Thursday, March 31, 2016

Mahathir's 3 greatest mistakes

You know, I have a fascination with the Latin saying 'Omne trium perfectum' which means 'everything that comes in threes is perfect' or 'good things come in threes'.


Maybe it sets me thinking about my erstwhile sweetie, wakakaka, who I had once adored so much, especially when she argued with me so sweetly that the saying was not about 'threes' but 'trees', to wit, 'good things come in trees' like, she painstakingly explained, mangoes, durians, rambutans, etc.

Yesterday I posted The power of 3, about 3 things or happenings that will make Mahathir so mad (not as in gila but as in marah) he may possibly suffer from a massive cardiac arrest.

Of course we don't wish for that but he too must play his part in looking after his health by, say, cutting back on his favourite roti puff kelapa (coconut-stuffed bread roll), wakakaka.

So today I'm posting another 3 thingies, this time about Mahathir's 3 greatest mistakes, but then how would these three qualify under 'Omne trium perfectum' if I'm talking about his mistakes?


Well the Chinese in me tells moi that good things come with the bad a la Yang being usually and naturally accompanied by Yin, thus his mistakes would easily fall (and conveniently for blogger me, wakakaka) under the Yin category, wakakaka again.



Yang & Yin, wakakaka 

I would say his 3 biggest worst - wait wait nay, 'worst' sounds pretty sissy and won't give the impact I'm attempting to convey - so let's call it instead his 3 'baddest' (wakakaka and f**k good English) blunders would be:

(1) He brought his sonny boy, dear Mukhriz, into politics way way too late, and that's why he is so worried sick right now because right at the upper echelon of the UMNO leadership pyramidical structure, there is less and less space to accommodate Johnny-come-lately's like Mukhriz - and all due to his own fault, piss-poor planning and an overly pompous presumptuous about his power to continue being the dalang (master puppeteer) of the UMNO leadership wayang gedog.


dei, Sangrama Badawijaya, I want you to make way for my new successor, Kertarajasa Jayajibdhana

3 protagonists, wakakaka

It also hurts when KJ and Shahrizat ganged up to marshal the UMNO Youth and UMNO Women's votes for Hisham during the party VP elections to enable Hisham to scrap past Mukhriz into the last of the 3 VP positions.

Yes, he should blame himself for the current predicament re his son's political legacy, that is, assuming he can ever bring himself to be honest and self-critical.

Of course he might have (incorrectly) thought he would have plenty of time to groom sonny and to also kowtim-rize the leadership ladder in UMNO for Junior by the time he resigned in, say, 2004. But alas, his quarrel with Anwar, wakakaka, caused a major setback to his plans (for grooming Mukhriz) when he kuai kuai resigned far earlier than he had planned.

Handing over the reins to AAB he thought he could still play the eternal imperial dalang, but while he was successful with AAB, he had in that selfish process (and to the absolute delight of Pakatan Rakyat people) wrought untold havoc on his own party, causing UMNO to lose its once-invincible 2/3 majority with a humongous loss in seats and percentage votes.


how dare you allow your raKeyan Jayadarma to bully my poor boy 

3 protagonists again, wakakaka

In 2004 AAB as BN leader led his coalition to an impressive win of 198 federal seats (out of a total of 219) and 63.9% of the votes to the opposition's total of 20 seats (not including 1 Independent).

But in 2008, after Mahathir's campaign against AAB, BN secured only 140 seats (out of 222 total) and only 51.39%of the votes to Pakatan's 82 seats and 47.79% off the votes.

This effectively meant BN lost a humongous near-60 seats and a considerable chunk of the overall votes.

That Mahathir-ized anti-BN momentum in 2008 (which brought along voters awakening) continued and saw BN losing a further 7 federal seats in 2013.

Now he is at it again, attacking UMNO even more ruthlessly and ferociously this time, to the smiles of Pakatan again, and we await eagerly breathlessly to see what will be the outcome in GE-14 (expected in 2018), but Pakatan must play its own part which alas with PAS going on its hudud-galvanized way may possibly dilute or even negate Pakatan achievements in 2018.

What a wonderful man, for Pakatan that is, wakakaka.

(2) He failed to groom, guide and galvanize/goad his daughter Marina Mahathir into politics. I reckon Marina would have been a far stronger, competent and more determined take-no-shit politician than Mukhriz, who is more of a mummy's boy. And she has character charm and credibility.

This has been one of the mysteries of Mahathir's political dynastic ambitions when we consider that Malay women in Malaysia, unlike those in other Islamic countries or even Western ones, have played a very strong role in politics, public services, top professions and business enterprise.

It has been to the credit of our Malay community that Malay women have been performing so well, way beyond than what the women of other Islamic countries are, merely the chattels of men.

If Mahathir had encouraged his daughter to participate in politics, I wonder whether Marina could have become Malaysia's 1st female PM?

I believe of his 3 'mistakes' the failure to push Marina into top politics would be his worst, nay, let's use 'baddest' for emphasis and impact.

(3) I leave this one for you to assess, where it could well be one of the following, or perhaps even something I haven't written down as follows:

  • quarrel with Anwar
  • quarrel with the Chinese
  • panicked and miscalculated his own political prospects as PM post-1998 and pre-2014
  • surrounding himself with, as Anwar said (and who himself was one too), tok ampu
  • etc etc etc

Wakakaka.




6 comments:

  1. Didn't I say wordsmith at play?

    Wakakaka.....

    I'm no fan of the man who walks on water, so whatever word-plays u do, eventually it all comes down to tien-yee. Or as the ma' salleh would say man wishes God dictates.....wakakaka...

    Same rule applies to ahjibgor. The more holes he digs, the more he needs to dig. Eventually, he buries himself within the holes he so considers cleverly created for blur-sotongs' consumption.

    Just like the water-walking mamak is contemplating NOW.

    Ironic to the core izznt it???

    So, beware u two. Yr time will come too..wakakaka...

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  2. Mahathir's biggest single mistake has been pushing for Badawi to be replaced by Najib.

    The Australian ABC Four Corners program has exposed in the international media what was only previously hush, hush whispered within Malaysia, under fear of arrests.

    Millions of diverted funds spent on shopping sprees and luxury holidays in Europe and USA.
    Let the people eat cake.

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  3. Just move on PM Najib. Focus only on three - development growth,employment and education. Don't be distracted with all the noises.

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  4. Your earlier power of 3 theory have been mitigated by Mahathir's pre-emptive resignation, so it won't "make Mahathir so mad he may possibly suffer from a massive cardiac arrest".

    For your current posting on Mahathir's 3 greatest mistakes, two are on getting his children into politics and one an unknown, a mish-mash of possibilities.

    For item (1) Mahathir's long reign was probably a disadvantage because during this time, a son learning the ropes in the wings is distraction or liability to his strongman persona then, so this endeavour has to be put on hold.

    Item (2) is a non-starter; Marina did not inherit the ruthless cut-throat genes of her father for the world of politics, however hard he may push or goad her.

    Did Hishammuddin and current PM Najib undergo grooming? They were either swept in by circumstances or were benefitting from their family names plus their own efforts...

    Why would he need to have his off-springs perpetuate his legacy? In 2003 he retired into legend, at the peak of his powers; his mistake is to undo it by his incessant meddling with the successive PMs.

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    Replies
    1. The difference between Mukhriz and Najib/Hihm is that Mahathir is alleged to want to have Mukhriz parachuted into the topmost ecehelon of the UMNO leadership, namely, a minimum of a VP position, two steps from the PM-ship. He couldn't even win the Youth Leader's chair.

      Consider the case of Najib - he had a long tenure of training and exposure, apart from party posiitons, from being a novice MB of Pahang (he was tutored through this by senior UMNO people including his uncle Hussein Onn) to various deputy ministerships, ministerships etc for almost 35 to 40 years. Hisham's case has been similar though to a lesser extent.

      By contrast, what duration of exposure has Mukhriz undergone? And that has been my point.

      Marina is a hypothetical case as we will never ever know, will we?

      And the 1st line of your last paragraph seems to ignore current political realities.

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  5. najib was brough in AFTER his father had Pass on. Raja Tun azlan was the 4th child of the 3rd wife brought in as raja bergelar at the end of his father reign. this is a lot different than the newer royal houses which the eldest son is heir assume since birth. is a different type of monarchy. its derivatives its adat from the malaccan and before that to malayapura kingdom. DAP follow the newer dynasty in which LGE is grooms since young to be the heir apparent. UMNO however follow the old ways, the father shouldn't vouch for his son too early as it wouldn't be fair to others and others would likely launch a coup against it. Raja tun azlan was first bought in as the 5th in line, then he has to use his ingeniousity and shear lucks to stand on the top of the pyramids. this sort of arrangements leads to huge bsckdoor infight but the benefits of such systems is competent leadership

    ReplyDelete