Welcome back to PM Mahathir Mark I

MM Online - Dr M revives Singapore water dispute, takes swipe at Trump (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has revived the muscular foreign policy that characterised his first stint in power, seeking to renegotiate a longstanding water supply agreement with Singapore and taking shots at both the US and China.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin, the 92-year-old Dr Mahathir criticised a 1962 water supply deal with Singapore as “too costly,” adding to tensions after he announced plans to cancel a multibillion-dollar high-speed rail project that would’ve connected Kuala Lumpur to the city-state.

Water is among issues with Singapore “that we need to settle,” Dr Mahathir said on Friday at his office in Kuala Lumpur. “We will sit down and talk with them, like civilised people.”

Though Lee Kuan Yew had long gone, his legacy remains, more so in the person of son Lee Hsien Loong, and nothing riles Mahathir more than his old arch foe or descendants, wakakaka, probably with the exceptions of Najib, Anwar and KJ.

It cannot be denied that some of that animosity came from Lee KY's arrogance and hurtful-boastful words, but some I suspect came from jealousy, at how a lil' red-dot could progress so fantastically in the way that Mahathir had dreamed of Malaysia progressing in similar or even better fashion, but alas ...

By any measuring standards, short of national leadership, Malaysia with its bountiful natural resources (oil & gas, minerals, timber, land, sea, water, etc) should have been superior, and indeed by leaps and bounds. But as I mentioned of the sole exception, t'was national leadership (including Mahathir's) that allowed Singapore to beat us kaukau.

Mahathir had had bad relationship with Singapore during his previous regime, making us wonder whether his projects-then involving Singapore proximity and/or interests have to do with what Malaysia needed or merely to spite Singapore. That culminated in his silly 'crooked bridge' profligacy which would have costed Malaysian taxpayers much. We couldn't afford that sort of national waste just to merely pamper his chip on his shoulder against a neighbour. And we now definitely can't.

But it looks like Mahathir is back to his old self, which we saw in:

(a) cancellation (and tentative un-cancellation) of the HSR (blabbergastingly saying it's not an urgent issue to advise Singapore yet),

(b) Mahathir's proposal to build an island on Middle Rocks,

(c) water issues (again and again, instead of building a water purification plant in the JB are),

and what else?

I cannot but help thinking this old man just want to get at Singapore for the spite of it, just as he wants to get at Najib, Anwar and KJ.

One of Najib's biggest sins, apart from ignoring him, his son Mukhriz, and to preserve the wasteful legacy of his rule, has been the sale of KTM land to Singapore.

That KTM land had been his 'hold' over Singapore, his weapon to punish the frustrated Singapore government by leaving valuable land in Singapore undeveloped, but which now he no longer has, wakakaka. Imagine how furious he must have been to see Najib just cooperating with Singapore to develop those valuable land.

Yes, the old Mahathir is back, and he has amply indicated so by mentioning Malaysia needs a new national car, even after the monumental expensive failure of Proton.