(Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Now that he is back in town, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be well advised to pick up the book written by Tunku Abdul Rahman on the events before and after the May 13 riots in 1969.
He should skip the parts where the Father of Malaysia’s independence apportions blame on the riots to the communists and over exuberant celebrations by Gerakan and the Democratic Action Party, and focus on what he has to say about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
There are parallels between then and now. Then, the Alliance was shaken by the loss of Penang and Kelantan to the Opposition and heavy defeats in Selangor and Perak. Today, Barisan Nasional is reeling from the loss of four states – Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perak – to Pakatan Rakyat.
Then, the Chinese voters deserted the MCA and the Alliance in droves, just like they did on March 8 to the BN.
Then, Dr Mahathir wrote a letter blaming the PM for the riots and the poor performance of the Alliance and urged him to step down. The letter was distributed widely to civil servants, university students and kampung folk. Today, Dr Mahathir is agitating for Abdullah to step down as party president and PM through postings in his blog.
This is what Tunku Abdul Rahman wrote about Dr Mahathir’s letter: "I have never received such a letter in all the years I have been involved in politics. I would have never thought that the letter could be written by someone who called himself a party loyalist."
He said that the letter attempted to destroy him and what he had tried to achieve as a politician and leader. "He wrote the letter filled with hate and revenge. By allowing others to get the letter, he was hoping that my whole life’s work for my race and country would be destroyed."
Tunku Abdul Rahman also accused Dr Mahathir of being part of the ultras group in Umno and said that this group had a straightforward strategy.
"Those who were against my leadership attacked my personality, arguing that I was the image of the party ... It is clear that this group is using university students to carry out their despicable work," he said, referring to the demonstration at Universiti Malaya where students carried banners urging the PM to step down and accusing him of being a poker player and horse racing buff.
Fast forward to May 2008 and only the person at the end of stinging attacks by Dr Mahathir has changed.
In his latest posting, the former prime minister paints a gloomy scenario for Umno and BN if Abdullah is allowed to remain at the helm of both organisations. All the Bumiputera privileges and special rights enjoyed by the Malays will be under threat if there is no immediate change of leadership, he wrote.
He attempts to drive a wedge between the ruling coalition and Abdullah by pointing out an anomaly. "Opposition leaders have never really attacked Datuk Seri Abdullah since he took over the BN and Umno in 2003 in the same way that they have attacked other BN and Umno leaders. Why?
"This could be because they know that loyal supporters of BN have lost faith in Datuk Seri Abdullah and in fact hate him. They hope that this feeling of hate will continue and will result in BN receiving less support. This alone will guarantee the Opposition victory in the next general election.
"A leader who is supported by the Opposition is not a true leader. A leader who is supported by the Opposition will destroy us."
Abdullah’s supporters expect the intensity and the personal nature of the attacks to increase significantly. How do they know? That is what happened in the weeks and months after May 13, 1969.
Tunku Abdul Rahman stayed in office as the prime minister for two more years but the day to day running of the country was in the hands of the National Operations Council headed by Tun Abdul Razak.
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