Open reply to Dr M’s ‘Why I criticise the PM’

Norman Fernandez
Malaysiakini,Oct 31, 06

Dear Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, I have read your letter addressed to the ‘citizens of Malaysia’. It is not often a commoner writes a letter addressed to all Malaysians. But then you are different, I suppose. Since I am a recipient of your letter, permit me to reply.

For a start, your letter seem to be cast a picture of a man who believes that he has been victimised and finds that all his avenues to seek justice have been closed. Believe me, many Malaysians have experienced this. At least you have the Internet as an avenue, all thanks to the Instrument Of Guarantee signed by your administration guaranteeing no censorship of the Internet. Malaysians can read about your plight. Many Malaysians never had this opportunity.

I note that you have signed off the letter as a ‘Malaysian citizen and a commoner’. But judging from your regular tirades and ripostes against the present administration, it gives the impression that you either have difficulty accepting the fact that you are no more the prime minister or you continue to believe that you are omnipotent.

You have had the luck and privilege of being chosen as prime minister. For 22 years you lead Malaysia. You have been credited for engineering Malaysia’s rapid modernisation. Malaysia’s physical transformation is obvious. After all, you presided over a period of phenomenal growth and at the end of your tenure, Malaysia bristled with concrete symbols from a gleaming airport to an impressive skyline.

Internationally, for 22 years you made your voice heard and the world was your stage. Your acerbic comments made you a spokesman for the Third World and your tirades against the West meant that Muslim countries could not have found a better friend than you. Now, it is for the people and history to judge your legacy and the present political climate does allow the people to judge and freely express their opinions.

There are many policies of your administration which have benefitted Malaysia and Malaysians. Similarly there have been many policies and actions of yours which Malaysians found to be despicable and reprehensible and pray may never happen again.

Reading your letter, it would seem that your main grouse and as clearly stated in your letter is that ‘the questions and issues raised have not been answered’. Having acknowledged that you are a ‘commoner’, it is then well worth remembering that the government of the day owes no duty to respond to your demands for explanation.

At least this was what your 22 years in office has taught the common citizens. You claim that a climate of fear has enveloped this country and, allegedly, that Malaysia has become a police state. All because supposedly, in your opinion, no one is allowed and dares to criticise the prime minister. You claim that the mainstream media are not allowed to admonish the prime minister and public functions that may involve criticising the prime-minister are harassed, threatened by police and government leaders. But wasn’t this the hallmark of your 22 years of administration?

Surely you have not forgotten the reason why Musa Hitam left office. Remember the pliant media which became your hatchet men? Which during the tussle for the Umno presidency highlighted a certain headgear worn by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (never mind you had worn a similar headgear in the past)? Remember how easily you got offended and roused a national anger simply because then Australian prime minister Paul Keating criticised and called you ‘recalcitrant’?

You allege that under the present administration people are being detained and interrogated repeatedly. Lest you forget, Oct 27 was the 19th anniversary of the infamous Operation Lalang? And remember the Anwar Ibrahim ‘black eye’ incident which you diagnosed as self-inflicted? Yet you have the temerity to call Pak Lah’s administration a ‘police state’!

You demand the right to speak and the space and forum to criticise and more importantly demand that the present administration answers your questions. This is strange coming from a person who used all available apparatus to silence dissent. The willful silence by the majority of the population to comment, criticise or oppose you was because of the climate of fear you had created. The heavy price paid by the brave who stood up to you made many to keep quiet and apolitical.

Now that you have retired as prime minister, no one is asking you to just fade away. Having acknowledged that you are a commoner, live and experience life as a commoner. Only then you will realise what life for the commoner was for 22 years when questions were aplenty but answers were never forthcoming.