Mahathir Is Not Senile, After All
May 23, 2008
Back in January 2008, when Dr. Mahathir took the stand as a witness in the VK Lingam Royal Commission of Inquiry, he seemed to appear senile and forgetful, answering that he could not remember the details to certain questions, even though they were significant.
Some questions taken from Malaysiakini: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/77155
Nordin: Can you clarify the reasons you did not agree to their (Chew and Zainuddin) appointments?
Mahathir: I don’t remember the reasons.
Wong: Before Tun Ahmad Fairuz was recommended to be the chief judge of Malaya, Tun Dzaiddin recommended (in a letter) Malek Ahmad. Do you recall that?
Mahathir: I cannot remember precisely, but there was a lot of talk. I listen to a lot of people.
Wong: Do you remember that Dzaiddin had recommended Malek?
Mahathir: I cannot remember him recommending him (Malek) to me… I don’t remember whether I agreed or not. I have read the letter from Dzaiddin, but I don’t remember whether I agreed or didn’t agree on the appointment of Malek.
Some people might genuinely think that this was quite long ago, so the old man might already have forgotten. However, to most of us, he just sounded evasive.
To those of you that thinks he is already senile, well, think again, as Mahathir the blogger lambasted his old deputy Tun Musa Hitam and Shahrir Samad. The two men had earlier criticized him for leaving UMNO, and suddenly Mahathir elected to apply his selective memory:
Dr M hits back at Musa and Shahrir
PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has criticised his former deputy Tun Musa Hitam for his “thorn in the flesh” comment and chastised Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad whom he said had forgotten how he was allowed to return to Umno after much appeal.
“Tun Musa Hitam claimed that I was a thorn in the flesh that has now been removed. Has Tun forgotten that he was a thorn in the flesh in Umno back in 1986-1987 when he was the Deputy Prime Minister (appointed by me)?
“He had resigned as Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president because he wanted me to step down as the Prime Minister and be replaced by him.
“Following an appeal by supreme council members, he returned as Umno deputy president as he still had intentions to bring me down.
“That is why he instigated his worst enemy, Tengku Razaleigh , to fight against me,” Dr Mahathir claimed in his blog www.chedet.com on Thursday.
“In the end, Umno fell apart and the splinter party Semangat 46 was formed which he cleverly did not join. He was then appointed by me as a Minister-level messenger to the United Nations. Tengku Razaleigh, on the other hand, was out of Umno and became Tun’s victim ,” Dr Mahathir said in his posting.
On Shahrir, Dr Mahathir said: “Who are you (Shahrir) to criticise me? If it weren’t for Tun Musa’s sister who as the Johor Baru Wanita chief, came to my house early in the morning to appeal that you be allowed to return to Umno, you would have become a thorn in Umno’s flesh for a longer period.”
If Dr. M had such a lucid mind when dealing with the questions in the Royal Commission, do you think he would easily have been found guilty of fixing the appointment of judges? You be the judge.
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3 Responses to “Mahathir Is Not Senile, After All”
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With all due respect it is not and has never been a question of whether Tun fixed the appointment of judges. Of course he did as was his perogative as Prime Minister of the country. Whether it is appropriate or not that the Prime Minister holds that role or whether it should be incumbent upon him to take the advice of the Chief Justice or some other panel as may now be recommended - the fact remains the choice lay with the Prime Minister and it was exercised. The question to be answered is whether the Judiciary were unduly influenced by a Senior Lawyer either in practice or appointment and whether such influence resulted in any miscarriages of justices being perpetrated on the litigants in cases he was involved in.
The reasons Tun appointed one Judge over another and who he listened to in making his appointments is interesting but immaterial.
There is a monumental effort being undertaken to discredit the previous regime in order to whitewash the activities of the present. The present Chief Judge and previous UMNO legal counsel was not appointed by Tun - discuss! Again nothing wrong in fact but the rules governing appointment and to ensure separation of powers urgently needs amendment.
I am non-partisan but love my adopted country and hope that some of the problems facing us can be addressed :
1 Shortage of basic foodstuffs - sugar, then oil, then rice - what next? these are all products we should be self-reliant in.
2 Price escalation - nobody believes the levels of inflation announced by the authorities.
3 Failure to deliver RM9. The economy needs to be pump-primed and the govt has to be imaginative it is no good stating that we have no money - they have to find a way to bring in foreign money and be more transparent - the Pinang Bridge given straight to UEM without tender a case-in-point.
4 Need to address the crisis of confidence in the government and its constituent members. The people don’t know the level to which senior members of the government have been involved in civil and criminal scandals but the impression has been allowed to fester and needs to be tackled or those people step down from public office.
5 Need to address the issue of minorities in the country. Race based politics are an unfortunate relic of the colonial handover and has no place in a modern and otherwise civilised society like ours. The Chinese, Indian, Malay and other ethnic groups should have an equal stake in the success and welfare of this country and the government should set a timetable to withdraw legislation that benefits one race over another. How many so-called Bumiputeras have actually garnered significant benefit from this out-dated and frankly discredited form of administration. It will take a brave leadership to implement this but it is absolutely vital for the eventual well-being of Malaysia.
May 23, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Karim,
I understand that you are arguing from a legal standpoint that Mahathir broke no laws.
Mahathir had the prerogative in appointing whoever he saw fit as judges, but you cannot discount the possibility that he knew what that senior lawyer was doing, and allowing himself to be influenced by that senior lawyer. This in turn creates a culture where the newly appointed judge knows he is sitting there due to political influences, and thus would tend to rule for the government in court cases. That would be a miscarriage of justice wouldn’t it?
Therefore, who the Tun listened to cannot be considered immaterial.
Also, I need to clearly state my stand that this blogger does not care to “discredit the previous regime in order to whitewash the activities of the present.” I am of the opinion that the wrongdoings of the Badawi administration was a continuation of the wrongdoings of the Mahathir administration, after being emboldened by the lack of action taken against the Mahathir adminstration.
You are right in saying however that there has to be a more transparent method to the appointment of judges. Therefore, it will be interesting to how Badawi’s new judiciary commission will work.
As for points 1-5, this is what many Malaysians want and voted for during the last elections. You will have many people agreeing to your points above.
May 23, 2008 at 2:29 pm
The Old Man says
About events happened long ago
When the needs required
He could recall
On Musa Hitam and Shahrir Samad
These two gentlemen should recognize the assistance
It explains why the rot in the government
Of people who never remember asking for help
The Old Man
He too has his faults
In his heyday he wanted his way
He won’t stand feedback
He only directs others do the jobs for him
He decides what the country needed
He didn’t ask for open tenders for bids
He just pushed to those in his mind
They could do the jobs for him
The UMNO leaders
All learned the same tricks
Arrogant, egoistic, for me not for you, magic
Now when the Old Man is out of the game
He doesn’t like what he sees
The Darth Vader should have resigned
Losing Penang his own state
Yet he doesn’t want to
He tastes the power and the gravy train
So the Old Man pushes and rumbles
The Darth Vader refuses to go
In the end he brings dispute to the country
The FDI and economy slips away
Now we lost White Rock………..
What more does he need to say?
Now do we hear any news about Tun Diam?
I heard he shifted his wealth and family out of the country
Occasionally he returns to say hello and tie up loose ends
He knows what will happen to him…………..
When the new party takes over the country
It will be interesting to dig up the past
History will have a lot to write about
When the new government takes the reign
Let the grave diggers of the gravy train pay
For the country shouldn’t forgive them
May 24, 2008 at 9:16 pm