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SHARING

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This article appeared in the New Straits Times of April 30, 2013 

1. Malaysia has enjoyed more than half a century of peace and stability and high growths under BN coalition Governments. The seizure of power by the Malay majority upon independence as predicted by foreign observers and some locals did not happen.2. Instead under the Tunku they promoted a sharing of power and wealth between the three major races through a coalition, the Alliance. The Alliance won 51 out of 52 of the 98 Federal Legislative Council seats contested in 1955. The Tunku as Chief Minister agreed with Sir Cheng Lock Tan’s request and gave one million citizenship to unqualified Chinese and Indians, diluting the Malay majority from 80% to 60%.

3. In 1963 Singapore joined the new state of Malaysia. The PAP did not believe in sharing power. It promoted meritocracy, rule by the elites, by suggesting that Malaysia was not ruled by the cleverest and the most qualified but by Malays. This was intended to stop Chinese support for the MCA and antagonise them against the Malays and UMNO.

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LIBEL

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This article appeared in the New Straits Times of April 28, 2013


1. The DAP’s Kit Siang has learnt a lot from Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR leader. When unable to counter a critic, silence him by threatening to take libel action in court if the statement is not withdrawn. A long drawn hearing in the court with many postponements, will relieve Kit Siang from having to answer his critic.

2. Now he wants to sue me for calling him a racist. I have been called a racist and an ultra hundreds of times. I never sued anyone. I am a politician and ours is a democratic nation. I believe in free speech. If my political opponents call me names, I can reply or I can do something to prove them wrong.

3. I was called a Malay ultra when I became the Deputy Prime Minister. Yet in the 1999 Elections the Malays did not support me. It was Chinese votes which gave me a two-thirds majority. Incidentally Kit Siang and Karpal Singh, the loudest in calling me a Malay racist, lost in that election.

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THE POLITICS OF RACE

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This article appeared in the New Straits Times of April 25, 2013

1. In Malaysia there is not a single political party which can claim to be truly multiracial. All of them are strongly dominated by one race or another.

2. The only party which is nearest to being multi-racial is the National Front. Although it is a coalition of parties but it functions as a single party with every race in Malaysia represented equally in its central council irrespective of the size of the component. In addition the component parties all use the same symbol during elections.

3. Its policies are accepted by all the component parties, unlike the Pakatan where each party has its own objectives and policies. The BN has a distinct leader acknowledged by every party and the Governments it forms have Ministers and Deputy Ministers from all the component parties.

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LAHAD DATU

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1. I visited Lahad Datu on March 17, to see the members of our security forces and get a short briefing as to what was happening.

2. I was surprised to learn that the Felda palm oil plantation there is as big as the state of Melaka. There is a good-sized port at Lahad Datu equipped with modern cranes. I had expected to see forests there but the whole area has been opened up and Felda settlers live in large houses built by them. They are obviously well-off.

3. The security boys are in good spirit and seem prepared to do their duty despite the real danger of their being killed or wounded by the Kiram terrorists.

4. The situation there is very complex. The Felda settlers are Malaysian citizens of many tribal origins including Suluk. But there are also non-citizen Suluk living in the villages in the area.

5. The non-citizens seem to have been allowed to cultivate oil palms. However, at least one of them was very aggressive and insisted that he owned the part of the Felda estate next to his. Apparently, he collected the fruits and sold them for high profits as the palm oil prices were very high. Nobody dared to take any action against him.

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SUBANG

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1. I was sad when Subang International airport was replaced by the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. I landed at Subang in a Government jet and saw the place deserted and quiet. No aircrafts were parked, taxiing, taking off or landing. Subang was a busy place from 1964 to 1998. But after the opening of KLIA at Sepang, Subang seemed to have been abandoned.

2. That was 1998. I despaired that it would ever be busy again; that it would regain its place as a major airport.

3. Well, it hasn’t. But Subang did not close down completely. Today Subang is once again busy. Today Subang is actually expanding.

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GUERRILLA WAR

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1. When in 1990 I first met Nelson Mandela upon his release, the first thing he asked was how Malaysia defeated the guerrillas. He said when he was being trained in Yugoslavia and Libya he was told that guerrillas could not be defeated. So how did Malaysia defeat the guerrillas?

2. I explained that two things helped in the defeat of the Malaysian guerrillas.

3. Firstly was the decision to move out all the people living at the fringe of the thick Malaysian jungle and located them in protected new villages. Secondly was the campaign to win the hearts and minds of the people.

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A CITIZEN’S RIGHT

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1. It would seem that some people are unhappy over my continued involvement in politics. As a retiree I should just retire.

2. I did in fact plan to retire in 1998. But events at that time forced me to defer. When the conditions in Malaysia had been stabilised after the currency crisis, I announced my retirement in 2002. But I gave the assurance that I would continue to support the party at all times as my elevation to the highest office in the country was due to the support of the party. To me it is payback time.

3. Unfortunately, under the policy and practices of the Government which followed, the healthy growth of the country was hampered. The effect is still felt today. More seriously the attempts to reduce the economic disparities between the races have been neglected. Although the election of 2004 resulted in overwhelming victory of the governing BN party, there were clear signs that the popularity of the Party was deteriorating after the 2004 elections.

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HUMPTY DUMPTY

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1. I don’t know whether our schools today acquaint the children with Humpty-Dumpty but I am sure older Malaysians are familiar with the character, and know the following ditty

“Humpty-Dumpty sat on the wall

Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall”

2. For those who are not acquainted with this ditty I would like to explain that Humpty-Dumpty is an egg, a great big imaginary egg and it sat on a wall.

3. Then this great egg had a fall.

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XENOPHON

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1. Among the comments in my blog is a reference to Malaysia’s ban against the visit of the Australian Senator Xenophon.

2. I agree with this comment that despite my nasty comments on the US and Britain, I was never banned from visiting those countries. However, I would like to relate an incident in which a friend of mine, now deceased, who was handcuffed and taken away in a truck full of common criminals and even his request to have his diabetic injection was rejected. The reason for this treatment was because the immigration officers at the airport in New York did not like his answers to their questions. He was subsequently released.

3. It is well-known that hundreds of people have been arrested and detained without trial in the US and a few were subsequently released without explanation. At the detention place there are reports of torture and humiliation of the detainees.

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