When a bunch of losers talk

For seven general elections you sucked Dr Mahathir’s dick and licked Umno’s arse. Today, you write an editorial lambasting Dr Mahathir. I think you are 35 years too late. Why repeat what we have been trying to tell you over the last 35 years?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Using Dr Mahathir’s logic

The Malaysian Insider Editorial

Raise your hand if you expected Dr Mahathir Mohamad to have a conscience attack and blame himself and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government for Project IC – that not-so-secret initiative to hand identity cards to thousands of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

Well, if you didn't raise your hand, you are in good company because the former prime minister does not do well before a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

He had an acute case of amnesia when he appeared before the commission looking into the V. K. Lingam video clip in 2007 and there was every chance that he was going to hit the didn't-do-it can't remember-it mode today.

Why? Because the former prime minister does not lose sleep just because millions think he is being charitable with the truth. In his own perverse way, he must always come out on top.

So, going before the RCI in Kota Kinabalu and sticking to his own story, no matter how ridiculous it is, is a win in his eyes.

So let us play along with the Dr Mahathir storyline. He said the government was not responsible for immigrants being given ICs illegally.

And his explanation: "These illegal immigrants may have been issued the identity cards erroneously or it may have been the wrongdoing of certain low-ranking civil servants."

So, according to Dr Mahathir, thousands upon thousands of ICs were accidentally given to Suluks and other illegal immigrants from The Philippines. And this was either through the negligence or crooked ways of some clerk in a government department.

And while this was happening, should we also assume that the bigwigs at the National Registration Department and police were comatose?

Using Dr Mahathir's logic, no blame should accrue to the BN government for anything. Because it is either an accident or the fault of a low-level civil servant.

There is no duty of care for a minister, deputy minister, parliamentary secretary or senator to ensure that a ministry or government agency runs efficiently and is not a nest of corruption. None whatsoever.

So using Dr Mahathir's logic, we can also say NO ONE should blame the government for:

* the spike in crime. The failure of the police to do their job rests solely with the cops, not with the Home Minister or Prime Minister.

* inflated contracts and one-sided privatisation projects. The failure rests with the civil servants at the Economic Planning Unit, and not with the ministers who endorsed and lobbied for the project to be pushed through. Or for the Umno politician who was awarded the contract for loyalty to the party.

* for appointing an unqualified person to be the ambassador to Indonesia. Blame the foreign service official who acted beyond his pay grade and picked the least likeliest candidate in Malaysia for the prestigious job.

With Dr Mahathir and his ilk, it is always the same story: it is someone else's fault. Even with a mountain of evidence, it is always someone else's fault.

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That was The Malaysian Insider’s editorial today. The Malays would call the editorial menganjing, meaning being sarcastic, because that is the tone of the editorial. I wonder who wrote that editorial because there is no name to it.

Anyway, The Malaysian Insider is trying to suggest that everything wrong with the country is the fault of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ‘and his ilk’. I take it whoever wrote that editorial has not been listening to what we have been saying over the last 35 years or so. And that is a shame because if he or she had been listening then he or she would not have come out with such a silly editorial.

And let me tell you why I think The Malaysian Insider editorial is silly for blaming everything wrong with the country on Dr Mahathir ‘and his ilk’.

Barisan Nasional was formed just before the 1974 general election so that Umno could recapture the country that it almost lost in 1969. Gerakan, PPP, PAS, etc., the very strong opposition parties that gave the Alliance Party a run for its money in 1969, all joined Barisan Nasional.

DAP, however, did not join Barisan Nasional. Some say DAP refused to join and others says DAP was never invited to join. This is like the Singapore leaving Malaysia story. Did Singapore leave Malaysia or was Singapore kicked out? There are two versions of this event (just like why DAP did not join Barisan Nasional).

In the first general election that Barisan Nasional faced in 1974, the new coalition garnered 60.7% of the votes and won 87.66% of the seats, the best performance ever since Merdeka. That can be said to be a new Malaysian record and demonstrated how happy Malaysians were with the new coalition called Barisan Nasional after almost killing the Alliance Party just one election before that.

Anyway, not long after that, the ‘Malay’ PAS left Barisan Nasional in a huff (because, according to PAS, Umno was not sincere about the marriage) while the ‘Chinese’ Gerakan and ‘Indian’ PPP stayed in Barisan Nasional.

In the next general election in 1978 (and the Kelantan state election about three months before that) PAS got wiped out and lost Kelantan. Barisan Nasional garnered 57.2% of the votes and won 84.42% of the seats. That meant the people were still very happy with Barisan Nasional.

However, in 1978, we were already opposed to Umno and Barisan Nasional (mainly because we supported PAS, which was now an opposition party). And when I say ‘we’ here I mean the Malays from the East Coast (where I was living then). But we could not get our non-Malay comrades in the West Coast to join us in opposing Umno and Barisan Nasional. The non-Malays still decided to give Barisan Nasional a landslide victory, much to our disappointment and disgust.

In 1981, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over as the President of Umno and Prime Minister of Malaysia. Soon after that, Anwar Ibrahim deserted the opposition and joined Umno.

Then, in the 1982 general election soon after that, Barisan Nasional garnered 60.5% of the votes and won 85.71% of the seats, even better than the 1978 general election before that when PAS got wiped out.

In the 1986, 1990 and 1995 general elections, with Dr Mahathir as Prime Minister, Barisan Nasional continued to perform well. And this is in spite of the creation of Semangat 46 and the creation of Gagasan Rakyat and Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah in the 1990 and 1995 general elections.

We were perplexed. The more we opposed the ruling party, and the more we tried to tell Malaysians as to why the ruling party needed to be ousted, the better the ruling party performed. It appears like Malaysians are both deaf and blind and have a very closed mind and cannot see the truth.

I made up my mind 35 years ago that Malaysians are a lost cause. Malaysians are stupid. Malaysians cannot understand that we need change and why we need change. The 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1995 election results seem to prove this.

Then came the 1999 general election soon after the Anwar Ibrahim episode and the birth of the Reformasi movement and we were so sure that this time around Dr Mahathir, Umno and Barisan Nasional were going to be history. This would be the end of the ruling party and the beginning of change in Malaysia.

But that did not happen as we had hoped and expected. Barisan Nasional still swept in with 56.5% of the votes and 76.68% of the seats.

Then came the 2004 general election when Barisan Nasional garnered 63.9% of the votes and set a new Malaysian record by winning 90.41% of the seats. We just could not believe it. Why are Malaysians so stupid? Why can’t Malaysians understand that there are so many things wrong with the country? Why can’t Malaysians see that we need change?

Today, The Malaysian Insider writes that silly editorial blaming this, that and the other on Dr Mahathir. What bloody crap is this?

Where were you 35 years ago? Where were you in 1978? Where were you in 1982? Where were you in 1986? Where were you in 1990? Where were you in 1995? Where were you in 1999? Where were you in 2004?

For seven general elections you sucked Dr Mahathir’s dick and licked Umno’s arse. Today, you write an editorial lambasting Dr Mahathir. I think you are 35 years too late. Why repeat what we have been trying to tell you over the last 35 years?

So, everything is Dr Mahathir’s fault, is it? And who kept Dr Mahathir in power for 22 years and Umno in power for 58 years since 1955? And where were you in 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995, 1999 and 2004 when we tried to tell you what you are telling us today?

No, whatever is happening in Malaysia is NOT Dr Mahathir’s fault. It is your fault. So live with it and stop bitching, moaning and complaining. You made your bed so now lie in it.

And you know what? Barisan Nasional is still going to win the next general election in 2018. And remember that I said that. Losers!