S Thayaparan
Published: Jul 6, 2026 7:00 AM
Updated: 12:09 PM
“He also performed many other actions, but he only implemented them after discussing with me. Lim could not simply bring matters into the cabinet without me looking into whether it is appropriate or not.”
COMMENT | The criticisms against former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and his then aide Tony Pua are meant to generate public opprobrium.
The response by these two men and the public comments by Pua (above, left) demonstrate that in these kinds of political machinations, some politicians have to respond with one hand tied behind their backs.
It is neither a fair fight nor an honest one.
I have no idea why Lim and Pua would be singled out now, which should have been a time for inclusive political optics since the rakyat obviously approve of the completion of the LRT3 project.
The quote that opens this piece is evidence that there was nothing done by Lim and Pua which was not approved by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Published: Jul 6, 2026 7:00 AM
Updated: 12:09 PM
“He also performed many other actions, but he only implemented them after discussing with me. Lim could not simply bring matters into the cabinet without me looking into whether it is appropriate or not.”
- former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad
COMMENT | The criticisms against former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and his then aide Tony Pua are meant to generate public opprobrium.
The response by these two men and the public comments by Pua (above, left) demonstrate that in these kinds of political machinations, some politicians have to respond with one hand tied behind their backs.
It is neither a fair fight nor an honest one.
I have no idea why Lim and Pua would be singled out now, which should have been a time for inclusive political optics since the rakyat obviously approve of the completion of the LRT3 project.
The quote that opens this piece is evidence that there was nothing done by Lim and Pua which was not approved by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Keep in mind that it does not matter whether this was a cabinet decision or not, because the old maverick has publicly said that Lim could not and would not do anything without his approval.
“So, how come he is said to be the one with the power? He had no power,” the former prime minister said.
Furthermore, when it comes to the benefit of the rakyat, the old maverick has said it was Lim “... who proposed for the federal government to give a one-off payment of RM400 million to Kelantan, which was facing financial trouble. Terengganu and Kedah, two other Malay-majority states, were also given RM200 million each.”
“These two states were not even Harapan states. They were the opposition, and they were Malay states. But he (Lim) knew that there were many financial problems there,” Mahathir had said.
No one stops the gravy train
Now what we have to remember is that these kinds of dynamics always play out because the system is predicated on rewarding the sometimes-criminal behaviour of the crony class, as the old maverick reminds us.
Keep in mind that it does not matter whether this was a cabinet decision or not, because the old maverick has publicly said that Lim could not and would not do anything without his approval.
“So, how come he is said to be the one with the power? He had no power,” the former prime minister said.
Furthermore, when it comes to the benefit of the rakyat, the old maverick has said it was Lim “... who proposed for the federal government to give a one-off payment of RM400 million to Kelantan, which was facing financial trouble. Terengganu and Kedah, two other Malay-majority states, were also given RM200 million each.”
“These two states were not even Harapan states. They were the opposition, and they were Malay states. But he (Lim) knew that there were many financial problems there,” Mahathir had said.
No one stops the gravy train
Now what we have to remember is that these kinds of dynamics always play out because the system is predicated on rewarding the sometimes-criminal behaviour of the crony class, as the old maverick reminds us.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak
“You can’t do that (terminate contracts under former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s administration) easily; you have to make considerations.
“Although the contractors may have bribed the (then) prime minister, he had given up a portion of his profit,” Mahathir said.
The problem with our tax ringgit is that its uses, which are supposed to be for the rakyat, rarely work out that way because of the so-called “drainage”.
Bureaucrats are oftentimes indifferent or complicit in these leakages. Former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob admitted that nobody in the vast bureaucracy had any idea about the effectiveness of the government’s many poverty alleviation programmes.
“Many ministries had programmes on poverty alleviation, but there was no specific monitoring of their effectiveness,” Ismail said.
“You can’t do that (terminate contracts under former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s administration) easily; you have to make considerations.
“Although the contractors may have bribed the (then) prime minister, he had given up a portion of his profit,” Mahathir said.
The problem with our tax ringgit is that its uses, which are supposed to be for the rakyat, rarely work out that way because of the so-called “drainage”.
Bureaucrats are oftentimes indifferent or complicit in these leakages. Former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob admitted that nobody in the vast bureaucracy had any idea about the effectiveness of the government’s many poverty alleviation programmes.
“Many ministries had programmes on poverty alleviation, but there was no specific monitoring of their effectiveness,” Ismail said.
Former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Monitoring these programmes does not mean there would automatically be transparency. This is because many of these programmes are part of the gravy train driven by bureaucrats, political operatives, and their various proxies.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also recently lamented the abuse of bumiputera loans, which tells rational Malaysians everything we need to know about the average majority of rakyat who are screwed over by the system, which has nothing to do with non-Malay political operatives.
And let us be very clear, not only did the old maverick threaten to fire Lim a couple of times, but he also got into a public spat with Pua, labelling him (in a roundabout way) as arrogant.
The response from these two men demonstrates that there were tensions between the crony class and public servants who believed it was their job to safeguard the public interest.
The plutocratic class
Meanwhile, PKR rabble rouser Hassan Abdul Karim has said that not only has there been a return of the crony class, but now we have the Mahakaya.
You can discover the types of Remora capitalists (as I refer to them) in Hassan’s warning, but pay attention to the third type: “These people seem to enjoy immunity and cannot be touched due to the 3R ban.”
The Pasir Gudang MP also noted their business dealings, even though this was expressly forbidden by the Federal Constitution.
Monitoring these programmes does not mean there would automatically be transparency. This is because many of these programmes are part of the gravy train driven by bureaucrats, political operatives, and their various proxies.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also recently lamented the abuse of bumiputera loans, which tells rational Malaysians everything we need to know about the average majority of rakyat who are screwed over by the system, which has nothing to do with non-Malay political operatives.
And let us be very clear, not only did the old maverick threaten to fire Lim a couple of times, but he also got into a public spat with Pua, labelling him (in a roundabout way) as arrogant.
The response from these two men demonstrates that there were tensions between the crony class and public servants who believed it was their job to safeguard the public interest.
The plutocratic class
Meanwhile, PKR rabble rouser Hassan Abdul Karim has said that not only has there been a return of the crony class, but now we have the Mahakaya.
You can discover the types of Remora capitalists (as I refer to them) in Hassan’s warning, but pay attention to the third type: “These people seem to enjoy immunity and cannot be touched due to the 3R ban.”
The Pasir Gudang MP also noted their business dealings, even though this was expressly forbidden by the Federal Constitution.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim
And Mahathir did have his scraps with this type of class back in the day. As reported by The Independent, “In the meantime, the government is waging all-out war on the rulers.”
“Civil servants have been told to seek the prime minister’s permission before seeing the king; state governments are under orders to refuse business favours to their rulers.
“Religious teachers have been encouraged to comment on the un-Islamic behaviour of the supposed guardians of Islam.”
I want to be very clear. I am not saying that the party Lim and Pua represent is not linked in any way to the plutocratic class.
Indeed, it would be disingenuous to make that claim. It is no accident that the DAP got its moniker “Development Action Party”.
And Mahathir did have his scraps with this type of class back in the day. As reported by The Independent, “In the meantime, the government is waging all-out war on the rulers.”
“Civil servants have been told to seek the prime minister’s permission before seeing the king; state governments are under orders to refuse business favours to their rulers.
“Religious teachers have been encouraged to comment on the un-Islamic behaviour of the supposed guardians of Islam.”
I want to be very clear. I am not saying that the party Lim and Pua represent is not linked in any way to the plutocratic class.
Indeed, it would be disingenuous to make that claim. It is no accident that the DAP got its moniker “Development Action Party”.
But the reality is that, from public records and their responses, it is evident that both men operating under the system they were under chose to safeguard public interests, or at the very least attempted to do so.
We can have a discussion about the numbers behind these kinds of projects, but to further a specific type of narrative by singling out these two is beyond the pale.
Najib gets his reputation laundered while Lim and Pua get smeared as people who do not have the interests of the rakyat at heart.
By not responding to these types of criticisms, the only thing the DAP is doing is normalising narratives that will damage its credibility with its base.
This is what is rotten about Madani.
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
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