Book Review: A Battling Former Prime Minister's Story

Written by Sholto Byrnes

Friday, 25 March 2011

A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. MPH Group Publishing. RM100. Available at local bookstores. Just over a year ago, I went to Mohamad Mahathir's office on the 86th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers to interview the former Malaysian prime minister about Barry Wain's recently published biography of him. It was a frustrating business. I suggested we begin by talking about "the book." He claimed not to know which one I was talking about – even though the media in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur had been full of it for weeks, not least because at that point the Malaysian authorities were not letting it into the country. So I held up a copy of Malaysian Maverick. "Ah," said Dr M. "Barry Wain. All the bad things I did throughout my 22 years. Nothing good at all." He smiled. "If that is his impression of me, he is welcome to it." I had hoped for some feisty rebuttals of the charges Wain laid against him. This is a man, after all, well known for his pungent put-downs. Indeed, to his admirers (and with qualifications, I am one) his outspokenness is one of his most attractive qualities. But when it came to the key queries, which will be familiar to anyone who has considered his years in office (1981-2003) – the growth of corruption, the emasculation of the judiciary, the retreat of secularism, the silencing and imprisonment of critics – he was fluent, but ultimately evasive. Those hoping to find satisfactory answers in Mahathir's long-gestated 800 page memoir, "A Doctor in the House," will be similarly disappointed. For one of the amusing aspects of this book (although those who have suffered some of the good doctor's harsher ministrations may not find it so), is that when it comes to the main incidents his critics have always latched on to, it seems that Dr M wasn't there. When 106 people were arrested during 1987's Operation Lalang, he tells us, "I was flabbergasted... I thought only a few ringleaders would be taken in... But I could not countermand police orders." Mahathir admits that his finance minister, Daim, "was repeatedly accused of lining his pockets and taking kickbacks from contracts." But what could he do? "People came to see me to complain about him, and when I demanded evidence, they could produce none." As for the dismissal of Tun Salleh Abbas as Lord President of the Supreme Court the following year: it had nothing to do with his criticisms of the government or his lack of pliability. "It was the Agong who instructed me to remove Tun Salleh," writes Mahathir, explaining that the then king felt insulted because Salleh had written to him complaining about noisy building renovations. Dr M realizes that some readers will be "incredulous" that he "was prepared to dismiss the Lord President simply at the Agong's behest and on his personal demand... But that is the truth as to what happened." He rues the fact that he has been "branded a legal vandal" as a result. However, "many see only what they wish to see.... for me that is simply human nature and it has to be accepted." In 1998, Dr M says he was "apprehensive" when the police told him they were going to arrest Anwar Ibrahim – with good reason, since his former deputy then appeared in court with a black eye. "I advised the IGP not to use violence or to handcuff Anwar," he writes, "...it angered people when I suggested that his injury may have been self-inflicted, but I honestly did not think that the police would beat him up, particularly after I had personally instructed the IGP to be careful." He expresses irritation at the way Anwar's trial was conducted, meaning his former protege was "able to score several points and leave many Malaysians convinced that he was the victim of a political conspiracy." But, continues Mahathir, "how anyone could believe this, I really could not understand. To conspire against Anwar in this way I would have had to take the police, the Attorney-General and his prosecutors, their witnesses, the judge, the forensic laboratory experts and many others into my confidence." The problem for Mahathir is that there are many who believe that he was perfectly capable of doing that; or at least, if he did not issue orders personally, that he presided over an administration in which people knew what outcomes he desired and made sure that nothing got in the way. He almost concedes this possibility at one point: "Like it or not, I must accept that this is what Malaysians are like. When you are the top man people will try to read your mind and try to do what they believe you want." This rueful, seemingly powerless stance sits very oddly with a man whose entire career has been marked by such commendable attention to detail that he could even find the time when prime minister to look into why Kuala Lumpur's street lamps did not appear to be properly lit. (Their ill-fitting covers were letting in insects, whose frazzled remnants then obscured the lights. "I pointed out the problem to the Datuk Bandar [mayor] and soon enough the covers were cleaned, and more importantly, kept clean.") His enthusiasm for efficiency, simplification of bureaucracy and ensuring implementation of decisions are well detailed in his memoirs, and no one can doubt that they were needed. Once, when Dr M liked the idea of building a replica of Rome's Spanish Steps near the KL Tower, the Public Works Department despatched a team to study them. Unfortunately, "they could not find the Spanish Steps... because they were sent to Spain". Many will continue to find it hard to believe that one of the most determined and forceful premiers of the late 20th century, who can take much of the credit for pushing and often, it seemed, dragging Malaysia towards developed nation status, willing great construction projects such as the Penang bridge and the Twin Towers into being, and with the strength of personality to stick two fingers up to the IMF during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, could not have known exactly what was going on at every level of his administration. The questions over what Mahathir describes as a "black mark" (Operation Lalang) and other incidents – he recognizes that Anwar has "demonised" him "in the eyes of the whole world" – will not go away and will cast a shadow on his reputation for as long as historians care to examine it. In a wider context this matters a great deal, for while many Malaysians may be ambivalent about their longest-serving prime minister, nearly all of them acknowledge that his achievements were considerable – game-changing for Malaysia, in fact – as well the fact that other aspects of his record were not so creditable. Abroad, however, and especially in Europe and America, the "black marks" are just about all anyone hears about. This is a great pity, as for those who wish to listen Dr Mahathir has highly interesting things to say. His chapter on "The Europeans", for instance, is written from a fascinatingly revisionist perspective – but contains much that one cannot disagree with. He believes that the European taste for warfare fed into the 20th century religion of the market and "the idea that competition will not only establish who the winner is but who is right". A false connection, as he says: "Already they are seeing disaster in their own countries as the free markets wreak havoc on their finances." Pointing to the deaths accompanying new systems of government in Europe (by which he means the world of the white man) over the centuries – republicanism, Communism etc – he claims this stems from the insistence that any new ideology was the best. "They would not only practice the system but would want to force everybody else to do the same. Many who refused would be killed.... Currently they believe that democracy, the free market and a borderless world will create heaven on earth...They invade countries and kill people in order that democracy and its accompaniments be accepted by all." Who can dispute that after the last decade? Again and again, his criticisms of Western hypocrisy hit home, such as his argument that there is nothing equitable about global trade agreements that allow rich countries to penetrate and dominate developing nations' markets, while continuing to subsidise their own industries at home. On Islam, too, if the Western world could temporarily suspend its sensitivities about any mention of "the Jews" (with whom, regrettably, Mahathir does occasionally manage to make himself sound obsessed), they would find much to applaud in what he has said. Repeatedly he has urged his fellow Muslims not to be taken in by literalism, medieval obscurantism and a concentration on the afterlife that ignores the plight and lack of progress of their co-religionists in this world. He claims that it is Islamic to be pacific, to be moderate, tolerant and to seek knowledge. The academic Patricia Martinez once wrote: "In his pragmatic understanding of and agenda for Islam and its umma, Mahathir was the best contemporary leader in the Muslim world." It may be that it didn't quite work out like that at home – in my interview with him, the one point he conceded was that the pressure to be seen as "Islamic" may have grown during his premiership – but Martinez's point still stands. Credit is rarely paid him for that, but it is owed nonetheless.

Read more.

DCM post not an automatic right of LDP: Umno

Kota Kinabalu: The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) should stop throwing its weight around as well as implying that the Deputy Chief Minister post is automatically theirs.

"Why are you asking something from someone you have no confidence and cannot work with. You cannot piss all over the state leadership and then expect him to be kind to you," said Sandakan Umno Youth Chief Haji Awang Kadin Tang.

Apparently referring to senior LDP leaders namely, Chin Su Phin and Shin Su Ying, openly criticising Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman last year, he said:

"LDP's leadership never made a clear stand on the party's position on the matter and, instead, skirted around the issue."

Kadin said the only time LDP addressed the issue was when Datuk VK Liew (Party President) was cornered by reporters during the Batu Sapi by-election and was asked if he supported the Chief Minister's leadership.

"Of course by then he said 'yes', but only after months of being evasive.

However, it is unfortunate that the stand was not taken up by other leaders in LDP. They continued to attack the Chief Minister," he said in a statement, Saturday.

On Friday, LDP Youth Chief Chin Shu Ying lamented that LDP seemed to lose all its positions one by one ever since Datuk Seri Musa became the Chief Minister.

"We have lost not only our Deputy Chief Minister and Cabinet quota, we also lost the Deputy Speaker post, the Senator post and the numerous Chairman and Deputy Chairman posts. We are left with just a single Assistant Minister post in the State," Chin had said.

To this, Kadin said LDP wanted to be treated with respect and kindness but some of its party leaders demonstrated utter disdain for the state leadership.Read more

Please Do Not Politicise Christianity For The Sake Of Politics

Hantu Laut

I am a Muslim and spent all my lives surrounded by non-Muslim friends of different faiths,........... eat, sleep,walk, party and play with them without a hint that we came from different faiths because religion was never a barrier or a subject we ever broached in our friendship.

Much as I don't agree with the government's action of stopping the Koran in the Malay language and the use of Allah I earnestly hope my Christian brothers do not politicise the issue to aggravate the situation.They must not allow others to take advantage of the situation and used it as an excuse to muddy the waters.

The mass prayer in Sarawak recently was a clear message that the religion have been hijacked by irresponsible politicians whose only concern is to win elections by igniting sensitive communal and religious issues.

I know most Christians are tolerant, apolitical, respectful of other religions, averse to controversy and usually do not pour their grievances on to the streets.Most prayers are done within the confine of churches.

In Sarawak, a Christian groundswell

The stamping of the bible by the Ministry of Home Affairs is only one out of the many reasons that have caused unhappiness among the Christians in Sarawak. — file pic

Here, a gathering of 70 Christians of different denominations protested for action to be taken against the Home Minister and the government sounds very hollow.Can the government take action against itself? It can only take corrective action to right what is wrong and the best way to achieve this is by peaceful negotiation.

Christian coalition formed amid Alkitab row

Spokesman for the Coalition of Malaysian Christians, Ronnie Klassen (second right) holds up a police report outside the PJ police headquarters today. — Picture by Choo Choy May

There are proper avenues to trash out such issues and confrontation is not one of them.

One can see the whole thing have been politicized to coincide with the Sarawak state elections to inflict maximum collateral damage to the ruling party.

Who is Ronnie Klessen? Isn't he the one disdainfully snubbed by Wan Azizah of his self-appointed "Director of Communication PKR Sabah" which Azizah claimed never exists.

His blog which used to mercilessly attack UMNO leaders has turned 360 degrees now attacking PKR leaders.Is he really interested in protecting his religion or playing politics seeking new political platform?

I think the Christian elders should not allow themselves to be used by politicians that can give excuse to other irresponsible elements to take advantage of the situation.

There are other ways to resolve the issues.One, is to use the justice system and the other one, the ballot box.

If you can't change the system than you should try change the government and chose one you think likely to give you what you wanted.

Use your own judgement, don't ever listen to the opposition's claim that the Malaysian general elections are rigged.How in hell they managed to capture 5 states and denied the BN of two-thirds majority in the 2008 General Elections if the elections were rigged?.

Think !

Don't be suckers to lies and half-truths.

The other night while having a drink at our usual watering hole a friend asked me why I always attack Anwar and the oppositions.

First and foremost, this is a political blog, not a Hello magazine, naturally I talked politics.Worse still, I don't believe in the Pakatan Rakyat concept, to me it is a farcical coalition.Voting them in is akin to putting chickens and ducks in government.Other than wanting to be government they have nothing in common, PAS going left, DAP going right and PKR going under.

Look! What happening in Sarawak? They are still fighting over seats allocation and SNAP has decided not to join them.Greed! In the animal kingdom they would be called hyenas.

Do you honestly believe PAS and DAP can work together in the long run?

As for Anwar Ibrahim? Let say I have an intuitive conviction there is something wrong with him. So sorry, never liked him even from his days in UMNO, even before his sacking by Mahathir.

Call it instinct or intuition, if you may, you can dislike a person without hating him.

Clare Rewcastle Brown’s Bluff is Called

by Christopher Badeaux

Clare Rewcastle Brown,has made the health of the trees and bugs in the Malaysian state of Sarawak her Holy Grail.

Rewcastle Brown recently made the claim on her blog that only 3% of Sarawak’s rain forest remains. In no small part because Ms. Rewcastle Brown belongs to the clan of upper-class Brits who believe that one tree is worth hundreds of humans, this has distressed her to the point at which she is openly aiding the political opposition in Sarawak, who she for some reason imagines will stop the state’s drive from crushing poverty to gainful employment. (Her brother-in-law, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, helpfully chimes in with a claim that only 5% of the area’s rain forest remains.)

Abandoning the question of whether it is an objectively good thing to try to force people to live in grinding poverty — a fond memory of Rewcastle Brown’s — so that wealthy Brits can feel better about themselves, here’s a different question: What if most of Sarawak’s rain forest is still there?

That is exactly what Abdul Taib Mahmud, the Chief Minister of Sarawak and Rewcastle Brown’s current hate target, claims in a recent interview:

The Chief Minister noted that in addition to the 70% of virgin rain forest which remains intact in Sarawak, “another 14% of our secondary jungle has been replanted and is undergoing plans for replanting. This is the simple fact and if people want to verify it, then they are welcome to come to Sarawak. …”

In announcing plans to invite independent inspection by qualified experts, the Chief Minister said his government and forestry officials would provide full cooperation. At the end of the day, he explained during the half hour interview, he was interested in seeing the truth documented to avoid misunderstanding and distortions.

If you look carefully at Clare Rewcastle Brown’s interview and blog, even she doesn’t bother to allege torture, denied voting rights, or any human atrocity. Her only obvious concern is that the people of Sarawak might not have to “dodge scorpions” on a day-to-day basis, as in, she perceives a life without scorpions as a bad thing. (There are assuredly no scorpions in her house.) Shouldn’t this, then, be the acid test?

Pictured here is a shot of Sarawak from Google Earth, which seems to suggest a lot of trees are still standing in Sarawak. Even Wikipedia, which is prone to left-wing capture, admits that the rate of rain forest depletion has not been the subject of any controlled study. Taib’s government has made conservation a critical goal, and he has promised a transparent, external review of the state of Sarawak’s native jungle by outside groups.

Taib may be bluffing, but it wouldn’t make sense to do so. His re-election chances are good, and the opposition is too ensnarled in its usual infighting to pull off an election day miracle. Furthermore, Taib’s many years at the helm have not been the result of torture or Potemkin voting; it is the result of a crashing poverty rate and a booming economy. As Taib noted in that same interview:

The Chief Minister also noted that there had been allegations about the extent of poverty in Sarawak, and it was time to set the record straight here too.

“When I took over in 1981, the rate of poverty was close to 40%,” he recalled. “We have worked hard on this top priority over the years and got some results which encourage me by 1985 it went down to 32%. And now the rate of poverty is 5.3%.”

For the sake of argument let’s assume it’s a bluff, and the poor scorpions are running out of places to endanger Iban children. It should be the easiest thing in the world to grab the odd, well-funded, politically independent scientific group based out of London and send them packing off to Borneo to do some surveying. Read on.

(Clare Rawcastle is another Bruno Manser wannabe but falls flat on her face for the hypocrisy of her cause. Manser, at least, was an acclaimed environmentalist with genuine desire to see the Penans preserved the forests and their way of life.

Manser was prepared to put his life on the line to fight the government of Sarawak for the Penan people rights to the forests.Unfortunately, Manser disappeared, presumably killed by his enemies or rumoured to be a possibility, by the Penan people.

Rawcastle is just another publicity crazy journalist,lazy and stupid enough to swallow the Malaysian opposition's propaganda hook, line and sinker without getting the real dish, cooking her political garbage from the comfort of her flat at Covent Garden

Sarawak cannot keep intact 100 percent of her forests, there got to be some activities to develop the land for sustainable economic returns - Hantu Laut))