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The Mahafiraun's Last Hurrah

THE MERDEKA DAY 2003 PARADE IN PUTRA Jaya was not, as it turned out, to mark Malaya's 46th or Malaysia's 40th anniversay, but a 'proper and fitting" sendoff for Malaysia's long-serving Prime Minister. He retires, against his will, in October. There are misguided souls out there who believe that Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed at 78 is far better leader for Malaysia than Dato' Seri Abdullah Badawi at 64. And a move is afoot, if cocktail party talk is believed, for a Malaysia-wide appeal to the Conference of Rulers to ask him to stay on - and this is where one begins to disbelieve - for "a few more months, or at least until the general elections". There are still people, especially who benefited most under his 23-year-old rule and face bankruptcy and worse when he goes. And well-meaning people who cannot countenance life without him at the top. He has been such a great leader, a man who made Malaysians stand tall, that without him we would all be orphans, is their refrain.

It is myth making at its best. If he does harbour this hope, he should disabuse it without further ado. He decided to quit, how and why he did it or that he had an amnesia attack at that crucial moment is beside the point. I have always argued that he stayed on eight years too long. He should have stepped down in late 1997. He would have been spared the political mess that he stepped into when he defied Malay mores and tradition to sack his chosen heir apparent, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. His troubles began from that date. And if he had a legacy to leave behind, it was destroyed in the political maelstrom that arrogant act did. Every move he made since was to divert attention from that and reinvent himself as a Malaysian leader of old, but without the Anwar albatross around his neck. He cannot, until his last days. There are no ifs and buts to it.

But his bravura confidence is tinged with what could happen after he leaves. When he should have stepped back and let his latest chosen successor - Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - fill in gradually into his over-large shoes, he refuses to let go, and insist in every action that he is in charge until he retires. One can understand why Pak Lah is nervous. And why the rumour mill works overtime to insist Dr Mahathir would not resign. But step down he would. He understands that better than most. What he fears is that when he leaves, all hell breaks loose - in UMNO, BN and the country at large. He has much to answser for that. He devalued every facet of government and public life, kept institutions hostage to his needs and desires, and in this none was spared. The UMNO he recreated in his image after the High Court banned it in 1988 is not one that would fit seemlessly under his successor.

He overcame that with his penchant, the longer he remained in office, for massive public works, crowing it with the creation of a new Malay-run capital called Putra Jaya in what was the Prang Besar area of Selangor. There was an estate of that name where Putra Jaya now stands. One third of Putra Jaya is built, in stealth and without any accounting to Parliament or the public by Petronas, the Malaysian oil corporation, and that has cost at least RM20 billion. The building of the other two thirds would continue, he hopes, under his successors. But in his vision, he ignored how much his visionary and futuristic Malay capital would cost. Petronas is involved in it up to its teeth, and its senior officials admit it is hard put to find the RM2 billion annually to maintain and repair it. And if it costs Petronas RM2 billion to maintain and repair, what rent does the government pay for the grand but unfunctional capital it occupies?

He interferes in its contruction. He wanted the main boulevard, which is said to be modelled after Champs Elysee but it reminds me more of the Raj Path in New Delhi, ready for this year's Merdeka Parade. Petronas did not flinch from its duty. It did all the man wanted, but did not give it time to settle. The result: the elaborate granite and marble work in the centre of the boulevard, on which tanks and other heavy military equipment thundered through in the marchpast to break up the hastily done handiwork. I was there on the night of 01 September, and was shocked at the waste and damage all along the 4km boulevard. It cannot be repaired, it must be relaid. Whatever the celebrations cost, one must add perhaps RM50 million more so the boulevard is restored to it was before the tanks and heavy weapons was driven through it. Clearly the practical use of the boulevard as a marchpast ground was not considered when it was built and rushed through. If it is going to be here every year, the cost to keep it in shape would multiply.

That is not all. At one end of the boulevard is the new convention centre, where the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) would meet in October. The section of the boulevard leading to is under construction. The Prime Minister has ordered it must be ready in two months. When I visited it that night it was still in its initial stages. Work would no doubt start around the clock without further ado, with the sasme shoddy result. Dr Mahathir does not realise that Rome was not built in a day. That it takes time to build it to a standard that centuries later the people would marvel at it. But that is not for him. He wants everything done yesterday. And he brooked no second guessing or questioning on what it cost. The prime ministerial residence cost more than RM200 million, but he justifies it by insisting that it would be cheap in four centuries. But it is so shoddily built that one wonders if it could last four decades.

His pharoanic vision of turning the wilderness into a city is. to put it mildly, not after careful thought. It has bankrupted the nation. I would be attacked for this statement. But it is a fact the Treasury is broke, the government does not pay its bills on time, and yet continues to tell the world that money is there for all the new grand projects Malaysia has planned for. When he declared open the 11 km long monorail in Kuala Lumpur - and that cost RM100 million a kilometre - he had not lost his jauntiness: it is the bullet train next. No wonder his detractors call him the Mahafiraun or the Great Pharoah. He hates the appellation. As his end in office nears, more of such hidden and secret grandoise plans come to light. And it fits him to a T. What he presided over on 31 August 2003 is indeed his Last Hurrah. And after goes, one should not be surprised if Prang Besar (Great War) breaks out from within.

[This is my column in the latest fortnightly issue of Seruan Keadilan, the organ of the Parti KeADILan Nasional, and out today, 08 September 2003]

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my