KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 - Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed joined the roiling debate on race relations by declaring there was no such thing as Ketuanan Melayu, or Malay Supremacy because racial parity had not been achieved yet.
He also said that Malaysians were not yet ready for freedom of speech, while he also expressed doubts about Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s leadership abilities.
Speaking on a special interview with Riz Khan on satellite television station Al-Jazeera, he said that Malays were in fact, the underdogs.
"There is no such thing as Ketuanan Melayu. We are the underdog.
"The shoe-polisher is not the Tuan (master). The man who pays you is the Tuan. I used to have a Chinese driver, he called me Tuan," he quipped.
Dr Mahathir defended the Malay affirmative action policies in Malaysia despitethe fact that Malays formed the majority of the country, whereas affirmative action in other countries were implemented to help minorities.
"It is not about majority or minority. It is to address the disparity.
"The Chinese dominate the economy but the majority is poor and we need to bring them up to achieve parity," he said.
Having been in office for over two decades, Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister added that the stronger presence of the Malays in the political field was to balance out the dominance of the Chinese in the economy.
He also added that there was nothing to stop the country from having a non-Malay Prime Minister so long as "he has the support of the majority."
When Khan suggested that the system was skewed to the Malays, Dr Mahathir disagreed, saying "it is not skewed, it is in the constitution."
Dr Mahathir also insisted that he was a Malay and not an Indian. Khan had implied that Dr Mahathir had tried to deny his Indian ancestry in the past.
"There is a lot of foreign blood in this country... we are at the crossing point between the East and West," Mahathir replied, adding that he is Malay by definition.
He also expressed concerns that current Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might not step up to the premiership after the March Umno party polls despite winning the presidency unconstested.
Dr Mahathir had recently said that his successor and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi may choose to stay on as PM despite not being Umno president, which he claims will be to the detriment of the party and country.
"Najib has not shown any strength in the political field. He is more a follower than a leader and he must change that," Dr Mahathir explained.
Khan then asked if this "change" meant a reversion to "Mahathirism."
"Mahathirism... I do not know what that is," was the elder statesman's reply.
He rejected the idea that his rule was autocratic but merely "sensible" due to the fact that Malaysia is "prone to instability" as it is a multiracial society. He further suggested that Mahathirism was synonymous with economic development instead.
On this point, he also criticised the level of openness practised by the current administration, stating that the country is not ready for such liberalisation.
"They say it is good to be more open but it is premature. The people do not understand freedom of speech and it has caused racial tension," he said.
He told Khan that in his tenure as Prime Minister, such matters were discussed between leaders behind closed doors. He concurred with the suggestion that racial sentiments were more heated today than during his premiership as "now, the different races are at each other's throats.”
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