TONY TAN ELECTED PRESIDENT

This Presidential election is certainly a milestone in Singapore’s political history. It was the most closely fought political election and that underscores the increasing level of political awareness and participation of its citizens. This augurs well for the future of democracy in Singapore.

The two candidates with the highest votes came from member of the ruling party PAP and it clearly shows that the citizens still remain conservative and moderate and did not buy into the ideas that the president’s office should be another power centre, to be the people voice as well as to police the government. Such an outcome manifests the growing maturity of the multiracial and multicultural citizenry. It may be interpreted as better understanding of the role of the president and well as the need for political stability.

Clearly, the two former PAP members secured over 70% of the popular votes. The rest of the 30% goes to the non PAP camps or those that will reject any politicians related to PAP. I have expected the percentage would mirror that of the last general election of around 40%.

Whatever the result, the new president would have his work cut out. Wherever he like it or not, he still have to address public expectation and perception resulting from the changing political landscape exacerbate by the tough rhetoric from Kin Lian and Jee Say. The new president would have to be seen to address the domestic problem of rising cost of housing, immigration policy, transportation and host of other issues. Whether it is within his scope of presidential duty, public perception will hold the sway.

On top of this, the elected president actually garnered only one third of the popular vote. So the hard work to reunite the rest of the Singapore that did not vote for him must begin earnestly. Tony Tan has the presidential charisma and well as political background both in domestic and international affairs to carry the office of the presidency. He relationship with the PAP will remind warm and will unlikely becomes a pain and troublesome to the PM.

The 25% of the votes that goes to Jee Say and 5% to Kin Lian was certainly a big disappointment to those who wish to use this election to hit back at the government. Perhaps it is the government strategy of putting in more candidates that result in this low percentage. Many just didn’t want to vote for Tony but with Cheng Bock available, it gives voters a moderating choice. Had Cheng Bock not been a candidate, the outcome would have been a higher percentage for anyone other than Tony.
As for Jee Say, 25%cvotes was certainly below the mark. It’s as good as a rejection of his style and his ideas of the roles of elected president. His votes were just anti- PAP votes and as such, any Tans, whether Tan Ah Kow or Tan Chin Koo could have easily garnered the same percentages.

But what was more discerning was the percentage of Kin Lian. He was the forerunner and was the talk of the town years before this election. Only one conclusion can be made. Even the diehard anti-PAP voters exercised wisdom to choose the more suitable of the two candidates. This message to future candidates is clear; prepare to lose the deposit if you are not up to the mark.

Well, we ordinary folk have short memory. Now that the GE and the EP elections are over, it’s time for the government to take off the gloves. The new elected president will goes into oblivion. They will be seen and heard only as required. That’s and easy job for $4.2 million.

STOCK CARNAGE AROUND THE WORLD, MORE PAIN AHEAD

The last few days, trillions of dollars were wiped off the stock market around the world. After Friday S&P downgraded US crediting rating one notch, stock market fall exacerbated. By Tuesday morning, almost all of the stock market in developed economy has sunk into bear territory. Fear, panic and uncertainty undermined financial markets and send gold into dizzy heights. It triggered monetary authorities and central banks around the world into emergency sessions to take measure to limit the financial carnage.

Many actually felt this market crash was belated. It should have crash long ago if not being propped up by mere optimism and constant short term measures from central banks. Simply put in, no one leave the party when the music is still playing.

Symptoms of financial woes have been brewing for months, beginning with Euro zone debt crisis. The spiralling US budget deficit is well known and new loan is needed to prevent this government from defaulting since the beginning of the year. In China, the inflation was reaching undesirable level. The same problem beset most of the developing countries. Basic food necessities have almost double over the past years. And commodities prices have spiral up of control. The wealth disparity between the rich and poor has reach obscene proportion. Optimism that acceptable resolution can be work out to avoid government default kept the market in hope and in check.

The S&P downgrade was the last straw that broke the camel back. It is therefore not surprise that stock market took a big tumble. The hard truth is that the financial woes are worst than people want to believe. And politicians want to inject the sense of confidence that the economic situation is manageable. But when the truth sank in, waves of panic selling went unabated.

When investors finally acknowledged that US debt level is undesirable and unsustainable under the current economic condition, they panicked and scampered for safety. The only way to prevent a default was to borrow more or continues to print money (quantitative easing}. By doing that, it is now understood that these measure only postpones the problem. The European problem is fundamentally similar, spending more than the revenue it can collect. Without new loans, Greece, Iceland and even Portugal and Spain are heading for sovereign default.

The only way out of this problem is a complete overhaul of the government spending. This means most of social welfare and benefits have to be revamped and scaled down. Government bureaucracies need to be downsized or even shut down. Defence is one area the US and the European need to cut drastically and stop thinking of maintaining overwhelming military power in this world.

This painful belt tightening required partisan politics and very strong political will. Such measure means drastic reduction of welfare and benefits as well as loss of jobs. Which politicians in the democratic world risk losing his election chances to do the right things? It’s never easy to take away benefits.

The American continues to blame the Asian countries of trade imbalance, currency undervaluation and trade protectionism for the current woes. This may be true to some degree, but the politicians are fully aware of overspending is the main culprit. In the globalised world, the American economy has become uncompetitive due to its high cost. In the past, it could sell to the rest of the world anything, but not now. What the US can produce, the Asian can produced at a fraction of the cost. But globalisation and free trade also enabled the US consumers to enjoy the benefits of cheaper products.

In the years to come, as Asian become more affluent, more middle class will be created like the west. Salary and purchasing power will increase in tandem. Currently, the financial disparity between the developed and the developing world is just too far apart. A bus driver may perform the same functions, but why should an Indian bus driver be paid a fraction of the pay compared to a British bus driver.

Educational level with labour mobility will provide workers in this globalised world a level playing field. Free trades will speed up this process. We can now see this happen at the top echelon of management. Many of the brightest are paid according to the skill rather than the colour of the skin. Many westerners work in developing world like locals. Gone are the days, every white man is an expatriate in a foreign land. So the catching up will accelerates. But it also means the workers of the west will suffer stagnation until the rest of the world catch up. It means more misery ahead for the citizen of developed world.

And if the pain is too hard to bear, the US should take a lesson from then Great Britain, where at one time it boasted the sun never set. But after WW2 and in the 50’s it admitted it could no longer maintain the British Empire. It allows many old colonies to go independent. It culminated in the withdrawal of its military east of Suez by 1971.

In Singapore, the Royal Navy in Sembawang Naval Base and RAF in Tengah became history. The US should seriously consider this option.

LONDON'S BURNING. WHAT HAPPEN TO VALUES OF THE WEST

The scene horrendous and unimaginable, social riots in London, the most civilised city in the world. Arson, looting, destruction and violence are completely out of control in this highly developed city that is synonymous with its glorious history. This should never happen in this civilised society. You would think that this kind of riots are reserved for Egypt, Libya, Syria, China or some part of the Third World.

The city of London is the icon of developed world whose social values, moral standard and civic consciousness are for the rest of the world to emulate. It is the centre where, most of the human rights NGO are based. They are supposed to be moral guardian to safeguard and promote human rights and democracy to the rest of the world. The superior moral values of west where there is no place for violence and abuse. These issues are expected to be settled in a civilised way, that is in the parliament or in the courts but never on the streets.

The weakness of the western values has become more evident after this riot. The police and security forces, in the face of the scale and suddenness of this violence have become totally inept and unprepared. It dared not use force to quell protesters. The police are trapped in the own code of not using excessive force and the authority fear of being castigated for use of excessive force has completely render the police impotent to keep the crisis from spinning out of control. Can you imagine that the police ruled out the use of water canons for fear it is too robust.

Well, the police cannot be blamed. If only one protestor dies, hell will break loose and politicians will be quick to blame the police for excessive force. Human rights group will voice their displeasure and disapproval. Newspaper and televisions will continuously broadcast clips of police brutality. Many will promptly jump on the moral wagon to enhance their popularity. But who really suffer? It’s the ordinary folks what will bear the ultimate economic brunt.

Once again, the value of human rights, basic rights or whatever rights has to be relooked. Politicians and NGOs should quickly pick up political courage to stop playing to the gallery. It’s about time; they should literally stand in between the rioters and the policemen and share their experience. Tell us how not to use excessive force during the onslaught of the riotous crowd. Standing on high moral ground to talk of human rights and abuse is a cowardly act.

Stop lecturing the rest of the world about human values and stop insisting western values are also universal values. Each countries should has its own way to manage its own society, managed peace, take pre-emptive measures when necessary.

The riots in London clearly show that western values are not so superior in maintaining law and order, keeping the society in peace, safety and harmony. Shouldn’t the people of London seek their MPs to address the unhappiness and concerns rather than taking it to the streets? If this cannot be achieved after a few hundred years of democracy, then what conclusion can we draw from this riot? The western style of democracy is supposed to create a more civilised society, is it not?

Shouldn’t the police make a decision to use whatever force is required to overcome mob rule? Or are they just scared to face the enquiry after the riots? Whatever it is, the western society has put the civilian, whether a criminals, mobsters or looters on higher priority to that of security forces.

While I posted this blog, the riots have now spread to Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol and look like its heading for Day 4. Good luck to all the Angmohs.

Next, the carnage on the world stock market.

THE ELECTED PRESIDENT

There’s lot of buzz, even disquiet among the common folks for the coming presidential election. I remember in the past, presidential elections was a non-vent, the attitude on the ground was apathetic. Who care about the new elected president, after all the expectation of the citizen is that the government will shoo in its own favourite for a walkover.

This time round, the interest on the ground seems very much aroused. Perhaps the proximity of this election was so close to the last general election is the cause. The PAP had a reduced percentage of popular vote as well as losing one GRC for the first time. During the election, the level of political awareness was raised especially in the uncontrolled electronic medias. A wind of political change is blowing over Singapore. The political awareness is definitely heightened especially the younger voters who in the past have remained silent and apathetic. This changing political landscape has brought out a number of presidential hopefuls to capitalise on this rare opportunity to mine this shifting trend.

Employing the time tested campaign strategy to win popular votes, many of the hopeful seems to campaign on the need to be the voice of the people, the conscience of the people, the guardian of the citizen. Each potential show no lack of effort to prove their independence, integrity and moral conscience. What these hopeful said is correct but the public somehow seems to believe that the president is there to oversee and check the government. This public perception is certainly misguided.

The citizen of Singapore must not be misled by some of this hopeful. The public must clearly understand the constitutional role of the president and the power that come with his office. In simple term, the president is a ceremonial head of state like the queen of England excepted that he is elected by popular vote. He is also different from the President of USA, Indonesia or Philippines where they have executive power. Only in extreme circumstances that he can step in. It’s like the entire football team which has been red-carded except the goalkeeper. In that position, the goalkeeper will play whatever positions to guard the goal mouth. If need to, he should even mount a one man striker.

What Singapore do not need is another power centre. This will create unnecessary controversies and distract the elected government to function efficiently. What we want is more quality opposition in parliament to raise the level of governance. The check and balance should be done in the parliament. The voices and ears of the people should be the elected MPs.

My only concern in this presidential election is the president’s annual remuneration of over $4 million. This should be reviewed to no more than $200,000. The saving should go to the people who really need it. For someone who’s all the daily needs have been provided by the state and for public service to the nation, taking $4 million is surely obscene.

US GOLD STANDARD AAA DOWNGRADED

Was it a surprise, if you ask me, the answer is no. It’s only a matter of when.

Finally the credit agencies have the courage to downgrade the credit rating of the world’s biggest economy. S & P can no longer ignore the ballooning US debt crisis and it cannot be blind to the financial significance and the impact to the rest of the world. It cannot repeat the same mistake again. They were caught sleeping for not downgrading the housing loans prior to the sub-prime crisis in 1997. The subprime crisis causes the collapse of Lehman Brother and shattered so many Wall Street financial institutions such as AIG as well as many big banks around the world.

The significance of this downgrading signals the beginning of the decline of the American economy. It is an official acknowledge by an American rating agency that all is not well with the US economy. Had it be any other countries, the downgrade would have been as fast as it downgraded Greece and Iceland.

How the downgrade will impact the equity market may not be known in the short time. As the market open tomorrow in Tokyo and Seoul, then Singapore, Hongkong and Shanghai, the market will speak. It could be a kneejerk reaction for sharp sell down but I suspect the market has already factor in the downgrade. But the long term outlook cannot be good and this may signal the beginning of the bear market.

The currency market is where the greatest impact will be. Bond prices and yield will be adversely affected. Borrowing cost in American will have to trend up eventually. The commodities market will track and mirror the global economy. Slowdown is definite; it is only a matter of how slow.

The US dollars have been the reserve currency of the world since WW2. No other currency as the size, depth and clout as alternative. It has been the currency of trade by default. At this point in time, there is just no replacement. It is for this reason that the US currency is able to withstand the pressure of falling rate resulting from it spirally debt to almost unsustainable level.

The impact of the falling in value is wide ranging. The major US creditor like China, Japan and many developing countries will be major loser. As the value of the currency fall, American will become poorer and can consume less. When it buys less, the rest of the world will be affected. And so this will be a vicious cycle and world economy will suffer.

It is not really a pleasant scenario we would like to experience.

Testing

After more than 18 months absence from my blog, I need to test this blog still exist and work.

Haha, time to write again, hope the spirit is willing

REUNION DINNER 2010

As usual, Chinese New Year reunion dinner was held in my elder brother’s house. The headcount remains the same as last year with an addition very soon. Looking back from my childhood days, it was always 6 until we got married. I never had a reunion dinner with my grandparents because they left long before me. So it was just 2 generations celebrating.

Tonight, our reunion dinner was celebrated by four generations. My mother is very fortunate and I often wonder whether she cherish this moment. I just wonder if I would live that long to taste this experience. I am less optimistic and think it just wishful thinking.

Looking back to my childhood, I remembered Chinese New Year was most exciting and memorable. The mood was joyous with lots of cookies to eat and as well as long school holiday. It’s also the time for angpow collection that gave me the feeling of being richer.

For me Chinese New Year eve was special in my own way. It was the time when my ‘Kampong’ and childhood friends will meet for some drinks and card games. If I recall, this meeting started when I was in Sec 2 and our annual traditions continued to my Mid-30s. We started playing Black Jacks with stake from 20 cents and increases as we grew older. When we started work, we progress to Poker. Unfortunately, this annual tradition had to end as we had families and more important priorities.

My dad hated gambling and knew nothing of my indulgence. He would have been very upset if he knew of my escapades. The session normally ended after 2 or 3 am. When I reached home, father would be preparing for the morning prayers. Then I went to sleep until lunch time. The first and second days of Chinese New Year were routine.

The star of this year reunion dinner was my first grand-nephew. Being the first for his generation, he hogs the limelight and all attention was on him. His energy and cuteness certainly warm our heart. 30 years ago, the scenario was the same. It was his father, my first nephew which captured our attention. It brought out the essence of a family. He too was the first in his generation and I was really heartened to witness one generation matured from child to fatherhood.














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AVATAR, THE MORAL OF THE MOVIE

I am one who hardly goes to the movies. Yet I watch Avatar twice. I have read about this movie, produced and directed by James Cameroon. I was curious about the 3D format as well as the cutting edge technology that was employed to produce this epic. It’s about a humanoid race, Na’vi that inhabited the planet Pandorra where the living live in harmony with nature. Human went there to mine a rare mineral through sheer power.

True to my expectation, the movie blew me off, kept me spellbound and I thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography and the animation. The setting was just spectacular and the story line is certainly thought provoking.

For the less initiated, viewing this movie purely as a fiction is thoroughly entertaining. To dwell a little into depth, a movie, like any story, comes with a moral behind it. In fact, the message portrayed is far more portent because of the visual impact. From the political and historical perspective, this movie certainly resonated and drew many parallels in the history of mankind.

The thought that came foremost to my mind was the colonisation by European of African, Australia, Asia, North and South America.

The historical parallel was when the Spanish explorers, in search of gold and other precious metal, raided South America. It displaced, subjugated and marginalised the indigenous Indians. Many indigenous Indians were massacred or killed by disease brought in by the invaders. Today the entire continent speaks Spanish except Brazil and the Spanish descendents remained in rich and powerful position.

In North America, the English and the French almost wipe off the entire indigenous Red Indians population through scorched earth policy of slash and burn. There can be no reason to justify this cruel act other than outright greed to seize lands.

The stories were similar across Australia, Africa and Asia. The European, armed with superior fire power and were better organised, were able to steamroll the indigenous inhabitants into submission. It unscrupulously and recklessly plundered the earth resources for its insatiable appetite and forcefully seized and occupied indigenous land.

Another powerful message inflamed by this movie Avatar is the deteriorating world environment. Vast rainforests were destroyed to make way for development, as well as excessive and illegal logging for the tropical hardwood. The movie draws many parallel between the powerful and profit driven conglomerates devouring the earth commodities with very little regards for environmental damages.

In the movie, luckily there is Jake and Dr Grace to save the Na’vi and Pandorra. As anticipated, the villians in the movie ended with death. But in the world that we live in, the legacy of colonisation remained very evident. The Europeans remained embedded in many continents becoming even wealthier and stronger. The indigenous Red Indians, Amazon Indians, Maoris, Aborigines have been permanently dislocated, subjugated and marginalised.

By today standard, the acts of the early Europeans violate all human rights and human dignity. Ironically, today the loudest critics of human rights and the biggest proponents for saving the environment come from these countries.

Nevertheless, Avatar is a fiction movie that will trigger a technological revolution and set new standard in the film industry. Perhaps 3D will be the standard for big screen. Avatar has been nominated for 9 Oscars Awards.





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ANWAR, JUDICIARY, POLICE ALL ON TRIAL

The second series of Anwar sodomy trial is set to start tomorrow after a 10 year recess. In the first series, Anwar was convicted but after spending 6 years in prison for corruption charges, the High court overturned the sodomy charges. Legally, he is acquitted on this sexual demeanour. The first trial gripped many Malaysians and the world with salacious and juicy details of the once 2nd most powerful man, prime minister in waiting of Malaysia.

It also divided the nation and split the Malay ground. Many believe it was a conspiracy to end Anwar political career at any cost. Mahathir bore the brunt of the political fallout when it did poorly in the subsequent general election and may have hastened the early retirement of Mahathir. The political landscape was altered permanently especially in UMNO.

This time around it was a 22 year old aide that claimed he was sodomised by Anwar. There was of course a lot of scepticism on the ground. It is a crime in Malaysia for anal sex. If it was consensual sex between Azlan and Anwar, then both should be charged. As only Anwar is charged, it means than Azan was forcibly sodomised.

Many puzzling questions are asked. Is a 60 year old man so strong to be able to overcome a young 22 year old, stripping his pants, force him to bent and held him for the penetration? So who is not telling the truth?

And how did this young man secured permission to seek PM Najib counsel. How many ordinary citizens have a chance to meet the PM in private?

Well these questions will be best left to the prosecutor as well as the defence counsel to address in court.

Without doubt the trial will become a soap opera for the world to view and enjoy. Unfortunately the fallout from this trial will be very damaging for the country image. Within the country, the trial is set to crack the fissure deeper and further divide the nation at a time when energy should have been focus on the recovering economy.

The microscope will be on the Malaysian Judiciary. In fact, this trial is a trial on the integrity of the Malaysian judiciary system. If not handle properly, it will further erode the credibility of the judiciary system. The police too are on trial. Any wrong or silly prosecution will further affirm the prejudicial nature and incompetence of the attorney general and the police force.

Most citizens of Malaysia have anticipated the final judgement basing on the experience of the first trial. The verdict is a foregone conclusion. The legal system allows appeal from any parties on the outcome of the verdict. This will drag the case for years. Whatever the court judgement, the real judge for this trial is the Malaysian public as well as all the international communities. Public perception and opinion will be crucial to the next general election in Malaysia as either Anwar or UMNO will be buried in history.

Whichever way the judgement goes, there will be no winner. The country, the politicians and the citizens will have to bear the consequences.





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MALAYSIA MISFORTUNE, BLAME MAHATHIR

Mahathir recent blogs on the internet as well as his tirades against the west continue unabated, showing his bitterness and frustration of what is happening in his Malaysia. For a man of his age, he is surely alert and seems to crave the attention he lost since leaving the corridors of powers. Many, including me have thought that after helping to destroy and remove Abdullah Badawi, the man will gracefully retreat to his moral high ground to enjoy the serenity in his twilight years. But this is not to be. Perhaps politician just cannot fade away quietly.

Instead, he lost no time rejoining UMNO and becoming more vocal. As most of the main Medias shun him, it did not stop him from ranting and spewing venomous rhetoric in his blogs and over interviews. On the contrary, he has on many occasions gone ballistic and vitriolic on the blog. He used the blog shrewdly to manipulate public sentiment as well as to elevate his popularity and justify his relevance. Of course his chorus of gullible and diehard fans keep singing his praises and echo his idiosyncrasies. His trademark sarcasms have been generously used to belittle his foes as well as those who overshadowed him like LKY.

While the country is marred by controversies one after another, the race and religious bickering are spiralling out of control; he had chosen to remain oblivious to the country needs for national unity and racial harmony. In such turbulent time, any noble statesman would have step out spontaneously, using their status and credibility to heal and unite the nation. On the ‘Allah’ issue, he seems to sit on the fence. It is obvious he is playing safe as he did not wish to offend his own UMNO and Malay conservatives.

Mahathir seems to have agendas of his own. But one recent blogs he tries to ignite the water agreement with Singapore as well as the calling LKY a Little Emperor of Modern Middle Kingdom. It failed to excite the public. Now he writes that sands being smuggled to Singapore and blame some government officials. Does he have an ulterior motive to stir up some emotions, so that this emotion can be exploited? Apparently, the blog was timely as we noticed the subsequent arrest of high government officials which belong to the opposition party. Is he planning to discredit PKR or Singapore bashing to divert attention in time of trouble. Or is he just demonstrating his prowess and nationalistic credentials?

His latest claim that the 9/11 terrorist attack was staged by the US government to give it justification to attack Iraq was astounding. It is even more bizarre for him to argue that if USA can produce “Avatar”, the 9/11 conspiracy is possible. But why an educated doctor would want to make such stupendous claim? Surely he must have a motive. Is he picking on the Jews to divert attentions? Is he seeing something we don’t? Maybe he needs to spew something so idiosyncratic to catch the world attention. Of course he can hoodwink some of his targeted audience, but this time round, many would just dismiss this tirade. His country folks are no more gullible or illiterate.

So far, Mahathir has squarely blamed outsiders and opposition parties for Malaysia woes. Mahathir scathing attack on Badawi has tone down a few notches but still occasionally insinuate him. His trademark mode is to blame everybody except himself. As the country get deeper into economic and social malaise, blaming other may not be sufficient to save the day. The present government will have no choice but to assign some blame to the predecessors including Mahathir.

Many quarters are speculating that Mahathir will eventually be blamed for the rampant corruption in government, as well as the big companies controlled by UMNO members and associates. The unabashed cronyism and the shameless handout mentality among the Malay masses are also attributed to the 22 years of” Mahathirism”. This was done in the name of affirmation action to assist the economically weak Malays. Tengku Razaleigh has pointedly commented that the oil money was a curse to Malaysia and was wastefully squandered by the government or not spend diligently. Of course we know who headed Petronas and the Government. Former WSJ journalist wrote in his biography of Mahathir that this man squandered away 100 billion ringgits. For sure, more skeletons will fall out of the closets when the social and economic situations deteriorate further in Malaysia.

Mahathir has grand vision to build a stable of Malays billionaires to take on the tycoons like Lim Goh Tong, Robert Kwok, Kwek Leng Chan and many non-Malays entrepreneurs. So through UMNO and his friend Daim, he supported and nurtured Halim Saad of PLUS, of N/S Highway, Tajuddin of MAS and a few Malays. It looked promising at first, but when the Asian Financial crisis hit, all this Mahathir propped millionaires crumbled like a house of cards. In the end, he blamed Soros for his failure and castigated his deputy Anwar for wanting to accept IMF support. During Mahathir reign, Bank Negara lost billion or ringgit in money speculation. Billions were also spend to bail up failed bumiputra banks.

Another of Mahathir endeavour was to uplift the status of Malays. His conviction to social engineering of a new breed o Malays that is equal, if not better than the Chinese was simplistic and naive at best. With quota and privilege for Malays to be admitted to university with grade below mediocre, it basically kill the spirit to compete and strive. At such young age, if this spirit is not inculcated, it is no surprise such competitive spirit will be absent when one grows up and faces the world. In the business world, affirmative action also guarantees many businesses for Malays. Thus a crutch mentality is created from cradle to grave. Companies are required to employ 30% bumiputras. Many redundant vacancies are created in the civil services just to hire Malays. These people will never understand the meaning of productivity.

No one doubts the difficulties of governing a multi racial and multi religious country. Mahathir autocratic style did allow him to govern Malaysia effectively. But his use of divide and rule tactics to manage the Chinese and Indian parties further polarises the nations. Racial issues are further aggravated. He had the chance to transform Malaysia into a truly multi racial harmonious country but he was prejudice against non-Malays. Playing the race card is his winning strokes for many years. Putting fears into the Malays and constantly bashing the west was very endearing to the Malays. He never endorsed the concept of Malaysian identity. 22 years is long enough to do this bit of nation building. Today Malaysia’s woes could have been avoided if Mahathir had done the right thing.

On education, he championed the use of Bahasa Malay. Today, it is just difficult to overturn education policies without alienating the Malays. This he has regretted as many Malaysians are not very marketable due to the language handicap. The education quota system also drove away substantial number of non-Malays overseas. Many of the best and bright talented young non-Malays are lured away with lucrative scholarship and never return. This brain drain has far reaching economic impact on Malaysian economy in the future. Surely a man of Mahathir calibre recognises the folly of this education policy but he does not have the political courage to overturn his own creation without upsetting his Malay constituency.

Mahathir sacking of the once highly respected and independent high court judges death a blow to the judiciary system. Today the judges’ appointments are based on alignment to the right political parties. Many court decisions are questionable and the public has lost faith in the judiciary system.

In some way, Mahathir must be given credit to his ability to rally Malaysia of all walks of life. He was able to make Malaysia feel proud to be a Malaysian. His smartly use of “Malaysia Boleh” and Vision 2020 were prime examples. He builds the tallest building; sent Malay into space, sail around the world and climb Mt. Everest. He built airport, seaport and improve the country infrastructures. These are some to the highlights. Unfortunately, the slogan “Malaysia Boleh” has now become the butt of the jokes and describes anything outrageous and scandalous.

In my opinion, Mahathir greatest failure was his inability to groom and nurture the next generation of leaders during his 22 years in office. It is really hard to explain; he sacked 3 deputy Prime Ministers and went on to destroyed the fourth that he anointed as his successor. Any wise leaders must groom someone to takeover. Look at China; it is now grooming the 4th generation leaders. Nelson Mandela has a team of leaders to take over him when he stood down. Some speculated that Mahathir inherent fear of being ousted prevented him from nurturing leaders to take over his mantle. If this is true, then this must exemplify his deep insecurity and suspicion of others.

It is highly possible, BN may lose the next election and that will be Mahathir biggest nightmare. So far, no one has yet to dig into Mahathir 22 year’s legacy. His policies and many failings will eventually surface and the public will understand that the problem Malaysia faces today is the outcome of Mahathir’s legacy. If PKR forms the next government, then Mahathir failures will be magnified and his legacy will be diminished. I would not hesitate to guess that Mahathir will get the same blame medicine he has prescribed to so many.

Being a consummated politician, Mahathir has honed the skill of blaming others and is a master in the art of deception and diversion. I notice he has been intentionally courting controversies and constantly seeking attention. All these are done with purpose and there must be a motive. Perhaps he is expecting the worst and realise the blame game may ended up with him being the ultimate victim.

For 22 long years, he has tirelessly built and ran a country, it is only natural for him to worry how history will judge him, as he clearly knows that history is written by winner. What if the winner is Anwar Ibrahim? And he has too many detractors and enemies. That’s why his engine is firing on all cylinders, flooding Malaysians with all kind of theatrics to keep them busy. Very shrewdly, he is dictating the subjects, denying his adversaries any chance to scrutinise him. For him to have the upper hand, he must continue to speak out before the wind change tack.

All that I wrote are my wild imagination.







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