M Santhananaban
Forty-five years ago, on 16 July 1981, Dr Mahathir Mohamad became Malaysia’s fourth prime minister.
He had just turned 56 and seemed sprightly. He looked set to put the country on an energetic path of rapid growth and creativity.
He created a stir the following month when he announced that government employees had to clock in.
Then came the dramatically successful ‘Dawn Raid’. In the early hours of 7 September, state investor PNB swooped on the London Stock Exchange to seize control of British-owned plantation giant Guthrie within hours.
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On the last day of 1981, he standardised the country’s time zones with Sabah and Sarawak. Singapore’s clock followed suit. This gave golfers extra daylight hours!
In early 1982, he unveiled the Look East policy – his policy to model Japan and South Korea’s work ethic and economic success.
From early August 1981, I was based in laid-back Laos, after 31 months in high-end, hectic Hong Kong. While there, I had begun to think Malaysia was on an unstoppable course. It seemed set for the kind of stellar success and efficiency I had seen in Hong Kong.
It was not to be.
My colleagues in Kuala Lumpur clocked in at the right time, then headed straight to the best office canteen Wisma Putra (Malaysia’s foreign ministry building) had to offer. Later, they became more creative, getting their subordinates to clock in for them!
Mahathir’s record soon turned sour in 1987-88. The nation witnessed the tumultuous split in Umno, the harsh Operation Lalang crackdown against dissidents, and the sacking of the country’s top judge.
Corruption went from being an under-the-table affair to an unacknowledged public art form.
Today, 45 years and six prime ministers on, I sometimes yearn for a different kind of leader – someone steady, slow and sober-handed, like Hussein Onn, Mahathir’s predecessor.
We are currently in a most unpredictable situation, without leadership, luminosity, lustre or luck.
It is ironic that Mahathir is still around to see how the successors he so carefully manoeuvred into power – first Abdullah Badawi and then Najib Razak – ended up being the very leaders he fought to depose.
It is also quite something that Mahathir is still around to see how the rival he spent decades trying to block from power is finally faring as prime minister.
Dato’ M Santhananaban is a former Malaysian ambassador with over 45 years of public sector experience.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
