Financial daily: Nothing gets in the way of Dr M

Financial daily: Nothing gets in the way of Dr M

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's gambit still dominates the news. First, one son – Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir – holds a press conference to announce he is not quitting and today, another son – Datuk Mokhzani – announces he is following in his father’s footsteps and resigning his membership in Umno.

Certainly, the Mahathir family seems determined to hog the news for a few days more. Interestingly, The Edge Financial Daily in its editorial today takes a look at the man who started it all and likens him to a leopard that never changes its spots.

Tun Dr Mahathir as an angry young man 40 years ago "went on a tirade against the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman". He had accused the Tunku then of "failing to protect and promote the interests of the Malays".

History shows that he was sacked from the party then and it was only when Tunku resigned in the aftermath of the May 13, 1969 riots that he was brought back to the fold by Tunku’s successor – Tun Abdul Razak.

That paved the way for Mahathir to become Umno president and prime minister in 1981, says The Edge Financial Daily.The editorial draws a parallel between what he did then – play the race angle – with what he is doing now to try and topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, i.e. falling back on the race card.

"At a gathering of some 1,000 people, he said: 'If we don’t speak up, if we choose to keep quiet, we will lose our rights and the other races will take over'." The editorial goes on to say that all this dangerous playing of the race angle by Mahathir is for naught as "power in this country is still very much in the control of the Malays and no non-Malay would dare to challenge Malay institutions like the royalty”.

It goes on to say that the last time anybody challenged the Malay royalty, it was Mahathir himself but "obviously Dr Mahathir will not let facts get in the way of his fear mongering and his current goal to knock out Abdullah".

The Edge Financial Daily speculates that Mahathir was probably agitating to get sacked from the party but since the prime minister did not do so, he resigned. "Dr Mahathir will resort to anything to get what he wants. Everything and everybody else – including Malaysian and the people of Malaysia – is collateral damage".

Whether we agree with the financial paper’s take on the former Prime Minister’s motives or not, one thing is clear: these are interesting times and Mahathir is going to fight tooth and nail to make it even more so.