Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who dominated headlines in Malaysia for 22 years, finally called it quits. OK, not quite, for he only resigned from Umno but is still waging an all out war against not only Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but also those around him. This childish behaviour of Mahathir is truly reminiscent of June 2002, when he shocked the Umno general assembly by announcing that he was stepping down as president.

The only difference is, Mahathir’s tears were at the time aimed at hanging on to the toy (ie. The PM post) for a little longer, while this time, he is like a child crying over spilled milk, or milk that he did not get.

Is his departure a bombshell on the party, or nothing more than a damp squib? Time will tell. But so far he has only managed to persuade two of his family members to do likewise, as Mukhriz refuses to heed his father’s clarion call.

Perfectly understandable, for Mukhriz knows any drastic action on his part will only allow Khairy Jamaluddin to have the last laugh.

On Ezam Mohd Nor

While Mahathir vows not to return to Umno’s fold so long as Abdullah remains at helm, Ezam Mohd Nor, the erstwhile protégé of Anwar Ibrahim, is now rumoured to rejoin the party that he left in 1998.

ezam submits corruption evidence 290607 sullen Ezam is a man who selflessly championed the cause of his persecuted mentor, only to end up in detention under the notorious Internal Security Act in 2001. It is true that Abdullah was the home minister then, but it was the calculative and insidious Mahathir who decided that some key “instigators” behind the frequent street protests be nabbed.

Now that the thorn in Umno’s flesh is out, it may be a right time for Ezam to reconcile with the party that he once fought against. Or perhaps there has long been a tacit understanding between Abdullah and him to make this happen.

In June last year, Ezam, as chairperson of the Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak), handed a memorandum to the prime minister demanding an investigation into allegations of criminal breach of trust and misappropriation involving a “senior cabinet minister”.

No action has been taken so far, and Ezam, for some reasons only known to Abdullah and himself, has ceased pursuing the case.

Last month, Ezam echoed the calls for a probe into Mahathir’s alleged interference in the governance system, and blamed the former prime minister for the rot in our judiciary.

So, will Ezam be assuming some significant role if such process is initiated by the government?

By the standards of a mature democracy, winning 140 seats out of 222 in Parliament is already quite an achievement. But in Malaysia, the Barisan Nasional has been so addicted to and obsessed with 2/3 majority that it finds itself near-suicidal now that the magic spell is broken.

Abdullah is in crisis, and he badly needs someone with a clean image and integrity (by BN standards) to prop him up. With Hishammuddin Hussein Onn salivating at a higher post and Murkriz eyeing the Umno Youth leadership, would Ezam make an ideal running mate to Khairy come December?

Would Ezam land more blows to Mahathir to do Malaysians a favour, who were once engulfed in immense fear thanks to the high-handedness of the most (in)famous doctor in the country?

A Mahathir admirer

Whatever it is, the longer the ex- and existing Umno leaders are caught in this maelstrom, the better the prospects are for Pakatan Rakyat to wrest power from the BN, unless if one is on Mahathir’s payroll or serving his agenda, such as Jeff Ooi of the DAP.

forum free nat scah 200707 jeff ooi I am not kidding, for Ooi has made clear his admiration for the most authoritarian prime minister in Malaysian history!

Now, Ooi has also joined the chorus to call on Abdullah to come up with a retirement plan !

Has it never crossed Ooi’s mind that Abdullah’s untimely departure will only bring about a government led by Mahathir’s cohorts?

Ooi may think Mahathir has fired the imagination of Malaysians to excel, but I am certainly not one of them.

Moreover, no Malay leader in recent decades has trampled the dignity and self-esteemed of the Malays as terribly as Mahathir has done, who is single-handedly responsible for the growing poverty gap within the Malay community also.

Hence, I would rather Pakatan take over the country sooner.

No doubt, all the talks about mass crossovers by Sabah MPs beg the question as to whether such lobbying is ethical.

My position is simple, and pragmatic. In a fully-fledged democracy blessed with a free press, clean and fair elections, proper checks and balances in Parliament, equitable laws and a strong civil society, one would have ample time for an academic debate on politics and morality. But sadly, Malaysia is devoid of such luxury.

We may congratulate ourselves on the extraordinary performance of the opposition parties in the March 8 election, but it is pretty much what it really is: extraordinary, and not indicative of greater democratization in the country.

Post-election, all the evil pieces of legislation to muzzle the people and the press remain intact, while the BN still has the gigantic state machinery at its disposal.

Many court cases against a number of opposition MPs and state assemblypersons are pending, with new lawsuits being studied to weaken Pakatan. No doubt, most zealous are those who see their future in government at stake.

For all my disagreements with Umno, I am perfectly fine with Abdullah staying as prime minister. Perhaps he can use his remaining tenure to introduce serious reforms in the judiciary, education and public administration before he retires.

Even when the curtain falls on Abdullah’s long career as Umno leader, he may still want to put up a good fight. No one wants to be remembered as a prime minister who handed five states to the opposition. Provided, of course, Abdullah genuinely cares about his legacy.

Those waiting in line

But Abdullah’s position within the party is becoming more and more untenable and precarious by the days. Worse, none of his likely successors offers anything new to the country. Quite the contrary, they all represent the past, not future.

As Umno Youth leader, Najib once vowed to bathe the keris in Chinese blood. Now as deputy prime minister, he is implicated in dodgy defence deals and the death of a Mongolian woman.

Lately, he seemed unmoved by the 16 deaths in national service camps over the last few years, heartlessly remarking that they only amounted to, what? 0.04% of 340,000 NS trainees!

Like Joseph Stalin, Najib sees one death as a tragedy, but many deaths as statistics.

Are we sure a man of such character deserves to be our leader?

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah? Has he said anything remarkable, visionary, and memorable? And will his past come back to haunt him?

umno selangor najib muhyiddin event anti pak lah banners 160408 04 What about Muhyiddin Yassin? Has this opportunist inspired you in any way?

The standard of Malaysian education may be appalling, but we are certainly not dumb.

Don’t tell me after five decades of BN rule, you still find the old rhetoric of Malay supremacy attractive.

Don’t tell me after 22 years of racist politics practised by Mahathir, you still think Anwar’s vision for new politics and his calls for the abolition of the much-abused NEP nothing but gimmickry.

Don’t tell me after all the scandals and squandering of the nation’s wealth by BN leaders, Sivarasa Rasiah, Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, Tian Chua, Fuziah Salleh, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Wee Choo Keong, Lee Boon Chye, Kamaruddin Jaafar, Salahuddin Ayub, Nasharudin Mat Isa, Dzulkefly Ahmad, Mohd Hatta Ramli, Professor Ramasamy, Liew Chin Tong, Lim Kit Siang, Tony Pua, Charles Anthony Santiago and Dr Lo Lo Mohd Ghazali will not make better policymakers than those in the cabinet.

But I am sure Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be a better prime minister than Abdullah, for she does not sleep on her job!

List for Pakatan to do

I have said I am a pragmatist, and do not just blindly digest whatever others have to promise. Before PAkatan sets its eye on forming the next federal government, there is some serious and earnest public relations (PR) exercise to be done, which must include the following:

1. Introduce a comprehensive manifesto listing out the policies that Pakatan pledges to implement, such as minimum wage, free education, judicial and police reform, human rights, distributive justice etc., and juxtapose it with what the BN government has been doing;

2. Make transparent the entire lobbying of BN lawmakers, including all the new deals with Sabah and Sarawak;

3. Ensure that no money changed hands and be proactive in countering such allegation by the BN or other parties;

4. Sort out the differences within Pakatan, especially the Islamic state issue and the role of the Malay rulers;

5. Demonstrate greater coherence among Pakatan leaders and lawmakers, and rein in loose cannons such as Karpal Singh, Lim Lip Eng and Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat;

6. Form a shadow cabinet and start identifying suitable candidates for various posts to facilitate quality parliamentary performance on the part of the opposition;

7. Produce convincing results in the Pakatan-ruled states.

The list, of course, is not exhaustive. Should it be done, I cannot see why it would be “unethical” for some MPs to jump the BN ship and change the political equation.

If Anwar and his allies want the top job, they must prove to us that they deserve and are serious about it.

That way, they can move beyond addressing the issue of morality, which can be taxing and futile given the current state of politics in the country.

Otherwise, we may just sit back and watch Umno politics get dirtier, while more innocent young lives are sacrificed in the name of “national service”.