by Jeyakumar Devaraj
Aliran Monthly 2003:9

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Mahathir's life project was threatened

The apparent contradictions and paradoxes of Mahathirism are explained if we understand where Mahathir is coming from. In �Malay Dilemma� written in the 1960s, the doctor diagnoses the backwardness of Malay society as due to culture and biology. His prescription was/is affirmative action to create a Malay entrepreneurial class that will modernize and uplift the Malay community. �We must have as many Malay businessmen and millionaires as there are Chinese.� This is the essence of Mahathirism � the creation of a self-confident Malay capitalist class!

The creation of a Malay capitalist class needed firm government intervention given the dog-eat-dog environment of capitalist economy. As this class would have significant economic power it was/is crucially important this new class be closely tied to the UMNO elite so that UMNO�s political dominance is assured. This opened the gates to widespread nepotism and cronyism, which has benefited among others, relatives of Mahathir!

If one accepts that the creation of a Malay capitalist class is Mahathir�s political mission, then it is easy to understand his antipathy to trade unionism and his frequent exhortations for workers to complain less and raise productivity, as well as his �recalcitrant� stance vis a vis big international capital. Quite rightly Mahathir perceives them as predatory and has attempted to play off the Western capitalist with Japanese/Korean capitalists (the Look East policy), as well as to try and shore up a �South� coalition to fend off the international predators. This midwife-turned-nanny also wants the emerging Malay bourgeoisie to be strong and self sustaining � hence his occasional admonishments to firm up and not always depend on government handouts.

What pains many thinking Malaysians is that some of the means employed by Mahathir in the pursuit of this goal has seriously undermined vital institutions such as the Malaysian Judiciary and the police, cultivated money politics and launched Malaysian society down the slippery slope of privatisation.

Given this backdrop, the 1998 economic crisis was a catastrophe! The over-extended, flabby and comparatively inefficient units of Malay capital that government largesse had built over the past 15 years was in danger of liquidation! Mahathir�s life project was threatened. The nanny had then to turn protector, and anyone obstructing the defence of the nascent Malay capitalist class had to go, whether it be the IMF or a popular deputy who had not fully understood the overall game-plan!

Mahathir is no sycophantic capitalist stooge. He espoused a particular class interest long before that class had emerged, and he has been an important force in the creation, nurturing and ultimately the defence of the Malay capitalist class. What pains many thinking Malaysians is that some of the means employed by Mahathir in the pursuit of this goal has seriously undermined vital institutions such as the Malaysian Judiciary and the police, cultivated money politics and launched Malaysian society down the slippery slope of privatisation.

Jeyakumar Devaraj is a central committee member of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia. This is an unabridged version of an article that appeared in Far Eastern Economic Review dated 9 October 2003.

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