“There is something rotten in state of Malaysia, today”

“There is something rotten in the State of Denmark”, former Prime Minister and UMNO President Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad quipped from William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, when started his speech to bloggers and writers, organised by Majlis Prihatin Malaysia (Prima) in Perdana Leadership Foundation, Putrajaya this morning. His speech was about the perception of the state of affairs in Malaysia now, felt by many Malaysians, from many angle and perspective.

Personally, Tun Dr. Mahathir felt that there were an increased in the crime rates in the country. This view was strengthened based on former Inspector General of Police Tun Mohamed Hanif Omar’s regular column in the most recent Sunday Star, “Fence eat the rice“. He added that from Hanif’s writing, it seemed that there were two factions within the Police Force and some policemen were taking direct instructions from the Deputy Minister.

He then rambled further about the increased in corruptions in the country lately. The corrupt practices no longer involved the Government directly, but now are implemented through GLCs, which awarded ‘direct negotiated’ contracts to certain quarters. He reminded that the country’s position in the international corruption index has regressed.

The sale of MV Agusta to Gevi Spa. for one Euro (RM 4.50) by Proton was an example he quoted. He said it was a mystery on who are the people behind Gevi Spa. and the Government offered no explanation for the sale of the acquired prize asset. Recently, Husqvarna (one of the brands under MV Agusta) was sold of by Gevi Spa to BMW for Euro 93 million. Tun Dr. Mahathir also added that the Securities Commission found the disposal acceptable, “Its alright that Proton disposed the RM 500 million asset for one Euro”. He cynically added “Proton is rich. What is RM 500 million compared to RM 10 billion”.

The 82 year old statesman reminded the danger of corruption already has been translated in the neighbouring countries where corruption is rampant. He said “There is an inducement of corruption by the Government and ruling party”, something which will continuously and vehemently be denied. The practice of vote buying in elections is dangerous. “If this is how we practiced democracy, then we will elect corrupt people into power”.

“I am not with the Oppositions. I am with the people, country and religion (Islam)”. He then explained the ‘dilemma’ he is in, as he put it “Telan mati mak, luah mati pak“. He was adamant being an UMNO man and love for UMNO. However, he no longer accept the UMNO leadership ways of getting things done. He admitted that he should not talk about campaigning against UMNO and BN. On the other hand, he said when UMNO and BN win again, “The leaders will claim that the people supported the leaders and not the party”. He meant that the people voted UMNO and BN for what the party stood for and championed although some leaders used the winnings as an illustration of ‘endorsement’ and ‘validation’ on the things they do, include the bad things.

Tun Dr. Mahathir focused a lot on the Malays and UMNO because he said the Malays are unlike the Chinese, who strategically use their votes wisely. Now its time the Malays pass the message to the leaders that the interests of the majority is paramount over their own personal agenda. He also reminded that the “social contract” should be preserved and not be re-written because the gist of the original ‘agreement’ and ‘understanding’ would be lost.

Tun Dr. Mahathir’s speech today undoubtedly was very cynical and full of sarcasm. He talked about how Malaysians nowadays no longer able to manage our own affairs that foreigners are invited with open arms. “Appoint Ministers from our neighbours to ‘advice’ how to develop our own projects in our own land”, which drew laughter and added “Putrajaya was a failed Mega Project because we did not consult our neighbours”. He further said “We should ask our neighbours to develop our ‘new corridors’.”.

He was sarcastic about the current administration which complained the previous administration spent too much on “Mega Projects” before and now themselves announced a lot of new “Mega Projects”. He touched on the Scenic Bridge Johor Causeway-replacement-project which was abruptly canceled by the Government March last year. He talked about the escalated New CIQ complex in Johor Bahru which rose from RM 900 million to RM 1.4 billion and now when its near completion, because of the cancellation of the Scenic Bridge, its left idle and unused. “We can afford it. The country is rich!”.

During Q and A, a question was posed about someone was quoted that “Khairy was like the younger Dr. Mahathir”. He answer was “Dr. Mahathir was a ‘dictator’ and spend all the money on Mega Projects until the country is almost bankrupt” and added “That is (also) Khairy!”. He crowd laughed.

Someone asked about his meeting with the Jewish financier George Soros and relations to the financial crisis of 1997-98, “Soros said he did not do it (attacked the RM). Nowadays, when you say you are not guilty, then you are not”. Cynically, he meant recently quoted Attorney General’s answer on the case against the ACA Director General.

Pro UMNO NGO Prowaris President Feriz Omar brought up the issue about how the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) Act was passed in haste that gave absolute power to the Minister. Feriz iterated that the Government had lied to the people for this and invited everyone to view their 20 point document and fight for this intolerable injustice. When replied, Tun Dr. Mahathir quipped that the IDR is ‘nominally owned’ by Malaysia but ‘technically administered’ by Singapore.

On Petronas issue, Tun Dr. Mahathir explained that the increased profits were due to the increased crude oil price because the cost of production remained the same. He also said the retail market price of natural gas, especially for the transport sector was subsidized because the cost of production is much higher.

Tun Dr. Mahathir’s parting words were “Terlalu banyak kesalahan sekarang” and “That’s why we need Bloggers!”. Of course, he wanted the Bloggers to tell the truth, not use profanities and make more Malaysians aware of the wrong doings, for the betterment of this country. It was a good day in deed because Tun Dr. Mahathir vehemently reiterated his call which he made in Johor Bahru on 10 February 2007 and again in Kulai on 29 March 2007 for UMNO people to do a leadership change and elaborated on it, which many in the audience today found it ‘enlightening’.

*Second photo is courtesy of Jinggo Photopages

** An update, Thursday 16 August 2007. Utusan Malaysia’s “Tidak perlu perbaharui sosial kontrak – Dr M“. Also read The Sun.e-Paper “Dr M: Khairy reference no compliment“.