Dr. M’s Memoir: the luxury of being Malay and un-Malay

oii bangsat..berapa banyak khairy jamaludin bayar engkau ni ??

Of all the comments on the articles I write, this is one I like most. Because it is the stupid man's way of wishing a problem away. It also represents one who hasn't got anything to argue with. The language used by this anonymous sob has all the hallmarks of a peddler of rancid and putrid curry, tumeric and chilies and all other spices that have gone through a cat's digestive system.

At one point in US history, psychiatry was used to put aside society's undesirables. Many blacks were committed to mental institutions or were locked way from society, to ensure society remains clean (meaning predominantly white). This was the clever and cunning man's way of doing away with a problem.

In Malaysia, the stupid and indolent man's way of sweeping away a problem, is to accuse your opponent as being a paid lackey. Or to cast aspersions of the persons morals. This last strategy can only be verified by asking the actual persons involved, not bloggers or spin health assistants (HAs ) who don't know what they are talking about.

Was it not quite recently that some bloggers quarreled among themselves because they suspect one another of sapu-ing the money paid to them for services rendered during by elections?

People need to understand the difference between the term blatant and political liar. To describe someone as a blatant liar, suggests that such behavior is an intrinsic part of the personality. Born liar comes to mind. Anwar Ibrahim for example has personal issues with Dr Mahathir. So he calls the latter, a blatant liar. I am not interested in personal fights and quarrels.

The term political liar suggests, you can be inherently good but manipulates your story in furtherance of retaining power. The art of securing and retaining power is politics. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah terms Mahathir a political liar, conceding (I suspect) that Dr Mahathir may and can be a good person. When no politics is involved that is.

Razaleigh knows Mahathir better than most of us- Razaleigh, Musa Hitam and Mahathir were all young men many decades ago. They may have similar hobbies, indulged in similar pastimes, ate food together, frequent the same watering holes, eye-balled the same dance hostess. Razaleigh must have known Mahathir as the person he truly was and is.

Here is a memoir written by a most revered person. There is no doubt that Dr Mahathir is an immensely popular person. I am impressed to hear 10,000 copies were sold in the first 3 days or so. But I certainly had no difficulty in buying the book. Then I remembered- it must be true: MPH which belongs to Syed Mokhtar buys 5000 copies and Borders which belongs to Vincent Tan buys another 5000 copies. Total 10,000 copies.

But- Reading the 62 chapters gives you the feeling, the author is putting up or weaving tales so as to justify and legitimize actions taken the past. It's a voluminous tract in an attempt for self-cleansing perhaps? Or maybe self-deliverance? Deliver us from the tangled web we weaved.

People say a memoir is a personalized story of one self and a deliberately skewed presentation of events and facts. Write your own memoir if you are not happy is the most common knee jerk response. That's a very disingenuous and tricky response because , in the case of Dr Mahathir's memoir, a person would have to be regarded as having standing if he were a former PM wouldn't he? No, you can still dispute what's said in a memoir even if you don't write one especially when description of political issues is specious.

Let's see. I read all the 62 chapters. I keep coming back to chapter 2. Why would a person proud to be Malay and extolling the virtues of the Malay people wasn't upfront about his ethnic origins? Of course he didn't say I have Indian blood but I am Malay in one sentence. But have you not heard of distilling what's written and said? You can't distill the essence? Of course you can't if your reading repertoire is confined to mills and boons, Beano and Dandy comics.

Mahathir is Malay and yet un-Malay. Malay because as he says its- he identifies with the Malays. Malay because he despises the characteristics of Malays that weaken them. He is UN-MALAY, when he uses the virtues that he fondly described the Malays as having to his advantage. Hence when the truer Malay like Tengku Razaleigh for example, makes way to Mahathir's seniority as a sign of polite deference as a Malay does, does he return the favour?

Ada ubi ada batas, ada budi ada balas. The real Malay does that. The Malay doesn't if he has un-Malay characteristic. Nope- he says, he leaves the decision of finding the deputy president of UMNO to delegates. He accepts the decision when it brought him advantage. Once there, he assumes his un-Malay identity.

He said it himself- the fact that a Malay has different blood in them, doesn't make him any less Malay. So why put up an admission that he has south Indian blood but doesn't know which part of the Indian subcontinent his ancestors come from? It's academic since it doesn't lessen his Malay-ness. Even if he knew or doesn't, and we accept that he and many others don't know where our ancestors come from, it doesn't make him less Malay.

He puts it up anyway and wants it to be known he has that ancestry to justify why at times, he behaves un-Malay.

We accepted people like Dr Mahathir as being Malay and will never discriminate against him even if he were known by a name which has peculiar sounding terms affixed to it. By the way Dr Mahathir defines Malayness in chapter 2, the Malays are simply incapable of vicious discrimination on him.

So why is Dr. Mahathir holding back? I don't think the Malays, who, by his own admission with their infinite capacity for accommodativeness and willingness to accept others will disown Mahathir even if they knew where his ancestors come from. My own opinion- this is opinion- is that that despite elaborate treatment of the virtues of Malayness- exceedingly polite, respect for elders, deferring to the opinions of elders, excessive respect for people with titles and so forth- Mahathir actually DOES NOT TRUST the Malays.

Two, all those virtues and characteristics of the Malays were seen as weaknesses which DR Mahathir can leverage and capitalize on. He can fall back on his un-Malay portion when he wants to deliver the coup-de-grace. He delivers this when he screwed up Tengku Razaliegh, he delivers this when generally chastising and mocking the docile and pliant Malays.

Being Malay therefore has its pros and cons. Good being Malay, when they accept Mahathir as Malay unreservedly. Bad being Malay when it nearly led them becoming a minority in their own country. Mahathir is a walking cost-benefit analyst. What's the cost and benefit to admit one is Malay? So when cornered he falls back on Malayness sentiments and treat his belonging to the Malay race as a safety net. When not cornered, the Malayness in him is not relevant.

The message is this. What's so bad if I had Indian blood and accepting me as Malay, when you stupid Malays accepted Chinese and Indians into this country and it nearly cost you your own country? So don't question my Malayness and what I have tried to do to you, when your own stupidity could have led to annihilation?

Dr Mahathir seems to be conscious and even overly so of his ethnic origins. So he devotes so many pages writing on ethnicity of Malays and their virtue of not basing ethnicity just on bloodline. Everyone can become a Malay and once he becomes one, enjoy the same rights and privileges and deserves the same treatment. Meaning, Dr Mahathir will feel offended if he is regarded as being less Malay when he is already one.

Whereas we in UMNO are not making a fuss about it for the simple reason, our identity is more based on history and culture. Dr Mahathir says so himself on page 31. So why does a person who acknowledges that Malays in general are accommodative and liberal in outlook, had to devote a great many pages on discussing the subject of ethnicity?

Here is my theory. Maybe because for so long Dr Mahathir has been hiding his ethnic roots for fear of being rejected? He doesn't trust the Malays after all even after conceding the Malays are not inherently racist. Onn Jaafar didn't hide his Turkish ancestry. Tengku Abdul Rahman didn't hide his Siamese ancestry. Maybe Dr Mahathir wasn't sure of Malay acceptance of his ancestry after all.

If a person like Kadir Sheikh fadzir and Azeez Raheem were to position themselves among Pahang Malays for example, from appearance and physiognomy alone, no one will call them Malays. But because we look more at shared history and shared culture, we accept them as Malays. We are not bothered by their ancestry. So what if Dr Mahathir has Indian roots and actually has a kutty behind his name- he is accepted as Malay. When I was growing up in Kuantan, I had many schoolmates with kutty behind their names; we regarded those as oddities but never regard as being other than Malay. They may behave different, apply different hair oil, eat different but delicious food- they were Malays.

Because of this fluidity, dr Mahathir can feel free to criticize Malays for whatever reasons- lack of the proper values, taking things easy. Yet Dr Mahathir says in chapter 2 that he fully identifies with Malays.

Why? Because as Dr Mahathir says it- Malays have this infinite capacity to accommodate. Now everyone is Malay. It's like Dr Mahathir says- Malays are never obsessed with purity of the blood. Malays are generous and willing to work with anybody. We Malays are even willing to give up our rights and privileges to accommodate others. We accept them as one of us. We certainly did with Dr M.