A Doctor in The House: A Memoir of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (125 page)

Sadly, UMNO members had become a collection of sycophants interested only in staying in the good books of the President in order to ensure personal gains. Actions and policies detrimental to the party no longer receive any attention. If a problematic issue was raised, then it would immediately be dropped if the Prime Minister instructed it. As a result, no one in UMNO questioned why the half-bridge could not be built in our territorial waters. No one asked why we had a billion-ringgit CIQ complex completely gone to waste. There were also no queries as to why the Government stopped negotiating other issues, including the water deals, with Singapore. In fact, other than a bunch of bloggers, no UMNO member or leader questioned why billion-ringgit Malaysian companies had been transferred to Singapore.

Tun Abdullah then announced a line-up of several big projects, including the Second Penang Bridge, a monorail for Penang, extensions for the Light Rail Transit system, and the monorail in Kuala Lumpur and economic development initiatives for key regions in the country, which would undoubtedly consume funds in the billions. However, until late 2008, it was not known whether any of these projects had taken off or made any difference to the country.

A number of projects which were halted—the double-tracking of the railway, a Pahang-Selangor water transfer project
[3]
 and a new road to the causeway—have been partly reinstated. The double-tracking project, however, is only from Ipoh to Padang Besar and because of the delay, the cost of constructing just this short stretch would be around RM12 billion, when the original proposal which covered a rail line from Johor Baru to Padang Besar would cost only RM14 billion. The Bakun dam is also being attended to, although Tun Abdullah’s Government reverted to a plan to lay down two 700-kilometre submarine cables to bring the power to the Peninsula, an idea which we had rejected in the late 1990s as it was technically difficult and too expensive to execute.
 

I was equally troubled by the impact of the National Automotive Policy, which Tun Abdullah announced in March 2006. When it was implemented, sales of motor vehicles began to plummet. Proton sustained huge losses and is now venturing into electric cars and other projects to remain profitable. With the policy, we now import more components and cars when we should be manufacturing and exporting them.

But nothing forced me into open criticism more than the shocking results of the 12th General Election in March 2008. I was in Kuala Lumpur the night the election results were announced. I was supposed to fly to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia the following day, and needed a good rest before taking the trip. After Hasmah called to tell me that Mukhriz had won the Jerlun parliamentary seat in Kedah, I was able to sleep peacefully. The next morning, however, I was stunned when I read the full results.
[4]
 I had had some inkling that the Barisan Nasional would lose some seats but the extent of the coalition’s humiliation was far greater than I expected.
 

When I was told that my flight to Riyadh had been rescheduled, I immediately called for a Press conference, to state openly that Tun Abdullah must accept responsibility for the results and step down. It was only right, after such massive losses. I had anticipated Penang, Kedah and Kelantan falling to the Opposition but not Selangor and Perak as well. Losing Kedah was no surprise—we had nearly lost the state in 1999 because of Anwar and his black eye. In that election, however, Barisan Nasional had overwhelming Chinese support. This time, as surveys have shown, the Chinese and the Indians as well as the Malays all abandoned the ruling coalition.

I played no role in the 2008 elections as no one sought my assistance, so I only spent time in Mukhriz’s constituency during the campaign period. There, I met a man who rather wistfully said that democracy in UMNO did not exist anymore. I mulled over his words and came to the conclusion that he was right.

Democracy should prevent a bad leader from staying in power, but this is no longer the case with UMNO. Even when it appeared that Abdullah was not getting support, he insisted that he was. He was truly in a state of denial. The 
rakyat
 had a leader who applied pressure upon them in order to perpetuate his rule. Just like the Malays of the past who submitted unquestioningly to their Rulers, UMNO leaders today have mistaken meek acquiescence for loyalty.

This, along with money politics and the misguided notion of their “superior” status as Malays, has contributed significantly to the party’s weakness. And, as the law of nature dictates, when you are weak, you will also be subjected to pressure. The Sultans who insisted on having their say in the nomination of
Menteri Besar
 in several states must have also noted that Tun Abdullah’s hold was considerably diminished after the elections. In the past, when the Barisan Nasional had a commanding majority in the assembly, the Rulers merely endorsed the candidates named by the ruling party. This time, the Raja of Perlis, who simply did not want Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, withheld endorsing his re-nomination. Perlis today has a new 
Menteri Besar
, Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu. A similar conflict arose in Terengganu, where for several weeks, the state was without a government. This was because the Sultan—for some reason—did not want Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh re-appointed to the post. Tun Abdullah tried his best to retain Idris, but to no avail.

Although UMNO desperately needed a thorough post-mortem after the devastating losses of the 2008 General Election, all I saw was firefighting on a daily basis. There appeared to be no idea or identification of what needed changing and fixing and the party looked bereft of any strategy to pull itself together. For months Tun Abdullah received calls for his resignation, both from within and outside of UMNO. In some ways, I felt personally responsible for all of this as I had entertained great hopes that he would steer the country firmly in the direction set under Vision 2020 and chose him as my successor. To make amends, I joined the chorus of voices demanding for his resignation but he said he would not be dislodged until he had fulfilled his many “reform objectives” as Prime Minister. As a last-ditch measure, I quit UMNO in May of 2008. I had been a member for almost 60 years but I no longer recognised the party as the one I had served for most of my life.

The months after the election also saw the unravelling of the Barisan Nasional, with component parties hinting that they would leave or cross over to the Opposition. The ruling coalition was in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Its response to the crisis was clearly underlined by desperation and this further weakened the Government’s standing in the eyes of the people. It began to entertain extremist racialist demands which provoked protests from other races. The reasonable working relations between the component parties representing the different races became strained to the point of breaking.

There are those who insist that the problem went beyond Tun Abdullah. They claim the 
rakyat
 were moving away from race-based politics. Although voting patterns seem to support this argument, it is not true that ethnic parties are becoming irrelevant. If indeed people were leaning towards multiracial parties, Gerakan would have fared much better in the polls. Instead of interpreting the results as the end of ethnic-based politics, I am inclined to read them as nothing more than protest votes. I say this because Malaysia is still very deeply ethnocentric. Only when the Malays are confident that they can compete with the Chinese economically and the Chinese cease to emphasise their Chinese origins and their difference from others, will there be genuine multiracial politics.

Anwar is now exploiting the dissatisfaction on the ground, saying that he will introduce authentic, racially-integrated politics into the country. He has captured the imaginations of many with his apparently liberal and progressive talk. Upon close scrutiny, however, nothing he says reflects progressiveness. He was merely mouthing the racist sentiments of the extremists in every group to gain their support. He had always been supportive of the Israelis but when the Government appeared to be revising its anti-Israel policy he condemned the Government, to the annoyance of the Jews.

On 9 October 2008, Tun Abdullah announced that he would not defend his position at the UMNO General Assembly in March 2009, which paved the way for his Deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, to take over as UMNO President and Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister. Is this enough to save UMNO and the Barisan Nasional?

What is clear is that we need a strong leader to guide us out of this quagmire, and unless radical measures are taken, the Barisan Nasional will not survive the next General Election.

In my preface, I wrote that it was the wisdom of our founding fathers that led to the integrated and balanced system of government we had enjoyed under the Barisan Nasional. Despite the many shortcomings, we were able to resolve many of the multiracial and multireligious problems in a democratic and non-violent manner. It was for this reason that I was willing to return to UMNO to help restore cohesion in the coalition. It broke my heart to see this country stumble under such ineffective management. However, recent political developments have shown that the divisions in Malaysian society run as deeply as ever.

As I come to the end of my memoirs, the world is still unable to recover from a global recession. Major US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy, and Merrill Lynch and the American International Group had to be saved through billion-dollar bailouts. This triggered tumbles in stock markets around the world and governments in America and Europe took drastic measures to stop banks and financial institutions from collapsing. For a time, it looked more and more like a financial meltdown that only the toughest would survive. The Government under Najib unveiled two major economic stimulus packages, but it is still unclear if Malaysia is truly among the survivors. Still, Najib’s administration is far better than Abdullah’s

I am grateful to the people of Malaysia whose support had enabled me to lead this, my beloved country, for 22 years. I had tried my best although I cannot be a judge of my own work. It is up to the people of today and the future to pass judgment. As for me, I must admit that the greatest satisfaction that I get is from seeing physical evidence of the success of the plans and policies which were formulated while I was Prime Minister. I do not claim the results as my work alone. People from every stratum of society, the civil servants, colleagues in the Government, and members of my party have all contributed. I say prayers to Allah 
swt
 for His beneficence and for giving me parents who brought me up and instilled in me the values which made my career possible.

ENDNOTES

[
1
] Tan Sri Azizan Zainul Abidin, Chairman of PETRONAS, passed away on 14 July 2004.
 

[
2
] Datuk Seri Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim is the Managing Director of Weststar Motorsport Sdn Bhd. He owns 80 per cent of the company, and the remaining 20 per cent is owned by his partner Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz. Tan Sri Nasimuddin S.M. Amin was the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Naza Group, a leading automotive company in Malaysia.
 

[
3
] This 11-year project, which includes building two dams in Pahang and a reservoir in Selangor, is designed to help meet a projected increase in demand for treated and piped water in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
 

[
4
] The Barisan Nasional lost its traditional two-thirds majority, winning only 140 or 63.1 per cent of the 222 parliamentary seats. The Opposition also won control of five states—Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Perak and Kelantan—as well as the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.