The different Tun Mahathir that they speak of
Malaysian Chinese News
The Opposition is a bleaching solution which is a common phrase used in politics. Whoever is in the Opposition or stand on a different platform other than Barisan Nasional can have all their past wrongdoings be bleached white to become a hero of justice in the eyes of the Rakyat.
If you don’t like the term bleaching solution, you can choose Andy Lau’s popular song “Forgot your past potion” to describe the whitewash of character. Once the political leader left Barisan Nasional, he could always use the Opposition platform to serve the Rakyat with a glass of “Forgot your past potion”. The Rakyat would then forget all about his past remarks and unjustified rules set by the leader when he was in Barisan Nasional.
Politics is a game of mutual gains and not keeping your words as a principle. The Penang Chief Minister cum DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng stated his rationale when he cooperated with former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir. He said Tun Mahathir told him after 22 years as a Prime Minister, his bank account never reached the RM4.2 billion mark. With such assurance he cooperated and worked with Tun Mahathir.
In politics, co-operation is for the sake of mutual gains. Needless to say, the Chief Minister Lim has to find a more suitable rationale to justify the cooperation between DAP and Tun Mahathir.
Tun Mahathir’s bank account may not have RM4.2 billion but during his twenty two year era, he had implemented many rotten policies in the eyes of the Opposition or DAP. Suddenly, the past is buried now and not to be mentioned anymore.
There was a saying that the phenomenon of religious extremism and racism was started by the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir. During his era, he implemented many policies favouring the Malay Bumiputras. They included the 20 years old New Economic Policy (NEP), using NEP to implement Bumiputra monopoly in business, “Only for Bumiputra companies”, “Only Bumiputra contractor policy” and others. He even added the compulsory 30% Bumiputra equity rule in corporate shares.
At present, the Chinese community is dissatisfied because of the past political injustice legacy of Tun Mahathir’s. After stepping down as prime minister, he tagged along with Perkasa, a racist organisation that the Chinese hated most. Tun Mahathir had also hurled remarks in the past which humiliated the Chinese.
Recently, the Opposition seems to use Tun Mahathir’s influence in the Malay society to rationalise his various humiliations on the Chinese. Lim Kit Siang even declared easily, “Let the past be the past” even though Malaysian Chinese have spent a few decades on this land and many generations have paid for the price.
It cannot be denied that Tun Mahathir had contributed to the national economy and development. Yet his race based policies over a long period have hurt the non-Malays badly, increases racial polarisation and destroys racial harmony in the country.
Besides Mahathir, the Opposition also accepted former deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin who sang the opposite tune to Najib’s “1Malaysia” concept. He regarded himself as Malay first, Malaysian second. However when, Muhyiddin changed his political path, he became a just leader of the Rakyat.
Yes, politics is the survival of mutual interest. If we practise justice and principle differently to our advantage, it is crude and even offensive. The influence of Tun Mahathir and Muhyiddin is unquestionable. DAP, PAS or any Opposition party used to say these two leaders were bad leaders but now they are turned into heroic figures. Remarks on such drastic transformation in character are unacceptable.
