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| Aliran and Mahathir
Looking back at the Mahathir years
Aliran Monthly 2003:8
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Aliran shares the Prime Minister�s concern that those who hold political office at Federal and State government levels should not be involved in businesses. Direct involvement in business on the part of public officials could lead to the decline of integrity in society as a whole. It is significant that the Prime Minister realizes that corruption could occur even if public officials are not personally involved in business. They could use relatives or friends as proxies ... Camouflaging direct business involvement in this manner is a common occurrence in many Third World countries. It has given rise to what is called �corruption through cronies�. The corruption of cronyism manifests itself in yet another form in the Third World. Leaders sometimes make a pretext of fighting corruption when in reality they are only interested in eliminating existing business elites and substituting them with others who are closely aligned to the leaders themselves. The new business elites in turn help to strengthen the financial base of their political patrons... Aliran is convinced that corruption camouflaged through cronyism can only be exposed if there is a free press. It is only a free press, unfettered by rules and regulations which inhibit it from investigating the misdemeanours of the rich and powerful, which can check the growth of corruption in any society. It is hypocritical of a leadership which professes to uphold integrity to punish newspapers which expose the corrupt practices of the elites ... 10 June 1983 Squandering of public funds
... The aim of increasing Bumiputra participation in commerce and industry should not be used as a cloak to camouflage incompetence, mismanagement and wastage. It does not serve the interest of the Bumiputra community if public funds are squandered. Such funds can be better utilised to improve the well-being of poor Bumiputra farmers and fishermen. 8 July 1986 A royal commission: The PM is wrong It is a pity that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, does not seem to appreciate the need for an independent Royal Commission of Inquiry to further probe into the BMF scandal. Given its all-encompassing authority, a Royal Commission would be able to produce a more conclusive report. The Prime Minister does not have to fear a witch-hunt since such a commission would give ample protection to the evidence provided by those appearing before it. ... It is not true to say that if there is a Royal Commission people�s faith in the banking system and economy would be eroded. On the contrary, it is the government�s inability to respond effectively to the BMF scandal that has created a crisis of confidence in banking and business circles. If, on the other hand, the government had, from the outset, set up an independent Royal Commission of Inquiry the general public would have retained its faith and trust in the government. This would have contributed towards a healthy business climate. 20 March 1986 Bribing and threatening Aliran is deeply disappointed with the statement made by Barisan Chairman and caretaker Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, that �the Government is not keen on providing allocations for development in Opposition-held constituencies because the Opposition parties would use the funds as capital to get popular�. Dr Mahathir�s statement can be described as both `inducement� to, and `intimidation� of, the voter. It is a form of inducement since he is trying to entice voters to support Barisan candidates with the promise of development allocations. It is a form of intimidation since he is threatening to deny voters development assistance if they support opposition candidates. The Barisan Chairman should know that any form of inducement or intimidation is a gross violation of election regulations ... 29 July 1986 The Bakun hydroelectric project: Time to tell all For a project that is expected to cost the public more than $10,000 million, the Bakun Hydro-Electric Project in the Seventh Division of Sarawak is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. ... An expenditure on such a scale surely demands informed and extensive discussion and comment in public. No matter how well-intentioned and sincere the government may be, at the very minimum the Malaysian public must be given all relevant information about the proposed dam. And especially for the Kenyah, Kayan, Penan and other tribal peoples in the Upper Balui river basin, how, otherwise than through full disclosure, can they be assured that their way of life will not be disrupted and their livelihoods lost? ... When Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed visited the Bakun dam site in April 1985, the people in the Bakun area were very hopeful. Surely, the Prime Minister would provide them with details of the project, listen to their fears and objections and hear their case? But, no. No meeting was arranged. No ceramah, no dialogue between people and government . ... 14 October 1985 The video scandal What this means is that there was a cover-up. The Prime Minister should have had the honesty and decency to admit that there was a cover-up on the part of the Attorney-General. The Prime Minister may not have known of the cover-up when it took place some time ago. If that was the case, then he should have taken action against the Attorney-General once he realized that the evidence had been destroyed. The Prime Minister�s failure to do so, puts him in a very bad light. It lends credence to the view that the Prime Minister goes out of his way to protect wrong-doers as long as they are unquestioningly loyal to him. Indeed, the Prime Minister�s parliamentary performance on the video scandal is conclusive proof � if further proof was needed � that Dr Mahathir Mohamad cares very little for ethics in public life. Aliran Monthly Vol. 10 No. 1, 1990 - pg 38 Mandela and Mahathir What is the similarity between Mandela and Mahathir? Both are freedom fighters. One fights for freedom. The other fights against freedom. Indeed, some of the obstacles that Mandela has to overcome in his struggle for freedom on behalf of his people, are the same sort of obstacles which Mahathir has created or perpetuated in his own country. For instance, Mandela wants the state of emergency in South Africa to be lifted. There are four emergency proclamations in force in Malaysia today. Mahathir refuses to abolish them even though the Communist insurgency � a major security consideration for so many decades � is now over. There is another major difference between Mahathir Mohamad and Nelson Mandela. Mahathir provides `racial� explanations for many of the problems of development and underdevelopment. Mandela, in contrast has a lucid grasp of the underlying economic, political and social dimensions of the challenges associated with wealth and poverty, power and subjugation, in Third World countries and in other parts of the world. Aliran Monthly Vol. 10 No. 3, 1990 -Pg 42 & 44 Buying votes and bribing voters In the last one year or so, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has gone all out to bribe the people with all sorts of goodies. He began with teachers and civil servants. They had been grumbling for a long while about salaries and terms of service. He has acceded to most of their requests. Then he turned to the armed forces personnel and to the police. They too had some long-standing grievances connected with their terms of service. He has also taken care of that. Since the first quarter of the year, he has been trying to win over those economic groups which his type of economic development has set aside for some years now. Inshore fishermen, rubber and palm-oil smallholders, FELDA settlers, padi farmers and petty traders and hawkers are all being wooed with subsidies and deductions, easy credit facilities and generous repayment terms. Aliran Monthly Vol. 10 No. 9, 1990 - pg 2 Don't raise the ghost of May 13 We regret that the tragedy of May 13, 1969 has been raised and made use of by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir in his attempt to win support in the elections. In his speech in Johor Baru on 16 October, he had linked the ethnic riots which occured with the loss of the ruling coalition�s two-thirds majority. According to his this is the lesson to draw from history. Subsequent to his statement, several other Barisan Nasional leaders have continued to make use of the ghost of May 13 in the same immoral manner. Aliran Monthly Vol. 10 No. 10, 1990 - pg 36 UMNO and Money Politics Aliran welcomes the call by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Mohamad to curb money politics and the abuse of public facilities. This is not the first time that the Prime Minister has talked about the evils of money politics. Since the 1980s money politics has dominated the political system and yet not much has been done to curb the evil which has now assumed serious proportions. However, for Dr Mahathir�s call to have any effect, money politics and the abuse of public facilities must be curbed at the level of the government. If there are clean elections, no cynical exploitation and abuse of the media only then will UMNO itself be free of the stigma of money politics. It is obvious that the many calls to end money politics has become urgent only because UMNO itself is seriously affected by it. It is doubtful if Dr Mahathir�s call will ever be heeded unless of course leaders both in the government as well as in the political parties found guilty of indulging in money politics and other un-ethical practices are brought to court and prosecuted soon. Aliran Monthly Vol. 13 No. 11, 1993 - pg 32 Is match-fixing any different from election-fixing? We share Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad�s concern �that illegal betting triggered by the recent soccer bribery scandal, may find its way into the country�s election process�. (The Star, 27 Dec 1994) According to Dr Mahathir the bookies may organise bets on �Who is going to win and who is going to lose� in the election. Aliran wonders whether �match-fixing� is any different from �election-fixing�. Perhaps there is a need to express shock as well over the manner in which the Barisan Nasional conducts itself during the elections. Just like the bookies, the Barisan indulges in unethical practices in order to influence the results of the elections in its favour. They both share the same goal i.e. to win irrespective of the consequences of their conduct. Promising the voters �development� and a university; granting of aid on the spot and announcing of projects at election rallies, buying of elected representatives to cross-over in order to topple a duly elected government, as reportedly happened in Sabah, not so long ago are no different from match-fixing. Issuing of share forms and providing monetary inducements and sponsoring paid-for holidays in order to vote for a particular candidate, as allegedly was the case in the 1993 UMNO Baru party elections, are not dissimilar from the way the bookies operate to manipulate the results. To justify the ends, both have been known to have adopted dubious means to achieve their goals. Aliran Monthly Vol. 14 No. 11, 1994 - pg 31 Is this parliamentary democracy? Dr Mahathir Mohamad is doing it again. He is going around the country, campaigning for the coming general election, without announcing the election date. He has launched a full-scale campaign through television. His election speeches are televised for a few minutes almost every other day. And yet, officially, he is not campaigning as Chairman of the Barisan Nasional. He is merely performing his official duties as Prime Minister. This is why on every occasion � whether it is Pasir Mas or Bagan Serai or Jelebu � he performs some official duty and then makes an election speech in which he lambasts his political opponents. This is Mahathir�s way of camouflaging what is, in fact, an election campaign tour. This way he cannot be accused of misusing governmental facilities for party purposes. His defence would be that he was merely performing official duties as Prime Minister and coincidentally had to speak at certain functions in his capacity as Chairman of the Barisan. This is the cunningness of the man. This is the craftiness of Mahathir Mohamad. He abuses government facilities for party purposes and yet pretends that it has nothing to do with elections. Apart from his misuse of Television Malaysia, in all his trips to the different states, government departments like KEMAS, government officials, school teachers and others who are part of the state bureaucracy, are mobilised to the hilt!... It is only too apparent that Mahathir Mohamad cares little for established rules of electoral competition or for accepted principles of parliamentary practice. Democratic standards and values mean nothing to him. What is important to him is winning the contest for power, whatever the costs. What is important to him is remaining in power whatever the consequences. Securing and remaining in, power whatever the means and methods employed, has become such an obsession with the man that he will not tolerate any individual or institution which stands in his way. What better proof of this attitude than his sacking of Tun Salleb Abas, the former Lord President which in turn led to the dismissal of two other Supreme Court judges! The `Salleh plus two� episode shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that Dr Mahathir will not hesitate to destroy any institution � however vital it may be to a parliamentary democracy � in order to preserve and perpetuate his power. In this instance, his assault upon the independence of the judiciary has crippled that institution for a whole generation... Dr Mahathir�s predecessors � whatever their shortcomings � would not have sacked the head of the Judiciary on totally frivolous, flippant charges which are an insult to basic human intelligence. This is not because the Tunku, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein were Prime Ministers of extraordinary virtue. It is because, as leaders, they had some sense of restraint. They had a sense of shame. There were certain things they just wouldn�t do. Aliran Monthly Vol. 10 No. 7, 1990 - 6, 7 and 8 Now e-mail us and tell us what you think. | |||||||||||||||
This is the cunningness of the man. This is the craftiness of Mahathir Mohamad. He abuses government facilities for party purposes and yet pretends that it has nothing to do with elections.
