February 14, 2013
Accountability Q's for Dr M
by P Gunasegaram@http://www.malaysiakini.com
QUESTION TIME I became a publisher during a Business Times, afterwards a standalone newspaper, in 1978.Three years after in 1981 Dr Mahathir Mohamad became Prime Minister of Malaysia, a fourth, next Hussein Onn.
I have followed his career utterly closely since as well as frankly we am not impressed. 
He proposed off with guarantee as well as betrothed a lot though over none if any. In fact we would go so distant as to contend that he was definitely a misfortune Prime Minister this nation has ever had.
Through destruction of institutions such as an eccentric Judiciary, running roughshod over polite servants, bringing his code of power, clientele as well as bad economics in to preference creation as well as creation have make use of of of rough laws, he used an iron fist to order as well as in a routine brought some-more harm to this nation than any alternative chairman alive or dead.
Much of a problems of Malaysia can be traced behind to him as well as he has done it difficult for his successors to have major changes starting forward, many of that would involve unwinding processes as well as linkages he had put in place before.
Mahathir, after he stepped down, questioned decisions taken by his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. True to form, he never stopped inserted as well as evenly undermining Abdullah's reign by creation disparaging comments as well as organising dissent opposite him.
Now he has certified inflating voter rolls in Sabah during his reign by giving citizenship to bootleg migrants, justifying this by a i! ndepende nce agreement of 1957 that granted citizenship to displaced person Chinese as well as Indians who came here during British rule.
And he has controversially called for a Barisan Nasional to be since dual thirds infancy in Parliament so that they can revoke a citizenship of BERSIH personality Ambiga Sreenevasan, a clear implication being we can shift a constitution of a nation to take divided citizenship of any one during will, as well as as if those who were since citizenship in 1957 as well as their descendants.
Questions to contemplate on
In June 2006, three years after Mahathir stepped down, we wrote an essay for The Edge, a weekly commercial operation journal where we worked then, titled '22 questions for Mahathir'. This basically questioned Mahathir's caring by asking twenty-two groups of questions for each of twenty-two years he reason energy as budding minister.
Considering all that Mahathir has said recently, here's a list of those twenty-two questions to contemplate again though a original unedited ones that were slightly opposite as well as with minor revisions to take in to account recent developments.
You can decider for yourself what kind of Prime Minister he was as well as what kind of weight we should put upon what he says.
1. On clean government. You came to energy in 1981 as well as introduced a aphorism 'Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah' (Clean, Efficient as well as Trustworthy) a following year. What did we do to serve that?
Did we have a Anti-Corruption Agency some-more eccentric as well as effective? Did we safeguard that a Police did their job properly as well as revoke crime in their ranks?
Did we safeguard that Ministers as well as Chief Ministers did not have income 
beyond their authorised means? Did we have a Judicial complement some-more effective? Did we do things transparently? How many big guns were prosecuted for crime offences during your prolonged tenure? What happened to "Bersih Cekap dan Amanah"(right)?
Tempurung of a opposite order
2. Press Freedom. While your complicated critique of a supervision underneath Abdullah as well as your repetition as well as ravings right divided get plenty of coverage in a local media, during your time criticisms opposite we by dual former Prime Ministers Tunku Abdul Rahman as well as Hussein Onn were pale in a mainstream newspapers.
The other, Abdul Razak Hussein, current Prime Minister Najib Razak's father, had upheld divided then. Editors in UMNO-linked newspapers, too, were removed during your time for not toeing a line. What have we done to advance a means of obliged press freedom? Is it a judgment we believe in during all?
3. Proton. You went forward with a national automobile project in 1983 despite a series of experts disagreeing with you, generally with apply oneself to lack of economies of scale.
Why, generally when Proton's distinction over a final 28 years came out of vastly 
higher prices that a Malaysian public pays, ensuing in substantial hardship, generally to a poorer people who c! ould not means cars?
More lately, Proton has been taken over by one of your tighten associates Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary's DRB-Hicom. DRB-Hicom's lack of imagination as well as economies of scale in automobile prolongation promises one after another high prices for Proton cars that no disbelief we will await as Proton adviser.
4. Heavy industries. Why did we pull in to complicated industries such as steel as well as concrete in a eighties, ignoring studies that referred to building resource-based industries instead?
They caused major problems as well as billions of ringgit in losses. The steel industry continues to be protected largely since of moves that we authorised during your reign as budding minister.
Consequences of thoughtless movement
5. Population. Why did we inspire a population of 70 million for Malaysia as well as shift a name of a National Family Planning Board to a National Population Development Board?
How do we design bad people to take caring of five, 6 or some-more children? What kind of quality can they yield to their children? Is this not right divided reflected in rural poverty as well as widening income gaps in between a rich as well as a poor?
6. Immigration. Why did we concede hordes of people to immigrate, mainly from Indonesia, in an unregulated approach such that there have been as many or some-more bootleg immigrants than authorised ones, right divided accounting for a small dual million or some-more people?
Did we not realise that this will means critical social problems as well as subdue a price of Malaysian labour? Why did we give citizenship to thousands of them to tilt a change of choosing by casting votes in Sabah? Where were your moral standards?
7. On his initial Deputy. Some 5 years after we came to power, there were critical rifts in between we as well as your Deputy (Tun) Musa Hitam. What was a means of these problems as well as is it since we were heavy-handed as well as did not deliberate your ministers?
8. On a initial critical UMNO split. When Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as well as Musa took upon we as well as Ghafar Baba during a UMNO General Assembly of 1987, it caused a critical separate in UMNO with we winning by a really slight margin (761 to 718).
Why did we not find to heal a rift in UMNO post a elections? Instead we purged UMNO as well as a successor UMNO Baru of those who opposite we causing an unprecedented separate in Malay unity.
In 1987 were we not a personality with a least amount of await that UMNO had ever had? Were we not directly or indirectly obliged for a many critical separate in Malay unity?
9. Operation Lalang. Why did we have to review to this pierce in Oct 1987, when we used far-reaching powers of detention underneath a Internal Security Act to detain over 100 people, tighten down four newspapers as well as means a wave of fright throughout a country?
Was it to consolidate your tenuous reason upon energy afterwards by using an rough law? You could have used your in front of as Barisan Nasional personality to defuse a secular tensions during a time over a appointment of non-Chinese educated headmasters to Chinese schools.
Ghost entity ruling a roost
10. UMNO Baru. You have been of course wakeful that UMNO's scold name right divided is UMNO Baru since a old UMNO was declared bootleg by a court! s in 198 8.
Why did we not take steps to legalize UMNO? Is it since a arrangement of a brand new UMNO Baru done it simpler to keep out members who opposite you?
And why did we rectify rules to have it intensely difficult to plea a incumbent President as well as Deputy President?
Was it to forestall any some-more challenges to you? Didn't UMNO Baru turn reduction democratic as a result? Did we put in place measures to prolong your rule?
11. Judiciary. What was your ground in taking movement in 1988 to mislay a Chief Justice as well as multiform Supreme Court judges from their positions underneath allegations of judicial misconduct, a pierce that was heavily criticised by a Bar Council as well as alternative bodies?
The Esteemed Judges of a Bygone Era
Is it since we indispensable some-more compliant judges whose rulings will not bluster your in front of of energy in a series of cases in court? Was this a initial step in dismantling a judiciary's purpose as a check as well as change opposite a legislature as well as a executive?
What have we to contend to steady assertions by many, including prominent ex-Chief Justices, who contend that this led to a erosion of judicial independence as well as viewed abuse of power?
Why did we not take any movement opposite a Chief Justice who had taken a holiday abroad with a small lawyers?
Responsible for preparation decline?
12. Education. You presided over a preparation complement during an critical part of a transformation initial as Education Minister in a seventies, afterwards as Prime Minister.
Would it be scold to surmise thus that we were obliged for a decrease during those years? Why did we not outlay som! e-more i ncome as well as resources to safeguard that our preparation complement was glorious as well as one after another to urge though instead spent billions upon alternative showpiece projects?
13. Former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin. Why did we give this one male so many power, permitting him to confirm upon a award of virtually all supervision projects as well as tenders, as well as alternative projects?
14. Cronyism as well as Patronage. Did we not inspire cronyism as well as clientele by dishing out major projects to a couple of inside of a middle circle, as well as generally continuous to Daim?
People such as Halim Saad (the Renong organisation toll roads, telecommunications etc), Tajuddin Ramli (mobile telephone TRI organisation as well as Malaysia Airlines), Amin Shah Omar (the failed PSC Industries multi-billion ringgit naval dockyard contracts), Ting Pek Khiing (Ekran a Bakun Dam) to discuss just a few? Why did we not have make use of of open tenders as well as auctions?
15. Privatisation. Why did we concede privatisation to take place in such a demeanour that a many essential parts of supervision operation were since divided to cronies?
Toll roads had guaranteed toll increases as well as compensation in a event traffic projections were not met. Independent energy producers had contracts that guaranteed them increase during a responsibility Tenaga Nasional.
No pals in Politics holds true
16. Ghafar Baba. Although Ghafar had a top series of votes between vice-presidents when Hussein Onn became Prime Minister in 1976, you, who got a lowest series of votes, wer! e chosen as Hussein's Deputy.
Yet when we called upon Ghafar to be your deputy in 1987, he obliged, helping we to win a UMNO presidency.
But we did small to behind him up when he was challenged for a deputy presidency in 1993 by Anwar Ibrahim. Can we contend that we stabbed him in a back?
17. Anwar Ibrahim. Did we pierce opposite him since he was a hazard to 
your in front of in 1998? Did we have make use of of a entire supervision machinery during your ordering to get him sentenced underneath trumped up charges of sodomy? Do we consider he got a fair trial? Don't we consider a nation suffered terribly since of this energy onslaught involving a dual of you?
18. Bank Negara losses. How could we tacitly inspire a central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia to engage in speculative trades, using as an forgive a need to strengthen unfamiliar sell reserves?
Bank Negara lost a small RM32 billion in 1993, according to a small accounts, as a result of taking positions in a unfamiliar sell market. In current prices, using an normal inflation rate of 3.2% a year, that amounts to nearly RM60 billion!
19. KL International Airport. Was it really necessary to outlay RM10 billion upon a showpiece airfield during Sepang when a Subang airfield could have been so easily extended?
The airfield was handling approach below capacity for years as well as it probably is today, fourteen years later, judging by a void during a small times during a day. The RM130 million low-cost terminal carries some-more passengers that a main terminal!
20. Putrajaya. What is a justification for spending RM20 billion upon a grandiose supervision city durin! g a time when bureau space was available in Kuala Lumpur? Could not a income be put to better have make use of of such as improving tutorial resources?
21. Government-linked companies (GLCs). Why did we not have efforts to urge a opening of GLCs?
Why did we concede supports such as a Employees Provident Fund as well as Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen to take up indeterminate investments to basically assistance cronies out of their problems?
These have led to billions of ringgit in waste to these funds. Thankfully, there has been improvements in these areas after we left.
22. Don't we consider we owe it to a nation as well as a people to 
offer explanations over your 22-year reign that is replete with examples of incompetence, crime as well as cronyism, mismanagement as well as misallocation in a billions of ringgit as well as that has set a nation behind years?
Don't we think, some-more than any one else, we merit to be branded as a hypocrite to this nation for grossly abusing your in front of as Prime Minister?
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