The man Dr Mahathir feared

After reading RPK's series of The UMNO, PKR, PAS Internal Strife, I decided to add on something to what he had said in its PART 5, which tells us about Dr M then as a young UMNO Turk, Tunku then as PM and his deputy Razak (Ah Jib Gor's daddy) and May 13, as follows (extracts only):

Dr Mahathir also accused the Tunku of giving in to the Chinese and that, said Dr Mahathir, was why the Chinese no longer fear the Alliance Party, as the result of the May 1969 general election had proven.

In other words, the Chinese should be kept in fear of the government so that they will continue to vote for the ruling party.

Dr Mahathir has more or less said the same thing about current Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak — in that Najib panders too much to the Chinese and neglects the Malays, who are the backbone of Umno’s support. And that is why Barisan Nasional did badly in the May 2013 general election. [...]

Note: On Dr M's nonsensical accusation of Najib's allegedly poor performance in the 2013 general elections, read my post Apa lagi UMNO mahu? wakakaka, which was also published by Malaysiakini.

Continuing with RPK's post - The ‘Chinese-lover’ criticism against the Tunku moved the Malays, coupled with the disastrous May 1969 election result. It was now only a matter of time before the Tunku would have to go and someone more nationalistic take over. And this man, of course, would have to be the Tunku’s number two, Tun Razak Hussein.

In fact, Tun Razak and the Tunku were already having a strained relationship and the Tunku suspected that Tun Razak and the ‘Young Turks’ in Umno were undermining him.[...]

The Tunku felt that Dr Mahathir played a key role in his downfall, although it was Tun Razak who took over, and the Tunku never forgave Dr Mahathir till the day he died.

During the Tunku’s 80th birthday party, where Dr Mahathir who was by then the Prime Minister was invited as the guest-of-honour, the Tunku refused to look at Dr Mahathir the entire time. [...]

There are many different versions of history, no doubt, as is always the case. But according to the Tunku, the day that Dr Mahathir takes over as Prime Minister, if it ever does happen, will be the beginning of the end for Malaysia. And this statement by the Tunku has been used by those opposed to Dr Mahathir ever since.

Tunku and P Ramlee (1967) - 2 great Malaysians

Little did the Tunku realise that what he said would actually come true — in that Dr Mahathir would take over as Prime Minister. But those of us who lived through the 1960s and witnessed the turmoil of the 1960s celebrated the day Dr Mahathir took over and hailed him as the best thing that could ever happen to Malaysia.

I was told this story on how Razak humiliated Tunku in 1973. By then Tunku was already deposed as PM a la 'et tu, Brute?' by Razak.

When Tun Dr Ismail who was acting PM, died of a heart attack in 1973, Razak who was away in Canada attending the Commonwealth Summit, rushed back to manage the ensuing chaos (eg. appointment of a new DPM, etc), among which was the burial arrangements for the late Dr Ismail.

Just a side-note - subsequently Razak in an unguarded moment apparently remarked to his RMAF pilot during a flight, words to the effect, "What am I going to do now with Tun Ismail gone?" indicating his frightening loss as he had relied so much on the late Tun Ismail.

And it has to be said that Tun Ismail probably died much earlier than he should have because he was recalled from retirement to serve as Razak's deputy (he suffered from a bad heart and was advised by his doctor to retire).

Prior to his departure from Ottawa, Razak had rang home with instructions for Tun Dr Ismail to be buried INSIDE the Makam Pahlawan (Heroes Mausoleum). The Makam has two burial sectors, one inside the building for top VVIPs and the rest outside in the open for the lesser VVIPs.

According to Wikipedia, the blame was put on Sardon Jubir for having a burial plot prepared for Tun Dr Ismail OUTSIDE the Makam against the explicit instructions of Razak, BUT I was reliably informed that Razak blamed Tunku for that.

Razak was heard by many who were there during the change of site for the burial plot to have snapped fiercely at the older man (Tunku), hurtful words to the effect: "Don't worry about being deprived of a place inside the Makam, I'll reserve a place here for you."

Tunku who was said to be the brains behind the construction of Makam Pahlawan was so shocked and hurt that he left instructions not to be buried in the Makam. In 1990 Tunku was buried in the Kedah Royal Mausoleum in Alor Setar.

It was said that Tunku who was fond of stuff American, had the original aim of making the Makam Pahlawan as the Malaysian equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery, ...

Makam Pahlawan, Malaysia

Arlington Cemetery, USA

... meaning the Makam was meant only for military and police service personnel who died in heroic circumstances (Malaysia was then in the throes of the Emergency) and not civilians, ...

... just as he had the National Monument modelled after the US Marine Corp Memorial ...

National Monument, Malaysia 

US Marine Corp Memorial

... and the Jemilang Jalur after the Stars and Stripes, ...

... even remarking during the early halcyon days of Malaysia that KL was Washington DC whilst Singapore was New York.

Singapore

New York

One important tidbit about the late Tun Dr Ismail that's relevant to RPK's mention of Dr Mahathir in his PART 5 post - prior to Tun Dr Ismail's death he voiced his real concerns to some friends about Razak's intention to rehabilitate Dr Mahathir, wakakaka. Obviously Tun Ismail didn't like or trust Dr Mahathir and was said to prefer Musa Hitam.

Robert Kuok, who was a personal friend of Tun Dr Ismail, said: “In my opinion, he was probably the most non-racial, non-racist Malay I have met in my life. And I have met a very wide range of Malays from all parts of Malaysia. Doc was a stickler for total fair play, for correctness; total anathema to him to be anything else. Every Malay colleague feared him because of this, including Mahathir."

Hello there? Mahathir afraid of someone? wakakaka but still it's nice to know that - doesn't it make Dr M more human, wakakaka again.