MGG Pillai Commentary View

<< Previous || Next >>

Tun Mahathir protesteth too much

THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, is an angry man indeed. His successor, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, pulls no stops to ensure he is put to pasture once and for all. He does not want another ghost hovering over his shoulder. One, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is bad enough and, try as he might, cannot shake him off. Dr Mahathir says his undoubted role in Malaysian history is besmirched with unfounded allegations he bankrupted the government with his government, and of cutting Pak Lah down to size.

"It seems that the effort to smear me is continuing," he told the "Mingguan Malaysia", the Sunday edition of the UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia daily. And warned, he would defend himself with vigour. He suggests there is a sustained campaign of suggesting his involvement in the mega projects. "This makes me said. Let me retire. Do not disturb me, or else I will be forced to defend himself. He suggests the foreign media is subborned to make the attacks on him credible.

But the good doctor has forgotten that is the fate of two of his three predecessors, and he was not averse to, as Pak Lah is now, to see the last of them. He was part of the cabal directed by the only prime minister to die in office, Tun Abdul Razak, to denigrate, harass and sideline Malaysia's first prime minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra. The story of that murky episode in Malaysian history has yet to be revealed but when it is, his name will figure prominently in it. This cabal included those who rose to great heights in the three decades since, protected from, the Tengku's wrath by his successor.

So vicious was the campaign against the Tengku, that orders were given that his pension should be seized to pay his outstanding tax bills, and those who worked, and were close to him, were denied any pensions. His last minister of health, Dato' Bahaman Samsuddin, was denied his pension for thirty years on the grounds he could not prove he was born. It was Dr Mahathir who restored it to him.

The Tengku was run down as no Malaysian has. When he became the first secretary-general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, he was treated as a non-person whenever he returned to Kuala Lumpur. In the later years of his retirement, he was an irrelevant digit as Dr Mahathir now finds himself in. His longevity brought him back to the centre stage he once occupied, but he never forgave his tormentors and those who betrayed him, including one member of his personal staff who later rose high in UMNO politics.

His decision to be buried in the family mausoleum in Kedah was deliberately taken: he did not want to lie in state with the other conspirators of his downfall, and the pride of place that had been arranged for him given to his successor, Tun Abdul Razak. He was aware of the details of this because one was sacked, and he quickly went to the Tengku to beg for his forgiveness, and revealed all. A number, not including Dr Mahathir, asked to be forgiven, rose to great heights in politics, and in mea culpa, revealed to the Tengku all they knew.

Civil servants from the Chief Secretary of the day, Tan Sri Samsuddin Abdul Kadir, down were subborned into the conspiracy. The National Operations Council, headed by the then chief of the armed forces, General Tun Ibrahim Ismail, governed in the aftermath of the 13 May racial riots. It had a hidden agenda to turn the Tengku into a non-person. Pak Lah was the secretary to the NOC; who later became director of youth who, with another officer, Dato' Seri Aziz Shamusudin, now in his cabinet, had the unrevealed role to contain the growing political role of a prominent student leader, who is today the cause of UMNO's biggest headache. But then this is the fate of those who challenge the status quo.

Tun Hussein Onn, was likewise flung into the dung heap when Dr Mahathir succeeded him. Yes, he was given sinecures as advisor to Petronas, put in a gilded cage, and treated then as the good doctor complains he is now. The battle lines were drawn when Dr Mahathir, to contain the growing opposition to him in UMNO, had it declared illegal by the courts, formed a new UMNO, removed his political enemies from it, and governed for another 16 years.

Neither the Tengku nor Tun Hussein joined the new UMNO, went instead to oppose it and him with such venom that the bad blood of those days is still recalled by many with a shudder. The makeover of new UMNO with the illegal UMNO, with the spin that the two are interchangeable worked only so long as the two men responsible, Dr Mahathir and Dato' Seri Anwar, worked in tandem. But in time, the two men fell out. Now UMNO is led by a man who had no role in all this, and attacked by Dato' Seri Anwar as vehemently as he once backed it.

His detractors level charges against him that he cannot explain. But they forget they were part of the cabinet that approved it. They are as guilty if he is. All that however disappears in the spin to blot out all they do not want to be reminded of, and look at them as a weapon against those they want to destroy. This has became party of UMNO culture : UMNO's destruction of the Tengku set the pace for future actions against their leaders. Dr Mahathir is but the latest of them. He would not be the last. He at least could say his piece. But the Tengku and Tun Hussein had to suffer in silence.

The Malay political culture, so prevalent in UMNO, is unforgiving of past leaders. Dr Mahathir could have reversed it. He was in power long enough to do that. But he got side-tracked along the way to listen to his cronies who found Dato' Seri Anwar a dangerous man. In that, they were right. He singlehandedly reversed UMNO's fortunes, made its leaders hostage to him, that rigor mortis begins to set in in UMNO. Tun Mahathir's bleatings is but one act of that. But he protesteth too much.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com