If there is anyone who is gearing up for an 'Arab Spring', it is none other than Mahathir himself, going by his anti-Malaysian rants and racist nature.
COMMENT
He may have ruled the country for 22 years before reluctantly calling it quits but Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who holds the record as the country’s longest serving prime minister, has no intention whatsoever of doing his bit to promote peace and harmony on Malaysian soil.
Instead, Mahathir is doing the reverse; he is accusing arch enemy Anwar Ibrahim of plotting an ‘Arab Spring’ to overthrow the Barisan Nasional government.
And the former premier regrets that regressive laws like the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance are no longer in use.
Mahathir is also supportive of the move by Malay-rights group Perkasa to burn bibles with the word Allah saying it was natural to torch banned books and that Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali was merely expressing his opinion.
No wonder why Ibrahim has the audacity to continuously humiliate and threaten the non-Malays, for he has the ‘blessings’ of his patron Mahathir in all that he does.
When electoral reform activist Bersih took to the streets on July 9, 2011, Mahathir condemned the move saying it was politically motivated and aimed at repeating the 2008 election tsunami and tarnishing the BN government’s name and police.
If there is anyone who is gearing up for an ‘Arab Spring’, it is none other than Mahathir himself, going by his anti-Malaysian rants and racist nature.
Save Malaysia before its’s too late
Should people like Ibrahim and Mahathir continue with their scandalous views, it will not be long before the rakyat decides to take matters into their hands.
The fact that police brutality sees no end in sight, racism is at an all-time high and corruption continues to reign does not worry the leaders of this country; on the contrary they worry if the votes are split and if the opposition continues to win support from the people.
Just who do these politicians want? Or what really is their agenda that veteran leaders like Mahathir and the current batch of politician-leaders seem to be forgetting the real purpose of their serving the rakyat?
Truth be told, it is these politicians who have jeopardised the good name of Malaysia and threatened the tranquility of this nation boasting of multi-faiths.
Claims that the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat is out to paint a bad image of the federal government has no basis; if anything, Pakatan is doing damage-control to all the wrongdoings undertaken by the BN government prior to 2008.
Before matters get out of hand and tragedies become a daily occurence, something has to be done to save Malaysia from being prostituted further by unscrupulous politicians.
Bigotry, hypocrisy must be dealt with
Mahathir very conveniently justified Perkasa’s move to ban bibles using the word ‘Allah’ but he and his band of racist politicians cringe when an award-winning actor dares to tackle the subject of terrorism, as happened to actor-director Kamal Haasan’s movie “Vishwaroopam”.
A day after it was screened at the local theatres, the film was banned after a protest by the Indian Muslim League in Penang and a memorandum submitted by the Indian Muslim Youth Movement to the Home Ministry – their claim was that “Vishwaroopam” portrayed Muslims in a negative light.
But when racist utterances are made and acted against the non-Malays of this country, no one comes to their rescue, forcing them to act accordingly to defend their respective faiths.
Looks like the independence achieved in 1957 has not taught the politicians of this country the importance of perserving harmony among the people. Nor have these leaders made any effort to improve for the benefit of the country and the rakyat.
In this respect, one such example would be Mahathir who after two decades of lording over the country has failed to shine as a leader worthy of respect.
Allowing dissenting voices from the Mahathir camp to continue is a confirmed recipe for disaster, one worse than the Arab Spring.
Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.
COMMENT
He may have ruled the country for 22 years before reluctantly calling it quits but Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who holds the record as the country’s longest serving prime minister, has no intention whatsoever of doing his bit to promote peace and harmony on Malaysian soil.Instead, Mahathir is doing the reverse; he is accusing arch enemy Anwar Ibrahim of plotting an ‘Arab Spring’ to overthrow the Barisan Nasional government.
And the former premier regrets that regressive laws like the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance are no longer in use.
Mahathir is also supportive of the move by Malay-rights group Perkasa to burn bibles with the word Allah saying it was natural to torch banned books and that Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali was merely expressing his opinion.
No wonder why Ibrahim has the audacity to continuously humiliate and threaten the non-Malays, for he has the ‘blessings’ of his patron Mahathir in all that he does.
When electoral reform activist Bersih took to the streets on July 9, 2011, Mahathir condemned the move saying it was politically motivated and aimed at repeating the 2008 election tsunami and tarnishing the BN government’s name and police.
If there is anyone who is gearing up for an ‘Arab Spring’, it is none other than Mahathir himself, going by his anti-Malaysian rants and racist nature.
Save Malaysia before its’s too late
Should people like Ibrahim and Mahathir continue with their scandalous views, it will not be long before the rakyat decides to take matters into their hands.
The fact that police brutality sees no end in sight, racism is at an all-time high and corruption continues to reign does not worry the leaders of this country; on the contrary they worry if the votes are split and if the opposition continues to win support from the people.
Just who do these politicians want? Or what really is their agenda that veteran leaders like Mahathir and the current batch of politician-leaders seem to be forgetting the real purpose of their serving the rakyat?
Truth be told, it is these politicians who have jeopardised the good name of Malaysia and threatened the tranquility of this nation boasting of multi-faiths.
Claims that the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat is out to paint a bad image of the federal government has no basis; if anything, Pakatan is doing damage-control to all the wrongdoings undertaken by the BN government prior to 2008.
Before matters get out of hand and tragedies become a daily occurence, something has to be done to save Malaysia from being prostituted further by unscrupulous politicians.
Bigotry, hypocrisy must be dealt with
Mahathir very conveniently justified Perkasa’s move to ban bibles using the word ‘Allah’ but he and his band of racist politicians cringe when an award-winning actor dares to tackle the subject of terrorism, as happened to actor-director Kamal Haasan’s movie “Vishwaroopam”.
A day after it was screened at the local theatres, the film was banned after a protest by the Indian Muslim League in Penang and a memorandum submitted by the Indian Muslim Youth Movement to the Home Ministry – their claim was that “Vishwaroopam” portrayed Muslims in a negative light.
But when racist utterances are made and acted against the non-Malays of this country, no one comes to their rescue, forcing them to act accordingly to defend their respective faiths.
Looks like the independence achieved in 1957 has not taught the politicians of this country the importance of perserving harmony among the people. Nor have these leaders made any effort to improve for the benefit of the country and the rakyat.
In this respect, one such example would be Mahathir who after two decades of lording over the country has failed to shine as a leader worthy of respect.
Allowing dissenting voices from the Mahathir camp to continue is a confirmed recipe for disaster, one worse than the Arab Spring.
Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.
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