Like Siamese twins

It is like two people in a lifeboat. The ship has sunk and you and your enemy both end up in the same lifeboat. You would like to throw your enemy over the side, especially, in the first place, since it is his fault that the ship sank. But then the lifeboat needs two people to row to reach dry land.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

My first face-to-face experience with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was soon after he became Prime Minister. That was about 26 years or so ago and Anwar Ibrahim had just joined Umno and had hardly one year under his belt as a Member of Parliament.

I must admit my ‘relationship’ with Mahathir can be classified as love-hate. By then I was already ‘moving’ with PAS so Mahathir would have to be considered ‘the enemy’. But he was also Prime Minister. So while I may have ‘rejected’ him as the Umno President, I still had to give him due respect as the Prime Minister. That was how I had been ‘indoctrinated’ from young.

This was probably the ‘Malay palace protocol’ acting up on me. Malays are indoctrinated with the dogma that authority must be respected, regardless of whether the authority is just or cruel. That is why for generations Malays looked up to Hang Tuah as the hero and Hang Jebat as the villain. Of course, much of that has now changed, especially since the internet and globalisation has shrunk the world to one small borderless village. But it was not until quite recent, say 25 years or so ago, when leaders like Musa Hitam declared that Malays must now become kurang ajar before they dared face an unjust authority with defiance.

If I had said what Musa said I would have been showered with verbal diarrhoea. But because it was the Deputy Prime Minister who made this statement, then it has to be the gospel and nothing short of that. Musa, however, did not clarify what he meant by kurang ajar or whether he meant this literally or metaphorically speaking.

Kurang ajar is something Malays can never tolerate. The May 13 disaster, though many believe was the result of the ruling party losing some states and its two-thirds majority in Parliament in the 11 May 1969 general election, was actually because of what happened on 12 May rather than 11 May.

On 12 May, a group of Chinese and Indians paraded in convoys in the predominantly Malay sections of Kuala Lumpur and started taunting the Malays. It was bad enough the Malays felt that the Chinese and Indians had defeated them and had ‘taken over Malay territory’. But to add insult to injury by calling the Malays names and then shouting at the Malays to get out of Kuala Lumpur and go back to the kampongs because Kuala Lumpur is now owned by the Chinese and Indians was pushing it a bit too far.

The Malays decided to balas dendam (get revenge) and a counter-parade was planned for the following day. The rest, as they say, is now history and water under the bridge. There is probably not a single Malaysian who does not know what happened the following day on 13 May 1969 so I really need not go on further.

As much as many may believe that May 13 was the result of the bad performance of the Alliance Party in the 11 May 1969 general election, the truth of the matter is the Malays were outraged by the insults from the Chinese and Indians on 12 May 1969. No doubt the Malays were still in shock. But the shock of the 11 May 1969 humiliation was overshadowed by the insults of 12 May 1969. And that was the main reason for the following day’s retaliation, though of course there are other ‘hidden’ reasons, which I have already talked about at great length in the past and do not really need to repeat here.

The Malays are not really that poor a sport. Sure, Malays understand defeat and can accept defeat just like any other race. But what Malays can’t accept, which probably differentiates Malays from other races, are insults. You insult a Malay and he will run amok. And is not amok a Malay word that is not found in any other language?

Anyway, enough digressing. Allow me to get back to the subject of my first face-to-face with Mahathir. This was a meeting cum dinner held at the Equatorial Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Mahathir was the host and the Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce were the guests.

It was a Chinese dinner, a normal table for ten, but each table was marked with five Malay Chamber members and five Chinese Chamber members and we had to sit selang-seli (alternate). It was not free seating and we had to sit where we had been slotted to sit. So each Chinese ended up with Malays on his left and right and vice versa for the Malays. This was to ensure that the Malays do not all sit on one table or bunch up on one side of the table, the same for the Chinese of course. It never occurred to me, then, that the Indians were not included in this whole thing. Or could it be because the Indians were not as organised as the Malays and Chinese and the government did not know which Indian business grouping to contact?

Mahathir, who was Prime Minister for only a year or so, kicked off by saying that the New Economic Policy was already more than halfway through. As we had promised the non-Malays, said Mahahir, the NEP must end in 1990 as scheduled. It would be unfair and a breach of ‘agreement’ to extend the NEP beyond 1990. So the Malays must be prepared to see it end, come eight years or so. Mahathir then whacked the Malays and the bad attitude they had, right there and then, in front of the Chinese. But then he is the Prime Minister and he could get away with something like that.

Mahathir then turned to the Chinese. It is the moral duty of the Chinese to help the Malays, argued Mahathir. The Malays can’t be left to die. The Malays are the majority race in Malaysia and any race that is unhappy is not good for the peace and stability of the nation, especially if they form the majority race in that country.

Mahathir then insulted the Malays further. Malays like to spend money, said Mahathir. If they have money they spend. Even if they don’t have money they will still spend and end up heavily in debt. So what is wrong if the Chinese help the Malays become rich? Invariably, the Malays will spend all their money and it will be spent in Chinese shops since it is the Chinese and not Malays who own all these shops.

Therefore, said Mahathir, in his usual Mahanomics manner, rich Malays would ensure that the Chinese become even richer -- because at the end of the day the Malays would spend all their money and it would end up in the pockets of the Chinese.

Hmm….this does not say much for the Malays. And they were being insulted in front of the Chinese. In short, Mahathir was telling the Chinese to help make the Malays ‘fat’ so that the Chinese can ‘slaughter’ the Malays later. And does it not make sense that you fatten the animal before slaughtering it?

As I said, Mahathir was ‘the enemy’. I was PAS and he was Umno. But he is still my Prime Minister. So I gave him due respect because he was Prime Minister and not because he was my party President. And I listened to what the Prime Minister said. That would be very hard for many to reconcile, especially if you are non-Malay. ‘Old’ Chinese culture would be, if you oppose the Emperor, then not only you but your entire family for seven levels would be put to death -- wife, children, parents, uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, in-laws, cousins, second-cousins, third-cousins, cousins-in-law, plus your chickens, pigs, dogs and cats included.

My next meeting was a private meeting in his office. I was there to suggest that Mahathir abandon the Bakun hydro power plant and instead embark upon a gas powered one. This would certainly save much valuable forest. Furthermore, Malaysia has ample gas so it would not be that costly to run -- plus gas turbine plants would be cheaper to build than a hydro plant.

I could see from the look on Mahathir’s face that he was not too pleased with my unsolicited advice. He mumbled something about water costs nothing and you never run out of water like you would gas -- so in the long run a hydro plant is better and cheaper. I may not be that smart but I was smart enough to know when to drop the subject and we moved on to talk about the weather and all such mundane stuff.

The third meeting was a closed-door session to discuss what to do with the Malays. This was at the height of the 1985-1987 recession when Malays, Chinese and Indians were losing their pants due to the worldwide economic downturn. Our mission was to explore how to solve the ‘new Malay dilemma’.

The Chinese are in worse trouble than the Malays, argued Mahathir. But the Chinese sort out their problems on their own. They do not come running to the government. The Malays, however, throw the problem to the government and expect the government to bail them out. Maybe we should just allow the weak Malays to die so that the strong can survive.

We reminded Mahathir that this is not just about race or the economy. The backbone of Umno are the Malays. If Umno allows the Malays to die, then Umno too would die. The Malays would abandon Umno and would swing to the opposition. So this is not just about helping the Malays ride out the bad economic patch. This is also about ensuring that Umno would remain in power. I was PAS so why the hell do I care if Umno dies? Would that not be better for PAS? No, not from where I was sitting. An Umno in trouble would mean the country in trouble, at least until one day when an alternative to Umno emerges.

Mahathir sighed and asked why can’t the Malays be like the Chinese. We knew the answer to that one but did not think Mahathir would like to hear it. So we just kept quiet. Mahathir gave us an ‘aiyah’ look and said, “Okaylah, I will set up a Tabung Pemulihan Usahawan (TPU) and will put aside RM500 million for it.”

RM500 million is not enough. We want RM1 billion. “Aiyah, if I give you RM1 billion what will the Chinese say? We have to be fair to the Chinese as well. Work with RM500 million first and if it is not enough I will consider more later.”

In the end the tabung touched RM560 million and many a Malay businessman was salvaged out of his financial dilemma (some women as well). They have mostly all paid the money back by now and some I met are still in business. One chap I met a year ago rushed up to me and hugged me.

“Can you remember me?” he asked. “Twenty years ago you helped me with my RM1.3 million TPU application.”

Yes, I remembered him. He was Semangat 46 and they had rejected his application on grounds of politics but I ‘banged table’ and managed to get it approved. In fact, I got quite a few applications approved -- which were rejected because the applicants were Semangat 46 -- and that got me labelled as ‘Tengku Razaleigh’s man’. Subsequently, Wan Mokhtar and Umno Terengganu blacklisted me and life became hell thereafter, resulting in me leaving the state and migrating back to Kuala Lumpur in 1994.

“Oh, okay, have you paid back all the money?” I asked.

“Dah bayar lama dah.”

He was about 75 or so but looked younger than me. Could it be because of his three wives? I pointed him out to my wife and asked her to guess his age. I then tried convincing my wife that he looked 20 years younger than his age because he had three wives but my wife was not convinced that that was the reason. Sigh…….

Well, there were a couple of other face-to-face meetings I had with the Grand Old Man of Malaysian politics which I do not need to go into. Suffice to say, the ‘private’ Mahathir and the ‘public’ Mahathir are two different animals. You can’t really get to know Mahathir by observing him in public. Ten public appearances will still not reveal the true Mahathir. But one private meeting reveals a lot.

My love-hate relationship with Mahathir lasted only about ten years or so. After that I began to despise him mainly because he had been around too long. I felt that a prime minister should stay in office for only two terms or ten years, never mind how good he may be. More than that and he would have overstayed his welcome.

But now Mahathir has retired and I no longer despise him as such. I give him due respect as a retired Prime Minister, as a Tun (Sir), and as a man who is 83 or 84 years old. I am 57 and I must give due respect to a man much senior to me. Doing otherwise would make me ‘un-Malay’. Even at the height of the Reformasi Movement I whacked Mahathir for what he had done to Anwar and to the country. But I did not label him as Mamak, Keling, Mahazalim, Mahafiraun, and all those other names that the Reformasi websites were so fond of calling him.

During my ISA detention I was made to write a thesis on why I oppose Mahathir. I ‘spoke’ from my heart and told it as it is, no holds barred. My Special Branch minders were quite surprised. They had assumed that my opposition to Mahathir was all about Anwar. They did not think that it was the principle of a prime minister should not hold office for more than ten years and then leave the scene, even if he is the best Prime Minister Malaysia ever had.

On Mahathir’s misdeeds as Prime Minister, I listed them down in detail and offered my reasons as to why I thought Mahathir was wrong and therefore why I should oppose him. I spoke as the Rakyat and argued about the loss to the Rakyat if these misdeeds were not checked. It was nothing personal. If Mahahir resigns and then repents and then takes steps to rectify his mistakes, I could forgive him for what he had done, even what he had done to me personally. The Special Branch officers responded by saying that if they were me, instead of Special Branch officers, they would not disagree with my opinions.

All the great religions, in particular the religions of the book, speak about repentance, forgiveness and redemption. Even God possesses forgiving qualities. But forgiveness can only be forthcoming with repentance and redemption. Yes, there is much Mahathir must redeem before forgiveness can be given. And has Mahathir truly repented? For if he has not then forgiving would be impossible.

But first things first. Let us first solve the problem of the burning house before we talk about who started the fire. Standing around arguing about whose fault it is that the house is burning would not save the house. We will still be arguing long after the house has burned to the ground and still not settle the blaming and finger-pointing.

The foreign fund managers are pulling out of Malaysia. The Chinese investors are moving their money to Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Thailand. The Singaporeans are adopting a wait-and-see stance. Qualified Malaysians are queuing up in front of the foreign embassies to apply for PR status in other countries -- a serious brain drain for this country.

The question is not whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat will be the federal government come Christmas Day. It is whether there will still be a country, as we know it, in existence by then. This is the dilemma ahead of us and which is the house burning down I am talking about. The impending collapse of the world economy expected later this year adds to the problem and this is no less a doomsday scenario in the making.

The political uncertainty is of course one reason, in particular the internal war in Umno. But the overriding reason is the loss of confidence in the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government.

The President of MIC, MCA, Gerakan, etc., is not our concern. That is the concern of the members of each respective party. But the President of Umno is our concern and not just the concern of the party members. Whomsoever becomes the Umno President becomes the Prime Minister. So while the Umno President is merely the leader of that party, the Prime Minister will decide the fate of the entire country and of 26 million or 27 million Malaysians.

It is like two people in a lifeboat. The ship has sunk and you and your enemy both end up in the same lifeboat. You would like to throw your enemy over the side, especially, in the first place, since it is his fault that the ship sank. But then the lifeboat needs two people to row to reach dry land. You can throw your enemy into the sea and, with glee, watch him drown -- after which the lifeboat would drift aimlessly and you would be dead in a week as well. Then again, you can make a deal with your enemy and the both of you row the lifeboat in the direction that you suspect dry land would be waiting for you.

Yes, Umno is the Prime Minister. Umno can choose to retain the present Prime Minister or it can choose to change the Prime Minister. Umno’s decision will decide what happens to all of us. If they retain the Prime Minister, will that be the best thing for Malaysia? Or would the better alternative be to change the Prime Minister? And what happens if Umno makes the wrong choice? What happens if they change for the worse rather than for the better? Yes, those are questions that should trouble us because Umno’s decision is about our future.

Umno politics, therefore, does not belong to Umno. Umno politics belongs to all Malaysians. And we have a right to know who is going to be the Prime Minister for the next five years or so until the next general election. And if the present Prime Minister is wrong, then Mahathir committed that wrong and he should therefore be the one to put it right. Forgiveness, redemption and repentance must go hand-in-hand.

But Mahathir must not decide who the next Prime Minister should be. He already made a mistake with Abdullah. Let us not allow him to make a second mistake with Abdullah’s successor. Unfortunately, the choice of successor lies in the hands of Umno and its members and we are not Umno members. But that does not prevent us from urging our friends and comrades in Umno to think of all 26 million or 27 million Malaysians in making that choice and not just the interest of three million or so Umno members.

And to those of us not in Umno and who have no say in the matter, let us assure our Umno friends and comrades that if they change the Prime Minister then we shall ‘suspend’ all opposition for the next two years. We shall give the new Prime Minister time to sort out the country’s problems. If he fails to do so, like how Abdullah failed to do so, then come two years we will re-launch opposition with the fury of a lover scorned.

Maybe a form of ‘unity government’ can be proposed. The opposition will support the federal government for a period of two years. The opposition will help the federal government sort out the mess left by the previous administrations. But if the ruling party demonstrates insincerity and reverts to the abuses and excesses of the previous administrations, rest assured we will return to the opposition with a fierce vengeance never before experienced in the history of this country.

But the opposition must remain an opposition. Pakatan Rakyat must not only be retained but must also be strengthened. PKR, DAP, PAS, MDP, PSM, PRM and PASOK must not join Barisan Nasional. But it can be part of the federal government while remaining an opposition in the states in the interest of pulling this country out of the economic quagmire the present and previous administrations have got us into.

That should be the game plan until the next general election.