Mahathir Projects and Proteges

Helen Ang | Apr 2, 09 10:29am
000001 – this Umno Baru membership number belongs to Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Naturally. After all, he founded the party.
MCPX

Najib Abdul Razak, our prime minister when tomorrow comes, asks that Double-O-One impart his wisdom and long experience to guide Najib after he is handed the reins of power.

Mahathir has been avidly fanning racial sentiments. With him in the advisory role, Malaysians have a good idea of what to expect.

MCA deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek earlier on the Math and Science in English (PPSMI) issue blogged that he was surprised at the strong objections to the policy resurfacing last month. He commented: “Some even suggested that if Mahathir was still the prime minister, then they (March 7 demonstrators) would have not dare to take the matter to the street”.

hindraf british petition rally 251107Street protests and even Opposition ceramah have been greeted with tear gas and water cannon by police.

There are plans afoot to hold a public demonstration against police oppression. Indians are likely to form the bulwark of this demo, should it take place. If Malaysians comprising mostly Indians gather at Bukit Aman (the lion’s den of all places) to condemn police brutality, it would be expecting a lot for the police to show restraint.

Under Mahathir ‘where got demo’?

Those uneasy with civil society expression point to the fact that during Mahathir’s reign, Malaysians were content to sit on their hands. The pundits are projecting that Najib will adopt Dr M’s strong-arm tactics to keep a lid on dissent.

uthayakumar sedition trial 201008Police have cracked down harshest on Indians – on the Hindraf rally and when a peaceful group had wanted to lodge police reports against Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar’s medical neglect in Kamunting.

Death in policy custody affects Indians the most too. But the crux of the matter lies here: Is Indian life held so cheap by police officers because the Tamil-Hindu community is at the bottom of the social heap? Indians who form the bulk of crime suspects and detainees are from the underclass.

Dr M’s cronyism had created a coterie of bumiputera billionaires. Let’s say that his legacy had instead been a wide swathe of Indian millionaires and a burgeoning Indian middle-class. Would these well-to-do Indians land in police lock-up?

The torture of Indian suspects has to do with human frailty; those permitted to employ excessive force tend to bully the downtrodden ... because they can.

Sadly, Najib has not at all hinted an interest in the ‘Indian condition’. On the contrary, he only not too long ago proclaimed Malaysia is willing to extend a helping hand to Malays of other countries.

It’s therefore quite realistic to anticipate that under him, Indian economic standing will remain status quo if not worsen.

Inheriting a youthful population

A great number of Malaysians will be eligible to vote for the first time come the next general election and determine Umno’s political future.

mahathir pc on bar council 191208 01Najib does not possess the carrot Dr M dangled, i.e. as long as everybody can still make money, vote BN.

If the starting pay of a fresh graduate now is roughly RM1,500, then this amount is not significantly higher than the outdated figure earlier proposed for minimum wage (before the sharp inflation caused by Abdullah allowing a massive hike in petrol pump prices last year).

What’s the real value of RM1,500 today and what standard of living will it buy? After all the hype about Dr M bringing us prosperity, Malaysian youths should ponder on the scope of their opportunity nowadays as compared with their father’s generation in the pre-Mahathir era.

Mahathir’s Proton project was to make cars affordable so that every Malaysian can own one. But how much did it cost (in adjusted terms) comparatively for someone entering the workforce to buy his first car before Proton was foisted on us in a regulated market?

When Proton divested MV Agusta, Dr M was utterly displeased and his supporters accused the Abdullah administration (well, pointing finger at KJ actually) of trying to dismantle Mahathirism. Poor Dollah was made to suffer for the august displeasure.

So expect Najib to continue to prop up Proton lest like Abdullah, he is hexed.

Just for starters, Najib’s economic stimulus package is giving RM200 million to the automotive development fund, which among others, grants a rebate on national car purchase.

Malaysians have been coerced into buying the Proton tin-can by the state pricing up-and-out its competitors. In other countries, transport does not swallow such a huge chunk of monthly income, relatively. All of us who drive have been supporting Proton directly or indirectly in its 25 years of growth.

proton and perodua mergerProton like the NEP started out with good intentions. Our home-grown infant automotive industry was intended to build an industrial base gearing up the country’s drive to heavy industrialisation, which included Mahathir dabbling with Perwaja Steel. Today Kuala Lumpur has among the highest level of per capita motor vehicle use in Asia (and also the most number of people dying in road accidents).

Mahathir’s pell-mell into motorisation was to bring benefits in the form of spin-offs and linkages in local economy. Proton created assembly-line jobs, trained engineers, transferred technology and was supposed to pioneer R&D.

Since Najib is pumping money into Proton-assist, isn’t it only fair for him to provide an audit of the company’s progress, a review of its key performance indicators, and revisit Proton’s aims on its set-up and whether these have been achieved. And ask where the national carmaker is headed.

The Umno disconnect

On PPSMI, Najib’s pronouncements were identical to Dr M’s, so much so that I had to revert to the Chedet blog to doublecheck who said it first. The answer is the mentor did.

parliament stimulas package najib 041108 pc 02What Najib told Umno delegates from the Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri wings could have been a ventriloquist act by Dr M because the lines of argument followed exactly the Mahathir script. It is disconcerting how the incoming PM was moving his rosy pink lips but the words coming out belonged to the architect of the PPSMI project.

Dr M, who singlehandedly wrought PPSMI, insists that English is so very important – without facility in the language, one would not be able to grasp Einstein and other scientific literature.

However, it’s not the theory of relativity, but the millions of Malaysian children, especially pupils schooling in rural areas and in the interior that our educationists are worried about.

Dr M’s detachment from what is doable – and what ought to be done viz overhauling our education system – is evidenced by his invoking Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Werner Heisenberg, etc. He has totally lost sight of the seven to 12 year olds studying Science that the PPSMI debate is about.

It remains to be seen if Najib will toe the Mahathir line on English or reverse Mahathir’s fiat.

Najib is already carrying a lot of baggage going into office. Pity him if he has to additionally carry Mahathir as Sinbad did the fabled Old Man of the Sea. According to the story, the monstrous old man climbed on Sinbad’s back, wrapped his gnarly fingers fast around the sailor, dug his sharp claws and refused to let go.

Najib's troubled premiership needs a lifebuoy, not a querulous burden riding on its back.