Mahathir makes his moves-1

So far only the madcaps are out to attack Mahathir. We have Ismail Sabri Yaakob- the agricultural minister. He owed his rise in politics to Pak Lah and KJ and now would like to keep his job under Najib. After all, he and Najib are both from Pahang.

The others can be considered as court jesters. Salleh Said Keruak certainly fits the bill- clutching at straws to demonise Mahathir. They will prove to be pages to King maker Mahathir.

We may dislike or disapprove of Dr Mahathir over many things. Many of us, including I like to ridicule DR Mahathir. I am conscious of placing my poking fun at Dr Mahathir in the context of an old Malay saying- anjing menyalak bukit. The dog barks at the mountain, the mountain does not move. But like Dr Mahathir is wont to say, what to do- I am recalcitrant.

I have always used the term the man who can walk on water when describing Dr Mahathir. But I don’t use the term in a pejorative way.

By that I refer to his ability to think of ideas unlike normal people do. He can do impossible things and get away with it. He can openly criticise and not get the highhanded reaction which would normally be applied to lesser mortals.

I am surprised that his recent open criticisms of Najib and the government, have not elicited a police report from that motley group led by one Mat Kulup Rani. Yes –that strange materialisation of a being with that red beret who eats, sleeps and awakes thinking of making a police report on anything that moves.

The well placed najib supporters on the other hand are responding in zombie like fashion. You can’t defeat Mahathir by producing a laundry list of wrongdoings. He can come out the same on Najib since Najib became a minister circa 1977. 

I was having a talk the other day with a Frenchman who has a doctorate in economics from the Sorbonne. Eventually our conversation led to politics. He gave an opinion that was somewhat startling to me. I asked- who in his opinion are the good leaders in Asia? He mentioned 3 names- Park Chung Hee, Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Mahathir.

Hah? I said- these are the strong leader types. Many would accuse them of being dictatorial and responsible for stifling democracy and democratic institutions.

But these are the leaders many countries need- he said. My own country France is in a mess- If anyone cares to analyse carefully. All developing countries need a leader who can apply the carrot and the stick method. They need leaders who can persuade and discipline people towards a goal.

I didn’t contest his opinion from that point onwards because my meeting with this gentleman wasn’t the proper setting.

When Mahathir came in as PM, he sets out goals which people can see. He sets out the strategies to achieve them. We paid a price for that. That is true. In the end, he has many things to show.

We may condemn Mahathir- but he thought the way of the country. By that I mean, while we can accuse Mahathir of doing many bad things, thinking the way of the country means, he places the interests of the country above all else.

In Najibs case, he does not think the way of the country. In the present session of parliament- two disturbing trends seem to emerge. He is devising ways and means to suppress dissent and place the opposition and the rakyat under repression. Second, he wastes no time to create special vehicles on how to fleece money. The civil aviation bill for instance- will see the creation of civil Aviation Commission which will handle the business of civilian airlines- all aspects. This will be another financial black hole.

Najib is not thinking the way of the nation. He is not the leader that Malaysia needs.

Bur Dr Mahathir – this man has got class. Say whatever of him, he has shown to everyone, he has the credentials. His appearance at Dato Ibrahim’s (Anwar’s father) house on hearing of the latter’s death, surprised everyone. It showed that at 90, Dr Mahathir is still clear headed.

That brings us to Mahathir’s current fixation of getting Najib out of Putrajaya. Ignore the noises from well placed Najib supporters- it’s the voice at the grassroots that matter. They are saying, believing Mahathir -that Najib has made a mess of this country. All these well placed supporters of Najib are only fighting to keep Najib in place, because he is the driver of the gravy train. Kick out the driver, and their salad days and places in the sun will vanish. That is what they are fighting for.

That is why, we must continue to ‘support ‘Mahathir. As I have said before- the enemy to our enemy is our friend. Do you think Mahathir wants to listen to what Adnan Mansor wants to say? If Najib doesn’t have the courage to see Mahathir and counter the issues raised by Mahathir, why should we believe that Najib has the wherewithal to run this country?

The response by Shahrir Samad saying that Najib has had one to one meetings with Mahathir was disappointing. These meetings were in the past. Like Tun Daim told me- with Najib, it’s like giving advise for someone receiving from one ear going out the other one. Nothing stays in that barren area between the ears.

Shahrir Samad is disappointing too. He is saying what he said, not because he is the Barisan Nasional backbenchers’ whip, but because he dislikes Mahathir. The other person he dislikes is Tengku Razaleigh.  He used to listen to Musa Hitam- but then Musa Hitam was also the originator of Najib’s elegance silence. Musa Hitam told me that each time, he wants to tell Shahrir that things have gone awry, Shahrir would cabut.

We want to fight Mahathir. We want to fight Najib. All at once. Some say that Najib is the silver bullet. Let him stay on so that it will be easier for PR to win with Najib leading BN.

I don’t think that is a good strategy. If we don’t take the chance to help kick out Najib, he will stronger. He will then turn his guns on PR. He has the resources at his disposal. If he succeeds in removing his biggest challenge- which is DR Mahathir, he can BR1Med his way securing allegiance from the rakyat.

That’s assuming Najib is a total dud. He will not do anything to reinforce himself. He will just let the ground crumble beneath him and he will let the PR people grow stronger. You give space to Najib, he will strike back and at every strike he gets stronger.

Dr Mahathir ia attacking Najib. We should give more space for Mahathir to hit at Najib and weaken UMNO. People forget, that UN can be beaten only when it’s eaten up from inside. So let the internal forces within UMNO drawing their energy and inspiration from DR Mahathir be given sufficient space to kill off Najib. Politically that is.