Tun Dr.Mahathir’s offer to be the next PM. My thoughts on this.

Well, it is now no longer a rumor, isn’t it? The nation’s 4th former Prime Minister , the 92 years old Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamad has repeated his desire to be the next Malaysian Prime Minister IF, and that’s a very big IF, the loose Opposition bloc @ Pakatan Harapan comprising of the DAP, PKR, Amanah and his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia really get to do the unthinkable which will be to defeat the humongous, firmly entrenched Barisan Nasional @ National Front which is a coalition of 13 Malaysian right wing nationalist political parties which has been ruling Malaysia since Independence in 1957 from the British Colonialists.

For Tun Dr. Mahathir’s fledgling party @ Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia to succeed in making inroads into the BN’s strongholds in the Malaysian Peninsular, it will be quite a challenging task for his party is made up of all those former top leaders who have been rejected by the people when they lost their respective positions as the Deputy Prime Minister, Menteri Besar @ Chief Minister, Federal Ministers, etc. when the current Malaysian PM Dato Seri Najib Razak sacked and removed them from the Malaysian Federal Government Cabinet.

The trend here in Malaysia is that when you lose power and position, it is just similar to those who slip and slide all the way to the abyss of political has been’s. It’s not easy to scratch, grab and pull oneself back up after such an inglorious fall. As the saying goes, the damage would have been done!

Here in Malaysia, voters tend to reflect back on whatever nasties has been attributed to the contesting candidate in the past. No matter if you try to pass yourself off as the nicest guy on the electoral list, someone somewhere will always be able to dig and find some dirt on you.

Not to forget that loyalty can easily be bought over by a RM50 banknote or even lesser come Election Day as proven in all the past General Elections. A batik sarong, a bag of rice, an envelope containing ‘Duit Raya’ and the receiving person will forever be indebted to the one dishing it out as PM Najib so deftly put it before that ‘Cash is King!’

He doesn’t have to worry or lose sleep because there are legions of the following aunties who will give thanks and pray for his well being and victory!

It doesn’t take much to sway opinions and loyalties here in Malaysia. Just a friendly smile and a fistful of ringgits will surely buy you a nice thumping victory over the cash-strapped Opposition save maybe for the PKR in Selangor and their partner the DAP in Penang.

PAS is notorious for milking their own supporters with their ever-emerging donation boxes called ‘Tabong Jihad’. [photo below]

What more Tun Dr. Mahathir’s party Parti Pribumi Bumiputra Malaysia where he himself admits on countless occasions that he’s quite stingy and miserly! 😛

Jokes aside, let us view the reality facing us.

It is true that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was the Father of Progress and Development for our country.  He ruled from 1981 to 2003 with a firm hand and transformed Malaysia from being a 3rd world agriculture based country into one of South East Asia’s leading developing nation.

After 22 long years of running the Federal Government of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir chose to resign in 2003 and handed over the reins to his Deputy, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Tun Abdullah Badawi was not as firm as Mahathir was and the Opposition especially the DAP and PKR managed to wrest Penang and Selangor respectively from the BN’s grip and forced Abdullah Badawi to hand over power to his Deputy then namely Dato Seri Najib Razak in 2008.

PM Dato Seri Najib Razak learned well from his predecessors and started to fortify his position by removing each and every thorn by his side especially Tun Dr. Mahathir’s own son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as the Kedah Menteri Besar and removed Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin from being the Deputy Prime Minister.

He appointed Datuk Seri Dr.Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as his Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister as Dr.Zahid had been his steadfast supporter all through the years and stuck to his side no matter what.

He has also appointed his cousin brother Dato Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn as His Special Affairs Minister besides the latter being the Malaysian Defense Minister.

Tun Dr.Mahathir’s abrupt turn from being the nemesis to best buddies with the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang astounded many including myself for as far as I know the DAP has always been against the dominance of the Malays and Islam as the ruling powers here in Malaysia.

Tun’s willing to change alliances and embrace the DAP ‘devils’ only goes to prove how desperate he is right now in trying to gain a political foothold for his son, Mukhriz albeit it be on the Opposition’s platform.

Guess there must be some truth to the adage that ‘Beggars can’t be choosers!’.  Not to say that Mahathir and his son are dirt poor but on the contrary. They are multi millionaires if not billionaires for their wealth and fortune spreads all over but we the common citizens of Malaysia really don’t give a rats ass as to who is rich or who’s poor?

All we want is good governance no matter who calls the shots here in our beloved country.

At 92, Mahathir is already way too old to be depended upon to bring about Malaysia to the stage it was when he was in power. It is also a case where you can’t actually run a one man show at Putrajaya.

We need a whole bunch of new, energetic, knowledgeable, trustworthy persons to lead Malaysia into the future. A future where each Malaysian can be assured of fair treatment regardless of one’s creed or skin color.

Yet the reality of a very deeply embedded culture of corruption and cronyism exists today staring sharply at us in the face.

To expect Mahathir to be elected as the Opposition’s choice to be the PM is something that can only be classified as pure fiction.

Mahathir would do better to just call it a day and really take care of his own needs to shower his family with his attention and also to the fact that he might soon leave us all and return to Ar Rahman.

May commonsense prevail here in Mamluk al Malaisie. Ameen.