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-\11 Early Introduction to Brutal Politics
I'MI II
PAtGRAVE MACMILlAN
I
Pal grave M3Cmillan In the UK is an imp"nt of Macmi llan PubUshen; Umited.
registered in England, company numbef 185998. of Hourw:lmills. B asingstoke.
and Maera k, a semi-rural slum in Alar Star, on lO )uly 1925.lI i5 fat her, Mohamad Iskandar, a teacher, had lX'l'n recruited
from Penang by the Kedah state authorities to open a secondary school for the sons and daughters ofthe sultan anc1 local cli te. Left with Iltrl'C children after the death of his wife, he moved to Alor Star and married Mahathlr's mother, Wa n Tcmpawall Wall lIilnafi, a loca l woman 14 years hIs lunlor, who . No factor was more import ant tha n hi s pipe-smoking fath er. Master Mohamad Islmndar, as he was called a t school, IllI poSd tha i If Malays were l'ver to enjoy t he same living standards a ~ Chincse, they would nct'd ext ra government ht'l p.
l't'II(~
9
As it happened, t he return ing British proposed to form t he Malayan Un ion , which wou ld rem ove the advlll1tages t he Malays had long enjoyed, while extendi ng citizenship freely to all races. As Mallathir and ot hers saw it, if the Malays were behind when Ihey already receiwd preference in areas such as employment in the bureaucracy, land ownership and ed uca tional assistance, t hey would suffe r grievollsly in the open com pe tit ion being e nVisaged with the Ch inese a nd Ind ia liS. Int roduced in 194 6 over ferven t Malay objections, the Malayan Union grouped t he nine Mal ay states, where Britai n ruled iud irectly th rough monarchies headed by su ltans, with the settlements of Penang and Malacca - which Britain ad ministered di rectly, en the worl d's most complex sod ety -three communitirs d ividt'd hy rt'ligion, Ia n· guage, culture, value system s, place of residence, ors. Now that they and olher fore igners had control of the economy, Britain was intending to grant them citizenship. As pout of the Ma lay nationalist outrage that swept the country, Mahathir led schoo! friends in orga nizing protests, mai nly produci ng and distributing posters at nigh t. 1·le jOi ned activist group~ and attended, as a n observer, a Ililtlona l congress of Malay organ i7.A1lions th prime mini ster, he wo ul d t(' li hl:i bodyguards a nd min de rs 10 lea ve, exposing himself to the Tagging of aging medicos reliving their youth, and dish ing il out to them In retu rn. At these intensely private, Informal ga therings, Dr. Mahathit and Dr. Si ti lIasrnah, both considered to have good voices - he rs somewhat better t ha n h is - were usually ca lled upon for a duet. In 1997, Or. Ma hath ir sa ng My WtlY solo, with lyrics written for the occasion by class members a nd featuring Arneriran investor George Soros, blamed by the Ma laysian leader for aggravating the A~lan t'C(momic crisis that )'ear.4O Living away fro m ho me for the first ti me, Mahathir proved a true son of his father as he managed his time eXp.:'rtly. Sor ializing little beyond occasio nal visits to thl' cinema, he shunned campus poli ticS, d ismissing such activity as " playing gall\es~, a nd telling fellow students he prden ed to pmticipatc In tht' 1'('31 polit ical d ra ma unfold in g on th(' Ma lay P(' ninsula.~1 Mahat hir bcca ml' president of the college Islamic Socicty, and edited and produced an issllc of his medica l school lou mal, the O w/drou. lie continued writing artick-s regularly enough for Ihe Stmits "'/11"5 lind Sunriay Times to hel p buy a motorcycle; Siti IId",mah n.xll· pil lion. lIis varied o utput, written in a ~di r('d, d idactic style. W>lS a "rt'm arkable accompli shm(·nt fo r a ful l-ti me studen t in a demanding d iscipline ....' ! And if was apPl'('Ciated, >It least by the Straits Timl·s. An editor called him to the paper's offic(.>$ in Singapore and as ked if hl' was intt're:.t('(] In a job as a journalist. No, he was not. Singapore gave bi rth to an ur ban myth, Ihat Mahathi r thought of himself as an Indian when he ellle red un iversity. The story was relold in severa l gossipy versio ns, losing no nc of it~ appea l across the decad('s. Academ ics, diploma ts a nd even a forme r cabin('t COlleague delighted in passing along the dNails, all complet ely un tru(>. Mahat hir's fath er considered hi msel f a Ma lay and he l'nsured that illl his l'hildren were noth ing else but Malay.
Politicized by WilT (I//(/l'l'II(('
1:1
In hi $ w ritings, which began be fo re he went 10 Singapo re, Mahathir identified totally wit h the Ma lays an d show('ti he was intimately familiar with thei r custo ms, social life and problems, whether it was educat ion, fis h, ing or pudi plim ti ng. His more overtl y poli tical Wllt rihuti ons were polem· ical, and uncomprom ising in dcf(>ncc of Malay rights. Foreshadowing the nationalist sta nce Ihat wou ld make him a hero to m an y Mala ys when he enter('(1 Pa rliament, he crit icized the colonial admi nistration, l'alled for the re-i ntroduction o f Ma lay as an oflici al language, alongside English , a nd made tht' case for "reta rdi ng progrt'ss" somet imes in order to help tht' Miliays advance. Well ahead of his time, hl' also advOt'a ted women 's rights, a rgUing espt"'C ia lly for women to be give n opportunities In education a nd employment .H At the same lime, Maha thi r bega n to reveal critica l opinions about the Ma lay'S themselves that would be, their "low aver;lge in telligence quolien l ... ~~ After graduati ng, Dr. Ma hllthh spent only four years in government s('rvin~ in Pena ng and Kedah befort· resig ni ng to o pen a private practice, while his wift' was to work as a docto r fo r the govern mellt for 2S years. Alt hough the im med iate reason fOr his q uitti ng was the failure of a superior to support h is ilppl iGlI iol\ for a posting to study In a teHch ing hospital in Pena ng to be a surgeon, h(' also wanted to remai n ncar his aging parents. Borrowing money from a brot her-in-law. he opcnl' of mo n ey. Dr. Mahat hlr j'lug hed when the kids e nter('(.l [}('wspl' indulged in an orgy of kill ing, looting a nd lJurning in Kua la I umpur. Although the Alilanre government retaIned a majority In Parlla· ment, UMNO lost Mof its 59 scats, on(' of thelll Dr. Mahal hir's. The oppos· Itlon won 14 urban scats, 13 of thcm at tl\(' cxpen!>C hands. Chin('S{' a nd IndIan opposition ~upporl('rs paraded th rough the streets of Kuala Lumpur in cciebrdtion, taunting and insult ing the Malays. Fea rful that they were losing their last refuge, political domina n('(', the Malays retalIated. The} slaughtered each otllt'r with an assortment of f'c"alI.'<s, a type of macheue with a wooden handle, I abo formally banned. with printing, selling or distributing It punlsh .. ble Ily thrre ycar~ Imprisonment and a rille of RM2,OOO. Witll this son of protectiOn, no outsid ers could force till' Tunku to quit, Ihough iu~t itS surt'ly he wou ld Ita longer iJave the final sayon m
to spend most of their ti me resting or talking to each other. hi-breeding, and tile abS(~ncc of inler-raoal marriages in rural areas, together with certain ~i al practke~, Silpped their enterprise and had a diSilstrous cffect on the Malay community over the long term. The Chi!lc$l..', by contrast, from a homeland littered with disasters and with a custom of "cross-breeding" . were the fit survivors of a natural weeding Out proc('~. If all prOtection for the Malays were removed, the book argued, "it would perhaps be possible to breed a hilrdy and resourceful race capable of compelln~ against all comers. Unfortunately, we do not have four thousand years to play around with. " So while Dr. Mahathir accepted the need for constructive protection Immediately, in the end it would be "the peoplsing the normal progres!>ion from a deputy position , he served in a coalition government that had been broadened by Prime Minhter Razak heyond the o riginal Alliance to becon1l' the multi-party National Front. M PAS had renamed itself l'Mti Islam Se-Malaysia and jOined the administration, Dr. Mahathir could not contest his old seat, but moved inste
All /:·,trly Il/Im(/lIclilJ/l /11 11m/III /'u/ilics
In Novcm lx:r 1976. i\lxlul1a h Ahmad. 36. and Abdullah Maj id. 50. deputy m inister for labour and manpower. who had workt-d as R.1.zak's pr('S..~ set:retary. were arrested. along with fo ur o thers. Intimidated by Sp\.'Cial Branch oOk('rs, the " two Dollahs", as they were known, d uly aplX'ared on TV and ronfl'SS('{\ to commun ist act ivity while they held o fliee. As the witch hun t accelerated and widel1t'd, Depu ty Prime Minister Mahathir and Musa I-litam. miniSter fo r primary ind ustries - the ultimate targets - Ix>gan to (cd the heat. The arrest of the two del)lIty ministers "in itself was a ll acking tiS, indir«tly," Mus.1. \:lld later.'" GhazaH was abk to jail so mallY people wit h no rcal ('vid('lIce because 11(' had an unwitting accomplice in Prime Minister Husseill Onn . Upright. honest ami 1l1·sui tl'{l to the rough and tumble of Ma lay polit iCS, Hussein did not effectively mll trol t he UMNO he ullexpt'cted ly inhNited , Gha 1.ali wa .~ on e of two cabi lll..'t III('mbt' rs Ilussein r('l ied Ilcavily 011 for advice, tlH.' o t] Il'r bel rl~ Flll(lnct' Mill iSh,'r Te rlgku ROrlS. He spent most of the next ftvl' years loct.ed away, two of whi ch were In solitary confincment. sl Dr. Mahal h ir an d Musa, who sat next to eac h o t he r at wee kly Cabi net nl('~' t l n~s c hai red by th e prime minist('r, were aware of Ghazali's manoe uvrings, Said Musa: " Wil en Hussein Onn SlIyS, 'Thi s is from neutral sources'. we'd nudge each ot her and say, 'Special Branch. Special Bra nch', That's a ll. We kllew what was going Oil , yes," S2 Musa said that "I f Ghil 7. had his wa y. all of Ull would havc Ix.'cn in" detentlon_ It was to Hussein's credit, MUSil said , that he had resisted GhazaU') recommendations that Dr. Mahathir and Musa join the o thers Ix.'h ind bars.
37
It .....as no t for want of trying o n Ghil1..ali·s part, though . SYl-d !-Iusin Ali, a political prisoner for 19 months at a cam p at Taipillg in Petak state, was suddenly transferred wit hout explanation to Kua la Lumpur in mid-1 976 at thl' height of the anti-communiSI hysteria. I\ n assoclale professor of anthrolXllogy ,Ind sociology at the Universi ty of Ma lay", Ill' had been detained ~ince latc 1974 for sUPI>or\i ng protests by f;mllers at Baling in Kl'xplaln wh y Siddiq had bL'Cn picked up only in 1981 whell he had been su~pe cled of spying Since 1979. I.ong "fler, Or. Mahal h ir agreed that t he dramat iC arrest cou ld hilVC \)t'l'lI tl m('d to stop him ta ki ng over as pri me minister. "Th e act io n agai nst Sidellq I11lght have [had l lhat I lIlC'lItio n .h he said, "So it would SI!cm he was an ot her age nt o f infl uence who has becn placcd in Ill y offi ce, a nd t hw.:fo re I I11 lg ht he SUbj('l·t to t hi s Idtist Infiul'nce. ~ ss As his politicill allies lind others were being roun ded up, Dr. Ma ha lhir had laid journalist friends repeatedly he did not be lieve tlu.' y were guilty.Sf,
All Early IlItrcle allowed to go to the Cabinet for other ministerial opinions. "And, of co ur~(', he agreed. you know," T('ngku Raza lcigh said. "You go up to him and explain to him ni cely, he'JI accept il." That I('ft Dr. Milhathir "very unhappy with me", Te ntku R(ll.1Idgh said. ~ lIe thought that he being deputy prime minister couldn·t gct t hillg~ through, but I (QuId go and whislX'r to Ilussein (lnd everyth ing was OK."6-1 Not only was there no personal chem istry betwet>n leader and deputy, tlley ilbo had starkly con tra~ tin g sty lc~. Whe r{'as I)r. Mahathlr was ke{'n 10 remake the country from top to bottom , Hussein was cau llolIS to the point of dithering. When reading a !)rid, he underH m'd key words three o r four ti mes. Loath to make a tough decision be/ore consuillng all parties, he would usually agft'e to "consider it" a:-. a way of postpOning an outcome. One of his favourite expressions was, "O K, I' ll slt-ep over it."/o-l 11 (' onc(' advi~ed Dr. Mahathir that ~when yOll have a problem, illst don't do .rnythi ng"; It would go away, he ~aid.b~ Even when Hussein reached a decision , he might ha w second thought ... For example, Dr. Mahathir per~uaded him that MalaYSia should strengthen ih claIm to part of th!' disputed Spratly Island~ in the South Chi na Sea by llCl"Upylng Amboyna CIY. With th e navy ready to move in, Hussein "c hanged his mind one wel'k later", said ])r. Mahathh/!6 The VietnamesE' bea t the M(llaysia ns to the purtell and established a permanen t preSence on the cay. In a cabi net shuffle in 197M. Dr. Mahathlr relinquished the education portfolio and bec,1me minister for trade and Indll~try, where he was happy to proceed with some of his plans that did not require govermnent policy changes. He estab li shed II heavy industries corporation within his minbtry, and minim ized his unhappi ness with Hussein by spending time abroad ~clli ng Malaysia . Dr. Mahath ir'S fOllr years as education minister were remembered for the tough stand he had taken agai nst Hudcnt and academic protests. Ill' forced ~cholarship holders to loign guarantees that Ihey would not bc(:Ollle involved in politics, and amcndl'd the U ni vcrsilie~ ;\c1 to give the gov('rnmcnt cxtensive diSCiplinary powers over staff and students who were politica lly actlve. 61 L~ventu a lly, Husscl n fell vi ctim to his own ph ilosophy. /\ s Ihe work piled up, elemen ts in UMN O defied his weak l ea d cr~h ip by fo rcin g the readmissio n of lIanlll Idris to UMNO, aft er Hussein had insi sted on hi s expul sion follow illg his convi ction Oil corruption c harges. Alt hough Haru n 's nmrt :Ippeals fa iled In early 1978 and he \\'('nt to jail, liussei n was being prl'ss(>d to pardon him . At t he 1978 UM NO Gencrill Assembly. Hussein was hum il Iated by being chall cngC'd fo r t he presidency of the party by Sut aima n Palestin, the UMNO publicity chief, who ~ecured just over one-fifth of t he VOtes. While Sulaiman was not a S('riollS contender for na\lOllil 1 k'adershi p, his candida cy was ;m act of defiance by I fllflm su pporte rs. As a fri e nd of
All ElIrl}' /lI/ WlillfliulI Iu /JnllIIl /"'lilic.~ -II
Slliaima n who OPI)()sed I larun 's prOseing too fair - beca use H's in Ihe same party, you know . W.... 'r~ no t fig hting anolh .... r P.lrt y."H In a ran(orous ra(.'e with Musa, Tengku Razalclgh was the early favourit ...., bu t his declaration tha i h(' could not lose and would leave the Cabinet if he d id so work(.>d aga inst him in a commun ity that valued comprom is(" and po lJt cn ess . I.~ Musa won by a vote o f 722 to 5 17. When Tengkll Razaleig h no minllled agili n illld c halleng(.'d Musa for the deput y presidency in 1984, Dr. Mlihathir WilS m uch more confident of his own leadersh ip, havin g stet'red UMNO to an impressive victor}' in a general election in 1982. Ii(' openly !laded hi .. deputy thi.s time, helping Musa we;!lhe r anot her roill ng contest to retain his post by a slightly wider milrgi n. After using Musa to daml~n the threat from Tcngku Ra7.alcigh, Dr. Mahath lr rcversl"(l their Toles to ensure MuSil did not build too strong il power basc In UMNO. MlISlI wanted Tengku Razalcigh out of tlw govt'rnment altogether, on the grou ndS that his presence would perpctuatt' a growing split within the party. Ind eed, Musa was under t hc imprcs~ion he !tad i111 " unwritten agreement" with Dr. Ma llathir that Tt.'llgku l~a7.ak'igh would be pu rged from the Otbinet and denied any nominatl"(i post in UMNO if he contestl'd again in 198-1 and 10st .:16 Instead, Dr. Mahathlr shifted Tengku Razalelgh to the Ministry 01 Trade and Industry, while replacing him as UMNO treasurer. like Tengku Razaleigh earlier, Musa and his backers considered th .. t Dr. Mahathlr had brokt'n Ilis promise, o r at l('ilst half of it. Although trade and industry was less prestigious tllporters. In a cOllfldentialletter of protest to Dr. Mahat hlr that was leaked, Musa listed all the patronage points available to Tengk u Raza leigh, including granting import permits, rl>COlIlmending local partners fo r fore ign investors and nominating individual s for the distribution o f shares. Musa said Te ngku RazaJeigh would have "t he greatest opportun ity ever to pre pare hirnself for his politica l future, eve n better than jinl l:inance".n In truth, Dr. Milhat h ir kept Tengku Razaleig h's candidacy alive fo r a third clas h in 1987, just In case the pri rne minister needed to cuI Musa off at the knt'es. Whi le Dr. Mahathir did not invent Ihe info rmal system of checks and balances to rest rai n rivals and remind o thers they WeTe In constant competition for the prime mi n ister's favour, he em braCl'(1 in 1982 and 198:~ to accommodate incre(1int'1("t. If t llerli' wa:; a liberal gloss to the 2-M adm inistration it was provided by Musa, a nd his departure left Dr. Mahath ir free to indu lge his autocratic insti ncts. J laving ta\.:en over the Home Ministry from Musa in 1986, Dr. Maha thir would keep it fir ml y in h is grasp for 13 years, usi ug the ISA
,I
69
more fredy than a ny of his predecessors. Soon aftN Ghafar replaced MUSil, Dr. Mahathir pushed another Official Secrets Act amendment through Parlia nwnt in defia nce of a nine-month ca mpaign by Malaysian lawyers, Iou rna lists, lahouT unions, reform grou ps lind the polit ical oppositio n. It enh anced the ~ in ti mid ating effect " by hroaden ing th e defin it ion of an o(ficial s(!crct an d, for t he flT st time, prescrihed a man datory jail scntence fo r vi ol ators ..s2 H,m.lly had the prison gates slammed shu t on the Operat ion I.a lang lIetaine(!s tha n Dr. Mahathir moved again to limit the spacc availaule to .1nyone t'lse who might disagree with him. In f)(oce mlx-r 1987, he inlroclut't'd two pieces of legislation on the sam!.' day that imposed addi tional restrictions un publications, and granted broader [x)wers to the po lice to curh puIJlic gatherings. I\n amendmL'nt to the Polict' Act made it easier to prosecute OTgan il.l.'rs ilnd participants of ostensibl y priva te meetings that turned illto public forum s, whilt.' I he I'ri nting Presse:o and Publications ."ct was am{,lllkd ,lgaln in ,I way tha t would "furt her bind an (), pro-est,lblishment media" .\l Dr. Mahat hir said the amt;'nc1mcn ts \wr~' aimed at i ndi v idual ~ and groups who abused the government's li beral attitude. "Being liberill to them is m.e offe ring a tlower to a monkey," he said. "The rnon\.:ey wou ld rathcr tear t he flower apan than appreciate it.'> l:Ieauty." Just when it appearL"t1th,lt Dr. Mahathlr had de.ued all ohstadl'S to his rule, he fo und a new target in a not her un-ekcted body, thc judiciary. Stu ng by $l'veral COllrt cledsioflS, he set out to Wrt'St discretionary power from the judges ane- two split iuds· menl \'IllS a reminder of the e.'l:ecut ive's vulncra billty iJeforl' an independent judicia ry. J\ High Courl judge orde.red the release of Ka rpal Si ngh, Li m 's lawyer, ruling thaI his two·year detention order - approved by Dr. Milhat h ir as home affairs mlnister- was "made without care, caut ion and a proper "fnsc of responSibility". Shamelessly, a~ one critic oommentcd , the polin' re.arrestcd II:arpal undcr the ISA it cou ple of hours aftef he was frcd. The TengJ...u Razalelgh supporters Sl't'king to oV('rturn Dr. 1I.·!ahathir's el{'·1 The sultan in vited SaJleh to his palac(' and expressed regret over wh at had happened more than fou r years earlier. "In the meeting. the 10hore Sultan openly asked for my fo rgiveness ix'eause of his involvement ill the move to d i smi~ me as the lord president in 1988," Salleh said / 06 /\fte( he left po litics, Dr. Ma hat h ir sai d the king also had been upset by anot he r let ter from Sallch , sent earlit'r, in which Salle h co m plained about noise d uring repai r work at t he king's palace, near Sa lle h 's ho use.1>7 When t he cha rges against Salleh were published, however, royal di spleasure over renova tio ns wa~ nOI one of the m. Rat her, lIIany ~telllmed from speec hes and in t erview~ Salk'h had givl'n, and some even related to his l>e haviour after suspension, [n essence, Salleh was accused of bei ng biased against tile government. The proceedings against him were considered by independe nt legal experts to be high ly improper in several respects. For a sta rt, Or. Mahathi r, as his accusl'T, got to 1li1111(' t he six-membe r tribuna l. Onl y one judge met the principle of being of superior rank to SaHeh, d l'spite the availability of suitable cand idates, wh ile th e incl usion of the speaker of the liouS(> of Itl-prcscntativcs was inappropri ate under Malaysia 's separation of powcrs doctrine, Thc tribunal refused Sal1eh 's appilc,1t ion fo r the hearilll)s to be ope n, and declincO 10 ;td journ to give his British counS('llime to appear for hi m. The p.1rticipation of I lamid Omar "made a mockery of the whole proccss".bI! As acti ng lord preSident, Hamid stood 10 be confirmed in that position if Salleh was convictl"(I, and as chairman he would cast the deciding vote if the pa nel was dead lockl'arty as one of the 20 judges who approved the letter written by Salleh to the king, ,\ lthough the public did nOl know, [[a mid, too, was vulnerahle to pressure, having lost considerabk- a mount of mOtley investing in a compa ny that subsCtjueTu ly [>crformed poorly . lI is fin ancial losses, as well as sodal indiscrt'tions, w(' re known to the- gOV('W TlHmt, having been circu[at('(1 In a SlIraf Il/y(m.~, the con tcnts of which he confi rmed, in a private iTllervi ew, to be accura te.~ lIamid told a Bar Council delegation that urged hilll not to accept a role in the tribunal he fcared h(' would be dismissed if he refused . "If I am sackl'd, will you or the Bar Counci l coTll[X'nsate my [0SSl'S of remuneratio n," he said. m Convi nced he could not gel a fa ir hearing, Salldl withdrew a nd sough t an order fr om the I-ligh Court 10 halt t he t ribunal for b('illg allegedly
,I
OU I(I.~ 1 /(J
l'II');I(/"lIli(1I l'r(mi(or 75
unconstitutional and il legal . Failing to gel a respollse a nd fea ring t he tribunal was wit hin days of submitting its report to the king, Salleh 's colT nsel sought a tempora ry ban from th(' Supreme Court. The most senior judge _ considering that the lord president was suspe nded a nd thai the acti ng lord presi dent was involved in the hearing - took the initia tive and convened a ftve·member panel t hat iSSLled the stay order. Soon aftef, t hose live judges we rc also slIspe nded, aftcr a complaint by Hamid that they conspirecl to hold a special session of the court wi thout hi s approva l. A second tribu nal was esta bllshed to hear charges of gross misbehaviour agai nst th(' five. The first tribuna l's report , dcsc rilx-d by a n e minent Q UC1l'moc'r 2006, TawfIk is the old{'~! 'IOn of a (OIl11el deputy I)lim..: minister, the lat('hmal1 Abdul ltllh lllan. Dr. Mahat hir Imer dcnlL-d making the comment. Fk said Tawfik was dfOppt.>d 1",'Cause o( his ~lacUusuc I""rfunndllct'·. Dr. Mllhathir Mohamad, NFilnah~ , 15 Ft..iln.ary 2009 (aro.~ 20 Man.-h 2009). 84 Gonioo " Mt'an~, - Malaysia in 1989: Forging a Plan for till' Futu re-, SOW/Wflst ,u;.", "f!itifl 1990, p. 186. gS Eddi n KII()() and Ja.)On Tan, "Transi tional 'nmcs", p, 25. 86 In-Wo n II wllIng.l't:rS(IIllIliled Politics, pr. 173.203, fn 110. g7 John funston, · UMNO: What u>ga(j' Will Mahathh l.eaV('r, In RI'fItX'liulls. p. 135. Sg Ibid., p, 135, 89 ItS. M Um' .llltl l)l'IIlC K. M,lIlzy, M"I(ly,~ illJ/ I'otitin Villi," AIItlllllllli" p. 1~(,. 90 Khoo 1100 T,'Ik, "Who Will Su('n..."(1 the Sucn 'Ssor?", Alim n ,WmJ lllly, 2ou.1: 5, p. (I.
4 Th e Vision of a Modern Nation
Dr. Ma hathir wasted 11 0 ti me in t ra ndo rmi n!; Ma la YSia in li ne wit ll his visi o n of II modern , indust rial il:ed natIon, sett ing !Ill' goal of hecoming full y d~' vclo pl'd by 2020. Olle(' dominan t pri ma ry commodlt i~ s, al ready rec('d lng, gav(> way to t he prod uctiOn of manu fa c lured goods and the em brace o f a high-tech fut ur('. Wit h the economy ('x pa ncl ing at a n a n nual average r,lte o f 6.1 plor ("cnt fo r th" 22 years 11 (' was pri m l' minister, ' Malaysia was o l1 e of t he developing world'S most successful countries. [I was a ll the mo re im pressive for being a Musli m-ma jority nation, indicati ng tha I Isla m could bE" com pat ible wit h represcntat ive govern men t and modc rn i7.alion . That it was achieved wh ile a comprehensive affir mati v!.' actio n progra m me was being appJil'Ometimes depict('s. Their prizes included ,Ill offi ce block ami convention centre for UM NO, a new hl'adqua rters fo r the Nationa l Equity Corporation, and a 55-storey tower for sta te-con troll ('(1 Ma layan II.Ul king 13M. None (:aust'(( more offence than the RM 3 13 mi ll ion contrart awarded by the gov~ nllne nt to twoJapancse wmpanles to build the sprawling Dayabumi (."om plex in Kuala Lu mpur, then MalaYSia's most ex pensive building, even though a loca l compan y bid RM7J million less. Dr. Mahathir's dcfenC(', tha t the jap.1nese would Introduce new management skills and modern buildIng techn iques, proved hollow. The bumiput ra ('ngineering com pany that the japa nese were req uired to work with subsequently complai ned tha t its ja panese part ners were using II merely 10 maintain good relations wi th t he government, and said that no technology transfer was taki ng place. 1l Complain ts that Malaysia was rea ping few t a n g i bl ~ be nefit s fro m \"ook bast ex te nded into Hade, in vest nU'n t, manageme nt a nd sh ipping. After nea rly t hree years, Ma laysia's trade dellcit with Japan had widened sharply, and the Ma laysia ns had lit tle success in persuadi ng th (' Japanese 10 buy more o f their manu facturi..'(1goo ds. japa nese co m panies were slow to invest In skill -i nte nsive indust ries in Mala ysia , and even slowe r to tra nsf('T new tcchno logy to their Mal aysia n un its and establish research a nd development facilitil'S in t he count ry. They also tended 10 bypass local contractors and supplie rs and acq uire co mpo nents, materials a nd services fr om japan_ Japa nese manu fa cturing cmnpan i ~ e mpl oyed more expatria te ma nage rs and staff than most ot her fore ign in vestors, locking Ma laysi ans out of decision- maki ng functions a ncl itLhi hitln !l. thei r career dt;veloprnelll. Wit h appea ls to Ja pan to use mo re Ma laysian vessels fo r th eir bila te ral trade going unheeded, the sh ipping imbalance contributed to a la rge and wide nIn g defi ci t in their invisible trade as weil .1.l In a hard. h itting speech in August 1984 t ha t reeked o f emba rrassment , Dr. Maha th ir registered his unhappiness over the way Mala ysia'S rela tio ns ~I.ook i ng
9 4 Mulil)'Sic/ll ,\1,wl:'ri(/c
with japan had f.. lled to c:volve. Accusi ng Tokyo o f co nductil1g a colo nia l economic relationship, he said the Japanese ('(:onomy was ext re mely proteclion ist, and the Japanese were guilly of "improper behaviour" o ve r ai r rights while e ngaging in "the dishonest and tensio n-generati ng" practice o f t ransfer prici ng, by wh ic h companjes show mini mal profit, or e ven losses, to avoid taxes. "We cannOt and will nOl re main merely as hewe rs of wood and d rawer ~ of worI ·orien ted IIlan ufacturi ng was insu ffi ciell t. "W(' do nOI wa nt to be grounded in the mediocrity of me re assembly operations, " he said . Al though the world was e nte ring a recessio n that would incvitably affa " Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir pUSIH.'tries arc located .. . new ~ e rv ices and tr,ldl~ s spring up. " 4(\ Dr. Mahath ir conceded lhal Glrs, for exa mple, could he imported c heaper, bu t i n~ i 5t'ed lhc capacity to produce whid es was a necessa ry component of Malaysia's industrializa tion . Il l" was fnl5 tfilted that ma rly MalaYSians dId nOI shan.' his en thusiasm about building a great natio n and, worse, some did not ('ven bt'lieve it was po~ si\)I('. l ie urged them to "overcOIII(, tile mental block whic h condem ns liS to being the produccrs of primary com m(xlities to
TI,e
fuel til(' growth o f the industria li zed coumrie:park an economic take,ofr. Two cement plants, onl" tn Pcrak state and the otll('r o n I.cr It'lll of Proto n, we re gua ran teed ha ndsome ret u rns regard less of the vell\Ilre's pro titabilily. T hey were paid to p rovicll' the teCh nology, com pon ent s _Hld trai ning, as wel l as co llect ing paten t, design and o ther fees. Dissati sfi ed wi th Proton 's performa nce in 1988, the Ma la ysian govern me nt repl,lCed the company's bumlpul ra manageme nt with Mitsullishi executives. Mitsuhl~ hi 's wi lhdrawal fro m Proton , through the sale of sh;u('S to oth er in vestors, l\.'Ilt'Cted the Japanese com pa nies' diminished ro le in Ma laysia .5.l Over the pre\'Iolls decade, Proton had CUI its depe ndence on Mitsubish i by acq u iri ng autoengl necri ng companies stich as Iki tai ll's Lotus Gro up In ternational. Proton ,d\o ~tart ed ma king it s o wn cllgines, w hich it previously purch asl'(i fro m MllSlIbishi ,md ig Japanese su p pliers. But it was no t {' a~ y iOT I'roto n to strike out o n its Own. Pro ton's day of recko n in g n eared as Mala ysia met its o bligatio n s u lld er an .\.)I?AN Frl'C Trade Area pact, wh ich requ ired ta riffs o n all manu facturi.-,d g<xxls In the most dewlopeu mem ix'r countries to be red uu 'd to no more tha ll 5 per u~n t by 2002. Kuai" Lu m pur o b tai n ed a n cx!'m p tion fo r Gin an d compo ne n ts: 20 per cen t by 2005 o n the Wily to the 5 pe r cell t cap by 2008. A'S PrOto n grad uall y became l'xIX)sed, its share o f Ma laysia's 4 :~O , OOO a year passcnger< ar nlilrket tumbled fro m GO (X'r cen t in 2002 to 41 per cellt in 2005 and t ile co mpan y sli pped back in to thl' red . Th!' enti re Mala ysian moto r Industry. employi ng a total workforc!' o f more than IOO,tXXJ, was vulnerable, Includi ng Proton 's two fa cto ries b ui lt at a cost o f RM2 bi llion and producing ,l range o f ca rs fro m 1300 c..Co to 2000 ex.; anOther Malaysia-Ja pan loi nl venture, w hich be~a n pr<xluci ng il secon i.l Hnalion al car" tn 1994, the tiny 66O-c.c. Ka n ci l (mouSl.'t.il'c r) based on Daihatsl1 Motor Com pany's Mira m<xlel; ,I third "nation al r a r" , a Cl tro~ n wi th 1100 C.C. \() 1500 c.c. versions, assemhi ed b y Malaysia n interests witll te-chnology and equipm('nt supplied by Jora nce's Au tomobiles Ci trocn SA; and d ozen s o f uncolTl jX't it ivc 10c,Il ilUt o I.);uts makers and vendors. The bigg!'St threat emanated from Thailand, which had pursued th e opposit(' stra tegy to Ma laysia in the J'J9Os. Thailand turned Itself into till' ~ Di.!lro it of the E
101
tu ov('rcom(' th e problem of rel'alcitrant worke rs, who showed t heir displeasure with houses and shups thaI did nOI give them a tip by spilling and ,r... ttering wa s t e.·~ Priva tization was a nuda l l'lem ent in Dr. Maha!hir's vision to mould M,llaysia into a nation of innovative entrep reneurs and skillL'{l, disciplined worJ.;erlo. I-It' would spo mof the naSCl'nt Malay bu~ines.~ da~:., which in time It)Uld lake its p lace alongSide successful, tlOn-Mlllaylo and be in terna tionally wlIlpelitive. Privatized ventures had to meet the NEP target o f at least m lX'r cen t bumipll tra equ ity IItid employmellt particlpation. Th e close conIll'Ction between privatizatioll and affi rmative a(1ion gO:lls made Malaysian privati7.ation unique. S? I'rlvatlzation Malaysian·style was as much
Mmwi('/c
Th('y bought offlCia l a:.~IS at d iscounted prices, obtained 50ft credit alld cnjoy(,-4 In five years, the gov('rnmen t spent RMI I billion resclling seven privatized enterprises, including I{M7.71 b ill ion for two ligh t ra il 'iysterns in t ht? ca p ital.~ Altho ugh the NEP orficially expirt.'rt-am{' e ntrenched as a desirable objective fo r its own materia l ends ... ".H Many MalaYSians "saw nothing else but weOllth ".71 With highe r incomes, lifestyks changed. The wealthy ilCiopted felishes that "followed the footsteps of the rich and famous of t he world", wh ile members of thl' middle-class nouveau ric he rompcted with ooe another over sta lus sym hols: blue-chip stocks, expensive houses, impo rted rars, golf club memherships and the latest cell phones.;s "We arc deve loping our unique Ma laysiall Dream," ecollomist. banker and former offitial Ramon V. Navened , Dr. Mahathir brandl'"d fon'lgn currency traders as "in ternational crimina ls~ led by American financier George Soras, a "morull ... wlth a lot of money..... I1-· lie accused the IMF of wanting to "subvert~ Malaysia's economy after an IMF official sUgJ;csted the government go easy 011 its giant infrastructure projects. The more he insin ualed a Western conspiracy to sabotage Southeast "sia, hinted at a Jewish plot against Muslim MalaYSia and r.. ik-d aga inst ~a n illternational dictatorship of ma nipulators", the fa stl'r capi t.. , depa ned Malaysia :lIld neigh· bouring c(llUltril.'s. lIi~ rC'marks "continued to undermine con fi clellCl.' and to exacerbate the situation until he was finally reined in by ollll'r govC'rnment leclders in the region", and no doubt by solile of his own adv i sers.K~ Ano ther aggravating factor was the perCeption t hat Or. Mahathir ami Daj m had ta ken ovC'r el"Onomic policy ma king from Fina n(C' Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who had endeared himself over the years to the interna tional fina ncial commu nity."" Dillm reappeared on the scent' in laic 1997, being namlxi ex('CuUVl' d irector of the N.. tional Economic Action Council , c hairc fmancia l p ressure, just as d id thoS(' owing allegia nce to An war Ibrahi m whe n he was S,.I0~ The one Ma lay who m ad e the top ten in ForIH:S'j rust Malaysian rich list in 2006, Sycd Mokhtar Alhukhary, was a T('ialiv(;, l;tle·comer, a busi nessman who had dill lied wit h Ar lwar and in whom Or. Mahathir invested heavily aHer becoming d isillusio ned with Dairl! Zalnuddln's prot~gb. H>fo Some l"Co nomlSIS argued that affirnliltivc action as a means to redistribute wea lth more equitably hindered groWlh and competitiveness, I.:lting Malaysi a's rclililve d edlne in Ihe EaSI Asian region: When the NEI' was introduced In 197 1, Malaysia ranked thi rd only to Ja pan and Singapore in terms of GDI' per capita; by 11)90, it had falle n behind Sout h Korea, Taiwan and lIo ng KOI~g as wcll. I01 And the gap continu",'d to widen, despite Dr. Mahathlr'S de nials, leaving Ma laysia scrambling to com pete in a globalized world, w here China and India were 5Ctllng a sizzling pace. Malaysia'S population, at more than 23 mi llion in 2003, had almost doubled since 1981 while simul taneo usly being urbanized and ethnically reconrlgured. The portion designatl'd urban swelled frorn just over one-th ird \0 almost two-thirds. I{esp:>nding 10 incentives offered when Dr. Mahathir set his 70-m ilIIo n goal, the birthrate dcfll..-'d established international patterns and d id not d ecline as prosperity increased. Malaysia became one of Ihe youngcst count ries in t he region, the e nvy of others sad d led with geriat ric liabilities. :r~e Malay birthrate was double that of C h inese and Ind ians, for Malay famrlres cou ld coun t on scholarships a nd Jobs fo r the ir childre n as well as tax breaks for more than two kids. l~ C.onstituting less than half the p:>pulation in 198 1, Malays beca m e a clear and growing malority, without th e need to be grouP(·' d among bumiputras to achieve nalional majority sta tus.)()al", A$i" l1 lVI/II $,,('('/ }Q1",/II1 (hereafter A h'Sf). 30 April 19M6. 25 ttJ phael Pura, " I'(' rn:.s Will Buy \)aim Siakl' In MalaY5ian !lank", ,HVS}, 6 October 1986. 26 I.eI,,' I'uh Ping, "Thl' I..ook East l'oUcy. the Ja p;tne,e Mood. an d MLlllly~ia ", In H.t·I/I\·li(jIl.~, p . 321. 27 KhaLlII"h Md. Khalil.! . ~Mala ysi(L·japan Rcl iltions Urlckr Ma il,li !llr: 'Turni ng JllP" Time..~, 22 Sc:ptcmber 1997 (Jccessro 24 March Z009). M ter he retirl..'(i, Dr. M;tha thi r 1m" with $oros In Kuala Lumpu r and acC('ptl'(l th at the rmancicf was not rl'SpOrl)lhle for tin' Asian flnan· cial crisis. ~ M;L (ay.sia'~ Former I..eader M.,h:nhlr 8\LrI('S Ihe I latchet with Bnancler Georgl'Soros", CIIi,l Societies Act 1966, UMNO was not permitted to h(-' in business. To conc('al its a~scts, the party us~'(ll he com mon practice of lI()minee mmpa nies o r (',\('(:ut ives, or alternat ive ly, trusted individuals, promi nen t ollsin('sSmell who ~urrep titious ly held stakes in various COIllIltInies o n UMNO's beh alf. The traj] could lead t llTOugh a bewil de ring maze ts wt're required to he pl'lced with a govern ment agent ,mel sold off. Bu t in a process that WilS !lcver made ~I ear , Illost of those assets ended up in the hands of many of the SJl ne people who were holding and managing them fo r UMNO Ix'for('. The arrangemcnt ~'na bl('{llk Mahathir ami Dai m to mai ntain that tht' party, reconstituted as N('w UMNO, was no longer in business, wh id l was o nly technically trul'. \VhUe UM NO, as a pol it ical party, was req ui red to subm it its pu ty part y preside nt . II> As till' PoJitic:1i Fund was to be secret, the Supreme Council authorized the part y's leadership, e ffrcti llcly th e preS iden t, to 0 l)('rate it at his dl\cretlon . The arrpbrOlher a lso d(>Cided 10 sell h is 20 per cent stake - was transferTl'(l in 1974 to rI c J\part from the New Str.1its Times Press, its subsidia ries and th(' !Jan k of Com merce, tht' only known 5ign if1cant purdl(lSl' made by Fk'ct un der JlInus Sudill and Tengku lla7~ll c i gh was in in su ranc('. In 1980, 1'l ('t.'t Group ('nter('d into a joint v('nturt' with Unit('(l Stal l's-baSi..'d AF IA Worldwidl' IIlSlIra ncl' to form Am('riC;11l Malaystanln~u ran(('.1 1 FI ~et lIol din g ~ all but lH"appe ared frOIll public view in 197 4, when it qllali flNi a.~ lin "exempt private company" and no longt'r had to tile fin Sd n. Bhd. was formcll in 1976 ilS a wholly owned "uh~ i d ia ry ilnd o perati ng ilrtn. I'ublic rl..'Cords s h o w that its profit grew strongly, from RM327,H3 in 1977 to RM [5 .7 mill ion in 198V"
Or "u.~il/t"SS
(I/ld l'oIifln
12O to UMNO.lJ By 1977, 5till not 40, Dai m had made e llo ugh m Olley to ~ r et i re" . taking himself off to lIerkcley in the United l)t ;tlcs for two years to study urban planning at th e Unhfl'rsity or Califo rn ia. On his retu rn hOllie, Daim a({'epted positIo n as the non ·sa laried cha ir· ma n of Peremba Bhd .. a subSidIa ry of the ).;()VerE1l11 cn t'S b u reaunatic and poo rly rlln Urba n Deve [o pmcn t Author it y, all agl'IICy to promote bumi· putra in v('stmen t in the p ro pt'rt y mark(' t. At Pcr('lI1ba , fo rmed ilt his sug· gestion 10 group co mlllC'rcla[ r t.'al-t'~tate h oJcli n g.~, Il l' g ath e rt~ d aro und him it coterie of b rig ht young M,l[a y execu t ives, I1l an y traillt'd in accou lltalKY it 1lt1 engi neering, who wOllld oe(ome houSl'llOld Ha m('S as mit jar (:orporat e lind UMNO play(·rs. Kn o wn as Dallll' ~ prot cgb, o r 111(' I'ercmba boys, most of the m mainta in ed clos{' ties wIth him across the deals a nd yl'ilrs. Dalm's rapid ascendan cy (oi n( I(I ('(I with Dr . Mahat h ir '~ a5surnption of the prillle ministcrs h ip In 198 1. A lth ou~ h h c hl'ld no o ffici al pm ilion,
,I
Ix'h lnd the )cellt'S lJa lm acted as a troubleshooter for Ur. M"h.1th ir, travcllln~ to the United Slates to lobby for a change in tin reserves policy and discussil\g bilate ral prob lems with til{' British in London . While Daim was U yea r:. younger than Ur. Mahath ir and they did not get to know each o ther until adulthood, they were from the same poor neighbourhood in Alor Star, and h it if off. Oaim S('"emed to embody the new bret'(j of dynamiC bumiput ra that Dr. Mahath ir was trying to create. As Daim told local repo rte rs, "I wen t Into business to provt' one th ing: t ha t a Mal .. y ('a n also succeed in busi ness. Ucfo re now, Malays have on ly bee n (,omp.. ny directors, mainly figure heads o n d ispl ay."l~ 0 lx' rat if1 ~ mostly below the radar screen , Daim in 198Z won ("(Hlt rol of a ba nk, the establ ished path to serious wealth in Malaysia. I lis succe!osfu l bid a~ain raised t'yebrows beca use he prevailed over several hUllliputra CO lli rolled t'ompa nil's, some of them government affil ialed, which were at least a) well q uo lifit'd. Also, In approving h is 51 per ct' ll l !olake, Ba nk Negam, Ihe cent ral ban k, ignored ilS usual insistence tha t majorit y control of:t cOlll merclal ba nk be held by a corpora te ent ity rathe r th::II1 :tn individual, cspl..'ciaU y o ne with liHi e expe rience in ban king a nd finan c('lared !klilctions against the Hong Kong-b.1St."tl A.\i(1II WlllI Sl m!t IUI/nwl, wh ich rl'lxlfIl'(i both dt'vclopments. Aftt'r the "apcr carried an article on IJai m's expected acquisition of Indosuei'., the govcrnult'nt - o n Dr. Mahathi r's orders - 1K'ga n sYStCmatically to delay distributio n of the daily to subscribers in Malaysia. The government also blockl'CCllllle wealthy and USl.,,ity, p.7. Tllllkll Abdul \{3 h lll an, Vir'wl'lJiIl/S (Kua l,j LUllljlur: t l eim'm anl! F.ducational lIook, (Asia) Uti., 197H), p. 53, Stl'J,hl'11 D ut hie', "Mahal hi r Rival\ Ask Court 10 Ii;llt Nl·w UMNO D rive ", ibillll W,jl/ SIred i'mma{ (I1('r{·aftcT II WS/ ). 4 !\pril 191111 In tl"rviel\' with T{-n gkll R:nalt'lgh H~mz.lh, 29 M~ y 2007.
10
Ihid.
tI 12 1.:1 \4
Ibid _ 1ntervlew wilh TC l1 gkll Ril "~l lcigl l I-ia ll u.ah, 17 Jan uary 200ft Interview w i th Tcngku Rat.alcigh Ha rnzah, 21 Ma rch 2<X)7, Interview wIth Ahdullah Ahmad, I I\ugus t 2008. UMNO's dlrt'Ct m3jority SI3kc in Utusan Mel3}'u wa~ dls(·lnsed whcn the com p.1lly W3) puhhdy lis ted in 199co no my absorbed the shock of much o f the d issipated wea lth an d, where llecC$sm y, the gaps left by thl' missing b illio n s were plugged with til(> proceeds of oil and gas expo rts. Almost all the SCandals in volv('(1 the governme nt d in."Ctly, o r sen ior o fficials and b usinessmot prices soa ring to a peak of 8,970 po unds a tonne, and set off a global scr(l like t hey were gOi ng to ma ke a killing, the sta kl's Wl'Te soaring dra matically and Mam inco hecame dangl'rollsly l"XIKlSl,.1 n k was be ing abused in even more breathtaking fa shion for l>e r~o nal gain in colonial liang Ko ng. I\u mlputra Malaysia Finance Ltd. (IIMF), e groups. "It Is not prudent, but yo u must rem('mber the ,ltlllosphere in Ho ng Ko ng at that time. Hanks were anxiOUS to le nd money Simply because the ('(onomy was booming, and when somebody who Is established comes to YOll to borrow money, you don't look too doscly, although by rights you should, " he s'lid. "Th is was their mistake." Dr. Ma hath ir sidestepped the q uestion of accoulltabilily, prom isi ng that Malaysia wou ld "take action" if malpr;lClh.:es were uncov('red, but said the emphasis was on tryi ng to salvage overdue ell'blS. not on "wilch h unt ing". lie Sen d isca rded by Dr. Mahalhir, '·subtle racist inn uendos" - to suit the Malay audience. I'a nhll..'CtriC, o ne of Singapor("s biggest conglo merates, rocked the Singapore and Kuala I.um pur stock eKcha nges and triggered an unprecedented three-day halt in trad ing when it sudd enly wenl into receivership in late 1985. 11 brought down a ffiliated companies, sen t share prices crashing across the boa rd and cxposc..·d a tangk'(l web of precarious Slock-contract agreemen ts. tlut no public fund s were involved, and the paper losses (ould conc('ivably be retrIeved as the markets r(-'(overed. Furthermore, Tan Koon Swan, Pan-Electric's Influential slra reholder - who also headed the govern ing Malaysian Chinese Association a nd was a member of parliament - was held res ponsible. He was jailed In both Singapore and Malaysia for his role In the company's fi nandal demise. Ilussein Onn, the former prem ier whose integrit y was u nq uestioned , toot... the opposite stance to Dr. Mahath ir over Rank Ilumipuua's brush with o bli vion. "We are asking for trouble if the matter is played down, " he told local reportNs. ~ I t wi ll happen again if we don' , learn our lessons ... " ..,;! Appalled b y the skullduggery and u pset b y the governme n t'~ weak and rl'luctant respome, Hussein maintai ned a critica ll'rofil e as eventS unfold('(1. As at1 advher to Pet ronas wIth a(cess to Bank Bumiputr a '~ accO llll ts, Ilussein said in early 1985 that questionab le loa ns in MalaYSia, g iven Ollt to all kInds of prople, could match th use in 1I0 ng Kong. M His warnings were as prophet iC as they were ignofl'any almost 100 lX'r cen t o wnership of till' bank. The restructuring paCkage Included a n extra ItM4S0 million in p rovlsluns molde In earl ier yea rs but never reflectt"CI in the ban k's pa id-up capital, In addilion to the RM 1.23 billion already f\oted . ~ This time around Bank lI um iputril blamed heavy lending for rt'al-estate aT1d property devclopment In Malaysia, not Hong Kong. Mohamed Ilasir Ismail, thc new executive (hairman who had brushed aside Hm s('i n's commcnts with thc assurance that nank Ilumiputra's bad loam. wert' no different from those of ot her Malaysian banks, now admitted t hat the bank was
struck by plurnnwting prOI)erty prices in 1984-85. A~ he pul It, "We lent a lot of money all ove r the placc."61 While Basir cited Malaysia's I~anking Secrecy Act in etecll ning to identify delinquent borrowers, record s from a courl case revealed how politicallycon nected cl ien ts had treated the p ubli cl y-owned b;m k a~ t heir own private account. According to til{' record s, th e majo r offe nde r wa~ UMNO, wh ich borrowed RMZOO million fromllank llumiputra In September 1 9H:~ to build a convention cen tre a nd office tower in Kuala Lum pu r to hou~e the pa rty's headq uarters. For the hug(' project, UMNO also borrowed ItM50 mi ll ioll rrom Slate-controlled Malayan Banking Bhd ., an d RM 13 million apil'Ct" from United Malayan lIanking Corporation and !'erwira lIablb Rank Malaysia Bhd.611 UMNO for years failed to repay a n y o f the 10.111.\ o r Iht" Interest on the loa ns, which by July 19&:1 amounted to nearly RM :«XJ million OW('(I to Bank 8umi putra alone. 111e detai ls were contained in records released In a legal su it after Malaysia's HIgh Court ruled in l'arly 19H9 tll att ributed to .. dlOlllge in its cuslom· ary accoun ting policy to va lue its gold and foreign reserve~ at prevaili ng market Icve ls. In tile past , the bani; had valued it s rescrws a t the lower of hiSlorh.:al cost or mari;et rates. The adjustme nt took the bool.: va lue of Ma laysia's rese rves to a whopping RM46 billion at t he elld of 1992 from RM29.2 billion a year ea rl ier. The IlM9 .3 billion Charge nearly wiped Ollt all of the speCial reservcS ~t't lip by Ba ni; Nt'ga ra. They compriSl'(1 the Exchange Rate r:iuct uation n('servc, the lnvestrtlelu Fluctuation Reserve, the Insu rance Reserve and the COllt!n· gency lk'scrVl'. Tile hank S-c-.ld in its statement that "such ~ rve acrounts W{'re creatt'd prl'oks Oil it in 2003. 1I}7 Jaffa r Hussein, the Uank Negara governor, took the rap ,md quiI, along wit h Nor Moham('(1 Vai;cop, the third in command at the bani; and the official In charge of fo reign·cxchange ope rat ions. "Itai;c fu ll responsibility," Ja ffa r to ld the press. "In the absence of JX'rfec1 hindSight, mistakes will be made; indced ,
.v u lldal , WII(I/ Sca m/a l?
mista kes were mil lie." li e li sted "errors of ludgmen t " ill an ti cip;lt ing global currency gyr,ltiolls ami in nO l installing trad ing safeguards to limit the cent ral ban k's 10sses. IUK Nagging q uest ions fc m,lined , however. Wit h his commit me nt to "profit optimization and marke t ex pertise" in managing the coullt ry's reserves,IO" Jaffar undoubtedly allowed the bank to specula te. But it was out of c ha rometh ing we couldn' t ovetcome H .ll'1 In fact, b.lsed on incom plete public informatio n, RM I 5 billion was a conservarivt' estimate of Pcrwaja's losses. Similarly, I~an k Bu m ipu tra dropped at least RM 10 billion . Ba nk Negara 's foreign exchange forays d rllillL,, Scrutin y on Loa ns~, A WSf, 2.') July 1983. '13 Raphael I'u ra. "Prime Min i s t('r'~ I' ress Couft'r('lln' ShNls Ught 0 11 Bumlputra FIII('Inc(''',A WS/, 12 Jcr 1988, p. 52 {;KCL'$~'CI 25 Jalluary 20061. Cynthia OW('IlS, Skphl'll Dulhie aud DJ" id W('ssci, "Mal;lyslill~ S,lld to Slow I\l'livlty ill Currt'uch.'s". in(('rvkw willi M~lla(hlr Moharnad, 31 March 2008. Elst'whcre, Dr. Mahathlr "'lid Ha nk Nt'gara's CUrfCllcy tradinl-: room Ihilt h(' vlSlt('d W;IS In Londo n : I'aulinc NJ.:, "Maha thir IAmles Involvell1cnt in MAS Dcal", /Jlollws~ 'I71111'~ (S hlgaIXJTe), 26 July 2006. Stcphcli Duthic, ~Han k !'I('/pra Ch ief Find" Grati tud{' [)oesn ' t Last", AIV'SI, 4 1\p rill 994, Mahal hi r Moh1lmad, RI'/let·tilms OIII1~ia, p. 140. J)O IlSt Tsuru oh, " Mala ~ la : Testing limes-, ,.·EER, 17 OCtol){'r 1991, p. 78 (acl'~ssed 23 Ja n uary 2006). Stcph t' n Duth ie, - Bank N('gara Chi{'f Finds Gratitude Dt,x ;s n ' t Last-, John Benhl'l~e n . - Millaysla 1-111$ Ilong l.:o ng Ba n I.: for SI>cculatioll -, i\ WS}, 21 August 19M6. St~ ph en Duthic, - llugl' Charge a' lIani; Nl,'ga r,1 St~ rtll'S Anal y,; ts", IIWS/, 2 April 1993. [bid. Ibid. Ib[d.
96 Stl'phen Du th ic, -Bani; NL'g (Clmbrl dg(': Cambridge University Pr('s5, 1999 editiou), pp.94-95. 101 Doug TsurIlol.:a, ~C hangc [n the Ai r: !lank Negar::a M nvc.~ to 5 (acces\t'(1 23 January 2006). 102 In responsc to Tajtldin'~ su it, Ur. Mahllthir to ld «'por tcrs he dgre('(1 to til{' privallza tion after Dall11 appr(lol(-hl'(l h im a nd said Taj\ldin wanted to buy till' airline. Dr. Mah at hir Solid I\l' did not know who ~ t the price for th(' shares, ~ I only decide on )lrlnrl l' l('~," he ~ald , Pauline Ng, "Mahathir \)cnlcs Involve· mcnt in MAS D~'al ". 103 Stephen Du l h l~, - !Iank Nt.'~ara I'OS I ~ ,\uotilcr HlIg~ Loss", ,\ WV [ AI>T iI \ 984 . 104 Ibid. 105 Steph("n Duthie, - M ~IOly.da'J I.llll S (ac(('S5('(I30 ,\ ugust ZOOS). ]29 Int(·rvic.... wit h Mahath ir M oh amad, 3 1 March 20011.
7 Big, Bigger, Bu st
Of all the slogan s associated with Dr. Mahalh ir's ru le, the most reso na nt was Hot ( reated by, o r for, him . 1\5 far as a nyone knows, MalaYSia bo/ell was the tagli ne used in a marl.;eting campaign for a hea lth beverage in the 19805 . It translates as "Malaysia ca n", or more gra mmatica ll y, "M alaysia ca n do it ", and with Dr. Mahathir al t he helm it became the ba ttle cry of the natio n. It echoed from the stadium as Malaysian spo rtsmen upheld natio nal ho nour on t he fiel d, and it rang out in rl's po nse to an y news that could be construed as a Malaysian trium ph_ The sent iment e mhexlied in Ma laysia bOWl fit Dr. Mah ath ir's ca n-do personality perfec tly. He wanted h is fellow Mala ysians, especially thc Malays, to be proud, capable and confident. While Dr. Mahalhir pursued in itiatives mea nt to elim inate vest iges of colon ial thinking a t home and show that Malaysia was taken seriously a broad, he bu ilt for the ages on a SCille thill impressed Malaysians a nd foreigners ali ke. The north-sout h highway stret ched fr om the lip of sout hern Thailand to the outskirts o f northe rn Singa pore. Con necti ng renang island to t he mainla nd was thl.' longl.'sl bridge in Asia. An int ernational airport for the capilal matched Ihe region's biggest an d best. A proposed dam in Sarawak sta te would flood The Multimedia Super Corridor generated just USS2 billion in econom ic activity in a decade. missing the tech outsourcing boom that wen t main ly to India. 17 Even as Dr. Mal1i1thlr prepared to move out of Kuala Lum pur, he. sougllt to upgrade it int o a mOTe cosmo politan commercial cilpital befitting t he Malavslil of h is dreams. Founded as a Ix'draggled ti n-m in ing town in 185 7. Kual~ Lu mpur was still largely all mhan hndgepodgc more th an a century later. Officiall y l11ade the (· .. pita l of Sclangor state in 1880, rc plilcing till' port o f Klang, it became tht' capital of M,ilaya/Malaysia , but was grilnted city sta tus only in 1972 and declared a fl'de ra l territo ry two yeilrs later. Uy sepa ra ting Kuala l.umpur from surrounding Sclangor, the governml'nt ensured that the capital could nOI be cont rolled by ,Ill o pposition party, a t
190 M alaysial/ Muwrick
the same lime weaken ing Ch inese infl uence in the state. The first Ilme Or. Mahath ir caught sight of Kuala Lumpur, hl' though t it very bleak. " I sa id, 'wh y d on't you pla nt trees?' I ke pt on saying this h ut it nl'Ver happened ... until you have the authority to say, ' 1'Ia nt!"' lII Armed with p rime minis!'eria l aut hority, Dr. Mahathir did a gTeil! deal to create a greener capita l immediau': ly a fter he came to power in 1981. In 1997, he o rdered Malaysians to start planting serio usly, with the target of adding three millio n trees thro ugho u t the country by 2000 - Kuala Lumpur's quota was 220,000 - and 20 million by 2020. An interim goal was to create a garden nation by 2005. The camlk"lign got a boost o n I S October 2000, World lIabitat Day, when Dr. Mahathir joined many other Malaysians in planting 110,461 trees in just one minute, Sure eno ugh, it was sufficient to claim a world record, dwarfing the previous best effort, 2 4, 199 tf(."CS planted in a week, sct in Sao Paolo, Brazil,ln 1976. Acti ng as the d e facto lord mayor, Dr. Mahathir took a perso na l interest in Kua la Lumpur's t ran sformation , nothing being too small to overlook. According to Cha nd ran Jesh urun, a n academic who resea rched a book on the capital,J9 Dr. Ma ha th ir paid c lose attent ion to heritage conserva tion and directly con trib uted to Ihe prcscrvation o f soml..' treaSllfes. O nc was an old railway station with Moorish-style m inare ts a nd d o mes. It was renovated a nd exte nded, "With a very sensit ive touch fo r histo rical and arc hi1I..'Ctural detail ",-+O In 1984, Dr. Mahath lr offended Ihe local construction Industry by Insisting thaI the contract for the Dayabumi complex, a showcase commercial building and then the d ty' s talie-st, go to two JapanCS(' co rnpanl ~ that were o utbid by a Malaysia n o ne. li e was less interestl'{l in cutting costs than ensuring the realil-3Uon of the Japanese deSign, which was visually stunnin g. " It was a re markable com bina tio n of Islamic motifs and !'>tcel SlnlClure, and it markt!d a turning poin t in Kua la Lumpur's mode rn he ritage," wrote C handran Jeshuru n. \I There fo llowed a successio n of noteworthy h i g h - ri~s, incl uding the Putra World Trade Centre, wh ich housed UMNO's head<j uarters, the "curvaceous" head office of t he Pilgrims f und Board, and next to it the "uniq uely Ma laysia n design" o f thl' Natio nal Equit y Corporation headqua rters. 42 The Kuala Lumpur Tower, uscd for commun ications a nd ('o ntaining a revolvIng resta urant, featu red an a n tenna that soared 42 1 metr('s into the t ropica l Sky. On the strength of visit s to " nea rly every country in the world ", Dr. Mahathir expressed th e vlt'w that It was th e illost bcallli fullower eve r bu ilt. II They were heady days fo r Ma lflys la 's leading architel'U, it rare chance to le t their Imaginatlons SOCt to all Mala ysia ns," he :r..lid a t tile ope ning. It was ]1 August 1999, the last national d:ly of tile cen tu ry. the last of ttl(.' mitlen nium, As if to pre-empt th e inevitabl e (-omTll{'n ts about nn ed lflct' co mplex. Or. Mahathh cons plcuollsly fo rbid Il is naTlle to Ix: attached to any physical feature, man-made or natural. The onl y trace while he he ld o ffi ce was his o ld M;\I-IA Cli ni c in Alor Sta r, wh ich re tained Ihe name lo ng a ft e r he had ab.lndo ned medica l practice perm(lllently. " ll would be an act of arrogance if I were to allow h u l1di n g~ and 'icl on to he n.lTll('d a fr er 1lH"," he sa id on Q
I , Dil l'mma", In 11 0 im in private. The two sides would reach an accom modatio n, usually o n royalty's te rms, itS it sil ited the po liticians to prolect a system that was S(>efl as essen tial to pe rpetuate Malily politica l dominance. Dr. Maha lh ir, who WilS n itkal o f relld alism, d id not o bject to t he exi Ste nce o f a purely cl'remonia lillollarc h y.l A s it co m mon£'r and polilic ia n, though, he IV"S less to leran t of in terreretKe and excess by me mbers of royal fil m iJies th an his hl \le-bloo(kd p redecessors. ,\ft er a con fr ontatio n with the roy.1ls early in h is prime mi n istership, he cam e to vi ew the mona rchy as a rival centre of power that had to be permanen tly restra ined. His s uccess ill taming the monarc h y in a b ru iS ing, episoc!ic batik' that e,xten dcd ove r m ore t h an a deca(\t:' gave him th e cha nce lO d isplay hi$ formidab le poli tical skills and grit, The fail ure of so me o f the su lt a ns to Slay witilin u nw ritten limits invit ed Dr. Ma h at h ir to cut the m dow n to size, wh ich he d id by redUCin g tl wir sta nd ing in the eyes of Ihe Malaysi, it duty he excrci.scd in practice On the advice of the prime min ister. lllC! Conference of Hulers, which (or SOIll(' specific purposes consists of on I)' the ni lle sultans, \\'as given a veto over any laVolS diret'tly a£fe5C't rada l harmo ny. Rei nforci ng til(' ruler$' position by add ing "reassurance to assurance", as ol\e analyst termed ii, WilS part of a rllultl 'p ro ngt'd dfort to make Ma lays ft.'{'1 1110 re secure aboutlheir place in multi ·ethn lc Ma laysia .6 While Ihe arrangements worked fairly well In thl' t'ar ly years. tho(' werc signs th at some of thc rulers had not fully subscribed to the concept of constitutiona l mona rc hy. Ila sed on the Wes tlllin ~te r modd, Mala ysia 's Constitut ion is one In whI ch ('o rwention ra ther than law is ilmajor source of rule$.J Th e sultans had a different nolion of their prerogiltivl'S frorn thilt whIch is scrupulo usly ohserved hy th eir British coulltt'rparts.1I for e:~ample, they fou nd it hard 10 grasp t hat while t hey held "dl.scn:tio na ry pa WNS" to appoint the state politkal leader - the chief minIster, known as "'elltri best" in the sultanatt"S - it Wil~ no longer their prerogativt" to do so. According to the principlcs of constitutional monarchy, they were expectt>d to accept the nomi nation of t he ruling part y, which lI~ua ll y meant the prime minister's choice. Similarly, giving royal assent to laws passt'd by (' it'fted stil\(.' legislatures was supposed to be a formality . Bill so mt' rulers sti ll interfered in t he appointment of rl def min isters and mcmbers of CXCt'Utivl' councils, whic h fu nctioned a~ state Cabin ets. Th e}' a lso lobbied hard and e mbar· rassi ngly fo r increased pdul Kalunan was uniq udy placed to offer gentle advice to e rring sultan) a nd their ever
more numerous - a nd sometimes a rrogant, waywa rd a nd ava ric ious - relatives. For the most part. tho ugh, tile subjcct remained taboo. with pote ntial critics deterred by t he co nstitutional prohibitio n o n q ll{'~ti O lling t he sovereignty of the rule rs, t he widened Sedition Act , and a genera l be lief tha t they were courting tro ubll' if they spoke up. Chandra MUlaffar, a promInent in tcl l('(lual. made a cau tious casC' in 1979 for critically exam in Ing the behaviour of rulers. li e said some aspects of the imtilution could - a nd shou ld - be d i!iLussed ill pu blic: "Th l' alleged util ilation of public fun ds fo r private pu rposes, the apparent ex travaganCf_' in lifestyles, i nvolve m ~nl In bus Inesses, Interfere nce in :.trlctl y political mattl'rs, the Inahili ty to uphold hig h ethical sta ndards and most of all , the absence o f an image of excellence which can inspire em ulation ...... U Alt hough his study wa:. a persuasive argument fo r a responsible public debate, it was not forthcoming. Or. Mahathir's te nure as d('puty prime minister cOinci and loya lt y of t heir subjects .... H Elsewhere, Dr. Maha lhir also wrote of the " new forcc" of Ma layan dl.'tnocracy that was likely to eclipse feudalism. 19 In The Malay Dikmma in 1970, Dr. Mahalhir insin llatt.'d that Ihe rulers in earlie r cl' nturies were more COI1Cl'rned about feat hering their OWI1 neslS than helping the Mala ys obtai n a filir deal from visi ting Indian, Arab and Chi nese Iraders. He said the rulers appropriated ~ a (('rlaln portion of goods be longing 10 Iheir sll bj~-'(H" and excha ngL'Ctly affectin g the privileges, position, honours o r digniti es of the ru lers ~ h a ll lx' passed without t ile conSl'nt of tlte ConferelK(' of Ih Licrs." Wit hout their prior approval, thi.' amendments mOTe than Hk('l y wert' unconstit ut ional. As Ii.'ader of the exduslv
1111 UII(toWI/(11 Killg 207
of Rulers consenl for any law affecti ng the sultans. t3 Ilaving rejected a person.ll appeal by Dr. Mahathi r, the lIefian t rulers convened on 20 November a t the court of the Sulta n of Sela ngor, named Heavenl y Ili ll 11alace, in an ostentatious show of tradit ion and modern ity to consider a compromise proposal delivered by an UMNO delegation: It was a uniq uely Malaysia n gat hering of the da ns. Th e sultan of Perak packed a pistol o n hi s h ip and wore green com hat fatigucs a nd a red beret. The man who could be Malaysia's next king ~aVl' a ja unty dencll('d-first salute as he poppcored their own rallies, which wert' much lx' lter lIttended than the controlled press reported. Thl' di ffer(' nces showed up within UMNO's senior ranks, with ;1 party vice president and at least two cahinet mi nisters siding sllenU y with til{' sult an s . ~1 Alt hough hl' revell('d In th e rallies, Dr. Ma hath ir had UlH"omfortabl e moment s. Crit ici zl't.i by wel lon s of UMNO for bei ng aut orratic lind Igno ring tta SIgns o f stress in liN husband, it rl't.ll1l'n ing in the eye, and feared for his safl'ly a~ large and enth usiast ic crowds slITg('d aroun d him at meeti ngs throughou t the country. For t he fus t ;ttld only time in h is political career, she Silid, ~bo th eyes wert.' red".~2
A sett lement reached in ea rly December W;tS a compromise t hat pleased nobody beyond the relief it brough t that the fi ve-month confrontatio n had em1l'd. In a n embar rassi ng re treat, the government allowed the king to retain t he formal right to declare an e mergency, while t he sultans' oblig. ;t tlons to assent to sta te legIslation were left unchanged, though they undertook orally 110t 10 block bills without reason able cause. In his attempt 10 re moVl' roya l assent 10 legislation passed by Par liament, Dr. Mahathir aC1Ually gave th e king an exp li cit legislat ive role for the (ust tiJlle. H Under the co mpromise, Ihe king could no longer block legisl;t tion by refusing to sign it into law, thoug h he wo uld be able to dela y It for at leas t two mont h~. Once legislation was passed by Parliame nt , Ihe ki ng would have .m days to sign it. If ht' Objffted to t he bill wit hin that pe riod, he could return it to Pa rliament with a statement of his reasons for furt her consiocra\ion . If Pa rliamenl the n reaffirmed support for t he measure, it would be resubmitted to the king a nd automatically would become law after anot her 30 days. MOlley bills, a n exception, would become law automaticall y after the in itial 30-day period . Govern ment leaders t'ouJd call the agreeme nt a "triumph of rat iona li ty" and political maturity that d id not favour eithe r side, but it fell far short in Dr. Mahathi r's tl'CIII S. H Wh ile he gai ned a crucial lega l poi n t - depriving the king of t he power to thwart t he eled with estahlished Chinese companies. i\(:cording to Filllillce Min ister Daim Zain udd in, Ih(· rulers had no compunction a bout writ ing di r
of reasons, which was the compromise ten years ca rliN, The ki ng m ust now give asse nt wit hin 30 days, or the bill would beco me law automat icd Dr. Mahat hi r as "Irresponsible" and added, " li e carl'S nothing for class, for law, for order, for til(' Comlitut io n. Wha t suUs hi m, he just dOC'i il. "/oil Th N~ was considerable trut h a nd a hin t of rc.-vl' nge In thc Tu nku's tre nchant observations. From th(' pOli tica l wilderness in 1970, Dr. Mahath ir had condem m'd the Tunku's ad min istra tion, not least fo r Its willingness to rewrite th l' indepe nde nCl' C(l n ~ tit ut i o n : "TIll' Illalllll'r, till' freq uency ancl t he triv ial reasuns fo r alte ring t he Const itutio n n:dul'cd th is sup TI.'me law of t he nation to a use less scrap of I)(lPt:r."('~ ¥t,t lmdt.: r Dr. Mahathir Ihe pace of const it utio nal cha nge did not slac ken , hi s govern meot pushing 25 amendments through Pa rlia ment in 22 y('ars. 11J Tht' ret'ord showed tit' d id not a«'Cpt the opinion of constitut ional expt'rlS, much less h is own (\(Ocia ration ,71 tha t Malaysia'S ('.austitl/lion should ind('('(i be supreme, above all the institutions of governme nt. Bu t wh ik' Dr. Ma hat hir had li ttle ti me for thl: roya lly where it represented a feudal order, he !lever seriously contemplated reforming the monarchy or eli mi nat ing it altogether. I-lis basic requirement was t hat the monarchy should not obstruct him a nd his n;uion·buildlng goals. A I>owcr· ful prime minister wit h a reformist bent might have taken steps to pe rsuade the sultans to behave a ~ rea l and ad mi red cOlIStitlitional monarchs. Ill" could have issued instructions through Ihe chief minis ters o f the Ma lay sta tes to en ~ure t he sultans stayed o ut of buslnl'Ss and t he appointment of local o ffi ci als , t;'st' he wed gambling a nd other socia l vices and generally com po rted themselves In (I n l'xe rnpla ry manner, Dr. Maha thir's (ai lm(' to pro ject a model in stitut io n worth y of emulation, as Chandra Muz,lffar te rm('d it,n meant the problem would inevItably recur. And, indeed, so me royal house holds began fleXin g their politica l m uscles agai n, intNwn ing to gcl t hei r nomin{'Cs ,lpPoin ll'd as chief ministers of Trc ngga nll ,md Peri is In 2008, as Malaysia ':ian\.: into despair under Prirn(' Min ister Abdulla h Hadawi's weak and i nd('cl~ i vc leadC'rship.71 Hy ex posi ng the sulta ns' all 100 huma n fr ailties and treating thelll with ... uch u istlrty scnlors d h m issed his concern because he was not a religious expert ..-;! UMNO and the governmen t wen? content to keep responding pie«'meal to the pro life rating and d iverse tit/kIVa" groups, whose aspirations varil' who claimed WomeH with covered lll'ads w('re more virt uous and Islamic t han others_ At the N.ltion;11 University of Malaysia, he inlervelled to prevent the ("ancellalion of a concert by a popular male singer afte r Muslim undergraduatt's opposed it, keen to avoid the appearan ce of "a victory fo r the exte rnal groups that were orchestrating t he o p position".~~ Qu ite ap,m from th e fact tha t Dr. Ma hath ir appropriated Islam for political purposes a nd to confer legitimacy on his adm in istration,49 his validation of a Singular approach to the rdigion was bound to be controversial. For a sta rt, as Patricia Mart inez, a non-MusUm Malaysian expert in Islam, pOint('(i out, Dr. Maha thir did not follow traditional Islamk schOlarly practice of in voking sources from III(S;" the formal d iSCipline of Qur'anic interpretation, sn Ill' and his adm inistration, "even the regular colum ns by governnwn t insti tll fion s~, defined Islam la rgely th rough literal interpretations, the approach usually adopted by fu nda mentalists. BUI just as he had litt le lise for th(!ologk-al interpre tations o f Islam,sl Dr. M,lhat hi r coru:ed('d no t an inch to the theologians a nd oth er intell('cluals trained in Islam who ob jected to his pronounceme nts. Indeed, he willingly confronted the 11 /(//11(/, specialists high ly educated about Islam, upon whom usually rested the task o f interpretin g the Q ur'an and the lIadith, the a
Till'
f'l'ri'-~
of III'mS/I/(/li( IS/rull 229
died. Abu Saka r lla'asyir, who fl ed 10 Ma laysia In 1985, remained in the COllntry until aft!.'r Su harto fell in 1998. Accordi ng to Leslie Lopez, a Malaysian journalist whose reporlS did much to expose the shadowy network, MalaYSia n aut horiti plans to deta in the radiCil ls beca use he had li ttle time for Suharto and did not wa nt to play into PAS's hands, LOIX'l. S3rtmen t, which allowed the sta te's religious au thorities to liIke crimi na l proceedings aga illst Mus l im~ aCt"Used of heresy, dl.'viatioll or otlier "crimes" rdated to thei r bclieh. The bi ll provided for an accusl.'(i to be confined to il "fai th rehilbilitation ("entre N for up to a year, to a llow him o r her to be "brought back" to the proper fold of Islam. '11105(' judged unredeemable would be declared a\>osta tes and lose their rights as MusH msYl5 A 1I10re extreme version of the law, which would have allowed for the prosecutio n of a Musli m accused of m isleading fellow Muslims to vOle for an 0 PIXlsitiOn party, was considered during thc dcba tc. 106 Johore provld('d fo r caning and ja il sent ences fo r le~bians, prostitutes a nd pimps, and fo r those found gu ilt y of sodomy, pre-marita l st'x and Incest. 1U7 At a speefor(', and he no doubt sought 10 oUlflank PAS tactlca lly aher de-daring ail-oul support for the UnIH.'d Stiltes in \1l(' ~wilr on tcrror" that follow('{1 "Scptcmbl'r I I", Dr. Mahllthir was serious this ti me, l ie made the an nouncclllent at a m('t'ting of Parti Gerakan RakY,lt Malay"i il, :11\ UMNO coalition partner, and call1'd a gathering of all National Front members to endorse the move, lie latef told P:uliament that Malaysia ""'erhap" He [kscrv('() Bctu·r: The Disjunctu re bctlo'."{'c n Vision and Reality in Mahathir'$ bla m ~ . in Bridget Welsh. ed., Rrlit-cli/J/Is: n,,' MII/mllli, Yo:ars (Washi ngton: $outhcalt Asia Studics Progr.lln, I'a ul I I. N i tze School of AdvOtl·: InstllUt(' of
Sout heast Asian Studies, 20( 6), p. 54. M . Suiiall l-1 ashim, - The Rclatiom hi p l>C'tw('(' n
1 ~l am and th e State in Mal lacc~5t.'(1 24 NuVt'J ubt."r 20(5) . Zaill udd in Ms: Minister" , Stuli/oS Timr?s. 18 ,' uguS t 2007. 12:5 UMalays\a Ncltll(' r S('c ular no r Theocratic State, says Alxlullahu. SlIlIJtlY Times, 5 August 2007. 12 1
N
Straits
,
II
10 A Strident Voice for the Third World
Gnl' in dication that Malaysia'S place in the wo rld would change (Ir Changing that m indsct - the nearest Dr. Mahathir came 10 explaining what he saw as a na tional inferiority com plex - and restoring pride and confidenlg(' from the West, particula rl y from the country that had 10rde(1ovcr Malaysia for morc lhan a cen tury. It aho reinforced Dr. Mahathir's belief thai it d id not necessarily pay to he nice to everyone. As it \Vas, Thatcher foun d ill Dr. Mahathir a kindred spirit, "almOSI a man to envy" .~~ lIer feelings were fully reciprocated, with Thatcher being awardl'd an honorary degrec [rom a uni\'ersity in Dr. Mahathlr'.) constituency. While the bilateral relationship remain('d warm until Tll atchl'r was (\cPOl>OO by her party In 1990, I)r. Mahathir was prepared to slap down the British again if thl'y overstepped some invisible mark, or Malay confid~nce I,lltered hefore what one analY$t called "t he British aUTa of superiority" . ~' London'li SlIllday Til1/e.~ obl iged in 1994, when John Major was prime minIster, hy reporting "h igh- level corruption" around a tendering process in Malaysia. It came aanies invested US$3 .1 bil lion in C hina between 1996 ami 200J, while two-way trade ha lloom'd to USS 14. 11 billion from US$3.76 billion in thl' same period. In purSuit of comrn(' rci,1 1 returns. as well as regional solida ri ty, Dr. Mahath ir also \x."Caml' an eager ad voca te o f further expanding ASEAN. [t had Ix>en enlarged to six countrk'S wit h Bru nei's membcl':'i hip in 19R4, ami Dr. Mahath ir wanwd to incl ude the rest of the then tell Southeast Asian natio ns. i{{'('ognizing the econom ic pot(,lltial of a utho ritarian sta tes Vietnam, Cambodia , I.aos and Myan mar a ~ they swilCh(.'(\ from cen tral planning to marke t l'COllo m ies, he correctly ('alcula ted they would appreciate h is efforts to g('l the m In lO ASEAN, by oUering trade a nd investmen t op[)C)rtun itles. Malaysia duly Ix"Ca me the b igg{'St fo reign investor in Camlxxlia and Sl,('u red significant con tracts in Vietnam ,111(\ Myanmar, The withdrawal o f Vietnamese fo rces from Cambod ia In 1989 opened the doo r fu r Cam bodiS pitch, whether from th(' East or West. Denied a meeti ng wit h Au ng San Suu Kyl,m h e alJando noo h is mission and began vilifyi ng tl u,' jun ta for being an "cmbarrassmcnt 10 ASEAN", f.ngagi llg in the sort of snip ing he onc{' rejet'tt-d as in terference, Dr. Ma hathir (' VCIl rai~ the pUlIsibllity lhal lhe group might expel Myanmar. Wh lle nr. M:thathi r wa') om' o f th e strongest prOponent' of a n ,\SE,\ N Free lrad(' /\rca (ATTA) thaI was formed o n Thailand's inltilltlvc in 1992, he did AFTA 110 favo ur$ when II cam e- to ~elf-in t('r es t. W ith hi s nationa l GIt pru jl'ct l'lIda n gered by t h e Asian economic crisis, M alay~la MJug ht exemptio n from the requirc me lll to rOO IlC(' tariffs on imported fOT('ign vehicles and t hose assembled locally fro m Imponed k its. After h eated de bate and with grcat reluctance, AI'TA ch anged Its rulc.-s to accomrllodau,' Malaysia, III allowing it a fu rt her si:l: yea rs of protC
264
Millflydm/ Mllvrrjck
him "r(-caicitrant" over his no-show, Dr. Mahalhir misjudged where APEe was heading. Whe n Suharto, ell(:ourage(l by Amtralia, offc roo to host a second su m mit the fo llowing year, tuming It into an annual ('Vent, Dr. Mahathir had li ttle choice but to atll'lId. In wha t amounted to a Javanese command, Suharto said, "I will invite him and I expect that he will come".1IH Long of memory a nd reluctant to ret reat, Dr. Mahathlr found a way over the next decade to both revive hb EAEC and take revcngt' o n Australia for his loss of fa c~. lie di rected Malaysian diplomacy to the goal of excl uding Australia as m uch as possible frolll rt!gional political li fe . liy dl'nying Canberra a scat at the firs t biennial Asia-Europe summit in 1996, Dr. Mahalhir was also able to rl'Strict the Asian side to the po tential melllbt'rs of his EAEC: ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea. While hosting the annual ASEAN summit in 1997, Malaysia invited the h,'aders of China, Japan and South Korea to meet with thoS(' of ASEAN together and ind ivid ually. They continued to mc6. Karmindt, Singh Dhillon, MI""}"(ilml'orrig" f'viK)' i/l Ilk' MII/II.,lri, Ere, (198 1- 2003J, p. 170. R,' phacl I'urd, ~M ;III :lI h1r 's U.S. rrl p Showcas('\ Bl'ltd I il" ". A,irlll IVI.1l 511('1'1 Irmrlllll (hercarter it WS/), 10 january 1984 . JOIl\() K.S., M Way: M,'/lIl/illr\ Enmvmir tt'.~,/C), (Kua13 I.umpur: f orum, 200j), 1)· 40. W illiam~.. ik'fT)" Jr., ~Thrt'ilt I'l'H:epliolls In \ 111' I'hllipphll'S, Malaysl:, a m i Slng~[MJrt.' ~, INSS OccasIo nal PaIK'T 16, Sq1tcmht.' r 11)1)7, USAI: imlilult.' fur Nat io n31 $('Curlty Studk!lo. I mail eorrc-spondl'n re, 28 \'I1o"'('mlx!r 2007, with William F_lkrry,]r., U.S. aIr .Il1ach" In Kual.! Lum pur 1990-93. MJhathlr Moh:un ad, SlJoC\.'C h in co njunction w ith the n:'ll'br;Hion (If IIH' 4 Ht a nniVCIs.lry o f tl1\' Un ited Nat iOns, 25 (":lol>I.'r I98b, cited in Khoolk.K) Tell.., I'um.lv,v", 'If ,\/,'I"r l"',i~m: All /lIIdkrlll (accessed 27 Jan uary 20(6). Ahmro Rashi d, ~W hat Do You Th in k o f Am{'rica Nowr, H::t::R,:i April 2003, p. 12_ tesl ie Lopi.·z. " Mala ysia Straim U.S. Tolcranre . !larry Wai n, "Washington to Heward Its Frl~I1fIs ~, IlWSI, 281\ pri12003. ~ M lie said, 'The pressure has been building up ill recent months in the region itself and we arc aware that un less we reform the system fro m with in, changes wi ll be illl pos('rview , "Do I have to ki ss him on the stret'! before pt'oplc will stop saying there is a rlfl?,,~8 In one appeara nce together in Penang. Anwar professed his loyalty and love for Dr. Mahathir, whom he described as "a teac her ~ ancl himself ,Illh Declaration, named ilftt:'T his parliamen ta ry constituency. which e mphaSized the rule of law. democracy, ('('ollomlc justice, ellmlnating corruption and a com mit ment to peaceful prot{'St.
In Kuala Lumpur, members of t he police Special Ihauch, a political· inte lligence un it, were no t encumbered by suc h loft y Ideills as they com· piled a case agai nst Anw;rr. O n 6 September, they arrestl'd Sukma Da rmawa n Sasmitaat Madia, '\nw;lr's adopted bro ther. Eight days late r Ihey detained Pa kistan· born Munawar Ahmad An ees, a microbiologist with a doctorate from the Un ited States and a maior intellectual fi gu re In the Islamic world, as author and social critic, who periodically wrott' ~peecll('s for Anwar. They wt:r(' held incommu nicado under the Internal Security Act and brutalized Into making fahe con feSSion s implicating Anwar in homosexuality . In a statutory decla ra tion, Munawa r, marrie{] with two young childrt'u. late r gaw a chill ing cll'scription o( his ordeal, wh ich r('ild in pil rt "li ke th ~ memoirs o f a Soviet-cra [ast Europea n poli tical prisoner".H "Kidnappt'd " (rom his home by about a dozen men ill plain clothes who produced no police identification or arresl warrant , he was confined to a windowll?Ss cell ilnd forced to a ll ~Wl'r not to a flame but to "Number 26"'. Drugged. a nd deprived. of sleep, 11(' was relent lessly interrogated by men often screaming ohsccniti('5 irl his face ami ~ lI bj('Cted to degrading trealnlt'nt, incl uding havi ng hi s he,ltt SIIil Ved, being slrlppt'd and forcftl to si mulate sex Oil tile Iloor with an lrnaglnMY t\nwar. ~~ On 19 Septl.'mber, Sukma, J7, and Munawar. 5 1, dazed and disoriented. appeared In separate courts, each pleading gUilty with the encouragl'ment of a polll'C-provided lawyer, to a c harg just 24 hou rs to "turn ovr a lesser charge for Na llaJ..a ruPI>d in an eXChange, Itaja i\1Jz Add ruse, Anwar's respected leading counsel, agn.-'('(j tha t what Fe rna ndo had said was corrc-ct but t'xpn.'SS(.'(1 in the wro ng way. l ie sa id he Wil ... surc Fernando did not mean to be Im polite, addi ng, "That's his way of speaking." R('plied Paul: "If the way of speaking Is like an a nimal, we GlIl 't tolera te il. We shou ld shoot him." Later, wht'n Fernando sought to ti l(-' the judge fo r contempt of his o wn ('(JurI , Paul said he had not In tended 10 like n Fernando to a n ani ma l. 77 On 14 Aprl! 1999, II days after the trla l closed wit h t he defence refUSing to make a final subm ission, Paul fou nd An war guilty of a ll four cha rgt's ,lIld lalled him for si x years on e,lt' ll , t ile sen tences to he se rved concu rrently. Con trary to usu .. 1 practice in Ma laysIa, he dated tilt' scntc l'ces fr om tll(' day be fo re t'on vi(t ion a nd not from the ti me of arrest to la ke account of t il e a lmost seven mo nths An wa r had spent beh ind bil rs. li e il lso dism is)cd a defence ap plica lio n for a stay of exesution a nd b.. iJ pe nding a n a ppeal. The se nte nces were regarded as ha rsh , since t he "corrupt prilclice" wit h wh ic h Anwar was charged wa~, as one Kuala Lumpur-hased foreign jou rn alist wrote. u a mino r tran sgression compared with the wide ly ilcccptcoliticai S('crC'tary, Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin, had told him o n 26JlIne 1998 atXHlt pla ns to d{'siroy Anwa r's reputat io n so he could IleVer lx-cOlnc prime mi ni ster, li e said Abutoo to the book, $0 J)t/liI, which was sponsored by prominent UMMO me mbers. Umm i had :
Whcll he reti rcd o n 3 1 October 2003, Dr. Maha thir said he wa s fin is hed with polit it's. lie dec li ned a n offer to re ma in In the Ca bi net a ,~ a "se nior minister",l an arra ngem ent pio neered by Singapore's Lee KUdn Yew that enabled h im to kcep ta bs all h is sliccessors. Dr. Ma hathir had begu n writing h is mem Oi rs while h e served Oll t h is 16-mo nth n otice,! and looked fo rward t o fi nishing them aud accep ting i nvita tion s from abroad that w o r\.: co mm i tmen ts had hith ert o p reclu ded , He prom ised not to i n te rfcre in
Mala ysia n govern me nt affairs. ~No, [ have already made it very d ear t ha t when I leave, ] leave completely," he said. 1 Dr. Mahat hir h3d chosen carefully as his successor Abd ullah Badawi, an experienced, modest and affable veteran, over the younge r, better t>d uca tcd ami marl' vigorous Na iil) nazak. Abdullah, 63, was familiar wit h Dr. Mahathir's th inking.. having served in most of hi s cabinet s in such senior po rtfo lios as educatio n, defence and foreign affa irs. Najib, SO, a bi t on the young si de, Dr. Mahath ir reasoned, could step i n afte r Abdullah had served. a singl" tcrm .4 Abdullah 's o nly b lt'mish was that he had back("fl Tcngku na;.>l lleigh Ham7...,h in challenging Dr. Mahatili r for Ihl' leadershi p o f UM NO ill 1987. But Abdullah had not joined Teng ku I{a;'>"ca rt.'
tI /Jml'-KI1IH"klr Nfl/wi Ol't'r Olle Mom 's Legacy 319
In the ba llot for the party's three vice presidents, the likely future le,lc1ers, incumbent Muhyiddin Yassin, an Abdullah su ppo rter, narrowly ret,lined hi s position. Anot her incumbent favoured by Abdu lla h, Mu hammad Muhammad Tail>, lost. Two relative outsid('rs, Federal Ter r itorie~ Min ister Moha nH_x llsa Samad and Ma lacca Chief Minister Ali Rustam, finished first and second, respect ively. Abdullah retained a ma jority 011 the Supre me Council, though only because he was allowC'd by lhe rules to aplx)int up to t('n memhers himself. Four cabi!l('t mi nisters lost their seats on the council, while threul Amri lia ha rll dd in s,1id.MI Or, as Ka rpal Singh, the opposi ti on warhorse, put It, "I say t hose who Jive in g];lsshoU\e$ should nelt lHl(lrcss with ou t clrawinlo; til e curtai ns."sI As always, Dr. Mah,lthir was fcar lc~ s . No topi c was taboo, despite its potential to rebound 011 hil11 , and he was offended by repeated al h:grtraycd the d isturbi ng crime rate as pa rt of the rot that had .sct in under Alxlul1a h, a claim d isproved by th{' royal com mission in to the police force, which found it was the most cormpt of all govern ment departments and long incapable of protecting the publ;c . \~ Eq lla1\y a udIl1d tighten ed restrictions 011 a press that historically was required to [l,ntner the govern men t in the coulltry's development. He tw ice to ughened th e r rinting Presses and Publi cations Act, allowing the home affa irs min iste r u n fettere d powers to l'ontro l the press. I'll.' also amend ed the Offici al Secrets Act to per mit a lmost an y doc ul11 cn t In be classified "sf?d the paper for th Tl-'e months, hu t rcle n tl'd after a court ruled aga inst the expulsions. Distri bution of the H(!l'i('w, J()IlfIlOf, Nt'wsw!'ek, Time' and the £(0IlQllli51 was sometimes d claYl'd, or blocked altogether, by min isterial edict. Ma laysia in 1999 hecame the first Common weal t h coun lry in 50 yea rs to jail a re porter fo r COil tempt of
courl: Murray Iliebert, a Canadian 011 t he Revkw '~ staff in Kuala Lu mpur, scrvi,'d four wl.."eks of a six-wet'k prison sente nce for an article he wrote about a local lawsui t. In an attempt to skirt t he o nerous lice nsing laws, two young Ma laYSian journalists in 1999 had started the count ry's firs t online daily nc'wspaper, MIllayshlkilli. Their gamble: To promote his Multimed ia Su per Corridor in 1997. Dr. Mahalhir had promised foreign inform atio n a nd commu nIcations technology investors he would not I.:ensor thi' Internet, a decision he late r regretted. Neverth eless, the gove rnment sought to impede the Vl'nture by resorting to back-door methods, such liS barring N/a/aysiakilli re porte rs from o fficial functions, press ronfere nces and o t her ('ven ts.6~ A police raid on t he p.1per's offi ces ill 200], after a compl ain t by UMNO' s youth wing t hat a reader's letter W:l S sedit ious, made a mockery of Or. Mahath ir's promise. Llut the pape r was back on li ne less tha n half a day later, its confiscated comput ers and se rvers replaced with makesh ift il ml publicl y donated equipment, and its r('putalion ('nhanccd. r'v(a{aysiakill; won the Intcrnation al Press [lISt it ute 's ZOO ) Frecclo m Award fo r its independent coverage o f Malaysia's pol itical scene. Seemingly o bli vious to the irony , Dr. Mahathi r turned in his ho ur of need to r'v(a/oysiakilli, whose staff he had once labe lled "trilitors" . l Ie began the first of what became p('riodic inte rviews with t he comment, ~ I never li ked Malaysia kinLcolll . It was very c ritical of me bcfo re." 66 After tilat, he made extensive usc of cyherspace, including news websites and popular blogs, before starting his own blog - www.chedel.colll - to get his an tiadminist ratio n message acro:.s."7 VCDs of severa l of his talks were sold lit roadside stalls. Improbably, as {'V(>n the opposi lio n conct'ded "a greater sense of fR'edom and o pen lless~ after Dr . Mahathir steppt.'d d OWll,btI he contended that Abd ullah 's Ma la ysia had l)('Come a "polin' statc".m In an open letter to Malaysians, the former prime minister said anyone attempting to organize an anti-Abdu lla h fu nction would be has~lcd and forced to cancel it. Actions or threats to deter the m, he sa id, inciuckd sacking, transfer to remote areas such as Sahah, GIlKeJlation of con traCls, harassment by the uanks. su mmons by th e policc or the An ti -Corruption Agell('Y, detention and repeated in terrogation . "A clinlClte of fear has C'n vcloped this country," he said. 'o III tru th , Malay~i ;1 was never more than a qua si-delll ocrad Dr. Sill lIasmah to her old Put ra jaya home, the o [flCi al r~side nce, even as the war of words tu rncd ugly. Dr. Siti Ilasmah accepted, keen to SC(. what changes h ad been milde by the new occupants, and del ighted to accept a ride with /\lxlullilh ilro und the premises. H Although he helped shilped the pcrception of J\ bd ullah as il il indecisive leader who relied h (~avi ly on a group of young advisers led by his son and ~n -i n -Iaw, Dr. t.,'lahathir pilid a price for his remorseless, scattcr-gun o ffensive. While he reta ined a p ublic following, eli It' pol itical o pin io n turnl'd agai nst him when it became obvious t hill he was o b::.cssed with o usting Abdullah, whatever the COSt to UMNQ and stab ility ?' A brokercd meCli n g wit h Alxl u llah in late 2006, billed as "'peace talks", was p ivota l, Apart from inSisting on ret' rsuade his old UMNQ division, Kubilllg Pasu ill Kedah, to eit'("t him as o m' of seven dell'gatcs to the party's Gelll'ral /\ ssembly in 2006. Although his na me Wil!'> first on the ballot paper, he came ninth out o f I S con(('stants - in thc diviSion he had headed for nearly :\0 year~. While Abd ull,lh 's followers, fearing Dr. Mahathi r would try to Instiga te a revolt "gainSt Abdu lla h at the assembly, undoubtt'd ly blocked h is l'1t.>CUon, Or. M,ll!athir compoumil..'tl his h umiliation by alleging vote-buying. " I know that bribery happe ns in allY polities, but I d id no t think that the ru lin g pa rty itself used money polities," he said , c hOOSing to forget th, the attornt'y genera! was instnlctcd to investigate the sIx people idelltifiL'(1 in the report for possible offences, sllch as oml ru,·tion of justice, sed ition and leaki ng state secrets. Not only was Dr. Mahathir under onicial ill vestigiltioll, bu t he was also closcly tied to tinCt' or the ot hers. liast'd on Vln(ent Tan's tc~t inlo ny, the commissioners said it was dear tha t Tim, Llngarn, Acinall and Dr. Mahathir were long-te rm fr iends ami busilll'ss associates "whose Jives arc Im'xtri("a l)ly li nked both personally and in the lI.'n tacles" of Tan 's cOflxmnc empire "and various business pro jects" th,n rl..'qllirro the former prime minlsl('r's backing.
Dr. Mahathir responded with a mi>.,tllre of bravado and belligerence, wh ile issuing a Ihreat of his own He sa w thl' Abdullah .. dministration's actions not a~ ~Ieps towards rl'~torlng public faith in the judiciary but as an aHempt to "draw alle~a ti ons against l11e ror my alleged mb.deeds" and to "shul my mouth .. hould I find occasion to criticize the pres(,ont govern· ment~."" lie welcomed any move to In"e~tigate hilll. "Uut don't gi"C" up halfway and claim there is no case again~t me," he said. "I want to go all the way to court. Let me expo~ many other things in open court.,"'17 Soon after, Dr. Mahathir rcslgnl'(l from UMNO, )aying he would rejoin once Abdullah was no longer leading the party. II S('l;'mcd to be a desperate attempt to I>l'rsuade UMI'\O's .t2 million members to choose between him and Abdullah, and It contrad irtt'tl his parting advice to them five years earlier to "be loyal" and "put the party fir)t".tilht' most notable members who answered Dr. Mahalhir'~ appeal to follow him were his w'ife and their weallhy businessman son, MOkh7 hobbled by his own ineptitude and let hargy, but al~o ob$tructed by l'llttl'llchro UM NO IntereSb opposed to reform. Although Abdullah m'M the end managed to pu~h several bills th rough Parllanll' nt aimed at restoring confiden l"~' in the judiciary ,lI1d strengthening the light agaithl ("(Irruption, ,Ilmost 110 o ne had a good word to say for the wa tered-down pl('t·l':; of h.'gislation. lIl ' f\hdulJah was augered by the open polit i(·king of Dr. Mahathir and Mu hyiddin to get h im to quit e v~n earlier. He said Dr. Mahat hlr had left UMNO, but was ~till is~uing o rders 10 party melllbl'rs. ~Who IS he?" Abd ullah s,1id. ltJI Atxlullah found ou t who Dr. Mahalh lr was on 28 March 2009, the final s{'s~ i ()n of the live-day C,encral A~scml.lly. Wt'arillg ZOOb. SO leslie 1.0(ll'/.. ·\i"'lar~ja \1ay Bl' thl'lA,)~r In [>Ubli( F('ud~, !'tr. 9 June Z006. 5 I "Dr Mahachlr :-'hould Ilavc [,I"en on Mantle of State:>man ,\It('r Rctirenllmt, ~1"'~ l<arpal-, IIrm(lllw, 7 April2(X)8 (acu':.S('(l K .'prl[ 2008). .'i2 "An OIK'n I.('tler byluH Dr M,llidtllir",.'ilar, 28 Oclober 2006. 5J "Mahathlr Attac!.;s liov(>rIlmenlln (;ybcrspace", 24 April 2006 Io\'t'mlx'r 199'i. 65 AI1I1 N\,uo, ~ClilmpdO\... n on Ml'l.li,1 FfC(-dom", Alif {aCCl'llSl'(\2IJnllllol.ry2006I , farl sh A, Nom, " M alaysia'~ Shame", N('w.~ '(("III)', 14 Jul y 2007. joseph l.iow, " h lam ilad har\:" SI(J!;au Gone Cold?~ Slmib Ti,m~, 2:\ r ebrlla ry
'OOl! .
90 C how Kum 1I0 r, "I\lxi ullah 1..&.oI.'S Support of Indian Communlly", Stru il.{ 'fj llI('S , 26Jall uary 2008. 9 1 Sll've n Gan, ""n Incompetent, NCJ!-Si)-Nlcc Guy", 27 No,,·cmlx·r 2007
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A Place in History
Univcrsltl Ulata Ma laysia, a bucoli c campus al Sinloc in Kcd ah near the northern border with Thailand, commends itself as a place to contemplate Ma hat h lt Mo hamad 's legacy. As prime minister, Dr. Mahat hir built this un iversity, whic h specia li,ed in management an d qu ickly att racted a 22,OOO-sludc nt bod y, in his own parliamen tary mnstlt ul,.'/lcy. It was UUM that m nfcrts a nd gave the Suprcm e Council enormous advantage over the rank a nd file by a\lowing the council to IlO5tponc trie nn ial party elections by up to 18 months. By q uitting UMNO in 2008, Dr. Mahathir tried to prompt a stampede for t he exits by the pa rty's e lected representit lives and leaders, who he ho ped would rema in outside the pa rty until Abdullah was replacL-'d, before returning to UMNO. It was o ne of those all-or-nothing ga mbit s Ihil t worked as Dr. Mahatll ir's co Tt"il.. "le:.vmg UMI\O th e M,Ihat hir Way I. ,\ Cru mbkd T rln iIY", Alir,1I/ Orililll', 3 jUl Il' 2OIJ8 SOO 27 i\lIKll.~t 20(8). 28 ProwJ n'SCfl'l" to ( urr(' nl produclion Il-vels ill 2008, 19 .4 year, of oil and 40.9 yc.lr~ of ):as, S!JUrle; Ill' ~1,,'i.\Ii((j/ J/.t'I'fto", o( W()I"1r 278-9 ex pu lsion from UMNO 277,290 fOti ll d ln)t o f AlUM 220- 1, 278-9 ludidary co rru pt io n allegations (vld('Otapel 321:1, 330-1 and Ma ha thi r Moha m ad
Acti ng !'ri me Minister
21:12
romp.a rhon betwccn 280 ronfliclS and tensions between
79, 108,109, 193-4, 2 77, 280-1, 28J....6, 345 dl ffC're nccs o"w econo m ic policy \07, 109,283- 5 carty relat ionship with 2 78-80 govl' rn l111"nt an d pa rty roles 6 1, 78-9 , 22 1,222, 279 Islam 222,232 P'o' rsona l and fam ily rl! la tionshl l's 2\l1 as successor 62, 2SO~ I , 282-3 l'eo plC"~ Fron t 329, 330,343---4 Perwa ja Tn 'ngganu Sdn . Il hd , 174, 175-6 I«-(omll.si agenda 2]2, 235,267, 21:1 5,290, 3 10, ]"7 Seri I'e rda n a pro jC'Cl , J"ut ra jaya 188- 9 and I\mku l\lKi u l Rahm,m 279 Ariftin Ja ka 297,298- !.I
Asco t Spo rls :11 9 Asla -l'lKifil' i:co rlOmlC Coopt' f0 Asian eco no m ic crisis \ 1997-98) eilTtiOl IS of " ic(' pr("Sidctll~. UMNO (J975 ) ]2--3 ~('f ,,1,,-, general (·k.::t ions di tisI11 J.8
ctlvirnn nwn t;,1 26().2,,6
is~ues
1)6,186-7,258,
cth ll ic OIlSCS
to 149-50, lSI, 15), 154, 158--9, 161- 2, 163--4, 168--9, 170,171. 173, 177 I'("[wala Tr("nSK
