| 1997-09-24 | Dr Mahathir goes gallivanting again. The chief minister of Sarawak has scooted off to Britain
amidst the worst emergency in the state's history. So has two or
three of his state cabinet ministers. The deputy prime
minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, went off to Bangkok, also with
a large retinue of Bolehland's best and the brightest, and is now in
Hong Kong. The latter is a necessary trip since it is a meeting of
the World Bank, but was Dr Mahathir's presence there really
necessary? Besides bringing international odium on the country with
his "bull in a China shop" speech on the currency crisis there, it
brought the ringgit under considerable pressure, destroyed
Malaysia's internal damage-control efficiency by a belief that he
and his deputy do not get along, and with that the inevitable belief
that leadership in Malaysia is nonexistent under him. To prove it,
after being described as the director-general of the national
disaster relief effort, he has decided that that be best handle
that long distance.
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