Dear all,

A comment I just posted at Tun’s blog:

Dear Tun Dr Mahathir,

I can’t help myself but agreed with Twinpeaks, “Tun, I had a brief look at the performance of Malaysian Members of Parliament from both government and opposition. It is clear the extremely low quality of the debates (or rather a lack of) these past few days, possibly because of the low quality of Members of Parliament, including the current leader of the opposition, gives very slim hope of this country becoming a developed country, even to the same level as little Singapore, let alone to the level of Japan and the West.

It is quite sad, that political development does not keep up with the economic maturity of the country. This goes for all politicians from the various races in this country. A great pity for the its helpless public.

This is also reflected in the overall low quality of participants in Tun’s blog. Most of the participants in this blog have no idea where they are, some seem lost at all times, others are simply chatting to waste time. A few are obviously polishing Tun’s shoes, a reminder of Tun’s old days”

So please allow me to repost in Tun’s blog:

https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/TRS10_20.pdf

Political analysis by Wan Saiful on: WHY DID BERSATU LEAVE PAKATAN HARAPAN?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• The Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition won Malaysia’s 14th general election on 9 May 2018, the first time a regime change took place in the country. However, it lost its majority in late February 2020, when Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU) left the coalition.

• The four parties in PH had very different ideologies, especially when it comes to issues of race and religion. But despite taking various steps to create a coalition agreement, the more fundamental differences were never reconciled during the coalition’s time in power.

• PH won GE-14 with a relatively low level of support from the ethnic Malays, who perceived it to be a coalition dominated by the mainly Chinese DAP. Fearmongering about how PH and the DAP were a threat to Malay privileges further weakened PH while in government.

• Furthermore, BERSATU disliked the possibility that Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN) president Anwar Ibrahim might succeed Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister. They did not trust Anwar to champion the Malay agenda if he became prime minister.

• BERSATU decided as early as in 2019 to explore leaving PH to form a new Malay-led government, and saw the departure as a necessary step for a better chance at winning GE15.

• This was a controversial decision and it created a major rift within BERSATU itself, with party chairman and then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad refusing to accept the party’s decision to leave PH.

• Following Mahathir’s sudden resignation on 24 February 2020, BERSATU immediately announced their departure from PH. This led to a series of events that culminated in the collapse of PH and the formation a Perikatan Nasional government led by the three biggest Malay parties, UMNO, BERSATU and PAS.

• The whole episode shows that any coalition or political parties that wish to govern Malaysia must not ignore sentiments among the Malays, especially those in rural areas.

The above were the interpretation of events/reality perceived by the author and of cause Tun and everyone else are entitled to their own reality/perception. But did anyone brave enough to do a post-mortem, retrospection and reflection on individual accountability and responsibility on why we failed as a Nation?

So may I ask Twinpeaks whose faults that Malaysians have slim hope of  our beloved country becoming a developed country, even to the same level as little Singapore, let alone to the level of Japan and the West? Should we blame the politicians or each and every one of us?

It is sad that Bersatu and Tun Dr Mahathir forgo the new hope and mandate given by the GE14 voters to transform the country which will benefit the whole nation. Instead, Tun was too preoccupied and eager to prove Tun and Bersatu is more Malay than UMNO Malay and more Islam than PAS Islam and finally was outsmarted and outfoxed by UMNO-PAS Mufakat Nasional into believing they will support Tun with signed statutory declaration that they will nominate Tun to become PM of a unity Malay Muslim lead government.

Quote, “Hamzah Zainuddin worked to get UMNO members to support me, as I was to be the Prime Minister in this new coalition. He got even Najib to sign” unquote.

Sadly too DAP, once in government, their leaders become arrogant, big headed and preoccupied with fulfilling PH’s Manifesto, reform agenda, cost cutting and big ticket saving of Tabung Haji to prove that DAP is pro Islam but neglect in their duty and responsibility in helping the urban and rural Poor (majority Malay) to overcome ever increasing cost of living.

DAP need to do a self-examination and retrospection, if they claim DAP is a multi-racial party for all Malaysians then they need to field more progressive Malay candidates in GE. And please focus on the right policy of inclusiveness, education reform, poverty eradication, economy growth and address the fear of our rural/suburban Malays and East Malaysian friends more.

To my Malay Muslim Brothers and Sisters, “You have nothing to fear except fear itself” I do not blame you for perceiving the Non-Malay/DAP as threat since you have been told to hate us and view us as a threat to Malay privileges from a very young age. So please allow me to repost a comment from Malaysiakini:

{Vijay47: A Malay-led government? What have we been saddled with ever since independence? The presence of MCA and MIC and lately even of DAP did not deter from the fact that Malaysia has been ruled by overwhelmingly Malay forces.

Yet if after 63 years, the Malays still believe a government made up almost exclusively of their fellows was vital for their progress, then it is more than about time they awake from their slumber and realise that Malay-dominance in the government is the worst formula for Malay well-being.

This sorry state was not caused by non-Malay unwillingness to cooperate, rather it was achieved by Malay leadership itself which discovered soon enough that the lavishing of trinkets was sufficient to ensure perpetual support and undeserving gratitude.

In their fervour to continue with their self-humiliating demands, the Malays never paused to consider that the non-Malays, without any special treatment, managed to reach reasonable and even admirable levels of success on their own steam.

In the recent flood of emplacement as government-linked company (GLC) heads, not a single appointment was justified on grounds of merit, all that mattered was Malay-party subservience.

So Mahathir, true to self, wants to further entrench Malay dilemma and against any norm of fairness and wisdom, insists that only Malays can govern this country. To what end? Has he not brought about enough havoc in his 22 years and 22 months in power?

Perhaps a Malay of some intelligence should ask why Malay government leaders are rich, and their children richer}

To my fellow Malaysians, GE14 had proven that we can come together to save Malaysia from spiral downhill into a kleptocracy failed state but alas PH were poorly prepared to take over the running of the country . PH fail to deliver the GE14 people mandate of new and progressive Malaysia we so desired. Every PH’s politicians and every one of us need to learnt from our failure and be prepared. We really need to do better the second time around! And that opportunity might come sooner than we imagine.

Thank you

Yours truly,

SS LEE