[Mahathir marahkan reformis kerana tidak demokrasi, orang melayu kerana tidak berterima kasih kepadanya, pembangkang kerana menemui pemimpin negara luar dan orang asing kerana mencampuri urusan dalaman negara.

Demokrasi apakah yang ada di Malaysia jika insan seperti Sobri boleh ditangkap di bawah ISA tanpa bukti dan bicara? Bagaimanakah pembangkang bisa menang dalam pilihanraya jika pengundi hantu berleluasa? Mahathirlah yang sepatutnya berterima kasih kepada rakyat Malaysia kerana masih bersabar walaupun sudah teruk dihina dan dituduh sedangkan apa yang melanda negara kini bukan kerana rakyat tetapi kerana kepincangan kepimpinan Umno yang ada.

Pembangkang sekadar menemui ketua negara luar secara terbuka untuk menjelaskan beberapa perkara sahaja. Tetapi Mahathir kerapkali menemui pemimpin Israel secara tertutup dan menyerahkan ekonomi kepada konsultan Yahudi. Malah berkempen pun diserahkan kepada syarikat Yahudi. - Editor]

http://theage.com.au/news/world/ 2001/06/22/FFX5HZ0F7OC.html

Mahathir lashes out at West

By MARK BAKER

ASIA EDITOR
KUALA LUMPUR

Friday 22 June 2001

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused Western governments of backing Malaysia's democracy reform movement as part of an "evil" strategy to undermine his leadership and turn the country into a puppet state.

Dr Mahathir warned that growing support among ethic Malays for the opposition parties' campaign for greater political freedoms and human rights risked plunging the country into the same violence and lawlessness unfolding in Indonesia.

"Far from benefiting from the democratic process, what is seen as a result of 'reformasi' (reform) is mob rule, a lawless rule by street mobs," he said in a firebrand speech to the annual congress of the ruling United Malays National Organisation.

He said the opposition parties, ignoring the economic achievements under his 20-year rule, were colluding with foreigners to undermine stability and prosperity.

"They like to flatter the whites and are happy if they are praised by these 'Mat Sallehs' (foreigners). Actually these idiots are nothing if not for what we have given them. Unfortunately they are not used to getting a bit of power. Even with a minor position, they get big-headed and will dance to their master's tune."

The speech comes a day after the government-controlled New Straits Times accused Australia of joining the United States in wanting to see Dr Mahathir replaced by a "pliable leader".

The paper denounced a meeting last week between Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Malaysian Opposition Leader Fadzil Mohamad Noor as a "neo-colonial" interference in Malaysia's internal affairs.

While Dr Mahathir did not name Australia or any other Western country in his speech, he claimed "foreigners and their media" did not have good intentions towards Malaysia.

"They do not wish to change a particular government for a fairer and more democratic one ... They only wish to see destruction which befell other countries to happen to our country.

"They wish us to become their client state. It is not that they love the opposition and wish to see them taking over the Malaysian government. They only use the opposition as a tool to achieve their evil intentions."

He claimed Western countries hated his government because it had fought globalisation and refused intervention by the IMF and the World Bank after the 1997 Asian economic crisis.

"They hate Malaysia, especially the current leadership and they hate it extremely. They especially hate it because Malaysia was able to defend the economic and financial attack they launched," he said.

"They loathe the Malaysian government for exposing their evil intent when they introduced their concept of globalisation and a borderless world ... It is only idiots who always idolise the whites who will not accept this."

Dr Mahathir acknowledged the decline in support for UMNO during and since the last general election in 1999 a decline traced to the sacking three years ago of his popular deputy Anwar Ibraham. Mr Anwar is now serving a 15-year prison sentence after being convicted on widely discredited charges of corruption and sexual misconduct.

Dr Mahathir conceded for the first time that the government risked electoral defeat if the drift in support to opposition parties from UMNO's traditional power base in the Malay community continued.