Der House doctor: blatant or political liar? –Part 1

I HAVE INDIAN BLOOD BUT I AM MALAY.

When Dr. Mahathir said those lines, I nearly fell off the chair. Not because, the Malay categorization of such a fellow is a Mamak or and Indian Muslim, but because of the admission of political chameleon-ness of the person.

Because of that, we can now reconcile such an admission with one particular categorization of Dr Mahathir – that of a political liar. To re affirm his brand of politics, Dr Mahathir is willing to not tell the truth. His memoir contains not hard truths but fabricated deceits. All in furtherance of his politics. Musa Hitam wasn't the political animal after all. It's Mahathir. All the time.

Only Dr Mahathir has the absolute discretion to tell his version of things. He and his version is the ultimate measure. Many of us are just blinded by the fact that over 22 years when he lorded over us, Malaysia is rushed into the 21st century ignoring the immeasurable costs to this country and to Malays in particular.

If I were to accept another categorization of Dr Mahathir as a blatant liar, that would induce a different feeling. At least describing Dr Mahathir as a political liar suggests that essentially Dr Mahathir may still be a good person, but he assumes a certain character when his Machiavellian instincts overwhelm him. Tengku Razaleigh is ever so polite.

On the other hand, to describe Mahathir as a blatant liar suggests a deeper natural characteristic of the man. In other words Mahathir is a born liar. So you pick your choice- Mahathir the political liar or Mahathir a natural liar.

How can we ever argue with this kind of man? Here is an example of a man who can contain two extremes and two opposites simultaneously. So how? Mahathir is bye-ethnic? Others are hmm…..bye-sexual? When Mahathir cannot be Malay he says bye-as in when one cannot get sex, he says bye?

Arguing or opposing such a man would only end in the annihilation of one party- namely us. Consider this. When UMNO does not agree with him, he forms an UMNO Baru! UMNO- Under Mahathir Never Oppose.

Then, just look at the list of the vanquished in the hands of Dr. Mahathir. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah because of the man's absolute sense of propriety and protocol when Dr Mahathir has none; Musa bin Hitam because of Musa's insistence on stable principles when Dr Mahathir has only preferences for expedience; Ghafar Baba because of Ghafar's trusting nature and old school innocence facing off with Dr Mahathir's you-are-valued-as-long- as-you are useful to me and un-conventionalism; and Anwar Ibrahim because of the man's dirty morals(?) when Mahathir is artificially clinical.

Mahathir runs a political clinic then. He is a house doctor anyway-dispensing panadol and aspirin to relieve heart problems. Finally there was the bungling Tun Dol who immediately said yes I am ready to be your deputy when asked, when actually what Mahathir was looking was, a pliant tool.

So the victor writes his own history.

I have described him as the only man in Malaysia who can walk on water. That, as testament for his ability to do impossible things. But I think this description of himself beats everything else. Here is a person who can hold two opposites simultaneously. You can only term such a person as slippery. Anwar calls him a blatant liar. Tengku Razaleigh calls him a political liar. Can you beat such a slippery person? Now a slippery person can pick and choose which part of his own story that he wishes to amplify.

Dr Mahathir reminded me of Winston Churchill. We are all worms, but I am a glow worm. Everything else pales in comparison to him.

This could be the mystery sentence of the decade. It's spoken by the doctor in the house. He has just come out with his memoir after an 8 year wait. Unfortunately it appears to be extraordinary more in terms of the author's vindictiveness on his political rivals. As they say- history is written by the victor. Thus far, Dr Mahathir is the victor and he intends to tell the story as he sees it.

A memoir is what it is- a very personalized and heavily nuanced version of history. In the case of a memoir or autobiography- a personalized and heavily nuanced version of HIS legacy and a selective recollection of aspects of history.

It's easy to rebut what Dr Mahathir says- in diplomat-speake- we can always politely say, what Dr Mahathir says do not seem to tally with the records we have. For example, during that crucial Friday Prayer break, it was Mahathir's storm troopers who went on a spending spree paying delegates. He just couldn't believe that his larger number of nominations couldn't translate into votes.

But Mahathir said it was done by Razaleigh's people. So we say to Mahathir, what you say do not seem to match the notes we have. That is the only form of counter argument one can adduce against a personalized and nuanced version of history. He begun money politics he says it's done by others. He begun the politics of internal discord, he says others started it.

The question is- can you trust a person who is congenitally intractable? He wants Malaysians to accept history as it is written by him. He is pig-headed in his version of history. Can you hold on to anything he says if he doesn't see anything wrong in I have Indian blood but I am Malay. My Indian Muslim friends were rolling on the floor laughing out loud.

Rather than use this memoir as an opportunity to set the record straight, the memoir is used to bolster his one track views on many things. Mahathir is more eager to leave behind, a cleaned-up operation. Mostly the trails he left behind.

He says he was disappointed that Daim did not defend himself against accusations of graft- how could Daim if his defense will have to reveal that Mahathir, the one-time doctor who was not a wealthy person when he travelled frequently from Alor Star to KL, became the subject of insidious whispers of now being a fabulously wealthy man? Daim cannot defend possibly because Mahathir was also linked to the accusations? So Daim has to keep mum. Daim will have to bring down the house made of cards.

Mahathir is eager to leave a sanitized legacy perhaps because he is actually scared some people may piss on his grave. So he must give the world a sterilized version of his-story.