On the announcement on 7th January by Pakatan Harapan that Dr M is their choice of PM, this is what Sangeet Kaur Deo, daughter of the late Karpal Singh, had to say, as reported in Free Malaysia Today http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/01/08/karpals-daughter-has-reservations-about-dr-m-being-pm/
“He will be PM all over again, introducing the rebirth of Mahathirism”.
She referred to Dr M’s recent public apology as being ‘done half-heartedly’ and continued : “This is not about forgiveness. This is about accountability. Persons in positions of power should be held accountable for their actions”.
More timely, and so much more in need to be heard, were the words of Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa, after the Pakatan Harapan Congress over the last weekend, as reported in Malaysiakini yesterday : https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/407979
Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa has admitted that the presence of Bersatu in Pakatan Harapan has jolted his party, the DAP and PKR into a new reality which includes having to deal with the Malay psyche that is “a la Umno”. Following the seat division exercise, he realised that Harapan’s reformasi agenda has to reconcile with the existence of the Umno-minded Malays in Bersatu”, Malaysiakini reported.
Mujahid is reported to have said : “Our (Amanah, DAP and PKR) efforts to have more progressive Malays who are more inclusive have been held back by the division of seats which was based on Bersatu versus Umno and others versus all the other BN component parties…This means that Bersatu should not only to defeat the party but also replace the Malay psyche a la Umno to one that is progressive and inclusive. This must be made clear to Bersatu in our effort to build a new political future for Malaysia. Just obtaining the most seats against Umno will not help a new Malaysia that is being fought for by Anwar Ibrahim and the reformasi movement.”
And this, in my view, was Mujahid’s all-important statement.
“The Malays must come out of their trapped mentality to embrace healthy competition and have confidence in a Malaysia without racism”.
Music to my ears!
In October, last year, Pakatan Harapan held its Cinta Malaysia, Hapus Kleptokrasi rally in PJ.
The call was to get rid of Najib and his thieving band of kleptocrats at the 14th GE.
This whole business of kleptocracy stems from the 1MDB scandal which, if my memory serves me well, broke some time in 2015.
Now, Filipinos did not wait for a general election to bring down kleptocrat Estrada.
He was brought down through huge street protests.
So, too, Suharto, in Indonesia.
So why, in Malaysia, do we have to wait until a general election to take out these kleptocrats?
We are a divided people, and have been so, for the better part of the existence of Malaysia.
Since when, and why?
Certainly, since the time Tun Razak dissolved the Alliance, created Barisan Nasional, co-opting most of the then existing opposition parties into this new coalition, each supposedly looking after their own ethnic groupings.
If you take that as starting from 1973 up to the present, that’s a good 44 years.
During those 44 years, 5 prime minsters have served
Dr M for 22 years.
And Najib now for about 9 years, if my maths is correct.
Dr M never hesitated to use the race card when it suited his politics, and played the religion card, too, when it served his ends.
He admits as much. https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/395458
Remember his declaration that we are an Islamic country on 29th September, 2001?
Why?
To neutralise PAS.
Nevermind how it impacted the nation.
In my view, Najib plays his politics in a race and religion-based field that was planted and nurtured by Dr M.
Between Dr M and Najib, we have had 31 years of race and religion-based, divide the nation between us and them, Malay-non Malay, Bumi-non Bumi Muslim- non Muslim politics.
In August, last year, though, Dr M finally let the cat out of the bag and admitted that he did not believe in Ketuanan Melayu.
And in that same month, at a forum at KLSCAH where I was also one of the speakers, Mat Sabu and Hisham Rais told the audience that Dr M was needed by the opposition for 3 reasons.
The first was not said explicitly, but hinted at.
If, post the 14th GE, BN had lost, there would be a need to seek an audience with the king, and possibly even the conference of rulers to avert any efforts by Najib to move for a declaration of emergency.
Second, to seek an audience of the king to get Pakatan Harapan’s man appointed PM.
Third, to get into the Malay heartlands and to persuade the Malays to vote out Najib, UMNO and BN.
For these reasons, Dr M was needed.
I only wish to address the third reason here.
What is Dr M going to say to Ali and Ahmad in the kampungs to get them to give their votes to Pakatan?
This, it would seem. : Bumiputra privileges will be maintained by Harapan, but interests of other races will be taken into account too. Non-Bumiputras will not be robbed to enrich the Bumiputras.
This is the point that Mujahid makes, as I see it.
And I am with Mujahid.
If Dr M still has clout in the Malay heartlands, what should he be telling Ali And Ahmad?
This, if he really wants to see the nation start to heal.
He should ask their forgiveness for lying to them for 22 years about ketuanan Melayu.
He should ask their forgiveness for lying to them about a Bumiputra status that is not spoken of in the Constitution.
He should tell them the truth about UMNO all these years, of how in the name of Membasmikan Kemiskinan Orang Melayu, and pretending to defend the non-existent special rights of Malays, UMNO had robbed them blind.
He should ask their forgiveness for having dismantled and undermined all the institutions of state that were meant to protect them, and which now only serve to shield Najib.
He should tell them that in his advanced years, as he faces the prospect of facing the Divine, he needs to clear this burden he bears of misleading them all these years, of feeding them with notions of race supremacy, that was contrary to Islam and which could lead them into a state of apostasy.
If he is willing to do this, then yes, he may well be of service to the people who are ready to rise to remove the kleptocrats.
Do this, and he will have started to lay the ground of a Malaysia free of racism that Mujahid speaks of, and have mitigated his sins.
As for steering the nation post the 14th GE, leave it to the younger leaders in Pakatan,
His resume from his last stint in office makes him patently unfit for the job.
The People's Parliament 
Posted on January 9, 2018
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