Mahathir's Karma

History Will Come Back To Haunt Us by Karamjit Singh (extracts only):

Most people have heard one version or another of the following quote, “Remember, what you do now will come back and haunt you in the future. Life has a funny way of making you deal with what you make others go through.”

The provisional deregistration of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) comes as a firm reminder that karma exist. In his book ‘Government and society in Malaysia’, Australian political science scholar and author, Harold Crouch, revisited the birth of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s Umno Baru.

During the constitutional crisis in Umno in the late 80’s, a new party called Umno Malaysia was formed under the leadership of the late Tunku Abdul Rahman with his deputy being the late Tun Hussein Onn. However, the Registrar Of Societies (ROS) rejected the application for the party formation. Tunku and Hussein formed an alliance to go against Mahathir for his ill demeanour. The ROS is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Mahathir was the minister then. As with everything else, if asked, Mahathir would of course deny his involvement in pulling the brakes on Umno Malaysia.

A leading Asean commentary site, ASEAN Today, has drawn similarities between the happenings to Mahathir today with Tunku between 1987-1990. Their analogy summed that what Mahathir did to Tunku has come back to haunt and taunt him. Despite being in poor health and confined to a wheelchair, Tunku traveled the country with a determination to stop Mahathir. Tunku too gave scathing interviews to foreign media, very much like Mahathir in recent times.

Tunku wrote in a highly influential and inflammatory weekly column, “As I See It”, in the Star newspaper. He often criticised Mahathir and his authoritarian mannerism. Following Mahathir’s Ops Lalang in 1987, the publishing permits of three newspapers were revoked, the Star being one of them. Six months later when the Star was permitted re-publication, the sitting government led by Mahathir allegedly gave strict orders to discontinue Tunku’s column.

Mahathir has also been known as a global ‘ambassador’ for election rigging during his time. From Project IC to gerrymandering, Mahathir violated every rule in the book to continue his tyranny. Despite street demonstrations and rallies across the country, the opposition could only shed tears. Presently, Mahathir is on the opposite bench with the mammoth task of upsetting the governing coalition. [...]

History is the best teacher. Errors of the past are wisdom and success of tomorrow. Malaysia’s Father of Independence passed on at the age of 87, with Mahathir very much in control of the government. With history clearly shadowing Mahathir.

Do as you might, one cannot go against the law of nature.