Guest Editorial: Spinoffs from Dr Mahathir’s Loyalty and Assimilation Hypothesis

Dr Lim Teck Ghee

“To become a developed country, we wanted to overcome nine challenges under Vision 2020 - fostering a united country, a society with a liberated spirit, a democratic society, a moral and ethical society, a liberal society, a scientific and progressive society, a caring society, an economically just society and a prosperous society”

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad when outlining the vision for Malaysia as he envisaged it in 1991

It is common knowledge and generally agreed by all major stake players and stakeholders that Malaysia has failed the first challenge of Vision 2020. Today that aspiration of a united country and its associated society with a liberated spirit appears more difficult to attain and further away than ever before. This failure is one which most Malaysians, from all sides of the political fence, will probably agree with.

Why this vision has failed to progress and has regressed on several fronts is due to a complexi of factors.

While there is disagreement on which factors have been instrumental, there is little dispute that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, originator of that vision and the nation's prime minister and leading political leader for over 40 years, has played a pivotal role in determining its direction and attainment. And non-attainment too..

Hence, it was no surprise that Dr. Mahathir Mohamed’s latest and most provocative media appearance in Thanthi TV, a news channel from Chennai produced a firestorm of fierce criticism. Leaders of the Indian community, the main target of his interview comments, took strong exception to his allegation that Malaysian Indians were not completely loyal to the country as they were still inexorably tied to their country of origin.

Perhaps the kindest response came from S.A.Vigneswaran, MIC president.

“Just ignore him if he talks about loyalty; we have other work to do.”

“Loyalty is a concept alien to Tun M because he was not loyal to Umno, not loyal to Bersatu and not loyal to Pakatan Harapan, which appointed him Prime Minister in 2018”

Gobind Singh in his statement as the DAP national deputy chairman, noted

“The Federal Constitution clearly recognises … that except as allowed explicitly by the constitution itself, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the grounds of religion, race, descent, place of birth, or gender in any law.”

Gobind added that it was widely accepted that many citizens of the country spoke more than one language, with most being fluent in Bahasa Malaysia and their mother tongue, including Chinese, Tamil, Iban, or Kadazan.

Former Minister of National Unity in Dr. Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan cabinet, Waytha Moorthy, in his party’s open letter on “Pendatang or Rakyat: Assimilation or Acceptance” provided this rebuke:

“Assimilation was never in the slightest imagination of the Malay Rulers, the British colonialist power and our founding fathers. Please peruse the parliamentary debate of the Federal Legislative Council Malaya that approved our Constitution in 1957. There was a great atmosphere of acceptance, coexistence, and determination to develop Malaya further as a genuinely united Malayan race and prosperous nation. There were no objections from any races to these arrangements laid before the Constitution to ensure the continued prosperity of Malaya.”

Perikatan and MUDA Response

No prominent Bersatu or PAS leader has yet criticised Dr. Mahathir or has been willing to debate the contention that only fully assimilated non-Malays could be considered as loyal. This indicates their strategy that two classes of loyalty and citizenship based on racial heritage may need to be expounded to capture the support of the majority Malay constituency.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) member, Gerakan, despite expressing disappointment and disagreement, argued that Dr Mahathir's stand would not sway public support for PN. Party president Dominic Lau reaffirmed that the opposition coalition would continue seeking Dr. Mahathir's advice for the four states governed by PN.

According to the nation's youth oriented Malaysian United Democratic Alliance party deputy president, Amira Aisya, Dr. Mahathir should apologise for his comments. To her, accusing the Indian community of being disloyal to the country could be misused by extremist groups whilst adding that Malaysians' loyalty to the country should not be underestimated.

The response from lower level government party leaders has been generally equally critical. A PKR division leader went on record to say that the party intended to lodge at least 50 police reports against Mahathir’s “hate-filled rants”.

Other Ripple Effects

While no follow up is likely to arise from the police reports and other expressions of concern on Dr. Mahathir’s interview, other ripple effects have emerged.

One of the most noticeable is that it has prompted renewed public scrutiny of Dr. Mahathir’s record of leadership and the legacy that he is leaving the country. The English language social media has been especially active of this possibly last hurrah of Dr Mahathir in his attempt to influence the direction of the nation’s politics and development.

Commentators have gone to town to upbraid Dr. Mahathir for the toxic culture of rampant corruption, cronyism and privatisation which damaged the nation’s economy after he became Prime Minister in 1981.

Also prominent in the critique is Dr. Mahathir’s alleged personal responsibility in the financial scandals and losses that provided the backdrop to Malaysia’s crash during the 1997 financial crisis and steady decline in the nation's economic rating when compared to other Asian countries.

Given his style of imperial leadership, belief in his superior knowledge of economics and disdain for any form of dissent, the list of Dr. Mahathir’s financial and economic mismanagement and malfeasance, according to some critics, covers every major financial setback during his two decades as prime minister.

Maminco, Bank Bumiputra Finance, Forex Market Gambling, Perwaja Steel, and others - the billions of ringgit losses of these Mahathir follies was the tip of the national fiscal iceberg meltdown which Dr. Mahathir has been accused of being responsible for.

Recovering Illicit Funds

Malaysia has long been identified as amongst the biggest exporters of illicit money er capita in the world. It has been estimated that Malaysia lost between US$22.9 billion (RM94.22 bil) and US$33.7 billion (RM138.66 bil) in illicit capital outflows from 2006 until 2015. Added up, Malaysia lost up to about US$431 bil (RM1.8 trillion) in illegal outflow of money between 2005 and 2014 with much of the outflow accelerating after Dr. Mahathir’s tenure ended

Hence the current pursuit by prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of grand corruption by individuals in the attempt to recoup some of the illicit gains to shore up the national treasury is regarded by many as long overdue.

The campaign against grand corruption has still a long way to run its course but if scrupulously and diligently pursued, it could bring to light the dark secrets of the alleged ill gotten wealth accumulated during Dr. Malathir’s time of office now being highlighted again in social media. A focus on this campaign, recovery of some of the massive illicit outflows and discouragement of similar outflows could turn out to be among the unanticipated spinoffs from Dr.Mahathir’s Thanthi interview.

Lim Teck Ghee PhD is a Malaysian economic historian, policy analyst and public intellectual whose career has straddled academia, civil society organisations and international development agencies. He has a regular column, Another Take, in The Sun, a Malaysian daily; and is author of Challenging the Status Quo in Malaysia.

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