MGG Pillai Commentary View

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A crisis! A crisis! A kingdom for a crisis!

THE PRIME MINISTER, DATO' SERI MAHATHIR Mohamed, thrives on crises. His 22 years in office attests to that. When there is none, he manufactures one. He is not comfortable when he is left naked as now when every crisis that surfaces redounds on him. It does not matter what. He is due to retire in less than six weeks, but he does not let go. His successor, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, should take centre stage now but he remains in the shadows. Make no mistake: Dr Mahathir is in charge. But he does not sleep well. As with his three past deputy prime ministers, he does not believe in his heart that Pak Lah should succeed him. It is too late for that. Pak Lah takes office in November but Dr Mahathir wants to make that a poisoned chalice.

Here is where the good doctor is caught. The National Front (BN) and UMNO he leads are fractured into irreparable and irreconciliable divisions and interest groups, each tilting lances at the other or at the leadership, but are papered over forcefully in self-interest and power. It would not take much to break it asunder. He must take much blame for this. He wanted a leadership that worked with him, and used his muscle to sweep the problems of the coalition parties under the carpet. Now that he is about to leave, the parties threaten to implode from within. The principle of divide and rule cannot last into a new regimen.

The traditional Malay belief in the feudal leaders is under attack in UMNO, ironically an extension of Dr Mahathir's failed vision of a Malay lifted out of his feudal millieu into the 21st century. He must, but cannot, bring that feudal loyalty back. So he looks at any issue that could give him temporary peace. He needs it. The BN and UMNO does not control events now. All they have are the brute force of power and government. When he wanted early election for the Sabah state assembly, ahead of the other state assemblies and Parliment, he found Sabah BN and UMNO so hopelessly divided, with a Sabah for Sabahans movement splitting it further, with the probable danger of defeat. If that is not enough, PAS insists it would dissolve the Kelantan and Trengganu assemblies when Sabah is.

So to be seen to be in charge, he must divert attention. He got that in a request from the American weekly, Business Week, for an interview for an article on his legacy. The New Straits Times reports today (11 September 2003) on its front page how Business Week threatened to write adverse articles about Dr Mahathir. (At his press conference, he kept insisting it was not Business Week but Newsweek.) The letter its Singapore correspondent, Mr Michael Shari, wrote is not released, only Dr Mahathir's skewed reading of it. It reports as fact Dr Mahathir's reading of it: that it would publish adverse articles about him, Malaysia and BN. Mr Shari wanted his response to, horror or horrors, cronyism and corruption in Malaysia, and if he did not respond to the request for an interview within 48 hours, the article would be published nevertheless. Dr Mahathir took it to be threatening and rude, and "reflected the attitude of the Western press which continued to dictate to and slander leaders according to their whims and fancies".

I do not condone or condemn Mr Shari's actions, but Dr Mahathir's response shows not that the Western media has nothing but ill intent towards the rest of the world but that he does not understand how the global media works, and what a free press means. He believes Malaysia has a free press and the rest of the world does not. But he ignores the Malaysian press is as servile and protective when it comes to praising him and condemning his opponents in Malaysia. When did the Malaysian press ever write well or even with understanding of the Opposition in Malaysia? The Information Ministry, which manages the official radio and television programmes, is run by party hacks who believe it their bounden duty to harrass and otherwise make life difficult for critics of the regime. We know how much editorial freedom there is not when cabinet ministers warn editors to behave or the government would impose limits to what press freedom they have. And when those with an alternative view would not be allowed to publish newspapers: The government allows only one view to take centre stage, and that is its own.

Dr Mahathir once enjoyed his reputation as a maverick criticising the West in the harshest of terms. But as his governance of Malaysia palled. He made numerous political mistakes. His penchant for expensive public works projects that ensured only Malaysia's eventual transition into bankruptcy, And the world tired of him. He wanted only to be interviewed by those who would fawn on him. He would get that from the Malaysian media, but he regarded them with contempt. He spoke only to those foreign correspondents who would write well of him and his policies. And he shut out all who would not be read by the decision makers in Western countries. He would talk to the Times of London but not to the Daily Mirror.

His aim was not to expound his views but to enhance his statesmanlike qualities. The Business Week is not the Daily Mirror. It is read by the commercial and economic decision makers and looks at issues from that viewpoint. Another development familiar to him has happened to the world, including Western, media: they are often a digit in business conglomerates or political viewpoints of their owners as firmly as Malaysia's mainstream media are. Its correspondents write their articles to a point of view dictated not by whom they interview or report on but of the political and editorial philosophy of their ultimate owners. The notion of a free press as it is articulated in the West and, indeed, in Malaysia makes that clear. Dr Mahathir understands that only too well.

He believes that the free press exists only to report his belief in his own governance. He does not have that privilege. Even if the local media did not report as it should. Once he revelled in the importance the world's media gave to him. That is no more. Today, he has much to hide from local and foreign criticism. When once a correspondent could telephone his request for a interview to Dr Mahathir's press secretary, today he must write in and, often, not expect a reply. It is almost certain that Mr Shari knows he would not get his interview from Dr Mahathir's outburst yesterday. There is no right for any one to expect an interview from a country's head of state or government. It is a privilege granted to a few and on specific occasions. The White House would not entertain a request for an interview with President Bush from a Malaysian newspaper even if it were to coincide with an official visit of the Malaysian prime minister. So why should a Western correspondent expect it when his head of state comes avisiting?

When a leader submits to the rules of the game, as Dr Mahathir has, he cannot then say, when he is spurned, the rules are unfair. He knew it all along it was unfair, but he went along. He cannot now opt out. He did himself a disservice by his outburst. People will now wonder why. But he thought it could divert attention from his political difficulties in Sabah and elsewhere. He thought he could benefit from painting the Western press in the darkest of colours. Few would believe him. He is upset and angry because the Western press would not now dance to his tune. He should have quietly ignored it and dismiss it with the famous words of the Duke of Wellington when a newspaper to reveal some secret he did not want revealed: Publish and be damned. But he cannot: Business Week would publish and he would be damned. More copies of the magazine would be sold in Malaysia of the issue that carries its assessment of Dr Mahathir's 22 years in office than it ever has. He must manufacture another issue to beat the people of Malaysia with.

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