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Mahathir Fails On The Malay Fault-Line
Report By Kazi Mahmood, IOL
Southeast Asia
Correspondent
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| A weeping
Mahathir announced in June his resignations but withdrew it an
hour later
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KUALA
LUMPUR, June 29 (IslamOnline) - Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s
outgoing Prime Minister will be remembered for many things. He will be
celebrated by many for his success in turning Malaysia into a
developing nation, but his failure to handle the Malay (Muslim)
community will always be remembered.
If
any one was looking for a deficiency in Mahathir’s leadership and in
his career as Prime Minister, Mahathir himself announced in mid-June
that he failed to change the Malays and to put them on the right track
for economic success. Mahathir also recognized his failure on the
Malay fault line.
His
political career really started with his famous controversial book
“Malay Dilemma” and has finally fallen to the dilemma while
dealing with the Malays.
Mahathir
raised the ire of the Malays two years ago when he released a book
entitled “Malays Forgets Easily” and this book will remain the
epitome of Mahathir’s failed mission towards his own community.
It
must be said that it takes a great man to accept a failure, to
acknowledge a mistake. Mahathir is a great statesman indeed.
In
front of the Malays-Muslims in Malaysia in June during the annual
meeting of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), it was also
the day the world recognized Mahathir as a great man!
Mahathir
said that the affirmative action policy (to which he stuck in full
belief of its positive impact on the Malays) of promoting the economic
welfare of the bumiputra Malays was not effective in making his
country competitive in business.
What
is true in this statement by Mahathir is that the affirmative action
policy produced more failures than successes. It also shows that no
one should be assisted the way the bumiputra (Sons of the Land) are
assisted under the said policy.
The
affirmative action policy indeed, allowed the Malays to gain an edge
in education (Malays are entitled to scholarships to study abroad and
are guaranteed seats in local universities). On the other hand, it
helped create a class of businessmen who became cronies of the ruling
class, much to the dismay of Mahathir himself.
During
the 1997-98 economic crisis, sources told IOL’s correspondent that
Anwar Ibrahim (the jailed Malay leader and former Deputy Prime
Minister to Mahathir) disagreed over the issue of bumiputra funding.
Anwar
Ibrahim said in a speech in 1997 that the Malays should be prepared to
stand on their own and not count on the country to salvage them every
time. This speech by Ibrahim was the equivalent to what John F Kennedy
stated in 1960. Kennedy invited the Americans to "Ask not what
your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your
country."
Ibrahim
is not a believer in total assistance to the Malays. He said that the
Malays must be given a chance to compete with other communities but
should not always count on government assistance. He used the example
of Singaporean Malays who, despite adverse circumstances, can claim
some success comparable to what the Malays in Malaysia have achieved,
thanks to the affirmative action plan.
Mahathir
finally confirmed the ideas of Ibrahim, when he said June that the
Malays should be prepared for less assistance from the authorities.
Malaysia is an example where financial and other assistance to a race
could not produce raise the standard of competitiveness in business
and other sectors. The country, at the end of Mahathir’s career, is
discovering that meritocracy and a greater dose of democracy are
needed to help the Malays progress further.
In
Malaysia Islam is progressing in numbers, the Malays-Muslims now
account for more than 60 percent of the population of 27 million
people. However most of the businesses, whether retail or wholesale,
are in the hands of non-Malays. This is where the fault line in the
Malay community lies and that is where Mahathir, the UMNO, the
government and the affirmative action plan were ineffective.
Perhaps
Malaysia needs a different action plan. One based on Islamic
principles that are known as the Bait-ul-Maal. That would be less
politicized and more public driven. It could also be beyond abuse, if
regulated accordingly and run as effectively as the Tabung Haji (The
center that regulates the Muslim Pilgrimage in Malaysia). That would
also make the famous Islamic banking system in Malaysia redundant in
many ways since the Bait-ul-Maal would be responsible to hand over
loans or grants to Muslim businesses and this under strict Islamic
rules. This however sounds more like a PAS agenda than an UMNO policy
for the Malays.
Malaysia,
Mahathir said, is a fundamental Islamic country. The next general
election in 2004 will be fought on Islamic fundamentalism. With
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, deputy Prime Minister at the helm and the
toughest of opposition leaders in the country in the name of Hadi
Awang leading the Party Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), the battle for Malay
votes may be uneven. The PAS may have the edge once again.
For
years the UMNO had the tough guy Mahathir leading it through victories
in general elections. This time the UMNO will have the soft guy
Badawi. The tough guy really is Hadi Awang and the interview of the
Chief Minister of Terengganu carried last year by IslamOnline shows
his rigidity.
The
PAS does not agree that an affirmative action plan could salvage Malay
businesses badly managed or that suffered abuses and misuse of funds.
The PAS, its spiritual leader and Chief Minister of Kelantan Nik Aziz
Nik Mat said, favored more meritocracy. Nik Aziz Nik Mat also believe
the country would do better with more democracy and fewer constraints
on freedom of statement, two elements characterizing the rule of
Mahathir for the past 21 years.
It
is obvious that Malaysia is ripe for a change of leadership. It is
also obvious that the PAS, a predominantly Malay party and the biggest
opposition force in the country, has prepared its leadership change
smoothly. The passing away of its leader Ustaz Fadzil Noor left Hadi
Awang unchallenged for the leadership of the oldest Islamic party in
the country.
The
PAS today is the largest Malay party too in Malaysia, having garnered
more Malay votes than the UMNO of Mahathir. Could the PAS be the
correction in the Malay fault line? The next general election and its
results will give the answer. What is certain however, is that the PAS
will grow in popularity and the UMNO will lose the momentum the
September 11th events created around Mahathir, since the
latter will not be there in 2004.
Mahathir
has not confirmed his acceptance of the UMNO plan for his resignation.
This non-confirmation makes it clear that he might not have agreed on
certain aspects of the plan. It might also mean that he never
retracted his resignation, whatever the UMNO might be saying. It this
was true, it would reinforce the earlier statement in this article
that Mahathir proved he was a great statesman, for a man of his
stature, a resignation is a resignation.
To
have a better picture of the current situation in Malaysia is this
editorial from the Jakarta Post, dated the 26th June. The
editor wrote what could be the best piece on Mahathir protracted
resignation. He said: “The real motive of the people in his inner
circle in keeping him in power is more self-serving. They are the ones
who have profited from his leadership without the responsibilities.
Many of these stand to lose more if he goes. They were probably the
ones who convinced Mahathir to change his mind on Saturday and retract
the resignation.
The
editor of the Jakarta Post is absolutely right when he says that the
real reason why Mahathir cannot resign just yet is because he has not
really prepared his country for a smooth and effective succession.
“That is one responsibility that any leader, especially a leader of
a country, cannot escape,” he wrote.
Hence
the UMNO is trying to gain from Mahathir’s prolonged resignation.
The party is using this as an attempt to groom Mahathir’s successor
to the post of Prime Minister. It is evident though that the UMNO is
not prepared to let go of Mahathir despite the obvious fact that the
Malay community in general would not mind a change of leadership in
the country.
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