Media should not play up Mahathir

By Joe Fernandez 

The way former Prime Mahathir Mohamad has been carrying on since retiring, keeping himself very much in the public eye, it appears that he wants his old job back and this time perhaps until he dies and that could be at 97+. That could be the real reason why the 13th General Election has been unduly delayed.

Mahathir is now 88 years old.

Mahathir's latest visit was to Sabah where he visited the troops in Lahad Datu besides delivering a lecture at UMS on the RCI.

He repeated blatant lies on the MyKad scam in Sabah and the media dutifully reported them. Of course, as usual, the media will run an editorial tearing Mahathir to bits on his errant remarks.

He also advised troops in Sabah to adopt guerrilla warfare. Is he a military expert too besides having perfected the art of putting the hands in the National Cookie Jar under the guise of bringing development to the people? Since when did a Government force anywhere in the world engage in guerrilla warfare? Leave that to the Royal Sulu Army and their MNLF backers.

Mahathir has no business carrying on like this.

In the US they have a Code of Ethics.

An ex-President is not supposed to do many things while in other cases, he needs the written permission of the sitting President. The media does not play up ex-Presidents. There are certain rules of conduct to follow.

In Malaysia, Mahathir does what he wants including embarassing and even humiliating the Prime Minister. Everyone knows how he hounded his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, out of office. He did the same thing to his predecessor, Hussein Onn.

Why is the Opposition Leader, usually considered the Prime Minister in Waiting, keeping quiet on Mahathir's errant behaviour?

Everyone knows that the Umno Supreme Council, thanks to his US$ 44 billion in ill-gotten gains and his Big Black Book of Everyone's Sins, is in his pocket.

A change in Umno could see Mahathir taking over as Acting Umno President after Najib makes way for him given his numerous scandals as reported and fouling up Lahad Datu.

The media should observe certain ethics and not play up Mahathir at the expense of the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.

Why do they seek out his comments all the time on issues ranging from running the country to changing diapers?

It's really infantile on the part of the media. They are doing a diservice to the country.

The media, being public service organisations, are supposed to highlight matters of public interest, not help Mahathir run the country through the Court of Public Opinion.

The media doesn't have to highlight his blog postings either and generate controversies over them. Those interested can visit Mahathir's blog and leave their comments there. The chances are their critical comments will be blocked.

Mahathir's time has passed. He should let go. For better or worse, he should hold his peace.

He claims that he has the democratic right to speak his mind like any citizen. However, he should know that he's not an ordinary citizen and cannot claim that right. He has no right to speak up in public on anything.

How can we have two Prime Ministers, in fact three if we include Muhyiddin Yassin as well.

The Constitution makes no provision for a Deputy Prime Minister. It's just an administrative device but the man (Muhyi) seems to be getting carried away by his post. Samy Vellu was right to tell then Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam to "go jump into the lake".

If we include Rosmah Majid too, we have four Prime Ministers in the country.

Often, she walks ahead of the Prime Minister in public. Where's the Protocol on this and other matters?

Every generation has a right to rule themselves. They don't have to be perfect if there's any such thing. It's okay to make mistakes. That's where the learning begins and success comes.

Someone should lead a campaign against Mahathir's interference in Government and the media's failings on this issue.