners. He told them I put him in jail,” he said.
On talks that Anwar stood a chance to be the next prime minister, he said he would make a “good prime minister of
Sounds a bit like a bitter old man I would say (regardless of the fact that I think his answers were absolutely funny…in a ha-ha kind of way) although it does raise an interesting point. Is DSAI really a leader for all or does his sway where the wind blows? At least with Tun, you pretty much know his stand on a lot of things (especially with regards to the
But Tun has also exhibited some inconsistency recently, and it is this apparent “forgetfulness” of his deeds during his premiership that has been holding up people from taking his words seriously. Despite valid arguments, it’s pretty hard to accept a lot of his ideas and thoughts because people already have a negative perception of Tun.
Below are selected excerpts from his article which was published in the Sun. It was clear, straight to the point and pretty much valid. But at the end, some will get the impression that it’s a bit like Michael Jackson telling Will Smith how to be black.
Dr. M speaks up on Rulers and Politicians by
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
…Terengganu is blessed with petroleum deposits. It should get 5% of the total earning from oil production. The Federal Government; fearing the previous PAS government might use this money wrongly had withheld payment. But when the Barisan Nasional (BN) regained Terengganu the money, now called "Wang Ehsan", was lavishly spent by the Federal Government on Terengganu. It is not a small sum. Over these years "Wang Ehsan" totalled several billion.
(Note: Terengganu has been a part of Barisan since 1974 until 1999. Previously, it was with Perikatan. Terengganu was under Tun’s control, as PM, for 18 years. Terengganu has been in the top five of POOREST State in
We know that since the BN regained Terengganu in 2004, all kinds of projects have been developed in Terengganu. This includes The Monsoon Cup, luxury housing for sale to foreigners, Crystal Mosque and theme park, university, etc. Some of these projects are very good but many are totally unnecessary and wasteful.
But what the Terengganu people are saying is that all these mega projects costing billions of Ringgit have been contracted out to people outside Terengganu. Terengganu contractors got practically nothing.
But additionally, they say the contracts all went to one person and they are suspicious that behind this person are members of the first family. The rumours also say that the previous Mentri Besar was responsible for these things happening and of course, they think that he might have benefited financially.
The rumours went on to say that the Prime Minister might have influenced the Mentri Besar into doing wrong things. These are all rumours. It will be quite impossible to prove anything as the perpetrators are skilled in hiding themselves.
This is not good for a Government keen to abolish corruption and be transparent. To clear its name, an investigation should be made.
But the public is leery of investigations by Government agencies and departments. Even Royal Commissions are not highly regarded. The people believe, not true of course, that the Government has been interfering with the work of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), the Police and the Attorney General (A-G)'s Chambers. The say this is borne out by the results of investigations by these agencies.
When a Deputy Minister was accused of accepting money for the release of a detainee, the A-G said there was no case because the detainee said he did not give any money to the Deputy Minister. It is so easy. If you have a case involving someone, all the enforcement agencies need to do is to ask him whether he was involved. If he says "no", then there is no case.
For some reason, judges are finding that people accused of murder are not guilty because of insufficient evidence by the police. Yet people who are totally not involved in a case, who were not accused of any misdeeds and who did not appear in court at all and been given a hearing are found guilty and publicly condemned.
(Note: Tun Mahathir was Prime Minister when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy and corruption in a case many legal observers felt was not properly conducted. The conviction for sodomy was later quashed by the Federal Court in 2004.)
The public cannot be blamed for not having faith in Government agencies doing investigations. The public cannot be blamed for suspecting cover-ups by the Government or worse still the Government may be using these enforcement agencies to threaten people. To clear its good name, the Government should get credible foreign agencies to do the investigation. Of course, they must be given full access to the documents etc.
Now my detractors are going to say I did worse things when I was Prime Minister. Well, if that is so, let us have the foreign agencies investigate me also. I am aware that people are looking into possible misdeeds by me during my 22 years so as to threaten me and ask me to shut up. So far they have not found anything.
Not only have I not taken anything that was not due to me while I was Prime Minister but I have given back to the Government and the people everything that I had received as gifts during my tenure of office. The Government had offered me land in Kedah and Langkawi and I had refused to accept. I have a 5-acre plot in Putrajaya which I paid for even though the Government was offering it to me free.
Unless there is a frame-up, I think there should be nothing to pin on me. Even other accusations against me, including the dismissal of judges, were not my doing and I do not feel obliged to apologise. Ask the Tribunal to apologise.
The person asking that the Government should apologise for what happened to Tun Salleh Abbas may have forgotten that as President of the Muslim Lawyers Association, he fully supported the action that was taken. He castigated the Bar Council for condemning Tun Hamid Omar over the dismissal of judges. Now he wants to be more correct than correct. I wonder why.
The Sun, 29th March 2008
He was a great many things to many people. He is a leader, an inspiration, an icon, a giant among giants. He is a dictator, a nightmare, an embarrassment, a small man trying to do big things.
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