YOURSAY | ‘If a racist idealogy was feasible in Malaysia, you would have succeeded a long time ago.’

Dr Mahathir joins Putra

FairMind: In one breath, you, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said it is only through uniting the Malays that we can band together to solve problems and issues for the sake of religion and country.

In another breath, you exit Pejuang to join yet another party, Putra, to split the Malays further.

It is what we Malaysians say cakap tak serupa bikin (not walking the talk). If a racist idealogy was feasible in a multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia, you would have succeeded a long time ago.

What we have in Malaysia today through your leadership for 24 years as PM is a disunited and uncompetitive Malaysia well known for flip flops, racist policies, an inefficient bloated civil service, and endemic corruption.

You have been given a long life to see for yourself the damage you have done to Malaysia. Yet you are still in a state of denial and remain like the proverbial ostrich burying its head in the sand.

Mazilamani: To begin with, I do not think the Malays are having a challenging time, though they may be linked or loyal to several Malay political parties.

The Malay community is beginning to spread very thin among the existing and growing number of Malay parties formed every year.

Why do we need to shred or split the Malays across so many parties?

In time to come, the non-Malay parties may grow bigger than the individual Malay parties. Then don’t accuse the non-Malay parties of growing more united or formidable.

In his living time, Mahathir has transitioned through Umno, Bersatu, Pejuang, and now Putra.

Putra’s fate will be no different than Pejuang's in the last general election and the outcome may be the same in the coming state elections. Then what?

Just A Malaysian: Mahathir left a political model for Malaysia that will cripple us for generations to come.

It is a model based on non-competitive crony capitalism. A government-controlled private enterprise. A society based on divisive racism. Political power is based on and built by money, thereby spawning corruption.

Unlike Mahathir, Singapore’s late PM Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy is a clean, performance-driven meritocratic and pragmatic society.

Mahathir put all kinds of toxicity into the minds of Malaysians, making us all carry historical baggage as Chinese or Indians. And yet he still feels there is more work to be done.

Kilimanjaro: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim knew the mantra. He had always known that money meant for poor Malays had been hijacked by some elites and those in power.

Mahathir unashamedly stated he could not change the mindset of Malays. That was and maybe is what he thought was the Malay problem.

The problem was he wanted some rich Malays and hoped that they would uplift the poorer Malays. That was mostly a failure.

His methods have failed and he is still talking about reinforcing the Malays. He has failed and will continue to fail simply because he does not have in him the knack, will, and sincerity.

Every Malay leader is talking about uplifting the Malays but most of them are greedy and insincere. I believe only Anwar may be able to achieve where all the others, including Mahathir, have failed.

Undecided: There Mahathir goes again. Trying his best to hoodwink the Malay-Muslim community with the same mantra of political power.

This mantra resulted in widespread abuse of privileges given to bumiputras by some top Malay leaders and their cronies in the past 40 years after Mahathir became PM in the 1980s.

The abuse led to widespread corruption. Uniting just the Malay-Muslims can never be as dignified and beneficial to the country as uniting all Malaysians to stop the brain drain that continues to sap the inherent strength of its multiracial roots.

The Pakatan Harapan-led federal government is trying its best to stabilise the fragile financial position of the country with reforms and new ideas to promote unity by using the talents of all its citizens unlike the Perikatan Nasional government previously.

It is unfortunate there are still many bigoted racist leaders like yourself who refuse to join in this important mission.

Multi Racial: He was voted out decisively because Malaysians no longer want his type of racist politics.

If he doesn’t get it, it shows he is either in denial or he is not worthy as a leader as he doesn’t accept this strong message from Malaysians.

For him to join Putra is a testimony to how pathetic and desperate he is now. He did many mistakes when he was PM, yet in 2018, Malaysians voted Harapan in and that provided him with a second chance to correct all his mistakes.

Instead of doing that, he embarked on a journey to bring down the Harapan government, which Malaysians voted for.

As a result of that, Malaysia and Malaysians have to pay a great price for it due to corrupted leaders that continue to ransack our nation’s coffers.

We hope Anwar will stay long enough to correct the situation. To Dr M, just retire and fade away. We don’t want you anymore.

Kancil: It’s strange and sad to see the former PM and the man who saw the nation spiralling down with corruption in civil service, with tainted politicians who continue to enjoy patronage and power.

He still wants to dig deeper to bury the nation in the name of race and religion. He ought to think about where he went wrong and seek remedies, offering an alternative to young Malays to build a cohesive multi-racial country that can provide higher income and quality of life for everyone.

He can’t stoop any lower than this to go down in history as a person who abused the gentle and compassionate nature of Malays using the Chinese as bogeymen for his own paranoid thoughts.

CleverVoter: Sad ending for a man who uses race struggle to serve the agenda of a few. History cannot forgive this man who has failed to deliver the promises he made to all, not once but twice.

The nation’s concerning situation today is a consequence of this man’s beliefs and actions. He built himself a society opposite of what he claimed.

An unjust society, a racist environment, and worst, a nation that allows the culture of corrupt patronage to plunder the wealth that could have built a much better society. Joining Putra will further reinforce his outdated belief, it is irrelevant.

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