COMMENT I have said it before and I’ll say it again - radical islam and racial politics will destroy this country if not checked. Najib and company will not hesitate to use these elements to continue to be in power. There are two individuals still alive who can save this country. They are: Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim.

Unfortunately, they had a big fight 16 years ago and both used whatever weapons available to them to finish the other off. In the process, they destroyed the political, legal and social fabric of this country as well as its institution and values.

Never mind what Prof James Chin said about Dr Mahathir being a Malay supremacist; Dr Mahathir is a good man nonetheless. I, too, at one time believed that the 'ketuanan Melayu' idea was his - meaning that he was a Malay racist - but then I read the speech again and it was actually written by Abdullah Ahmad, a close Mahathir confidant.

What Dollah Ahmad was actually saying was that Malaya was a Malay country, and that Malaysia is still predominantly Malay, so it is inevitable and necessary that Malays should form the bulk of administrative, political and economic life in the country - one says the same thing about Singapore except that instead of 'Malay', we say 'Chinese'.

Dr Mahathir has always been concerned with the disparity between Malays and Chinese in the areas of economic wealth and educational capabilities. Occasionally, when highlighting these issues to push Malays forward, he was seen by many as anti-Chinese.

He was always blunt and straightforward because he never employed speechwriters from Apco or from London. He was (and is) in fact a strong leader who just wanted the Malays to succeed, but he was never discriminatory, nor did he hate non-Malays.

If Dr Mahathir wanted a Malay hegemony, he would have teamed up with PAS long ago. He would have agreed to hudud long ago. But that’s not what he wanted.

He had a Vision 2020 where Malaysia was liberal and progressive. He wanted science and technology to change the country and the Malay mindset, so they could be dominant, but he failed. He thought he could change the Malay attitude in his lifetime, so Malays would not be sidelined, but again he was wrong. But there has never been any doubt that he wanted Malaysia to industrialise; to move forward and its multicultural and pluralistic lifestyle to continue.

His idea of rule of law was outdated, but so was Lee Kuan Yew’s, who did so much to develop Singapore. Only Dr Mahathir would admit freely that Chinese Malaysians paid more taxes than Malays, so Malays should have learnt to be grateful that the Chinese are here.

Anwar, too, has been misunderstood, and I too at one time did not trust his march for Islamisation. I thought he was part of the Muslim Brotherhood but now I believe he has shown enough commitment to democracy and good governance, so much so that even the DAP and others have begun to accept him.

National summit to redraw agenda

Anwar has suffered enough and he should be immediately released from prison. He should take charge of the opposition. The old school Nationalist Malays (like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Muhyiddin Yassin) should rally behind Dr Mahathir, and both Dr Mahathir and Anwar should sit down with other ethnic leaders and those from Sabah and Sarawak, for a national summit where a proper agenda can be redrawn for the country.

We need good Malay leaders (this means Malay leaders who are not corrupt but believe in integrity and honesty) who will take care of all Malaysians. There are many from Amanah. Husam Musa is prime minister material, yet he is languishing in PAS because there is no unity amongst the good leaders. What a shame!

Similarly, we need good non-Malay leaders. Leaders like Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin Abdullah, who should stop wasting their time in the sidelines with their NGOs and instead step into the political arena proper.

We need to change the path the country is heading.

We should not look back to the mistakes of the past to prove a particular point of view. Look forward. We must bring along with us leaders who are willing to move forward, even if they once went astray or had bad ideas. The dangers of radicalisation and racial extremism are real and will destroy this country if left unchecked.

Both Dr Mahathir and Anwar, with the support of civil society, can overcome the forces of corruption, the kleptocrats and autocrats whose only interest is to milk the nation dry.

Either we go with those who have proven themselves as leaders who are willing to stand up for what’s good for the country at great cost and personal risk to themselves; or we side with those who are prepared to corrupt the system, radicalise the country, and even perpetuate racial discord to protect themselves.

Hard choices for everyone; but making the right one, we must.

ZAID IBRAHIM is former de facto law minister and former MP for Kota Baru.