Mukhriz is like George W Bush that bring disaster to US and he will bring disaster to Malaysia!
Feudalism: The son also rises
Helen Ang Oct 30, 08 11:29am
The forthcoming Umno elections will see Najib Razak, son of Malaysia’s second prime minister a shoo-in for party president. Hishamuddin Hussein, son of the country’s third PM, will snag his vice-presidential seat. Mukhriz Mahathir and Khairy Jamaluddin, son and son-in-law respectively of the 4th and 5th PMs are facing off for Youth chief.
MCPX
'Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia', it is said. But judging from the proliferation of these scions of political dynasties, other Malays without the requisite patronage seem to have ‘menghilang’ (disappeared).
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has yet to obtain a single nomination to contest the president post. Malaysia would have been a far, far better place today if Ku Li had been Umno president (Dr Mahathir Mohamad fended off his challenge by a highly dubious 43-vote margin in 1987), and by default, our prime minister.
But more seriously, Ku Li possesses budi bahasa (or courtesy) which the Malay race values so highly, and a quality Mahathir patently lacks. His blog Che Det spews venom like a mighty geyser and encapsulates perfectly Dr M’s jeering voice and sneering tone.
Blogging on the Permatang Pauh by-election, Mahathir was incapable of graciousness and refused to credit Anwar Ibrahim his success. He was adamant that Anwar’s victory was simply an anti-Abdullah backlash. This particular posting attracted 1,211 reader comments — a strong chorus singing to the tune that Mahathir is infallibly correct, correct, correct.
If 'Melayu mudah lupa', not so Dr M, and this possibly because he is more Melayu than your quintessential Malay. He cannot forget his vendetta against Anwar whom he humiliated with the sodomy trial that outraged Malaysians.
“What provoked outrage were the seemingly untrammelled powers of the prime minister, the dubious role of the judiciary and the blatant bias of the press. Mr Anwar served six years in prison before the sodomy (but not corruption) verdict was overturned in court. Yet perhaps the biggest victim of the episode was Dr Mahathir’s legacy.” [The Economist, July 3, 2008]
Return of Mahathir era
Mahathir has left as his legacy the herd of white elephants — Putrajaya, F1 circuit and the (almost) crooked half-bridge. He also left Malaysia his children, both biological and the products of Mahathirism. One reader at The People’s Parliament, Steven Tan, alluded to Dr M as the gardener who planted the seeds of racial polarisation that have grown into trees and how Dr M keeps fertilizing and watering them daily.
I would extend Tan’s description of ‘poisoned fruit’ to the toxic Che Det. Dr M in his blog is as vile as he has always been in his public pronouncements.
He calls Anwar 'the wily master of spin'. On Aug 21, Dr M blogged: “It is time the so-called intellectuals realise they were being duped by the Master of Spin, the pious Muslim who is also the bosom pal of Paul Wolfowitz, the neo-con Jew, the killer of Muslims, the supporter of Hindraf and of the Chinese schools etc. etc.”
It’s perhaps somewhat true that the blunt Mahathir had not needed to do any spinning as the media, his daughter and their sycophants did the work for him. So alright, Mahathir did not spin but he steamrolled. Then about two years or so ago, the mainstream media put him in the freezer, ironically making the ex-premier a victim of the very press structure of ampu-bodek (brownnosing, but in this instance sucking up to Abdullah) he himself had entrenched previously.
His spell out in the cold propelled Dr M into cyberspace, and 'Why don't I do something' (Sept 3 Che Det posting) gives his motives for blogging. The prolific Che Det is really deserving of mention in the ubiquitous Malaysia Book of Records. In a matter of six months, the blog notched nine million hits, and averages 400-800 comments per posting.
A Che Det reader ‘jamilmalik’ commended Mahathir on Monday, cheering “Always read ur [your] blog. Keep it up. However, I hope ur son will be the next ketua pemuda umno and some time in future our PM.”
With the imminent exit of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Dr M has returned to the public eye with a vengeance and Mukhriz romped home on nominations, sidelining Khairy. Pundits are saying the Khairy-Mukhriz skirmish is but a proxy battle for their fathers. This sudden elevation of a politically untested Mukhriz is read as a reassertion of Mahathirism.
Like father, like children
Umno insiders and Dr M fans have dizzy logic which is hard for outsiders to comprehend.
In the Aug 21 posting titled ‘2008 general election’, Dr M claimed: “Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC were all still there although they were somewhat different, being led at the local and national level by grasping politicians concerned with holding posts which gave them opportunities to enrich themselves, getting JPs (Justice of Peace), Datuk-ship, Tan Sri-ship and other ships, kissing the PM's hand in order to win his favour.”
It is truly amazing what Dr M deigns to criticise of Abdullah but what’s most amazing is that all these years the mainstream media never called his bluff.
Instead recently Dr M ranted that “newspapers and mainstream TV will spin on the Permatang Pauh by-election to warm the cockles of Dato Seri Abdullah and other Umno leaders’ hearts”. That coming from him of all people is, needless to say, rich.
Surely feudalism is alive and kicking as evidenced by the daily obeisance paid to Dr M. Just click at random on any posting in his blog, and the comments template is “You, sir, are the most brilliant politician Malaysia has ever been blessed with".
An interesting cross-pollination occurs in his daughter’s blog, attracting a similar groupie base both for herself and dad. A comment by ‘Salim’ went: “If I know it [Dr M’s birthday] is today I would have taken leave to celebrate the man I admire. Oh god. Please let him know me and my whole family LOVE HIM SOOOOOO MUCH. Malaysia may not get the luck for another man like him for the next hundred years. Love Dr M” — carried in Marina Mahathir’s blog. Most likely post by his power crazy sons or daughter!
If you thought blogosphere was all pro-opposition, you’re dead wrong. BigDog (nickname of a popular bilingual blogger) for instance, reports on Mukhriz extensively. On March 3, during the election campaign, BigDog posted: “Today, some top bloggers drove down to Alor Setar to cover on BN’s P005 Jerlun candidate Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir. Leading is his own sister, Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir.” He leave behind a trail of shit just like himself!
Now who says Marina stays virtuously above the political fray?
On July 5, Mukhriz turned up at Bloghouse for a bloggers’ gathering. It was a star-studded Saturday night attended by MP bloggers, corporate figures and celebrities (Erra Fazira and her hubby who is Suria FM boss rolled in on a Harley). The hangers- on gravitated to fellow blogger Marina like bees to a honeypot. Blogosphere is not exempt from feudalistic homage either.
On July 8, commentator Thor wrote in The People’s Parliament: “The fact is, she [Marina] is where she is because she is her father’s daughter. Do you honestly think anyone — The Star, the MSM — would be interested in what she has to say and put her prominently in the limelight if she didn’t bear her father’s name?”
Thor added: “Let’s not kid ourselves. There is a certain kind of feudal mentality, certainly during her father’s time, that has benefitted her.”
What is frightening though is the clamour now for her father’s time to be restored.
Under the vacillating leadership of Abdullah, the centre did not hold and things fell apart. Brainwashed by decades of Mahathirism — dad’s sledgehammer approach and the Marina brand of apologia (as purveyed by her column publisher The Star) — Malaysians bought into the indoctrination.
Only feudalists would think their strongman’s return is the key to re-stabilising Malaysia in our current upheaval. It’s sad how the serfs have been so schooled in fear and to short-term thinking that they, of their own freewill, choose to bow to authoritarianism.
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