The former premier has started his online campaign for Barisan Nasional, calling on voters not to let racial sentiments cloud their common sense.
PETALING JAYA: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has added fuel to the burning speculation that the general election is around the corner with his latest blog posting campaigning for Barisan Nasional.
Among others, the 84-year-old statesman said Malaysians should not allow racial sentiments to sway their judgement.
Delving into the history of how Umno joined hands with MCA and MIC to form a coalition, the premier of 22 years said the partnership ensured stability and growth for Malaysia.
According to him, nobody could honestly claim that he or she had not benefitted from BN’s rule.
On the other hand, Mahathir said the opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat led by his former heir-apparent turned nemesis Anwar Ibrahim would not be able to provide the same.
“For a country to develop it needs a strong government that can ensure stability. No one party in Malaysia can provide a strong government. Certainly ‘Pakatan’ cannot provide this.
“The people of Malaysia must realise this and choose their governments wisely. They must not allow racial sentiments to cloud good pragmatic common sense,” he said.
Noting that BN fared poorly in the last general election, Mahathir, however, said this was not because the coalition failed as a concept or party.
“The poor performance was due to extremely poor leadership,” he added in reference to his handpicked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Elaborating on the BN partnership, Mahathir said the essence of this kind of racial parties cooperating was the willingness of every party to make sacrifices.
No party, he added, should expect to get 100% of what it considered its entitlement and everyone must give up something in order to gain much more from growth and development.
“The coalition concept worked so well that the opposition tried to copy it. Today Pakatan is a loose coalition of sorts involving the three opposition parties; PAS, DAP and PKR,” he said.
Strong core is vital
Mahathir also stressed that although it was an alliance of equals, a coalition needed a strong core which could act as the first among equals in order to work.
“The core will act as referee whenever the other components fail to agree with each other. The core must of course be fair at all times. On the other hand the core must not be too strong as to be able to go on its own. If it fails to get the support of the others, it will also fail,” he said.
Clearly, Mahathir said, the parties of BN were dependent on each other.
“However, should the coalition achieve only a small majority, it will be constantly threatened by the possibility of any one of the parties defecting and bringing down the government. This is its Achilles’ heel. But otherwise the coalition has functioned well in Malaysia,” he added.
From the historical aspect, Mahathir said Umno’s first president Tunku Abdul Rahman, realising that he needed Chinese support in order to achieve independence, came up with a unique solution.
“Umno could remain a purely Malay party but would work with the purely Chinese Malaysian Chinese Association to allay British suspicions that independence would lead to seizure of Chinese properties by the Malays.
“The cooperation worked so well that the Malayan Indian Congress decided to join it. And so the alliance of racial parties was formed. It was appropriately called the Alliance. Together they obtained independence for Malaya and this same concept enabled Sabah, Sarawak and for a time Singapore parties to join and set up independent Malaysia,” he added.
But, Mahathir said, Malay animosity towards the Chinese and the Chinese’s dissatisfaction with the terms of the social contract was still there and this resulted in the 1969 racial riots.
“Foreigners as well as many Malaysians concluded that the fragile coalition had failed. But (second prime minister) Tun (Abdul) Razak resurrected it and formed an even bigger coalition, the BN.
“Fear of race riots recurring helped to keep BN parties together. And so from 1971 until today the country enjoyed peace and stability under BN governments. Unprecedented growth took place and Malaysia became an industrialised country,” he added.
PETALING JAYA: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has added fuel to the burning speculation that the general election is around the corner with his latest blog posting campaigning for Barisan Nasional.Among others, the 84-year-old statesman said Malaysians should not allow racial sentiments to sway their judgement.
Delving into the history of how Umno joined hands with MCA and MIC to form a coalition, the premier of 22 years said the partnership ensured stability and growth for Malaysia.
According to him, nobody could honestly claim that he or she had not benefitted from BN’s rule.
On the other hand, Mahathir said the opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat led by his former heir-apparent turned nemesis Anwar Ibrahim would not be able to provide the same.
“For a country to develop it needs a strong government that can ensure stability. No one party in Malaysia can provide a strong government. Certainly ‘Pakatan’ cannot provide this.
“The people of Malaysia must realise this and choose their governments wisely. They must not allow racial sentiments to cloud good pragmatic common sense,” he said.
Noting that BN fared poorly in the last general election, Mahathir, however, said this was not because the coalition failed as a concept or party.
“The poor performance was due to extremely poor leadership,” he added in reference to his handpicked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Elaborating on the BN partnership, Mahathir said the essence of this kind of racial parties cooperating was the willingness of every party to make sacrifices.
No party, he added, should expect to get 100% of what it considered its entitlement and everyone must give up something in order to gain much more from growth and development.
“The coalition concept worked so well that the opposition tried to copy it. Today Pakatan is a loose coalition of sorts involving the three opposition parties; PAS, DAP and PKR,” he said.
Strong core is vital
Mahathir also stressed that although it was an alliance of equals, a coalition needed a strong core which could act as the first among equals in order to work.
“The core will act as referee whenever the other components fail to agree with each other. The core must of course be fair at all times. On the other hand the core must not be too strong as to be able to go on its own. If it fails to get the support of the others, it will also fail,” he said.
Clearly, Mahathir said, the parties of BN were dependent on each other.
“However, should the coalition achieve only a small majority, it will be constantly threatened by the possibility of any one of the parties defecting and bringing down the government. This is its Achilles’ heel. But otherwise the coalition has functioned well in Malaysia,” he added.
From the historical aspect, Mahathir said Umno’s first president Tunku Abdul Rahman, realising that he needed Chinese support in order to achieve independence, came up with a unique solution.
“Umno could remain a purely Malay party but would work with the purely Chinese Malaysian Chinese Association to allay British suspicions that independence would lead to seizure of Chinese properties by the Malays.
“The cooperation worked so well that the Malayan Indian Congress decided to join it. And so the alliance of racial parties was formed. It was appropriately called the Alliance. Together they obtained independence for Malaya and this same concept enabled Sabah, Sarawak and for a time Singapore parties to join and set up independent Malaysia,” he added.
But, Mahathir said, Malay animosity towards the Chinese and the Chinese’s dissatisfaction with the terms of the social contract was still there and this resulted in the 1969 racial riots.
“Foreigners as well as many Malaysians concluded that the fragile coalition had failed. But (second prime minister) Tun (Abdul) Razak resurrected it and formed an even bigger coalition, the BN.
“Fear of race riots recurring helped to keep BN parties together. And so from 1971 until today the country enjoyed peace and stability under BN governments. Unprecedented growth took place and Malaysia became an industrialised country,” he added.
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