He wrote the Malay Dilemma an now at the age of 94 is faced with a dilemma of huge proportions much of it of his own making but more from the expectations of a people who have not seen a change in government and are now expecting everything under the sun at one go from him and a cabinet still in its infancy.

Yet his sturdy 94 year old goes on mapping strategies in a fractured society where each fraction expects something so radically different and he has to tread ever so carefully less the whole structure that was created to to put  stop a corrupt regime that has been labelled by the world as its Biggest “Kleptoracy” falls apart even before it gets off the ground.
   
The unseating of the UMNO led BN was unbelievable not only to Malaysians  but to the whole world that watched,  the BN government which held power since Malaya’s independence in 1957 was unseated shockingly that the people and  even the new government the victors were in disbelief  and  were unprepared for the events that followed immediately. 

Mahathir stood at the helm of the new government rallying all members of the various parties in the new coalition,  this new found alliance of opposition parties  to ensure that a government was formed, and even in such a situation before he was appointed Prime Minister was  able to direct the Inspector General of Police and the Civil Aviation authorities to stop Najib and his family from fleeing Malaysia on a special flight arranged by a close Indonesian  friend of Najib’s on  the day after the elections.  

After the formation of the new government the people of Malaysia had “great expectations” from a group of novices, they expected change overnight, they expected to see Najib locked overnight, they expected to see the Chief of the Elections Commission locked up too together with the Registrar of Societies and as all this did not happen discontent crept in, led by ignorance of how the machinery works and fueled by  Najib’s own cyber troopers who posed as people aligned to the present government and who infiltrated  the media groups that had strongly supported the government of the day when they were the opposition.

The opposition pact expected to do well, but they did not expect to see the government fall,  they had promised a lot in their elections manifesto much of which they could not and cannot keep, and more so because the Najib regime had left the National coffers empty and the country in a huge debt that would take years to settle.  

The new regime promised a clean and fair government,  they did not promise it immediately it would take time, but the people driven by writers of Najib’s professional cyber troopers were spreading  discontent.  

In the midst of this the Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter and wife  were involved in a fracture in the PKR involving them and Azmin an his followers. 

Anwar himself was not part of any faction but family loyalties had forced him to get sucked into his wife’s faction.  

Well that fracture happened long before even the elections and with Anwar in jail, he was unable to mend the break, it began at the time after the resignation of Abdul Khalid Ibrahim when Anwar decided to go for the position and when he found out that the court case  of the Sodomy II would disqualify him if found guilty he opted for his wife to take the position.  

Azmin who had been Anwar’s loyal deputy all along wanted that position and he aligned himself with PAS who were then in the Pakatan to stop that move and eventually secured the position. That move created bad blood between Anwar’s family and Azmin and gave birth to factionalism within the PKR.  

To make matters worse Anwar’s daughter Nurul was adamant that Mahathir not become the Prime minister, in fact if she had her way Bersatu would never have come into the Pakatan fold, and BN would have won the elections aagain and her father would continue to languish in jail, but that was not to be the case.  

With Mahathir in the PM’s chair there was an agreement that he would hold the position for the time being and after Anwar  had received a Royal Pardon at some time he would become prime Minister.  

Nurul could not wait for this to happen she began a campaign of road blocks  agaisnt Mahathir, in fact the word on the street is she teamed up with Khairy Jamaluddin and Rafizi to create this uneasiness for Mahathir, till at last she went into the cold probably on the advice of her Dad who openly confessed that he was not ready and neither in a rush to take over the helm. 

In the meantime discontent was being propagated all around and all these politicians who are all real novices began to echo their discontent with their own leadership – their own government.  

There were issues but these issues needed to be managed, UMNO was winning the backing of the Malays who turned their backs on them in the last elections, MCA began gaining ground, so too the MIC which is still the strongest BN party, Gerakan who quit are still playing the BN game pretending to bean outsider only to try and wrest Penang back.

Malays, Islam and Zakir Naik

Umno created the scene, their pact with PAS the party that champions the Islamisation of the country via the implementation of the Hudud laws was gaining ground.  

It was easy this began in the Mahatherian era and it began with Anwar Ibrahim where the Malays were made to believe that “Islam is under threat” from the Christians, the Malays were under threat by the Chinese and that was the message driven to gain Malay support by UMNO.  

The Islamisation of UMNO was a response to the challenge of Malay loyalty from PAS which was then an opposition party and was gaining ground then in the early Mahathir years.

In his ABIM days Anwar was more inclined to PAS then he was with UMNO, and Mahathir’s move to recruit him into UMNO and make a Minister of him almost overnight was seen as a direct affront to PAS.

Anwar wasted no time the moment he stepped in it all began, and you have to credit him for getting  the Malay women in Tudong today, he Islamised Malaysia more than even PAS had over all the years they had been a party and is so doing polarized the country.  

In the Universities, in schools, and even in the government service the Malays did not mingle with the other races it was programmed so and the excuses were oh so many, including what is halal and what is not , dress code and everything under the sun.  

The open houses we used to have for festivals came to almost an abrupt end, Malays came to our homes for Chinese New Year, Diwali and Christmas but did not eat the food laid on the table unless it was from a Halal caterer and the plates the cups and glasses too were to be from the caterer.  

Even if you assured them that the food contained no pork the chicken was Halal and needless to say mutton and Beef which comes from the government abattoirs were halal it was of no use.

Now if you value your Muslim friends they have to be served Halal food from a Halal caterer who takes care of everything. Not many can afford the luxury of a good caterer especially during the festive seasons, and this open houses that used to foster friendship, trust and the sense of oneness suddenly died. 
Was is carefully crafted?

Under this backdrop the Malays were made to realise that they were the Tuan’s  and we the the second class citizens, and they had to be vary of us because we were trying to usurp them from that position and this division began in the Mahathir era engineered by him and Anwar Ibrahim, today it is his biggest dilemma, trying to correct the mindset.  

Even if you bring in the best to manage and run a GLC you can’t if he is not a Malay, it is alright to get a substandard CEO to screw up the business as long as he is a Malay, that is the mindset these UMNO goons have been programmed for, if a Malay takes it and loses everything it is alright but you cannot not on any account give it to a non Malay.  

Malays were and still are a privileged class and they expect this to go on unabated and the non Malay has to pay for that. 

Zakir Naik was portrayed as an authoritarian Islamic Evangelist  and this was done by UMNO undr Najib. he was accorded special privileges, he was given special protection and he was  sent out to preach his version of Islam to the multitudes.  

When PH came to power, Zakir Naik was a liability, in Kedah he was seen as even more superior than all the Islamic scholars of that state,  the Mufti of Perlis holds him in high esteem, the rural Muslim now looks up to this “”Great Evangelist” so the Menteri Besar of Kedah if he knows what is good for him has to dance according to the music and so they did.  

Mukhriz even brought him to see Mahathir, to assure the Malays that the new government will protect this “Holy Man” from the claws of the “wicked and ruthless” Indian Government, do otherwise and you’ll have bear  the brunt of the Malays, we’ve seen from  the  ICERD experience  of what happens if the Muslims feel threatened and so Mahathir plays the game Pakatan Harapan needs the Malay support without which they’ll be an opposition party fighting a corrupt regime again and many Malaysians who voted the Pakatan have forgotten this.

Mahathir however carefully  gave him some rope with which he is now controlled. 

Imagine the entire Muslim world including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, all the other Arab states, Sudan and even Somalia will not have him and we are landed with him because PAS and UMNO have convinced the Malays that he deserves to be here, that is the rural Malay mindset created by UMNO and its NEP.  

This is the result of carefully hatched Education policy form the Mahatherian years to pass out substandard graduates, in fact people who were not even worthy of graduation from secondary school to tertiary educational levels including Masters, and even Doctorate students, they created a mass with the inability to reason for themselves but to only listen and take what authority gives them to be factual.  (for more read this link).

The Chinese and the others.

 In the meantime the Chinese and others who have not witnessed such change in government since independence and something they have actually been longing for, for such a long time have come out expecting everything to change overnight.
Great Expectations indeed.

They do not realise that the change of government only came about because the Malay decided to change the government, they cannot and will never be able o unseat any government in this country without the Malay support and this must be driven into the non – Malay mindset.

The Malay support is the key to change in the country, the Malay himself has not changed but voted to oust the BN because they have sufficient pro Malays in today’s government to look after their affairs.

If there is to be a change in the Malay  it will take time and for that to happen we’ll have to have dynamic education policy and are we as a whole Malay and non Malay  ready for that? Really ready?

Such a move will require sacrifices from all quarters of the Malaysian society, the government itself will have to play the biggest role, but then equally important will be the role of the Chinese  and the Tamils Educationists.

We have to look how we can take the good of each of these and come out with a one stream School system. Chinese and Tamil language  should  be included in schools curriculum and  schools in every district can opt for this to cater to those students who need to study the language.

If there is a need to overcome the immediate shortage of  teachers, teachers  from China and India can be brought in.

We can take a big lesson by looking into the methods and curriculum of Science and Mathematics taught in Chinese Schools adopt what will strengthen the system but at the end of the day it has to be a single stream, that will be  the biggest contributor to National unity and all Malaysians must understand this.

The education system must be based on merit, results must be based on merit and there should be identical pass marks for all students  irrespective of race or creed and that is the greatest fear of certain non Malays in single stream schools system.

The study of Mandarin must be encouraged as China keeps growing as a world economic power and knowledge of Chinese becomes more important.

Bahasa Malaysia will uncompromisingly be compulsory, and English must be given attention and importance to as the language for reference when it comes to seeking more knowledge and ease in the digital world too.

Without English we breed ignorance as we have successfully done today.

Tamil being the root language of the Malay language and the oldest language in the world has an important place in understanding even the Malay culture, we are gifted in this country to have the resources to study all these languages.

The Single Stream Schools is a huge headache in the country and  it is a difficult hurdle to overcome because as can be seen it all amounts to trust, the BN government has only planted doubt in the minds of the others to get them to agree on anything less than Chinese schools or for that matter even the Tamil Schools.

To get it together all sectors of society must be involved in the crafting of this single stream Schools and that should be the only type of schools in the country, besides of course private schools who will have to follow the same curriculum.

Schooling hours will have to be lengthened, with only one session get rid of the present morning and afternoon sessions.

Get rid of home work all work takes place in schools.

Extracurricular activities must be given its place back in schools, games and sports back to where it belongs it is an integral part of education then we will see a better education system.

Most important is the genuine desire of every Malaysian to unite the country and to do so we must be prepared to listen to each other and be able to make sacrifices for the greater good of the nation without having to sacrifice our own religious and moral values.

Anwar Ibrahim’s Succession 

Can Anwar Ibrahim become Prime Minister?

Well let us examine the issues.

Anwar Ibrahim is a member of Parliament, he is a Muslim, he is a Malay, so he can become the Prime Minister of Malaysia like anybody else who fulfills that criteria.  

But as an ordinary MP he will have to show that he has the support of the majority in

Parliament  to become Prime Minister.

Mahathir Mohamed can’t just vacate his seat and give it to Anwar that will be unconstitutional void and of no effect.

Anwar has to show that he has the support of the majority in the house, why right now if you put it to vote the PAS and UMNO will not have him,  a big portion of Bersatu will not have him and for that matter there are even those in his own party who will not support him , he will not have the support of the majority and if hew takes that route he can’t be Prime Minister.

However If,  we follow precedent he may be able to become PM if he is first appointed the Deputy Prime Minister and Mahathir decides vacate his position and hand it over to his deputy, like he did with  Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and later  that was followed by Abdullah’s resignation and the swearing in of Najib the very next day, this I think has set a precedent that Mahathir can follow.

Wan Azizah has indicated that she has no intention of resigning and that could be for two reasons: either the fear whether real or imagined  that when she steps down Mahathir may appoint another person not Anwar as his deputy or,  that she will not qualify for her pension as she would not have fulfilled the minimum three year term to qualify for it.

Mahathir has repeatedly said he will hand over power to Anwar or whoever it is when the time comes, he has to set the house in order, it is impossible to appoint Anwar as PM as long as Wan Azizah is PM and it is more unlikely that Anwar will never get the position as long as she sits in the position of deputy, so Mahathir has rightfully announced that he will step down after three years.

This is one of the clearest indications that Mahathir sees things and issues we don’t.

If Anwar wants to take the position on popular vote in Parliament he is bound to lose and it is quite clear. Mahathir is accused by many to want to hold on the position of PM and yes he wants to in the current situation  and he is right because if it is not Anwar who  is going to be the next Prime Minister of the country the country will be in real trouble.

As  Mahathir so rightfully put it there is no one who can succeed me right now , and indeed there is no one till Anwar is strategically placed, or if he can get all Pakatan members to come together and support Anwar’s candidacy.

So to put Anwar in the chair there must be a strategic move and that move must ensure that good politicians remain intact in the cabinet when Anwar takes over.

Azmin for all his ambitions is a dangerous man and can be a menace to the party and to Anwar, there is no telling  the lengths he will go to fulfill the same, he  must be retained Anwar has to show that he has it in him to bring Azmin back into the fold and mend all the fractures.

Anwar has to clean his own backroom as his political secretary is seen to be a rather unfit for the position and for Anwar’s image too.

Anwar has to win the support of the Malays and Bersatu or the Malays will ensure he is toppled at the next General Elections.

Will the plan to have a clean government free of corruption succeed or will it be just wiped away with the defeat of Pakatan Harapan a the next General Elections?

As it seems right now Pakatan Harapan is headed fr a big defeat at the next General Elections.

Will the people the non-Malays  be able appreciate what Mahathir is doing and not just label him a “sly fox,” a crook etc. which he is not,  he is a strategist he sees the things we do not. 

Without the Malay support Najib will come sailing in at the next General Elections, or we will see either Ahmad Zahid Hamidi or even Hadi Awang more likely Hadi as the next Prime Minister of Malaysia.

UMNO has managed what it has never done in all its years as government, to make the people demand the promises made in their election manifesto by Pakatan during the elections campaign,  when that has never been an issue from the first day under the leadership of UMNO, the Alliance and later the BN has ever fulfilled any if not all their election promises.

The BN was only full of lies and empty promises.

Now with the economy in shambles, with the world moving into recession, with the stance Mahathir  is forced to take on India and Kashmir less the Malay support dwindles even at the detriment of losing a substantial part of our trade with India less UMNO and PAS uses it against him, with the huge debt this country is in, with unstable Oil prices and all these troubles Mahathir steers the ship in troubled waters trying to avoid every big devastating wave only to be faced by another bigger one at the next turn and yet he steers, will any other person be able  to fit into his shoes, perhaps not,  Anwar looks like the only viable alternative  and he of course is the only choice we have if Mahathir steps down, who else is there?

That is the Mahathir we see today man labelled a sly fox, a smart tactician, accused of using his position to benefit his children, a corrupt leader, a racist, a crooked politician, senile but someone I’d rather call a strategist, who is able to focus further then we can, the truth be told the best choice we have today and  God forbid anything should happen to him before he can do what he needs to do or we are headed for ruin.

And the truth be told he set the stage for this predicament  during his previous tenure as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, may God give him the strength right the wrongs and who better than him the author himself,  at least to the extent that Anwar can take it and reform Malaysia.

God Bless Malaysia

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Source : https://eaststdtimes.blogspot.com/