Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says that as a private citizen, he has the right to criticise the government. Malaysians too have a right to free speech, says a reader.


Sangkancil: To retire and age gracefully is always a challenge. Humans find it tough to let go and tends to hold on to their ideals way into their vintage years.

However, changes must continue and new ideas experienced for better, or for worst. The retired seniors should come out with their opinions as speaking is free in the world - except when you have to use the telephone - or the remarks are derogatory and one exposes oneself to litigation. One should, however, listen to oneself before speaking out.

I guess change has and will always remain to be a tough matter to comprehend and fit into, but one has to remember that as we head towards a more globalised world, young or old, change will continue to confront us. However, it is good if all Malaysians and not Mahathir alone can have their tableaux to express their qualified and professional opinions about how the nation is being run and let the leaders not always hide behind terms such as "patriotism", "racial sentiment" or "religious sensitivity" to prevent open discussion about confronting issues and challenges of the moment for the nation.

Such issues as to the real reasons behind our sponsored students, many of which includes bumiputera students who have stayed back in their host education nations, or the slow action to collect outstanding loans from defaulters owed to the scholarship fund, or the monopolies or oligopolies created for some services (e.g. taxi services at KLIA to the detriment of the passengers or monopole advertising within the jurisdiction areas of MPPJ) and some trades (e.g. supply of street lighting by three companies only) or the failure of our education system when in the pre-1970s Malaysia was a bastion for foreign students particularly from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Opinions are important to bring about change as well, and today, while signs can be seen for more openness, I guess that the door to openness and the maturity to accept opinions amongst our multi-racial environment must continue to expand or we will live in a time boom of capped-up steam in a multiracial cooking cauldron.


Sungai Buloh: Why can't the present government just answer his questions?

  1. Did we (Malaysia) offer Singapore sand and air space to build a straight bridge?

  2. Why sell Agusta for RM4 when we bought it for RM300 million?

  3. Who is responsible for the abuse of APs?


KSN: In his 22 years as PM, Tun Mahathir has made lots and lots of statements not intelligent to ordinary minds but his current statement takes the cake! Is he implying that he made a pact with Abdullah that certain projects and policies, regardless of their benefit to the nation and the people will be continued after his retirement? If that is what he is now saying, I cannot understand what part of his anatomy he reasons and thinks with!

Neither Mahathir nor Abdullah has any right to make such a pact. Assuming it was entered into, probably verbally, it is even more ridiculous for Tun to assume and believe that they will be carried out by the government that took over from him. Does he think that the country and its resources are his family inheritance? If that is the way he understand things he should have left a "will" for Abdullah! Are they not the decisions the sitting government should take?

Now that the cat is out of the bag, the public has the right to know the details of the pact as Tun is accusing Abdullah of betrayal and ungratefulness. We have now a fair idea how the country was being run for the last 22 years and its resources utilised. The country and the ordinary people are beginning to pay the price for those abuses and extravagance!

Let me add quickly, lest I am misunderstood, that my comments above are not meant to defend Abdullah's government. It is the public perception that the same approaches continue, albeit in more subtle form, with new actors and players! The PM's recent statement about his "jihad" under the 9MP should be an eye opener to all non-Malays.

In short, only God can save this country from inept, incompetent, corrupt politicians without integrity without the well-being of the poor people and the future of the nation in at heart.


Totally Disgruntled Citizen: I also would like to ask the former prime minister the following questions:

  1. Why was the North-South highway awarded to an Umno-controlled company as revealed by Samy Vellu? Is this not a blatant breach of fiduciary duty to the people, giving a contract to Umno for which he was then the president.

  2. If Proton is doing so well, how come it cannot compete in the international arena without subsidies from the head office?

  3. If there is agreement over the bridge, how come it is crooked?

  4. If Perwaja is so good, how come it is not making money?

  5. Who tried to corner the tin market in the early 80s and lost lots of money?

  6. Why did Petronas have to buy the 49% of the Twin Towers just before his retirement for millions and millions of dollars?

  7. Why was the social welfare lottery ticket licence cancelled and the licence give to a company controlled by one of his best friend?

  8. Why is Astro given a monopoly over satellite broadcast when other countries can receive broadcasts from other satellites?

  9. Why, on a search of the AK's group of companies, its ultimate holding companies are always in some tax haven countries which have bearer shares? Can the former PM swear by the Koran that he and his family have no shares in the AK group of companies?

  10. Why was Malaysians taken for such a big ride in the IPP contracts?

A litany of many more questions will follow. But let's have some answers to the above questions first.


Mr Anonymous: I think Dr Mahithir should have kept quiet and retain his reputation. In attacking the new government, he suffered the loss of respect from the public and his own previous ministers. Some say he is too old. Some say he has become childish, obsessive, paranoid and crazy.

Well, it is natural for one at old age to be reversed in nature. I remember the idiom 'Swan sings'. An Orlando Gibbons madrigal states the legend thus:

The silver Swan, who living had no Note,
when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast upon the reedy shore,
thus sang her first and last, and sang no more:
"Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes!
"More Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise."

Chaucer wrote of 'The Ialous swan, ayens his deth that singeth". In Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice', Portia declaims:

Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music.


Thai Eng: I almost fell off my stool when I came across this headline, Musa's diagnosis: Mahathir suffering from PMS! PMS usually stands for "pre-menstrual syndrome" and I suddenly thought that the new Tun M has turned doctor and diagnosed the other Tun M as so.

Other diagnoses of what ails Tun M have been offered. Only last night at the kopitiam, there was this self-professed psychiatrist who diagnosed Tun Mahathir as obviously having SGC - Severe Guilt Complex. This self-appointed professor was explaining to all who bother to listen to him that Tun M showed symptoms of SGC for many years, especially in the last few years of his prolonged reign.

The professor made mention of those well-documented episodes where Tun M would cry in public for no reasons, or for reasons he had self-created like being unable to 'de-crutch' certain groups of Malaysians. This early symptom of public crying is said by this professor to be consistent with early realisation of the wrong he had hoisted on the nation he reigned over.

In recent years, self-imposed retirement and the abundance of free time to reflect on his 22-year reign had made him realise more of the harm he had done to the people and nation. Initially, he tried to deny all these wrongs and fantasise that things were not really what they were. Tun M then came out to say that during his reign there was much more media freedom, less corruption and a better judiciary. But of late, true realisation of all that he had done has finally crept in and this has resulted in his latest outburst.

The professor said that this latest outburst against his successor is actually a desperate plea for help to seek atonement and redemption for all the wrong done as well as to reconcile with the people he had lorded over. Like most dictators, the said professor reasoned that it would be so unbecoming and impossible for the Tun, himself, to reveal all the skeletons in his cupboard or to confess to all the wrongs done.

The latest outburst is an attempt to prod his successor to reveal all instead. The professor claimed that all these are consistent with SGC sufferers. He also predicted that the Tun will continue to speak out and prod his successor and others till his guilt is finally laid to rest with the revelations of all the skeletons in his cupboard and all the wrongs he has done. The professor concluded his discourse by saying: "Will Pak Lah do just that or does his cupboard also contain skeletons too?"


Sadirah K: I recall a time when a journalist asked Dr Mahathir about his successor and he glibly replied that he was not ready. Dr Mahathir has tasted power for too long and now suffers the lack of it. He has again exhibited his sense of arrogance.

Dr Mahathir has contributed to the nation but it has also to be stated that had he placed his priorities on the population as a whole, much more could have been achieved. What has Putrajaya done but to isolate the civil servant from the public at large. Many of his grandiose plans may have dealt with his inferiority complex when compared with developed countries but the opportunity costs lost in terms of such expenditure being vested in making living conditions better for Malaysians cannot be underestimated.

He needs to be treated in the same way he treated Tunku and Hussein Onn when he secured power. Feel it Mahathir, for the shoe now pinches you.


The following are comments from readers on other reports. These are on Temple demolished, 5 arrested, 1 injured

A Muslim & A Concerned Citizen: I would like to preface my comments by stating that I firmly believe that the Malaysian constitution commits all Malaysians to defend and honour freedom of religion and worship. Hence, it is most disconcerting that the issue of the demolition of Hindu temples has been so badly handled by the relevant agencies.

If some of these temples built by Hindu labourers during the British colonial period have to make way for new highways and buildings, let's do it with a lot more sensitivity and common sense. A dialogue between worshippers, landowners, others involved in the project and the authorities is essential to avoid the ugly scenes we are witnessing.

All parties should show goodwill and a willingness to resolve issues amicably. Politicians and religious zealots of all colours, and all others intent on exploiting the situation for their own ends, should stay away.


Is God Happy: I refer to the news report on the demolishment of a Hindu temple. We pride Malaysia as a ''religious'' country but yet go around demolishing religious place of worship. As I am not a Hindu, I do not in any way believe or subscribe to the Hindu faith, yet I would not go round demolishing a temple under the guise of development or other reasons.

I do not know enough about Hinduism but I would not be wrong to say that the values and ethics which Hinduism teaches are about being good to all. My question is: What would God think of this episode?

I do not know the answer because I am not God. But I challenge those who are behind the recent demolitions to examine the whole issue and ask whether they are pleasing their own egos or pleasing God? I am very sad, very, very sad indeed, and can only pray that there will be peace in my country and life (whatever colour or faiths) is not lost. Surely this is what God wants.


K Narayansamy: Surely there are other more civilised ways to handle such cases. Why can't such cases be referred to the courts for a decision before action is taken? At least, when the matter is referred to the courts, both sides have a chance to put forth all their facts for the judge to make a decision without haste.

Civil servants acting unilaterally in a sensitive matter and should never be condoned by a government that claims to have the interests of all Malaysians at heart. Just because the Hindus are in a minority with little political and economic clout, all these seem to be done in this manner. But justice and fairness never see the minority as a disadvantage.

The government must put out in the open the list of temples that do not have valid documentation and officially give the management of such temples a reasonable notice - and the list must be published by the local media - so that all will know the actual situation. If the management does not take appropriate action and refuse to act within the timeframe, it must be hauled up to court for a final decision.

If the government wants to face the problem of places of worship built without permission, it must have a clear strategy of action, given the sensitivity of the issue rather than be seen trampling on the interests of the minority.


On Nazri ticked off for backing Article 11

Deeply Concerned Malaysian: What do PAS really want? On one hand, they want to woo non-Malays into their fold and hardly a day had gone, they now brand the non-Malays as "enemies of Islam" and went to paint a doomsday scenario for the non-Malays all over again. I just don't know what it would take to enter the thick skulls of these people that no one, and I mean no one, is "seeking to challenge and undermine Islam in the country".

Please pause for a moment, and think. The non-Malays were not in a bind before Mahathir's so-called declaration that our country was an Islamic state. After the announcement was made, we had over zealous religious officers hassling everyone including the non-Malays. Don't you think that send shivers down our spine and yet we were told Islamisation would not affect the non-Malays.

In my view, this is not possible. A country cannot have two systems. We are not China and Hong Kong. It is either we are secular (as stated in the Federal Constitution) or Islamic. Sooner or later, this Islamisation move is going to encompass everyone, whether we like it or not. Everyone knows that, and it is therefore the Article 11 coalition was formed to ensure that the non-Malays rights would not be affected.

After all, who are the people in Article 11 that are so powerful that can override the government and implement policies that would affect our Malay Muslim brothers? These are simple NGO members trying to right a wrong by reviewing the the Federal Constitution with the public so that we clearly understand where we are today as a citizen of this country. If the Federal Constitution is not our protector, than who or what is, may I ask?