The Destructive Rise of the Mafulat-ish MaKa-Laut Machiavellian Bomoh

From FB page of Tawfik Ismail (son of the late Tun Dr Ismail):

Tawfik Ismail

My Foreword to “Paradise Lost: Mahathir and the end of hope” by Dennis Ignatius

Foreword

“Awake, Arise, Or Be Forever Fallen” (John Milton, Paradise Lost)

Paradise Lost: Mahathir And The End Of Hope is an important narrative that students of Malaysian history and politics of the last two decades of the twentieth century onwards must dip into. Dennis Ignatius, from the beginning of the book, wastes no time in pointing out that one of the reasons for the end of hope is Mahathir’s failure in succession planning, where despair at the lack of leadership and direction haunts a nation in the grip of a pandemic.

The Paradise Dennis speaks of was created in the minds of Malaysians pre-1981 on the belief that constitutionalism and secularism was the best guarantee for progress and harmony in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, and the engine that would pull the Malaysian nation together was a multi-racial coalition fueled by a desire to blend the talents of the various races. This hope has diminished over the past decade for reasons and by factors eloquently expressed by Dennis in this book.

One should own this book to remind oneself of the author of this decline, who had the power to carry the nation to higher peaks, if only he had stood on the shoulders of our founding giants and climbed upwards, instead of misusing his powers to destroy and diminish, and in doing so, lead the nation on a path of division and confusion.

When he succeeded Tun Hussein as Deputy Prime Minister, one could wonder if Tun Hussein had in mind the successful combination of a lawyer Prime Minister and a doctor Deputy Prime Minister post-1969 that brought dignity, intellect and commonsense founded on empathy. If so this was the hope that was Tun Hussein’s alone, as Mahathir’s ascension was met with scepticism and a shrug by non-Malay leaders such as the late Lim Chong Eu of Penang who said, “The PM has made his choice, let’s support him”.

the late Lim Chong Eu

In owning this book, one enters the mind of an accomplished diplomat that earned honours not just from the country he served, but also from the countries he was accredited to. It must have been quite a challenge to represent the nation when its leaders go on record with racial and religious bigotry, but how Dennis overcame this and carried the nation’s flag proudly where he served deserves our gratitude and respect, and provides another strong reason to make his acquaintance by reading this book.

I met Dennis in 1976 at a dinner in Hans Place London hosted by Datuk Abdullah Ali, for Dr Mahathir, where Tengku Razaleigh was among the guests and it was memorable for two reasons: Tengku Razaleigh kept calling Dr Mahathir “bomoh”, and Datuk Abdullah gifted Mahathir a book of an English translation of Machiavelli’s “Il Principe”. It wasn’t the first time Dennis had known of me: in 1973 when my father passed away Dennis had a role to play as a protocol officer looking after foreign dignitaries that attended the State Funeral.

Thinking back to our meeting makes me wonder if Dennis had thought of a Machiavellian Bomoh when he conceived this book. Upon reading it, I think he might have.

Whatever conclusion is made about this book, Dennis is confident that with knowledge of the past and with a greater understanding of quality leadership, we may see Paradise Regained

End