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Tun M and the Broken Record
9 Mar 2023
Adzhar Ibrahim
9 Mar 2023
Adzhar Ibrahim
Image Credit: Blogspot
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, our two-time Prime Minister, seems to be happily, or perhaps unhappily, two-timing us.
His voice is becoming more strident, inflammatory even, harping on the Malays-are-being-overwhelmed theme. One of his Greatest Hits for sure, apparently being rereleased under the Broken Records label.
We’ve heard it all before, and we’re hearing it all again. I guess that’s what two-timing means, even if in reality many-timing would be a better description.
There was a time when I was a huge admirer of the Tun. I remember way back in the seventies when I was in school cheering the news of his appointment as education minister.
I didn’t quite know why I cheered, but it seemed like it was good news. The Malays seemed to finally have a real hero, not like the other entitled, privileged namby pamby effete “traitors”.
Events since haven’t quite borne that out, but still, we felt what we felt.
Years later, when I travelled to remote exotic parts of the world such as Africa and Central Asia, having Malaysian flags stitched to our clothing was a surefire way to make friends.
(Aside: Even our Singaporean fellow travelers happily wore the Jalur Gemilang because of this! I’m surprised they haven’t claimed our flag was invented in Singapore!)
Many locals there were excited and proud to meet Malaysians, and many knew of Mahathir. He was the Third World hero to them, as he was to us.
That’s one area I’d unreservedly give him credit for – foreign policy. Malaysian punched well above its weight because of him, and we basked in the reflected glory.
He did well with our economic growth too, but there it’s more of a double-edged sword. We tried to ape the industrial nations by building factories to make things – steel, cars and everything that the industrial age brought us.
Proud as we were of Proton, the company was forever on the edge of bankruptcy, until it was rescued by more practical minds. And does anybody even remember Perwaja?
These massive projects exerted a steep price on the nation. Tens or multiples of tens or maybe even hundreds of billions were forked out in taxes and duties and levies, not to mention leaks and corruption and opportunity costs, in order to build or to protect our many “prides”.
All these happened when even much the industrial world was turning away from these rapidly-consolidating industrial projects. The UK and much of Western Europe don’t have “national cars” anymore, and don’t particularly care.
They do however have national car industries – Britain hosts basically all the big American or Asian or European car makers and brands. They’ve the expertise, resources and infrastructure to make cars, and don’t care too much whether their flags are on any of them.
Same with Thailand. And Taiwan. And even Indonesia. They don’t have a national car, but have thriving car industries that employ millions and bring in billions in economic benefits.
And all of these even before going into what he did to establish cronyism and dismantle much of our democratic guardrails, effects of which are being felt to this day.
We should’ve focused on our advantages – agriculture and food security. Had we done that then we wouldn’t have ministers of all political stripes making an ass of themselves trying to sort out kangkungs (remember these?) and chickens and eggs.
Trying to one-up the western world, driven by ego and hubris and the many chips on his shoulders, had been massive missteps. In reality all he wanted was just to be admitted into this exclusive club.
Such chips mean even the greatest of intellect and intention can be lulled into the dark side.
Tun Dr Mahathir would’ve made a great king. He’s certainly intelligent, and what he does which are bad for a democracy would have been seen as benign and acceptable in a monarchy.
But we don’t have any vacancy for a monarch, though if any of the middle-eastern oil-rich nations or emirates are keen, he’s available!
But until then, out of bitterness, perhaps regrets and likely shame, he’d be shouting increasingly vitriolic comments in the company of unsavory people. Try as he might though, he can't be as ultra as the many ultra-ultras already out there and will become increasingly irrelevant.
A little wisdom and a little humility would’ve made him a better PM the first time around, a true game changer the second time, and regardless, a well-loved stateman as he approaches his century mark.
But self-awareness has never been high in Tun’s repertoire. It’s always “I am right”, and then double and triple down on it.
You can be too smart for your own good. So, lets just listen with a rueful smile at the latest rantings and ravings, which are so bitter even the trademark Mahathir sneers and sarcasms aren’t to be seen anymore.
We now have many other things to do. Let’s move on.
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, our two-time Prime Minister, seems to be happily, or perhaps unhappily, two-timing us.
His voice is becoming more strident, inflammatory even, harping on the Malays-are-being-overwhelmed theme. One of his Greatest Hits for sure, apparently being rereleased under the Broken Records label.
We’ve heard it all before, and we’re hearing it all again. I guess that’s what two-timing means, even if in reality many-timing would be a better description.
There was a time when I was a huge admirer of the Tun. I remember way back in the seventies when I was in school cheering the news of his appointment as education minister.
I didn’t quite know why I cheered, but it seemed like it was good news. The Malays seemed to finally have a real hero, not like the other entitled, privileged namby pamby effete “traitors”.
Events since haven’t quite borne that out, but still, we felt what we felt.
Years later, when I travelled to remote exotic parts of the world such as Africa and Central Asia, having Malaysian flags stitched to our clothing was a surefire way to make friends.
(Aside: Even our Singaporean fellow travelers happily wore the Jalur Gemilang because of this! I’m surprised they haven’t claimed our flag was invented in Singapore!)
Many locals there were excited and proud to meet Malaysians, and many knew of Mahathir. He was the Third World hero to them, as he was to us.
That’s one area I’d unreservedly give him credit for – foreign policy. Malaysian punched well above its weight because of him, and we basked in the reflected glory.
He did well with our economic growth too, but there it’s more of a double-edged sword. We tried to ape the industrial nations by building factories to make things – steel, cars and everything that the industrial age brought us.
Proud as we were of Proton, the company was forever on the edge of bankruptcy, until it was rescued by more practical minds. And does anybody even remember Perwaja?
These massive projects exerted a steep price on the nation. Tens or multiples of tens or maybe even hundreds of billions were forked out in taxes and duties and levies, not to mention leaks and corruption and opportunity costs, in order to build or to protect our many “prides”.
All these happened when even much the industrial world was turning away from these rapidly-consolidating industrial projects. The UK and much of Western Europe don’t have “national cars” anymore, and don’t particularly care.
They do however have national car industries – Britain hosts basically all the big American or Asian or European car makers and brands. They’ve the expertise, resources and infrastructure to make cars, and don’t care too much whether their flags are on any of them.
Same with Thailand. And Taiwan. And even Indonesia. They don’t have a national car, but have thriving car industries that employ millions and bring in billions in economic benefits.
And all of these even before going into what he did to establish cronyism and dismantle much of our democratic guardrails, effects of which are being felt to this day.
We should’ve focused on our advantages – agriculture and food security. Had we done that then we wouldn’t have ministers of all political stripes making an ass of themselves trying to sort out kangkungs (remember these?) and chickens and eggs.
Trying to one-up the western world, driven by ego and hubris and the many chips on his shoulders, had been massive missteps. In reality all he wanted was just to be admitted into this exclusive club.
Such chips mean even the greatest of intellect and intention can be lulled into the dark side.
Tun Dr Mahathir would’ve made a great king. He’s certainly intelligent, and what he does which are bad for a democracy would have been seen as benign and acceptable in a monarchy.
But we don’t have any vacancy for a monarch, though if any of the middle-eastern oil-rich nations or emirates are keen, he’s available!
But until then, out of bitterness, perhaps regrets and likely shame, he’d be shouting increasingly vitriolic comments in the company of unsavory people. Try as he might though, he can't be as ultra as the many ultra-ultras already out there and will become increasingly irrelevant.
A little wisdom and a little humility would’ve made him a better PM the first time around, a true game changer the second time, and regardless, a well-loved stateman as he approaches his century mark.
But self-awareness has never been high in Tun’s repertoire. It’s always “I am right”, and then double and triple down on it.
You can be too smart for your own good. So, lets just listen with a rueful smile at the latest rantings and ravings, which are so bitter even the trademark Mahathir sneers and sarcasms aren’t to be seen anymore.
We now have many other things to do. Let’s move on.
Adzhar Ibrahim is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The good thing is that Malaysia needs to tolerate his nonsense just a wee bit longer.
ReplyDeleteThe hour glass is running out of sand. That perhaps explain his desperate need to be relevant just before his death.
But in doing so, he is seen as the evil, hateful and bitter man who does not know when to stop.