Malaysia’s 14th general election outcome has brought the nonagenarian Mahathir Mohamad back to the centre stage of politics. His Pakatan Harapan (PH) or Alliance of Hope or Pact of Hope, which was earlier led by his one-time deputy Anwar Ibrahim, got a boost when he took over as its chairman. In fact, 92-year old Mahathir’s return to politics literally consolidated the Opposition parties against the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) led by Barisan Nasional (BN). Truly speaking, the Opposition parties were floundering since Anwar was languishing in jail in a sodomy case for long. Mahathir’s resignation from office in 2003 to fight high-level corruption in the Najib Razak Government (particularly the multi-billion dollar scam of 1MDB), and finally to oust the latter from office, uncovers many political realities of Malaysia.
Mahathir ruled the country for 23 years from 1981-2003. His second innings in power is largely motivated by two significant themes: first, to put an end to the hegemony of UMNO in Malay politics, and second, to teach Najib a lesson. Succinctly, he has achieved both within a historic timeframe as the voters in Malaysia were largely disillusioned with the Najib Government. And they were badly touched by the allegation that their Prime Minister had stolen nearly a billion dollar from the public fund. Mahathir, one of the most revered statesmen of the country, once proclaimed the 21st century to be a “global century” keeping in mind his country’s seat in the comity of nations in an age largely defined by unmatched forces of globalisation. What he did to claim that was indeed remarkable. He literally transformed the country into one of the strongest economies of the region. During his time, the living standards of the people significantly improved and the rate of unemployment remained stable at 3.8 per cent. Remarkably, since 1981, when he took up the reins, public universities thrived, the number of doctors increased from 2,000 to 15,000 and hospital facilities have come a long way from 88 to 374 in number. Between 1988-1996, the country’s economic growth touched 8 per cent. Meanwhile, he released an economic marvel popularly known as “The Way Forward or Vision 2020” and he promised that by the year 2020, Malaysia would attain the status of a developed nation. His grand success was in lifting the country from a traditional agricultural economy to an emerging manufacturing hub of the region.
What the critics say is that though Mahathir adopted very pragmatic economic plans, he continued his repressive policies throughout his rule. He aptly demonstrated that Islam is compatible with representative style of Government and political modernisation. Even he projected himself as a third world champion and Islamic spokesman by constantly standing up to the West. That was what Mahathir was in his earlier avatar on the onset of globalisation in Asia.
But today, turning himself to be the oldest ruling head of any country in the world, he has once again proved his power to move the crowd. Mahathir has set a record by dislodging the UMNO, the party that governed Malaysia since 1957, the year of its birth from the clutches of British imperialism. This election marked the first transfer of power in Malaysia’s modern political history from the UMNO to a new coalition of the PH. Despite rumours doing the rounds that the Najib Government will finally prevent a change of government, the transition of power took place quite peacefully. The Election Commission seemingly stacked with hardcore Najib loyalists made an official announcement that the Opposition has won the majority of the seats. Subsequently, the Malaysian Agong (King) invited the veteran Mahathir and named him the Prime Minister of the country. This is how the historic journey of Mahathir unfolded once again in Malaysian political landscape.
On the other hand, Najib’s 10-year rule ended with a humiliating defeat for him and the country’s oldest ruling party on this May 9 general election. The saddest part of this historic electoral battle was that he was pushed from his office by none other than his one-time mentor Mahathir. The ordinary Malays have outright rejected him a third term in office, and demonstrated that they are no longer comfortable with his corrupt and authoritarian regime. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to overlook the gains made in the Najib era. He was successful in fundamentally repositioning Malaysia at the global stage. He fast moved from age old UMNO policy to separate Asia from America. He further argued that the US is a crucial ally of Malaysia and the ASEAN. Though Najib always had a tight grip on the UMNO, he openly discussed and debated democratic values on platforms such as the Asian Regional Forum. He also hurled strong criticisms against authoritarian regimes of North Korea and Myanmar. And what the international community had witnessed during his decade-long rule would have never been countenanced as the practice was always there to criticise the West. Surprisingly, at a time of an ISIS rise, Najib spoke in various international forums to fight global terrorism and urged to form a league of nations to counter the same. His strong economic performance was a marked contrast to what happened during Mahathir’s time with ethnic preferences and frequent complaints of cronyism.
This was all fair and fine. What came as shock wave to people was the horror of the 1MDB scandal and constant charges of corruption against Najib. The alleged misappropriation of $4.5 billion from the fund, once established by Najib himself, is under investigation by the US Department of Justice, and countries such as Switzerland and Singapore now. In the last three years, this scandal has led to arrests of key officials, closing down of several banks, and, of course, the seizure of multi-billion dollar assets around the globe. This kind of siphoning off public money by Najib played a critical role in moving out the country’s grand old party from power for the first time since Independence. Indeed, the case has dogged Najib since the Wall Street Journal made it public in August 2015. The report claimed that nearly $700 million from the 1MDB fund has flowed into Najib’s personal account. later, the US Department of Justice lawsuits indicated he received transfers of more than $1 billion from 1MDB, though he denies any kind of wrongdoing.
With the release of Anwar Ibrahim from jail through a full royal pardon by the Malaysian Agong, it is believed that he may soon take over from Mahathir. Anwar has long political career during which he received mixed responses from the Malays. Once he was considered one of the leading progressive political stalwarts of the country who advocated a strong reconciliation of Western and Islamic values in a politically sensitive and ethnically diverse Malaysia. But then his imprisonment by Mahathir on charges of sodomy forced him to move closer to Islamic politics. Rather he sought realignment with the existing Islamic brand of political discourse in Malaysia. This had a negative impact on the liberal-minded women-folk of the country as they presumed that Anwar might support the revival of a stringent Sharia system in the States of Malaysia. Nevertheless, his is the image of an ardent advocate of human rights and democracy as perceived by majority of the people. His sustained criticism of Najib’s repressive policies which truly reflected the horrors of the Mahathir era has indirectly helped him project his liberal political agenda for a new generation of Malaysians who have been longing for freedom, diversity and global connectivity.
In a very recent interview to Al Jazeera, after his release from the prison, Anwar Ibrahim has clarified about his succession plan: “People mention one year, some say one year and a half, some say two. In my discussion with him (Mahathir), he does not insist on this sort of clear timeframe. And I wanted him to be just comfortable. I just said ‘you manage the affairs of this nation, I need time’.” This clearly shows that for now Anwar will make him visible in public both within and outside the country. What he basically wants is a reconnect to his fans, supporters and party workers from whom he was away almost for two decades now. As his wife, Azizah, is currently functioning as a Deputy Prime Minister in Mahathir Cabinet, he is absolutely not in a hurry. What he wants is the Muslim world to hear the “voice of reason on democratic transition and democratic accountability” from him.
Precisely, it is good that Mahathir is exposing Najib and bringing back the faith of the ordinary Malays on the governance system. It would be always fair to restrain his power and to retain the best of what Najib has delivered in the past. Else, Mahathir’s great stride to politics at this age would be remembered as a regime of revenge wherein he has only hounded political opponents, cronies and a genre of corrupt officials. Hope the bumiputera will showcase his true statesmanship and herald a new age of reform and rejuvenation to the Asian tiger. And, hopefully and quietly pass on the reign to Anwar.
(The writer is an expert on international affairs)
