[Umno memerlukan formula dan harapan yang baru - bukannya satu lawak yang sudah tidak laku. Ejekkan dan momokkan kepada orang lain tidak akan dapat membantu. Sebaliknya ia hanya akan menambahkan lagi masalah kepada Umno dan Malaysia. Kutukkannya kepada orang asing hanya akan menyebabkan bon baru keluaran Malaysia tidak laku. Dan serangan terhadap Australia dan bahasa pertuturan mereka itu amat tidak patut kerana bahasa itu akan menyentuh perasaan seluruh rakyat Australia - termasuk pelabur dan tenaga pakar mereka yang telah lama menyumbang kepada ekonomi dan syarikat besar di Malaysia. - Editor]

The Nation, Thailand

30th June 2001

Mahathir sounds like an old joke

SYDNEY - The performance of Malaysia's Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the recent annual conference of his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was that of a leader who has stayed too long.

During his two decades as prime minister he has always been prickly, with a strong authoritarian streak, ruthless with critics and impatient of democratic norms.

Yet, until relatively recently, he had also been a formidable and creative political leader, ensuring Malaysia's voice was heeded in regional affairs and presiding over substantial improvements in the living standards of its Malay majority.

All the greater the tragedy, then, that he increasingly presents as vengeful and petulant.

It matters little that Mahathir chose the UMNO conference to take a gratuitous swipe at Australia, resorting to tired jokes about the Australian accent.

This was in response to criticism of a controversial decision by UMNO's Chinese coalition partner in government, the Malaysian Chinese Association, to take over two Chinese-language newspapers, thereby potentially muzzling the country's last independent press outlets. Mahathir's point seemed to be that Chinese people are better off in Malaysia than in Australia - a dubious proposition given that the Malaysian Public Service and education systems, by law, are heavily weighted in favour of Malays.

Even as Mahathir prepares to celebrate, on July 16, the 20th anniversary of his prime ministership, his political dominance is waning.

Fewer than half the ethnic Malays voted for UMNO in 1999 elections that saw an Islamic fundamentalist party win power in two northeastern states.

Leading elements in the judiciary, long criticised for being subservient to the government, are reasserting their independence.

Events are no longer going according to the Mahathir script. Even within UMNO, rattled by accusations of crony capitalism, it must be clear that the party does not need old jokes. It needs new ideas and new leadership.

The Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.nationmultimedia.com

http://www.bangkokpost.com/today/300601_News25.html

Mahathir makes thunder

In trying to inspire over 2,000 delegates who attended last week's party summit, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad adopted an unusual tactic, lambasting the Bumiputras for being lazy.

S H Chong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok Post

Malaysia's long-serving Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad used the three-day UMNO annual assembly last week to rally the troops and get them ready for the 2004 general elections.

Although the national polls are three years away, Dr Mahathir is taking no chances. There is still widespread disenchantment among the Malays-who are split over the Anwar Ibrahim issue. The United Malays National Organisation, led by Mahathir, is the leading component of the ruling coalition government.

The party began experiencing a slide in popularity in September 1998, after Dr Mahathir controversially sacked his deputy, Anwar, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence for corruption and s###my. Anwar claims he is a victim of a political conspiracy.

In trying to inspire over 2000 delegates who attended the summit, Dr Mahathir adopted an unusual tactic, returning to his roots, and criticising the Malays for being lazy and not inclined towards business.

In the early '70s while he was temporarily booted out of UMNO, Dr Mahathir authored a controversial book called "The Malay Dilemma" in which he touched upon the same topics.

Throughout the three-day event, Dr Mahathir adopted a take-no-prisoners approach and lambasted the Malays for the lack of progress on the economic front despite 30 years of affirmative action to increase their stake in the economy.

The programme gives Bumiputras (Malays and indigenous races) special privileges in a wide range of areas including business, education, jobs and even housing.

Bumiputras make up 60% of the population; ethnic Chinese about 30% and ethnic Indians and other minority races the remaining 10%.

The outspoken premier also expressed disappointment over the low intake of Malays into universities despite a special quota set aside for them.

He said Malay students were no less intelligent than students from other races but said that "many Malay children are lazy and uninterested in studying".

He also criticised the "get-rich-quick" mentality among Malays who squandered the opportunities given to them under the government's affirmative action programme.

"Unfortunately, Malays and other Bumiputras do not possess a business culture; they are impatient to become rich," Dr Mahathir said, adding that they would sell every allocation given to them and even resort to accepting bribes.

"After 43 years of trying, after billions of ringgit allocated, after several banks and a variety of funds are established, today the achievement of Malays in trade and industry is still low," Dr Mahathir said.

"A race which is deprived of government assistance [the ethnic Chinese] can clearly succeed. Why can't the Malays who are given all sorts of help succeed?" he asked rhetorically.

Then, during a press conference, he warned that the Malays should not assume that the privileges would be around forever.

He accused the opposition of being willing to sell out the Malays to curry favour with the other races, in order to win the next election. His message was simple: UMNO is the only party that can safeguard Malay rights and he is the only Malay leader willing to speak the truth about Malay progress-or lack thereof.

Although foreign news agencies have since the 1999 election consistently reported that this would be Dr Mahathir's last term in office, the 75-year-old premier gave hints during press briefings that this might not be his last term after all.

"If I had my way I would have stepped down in 1998, but circumstances did not allow me to step down in 1998," he said when asked when he intended to step down.

"Now I'm caught here... It's not so easy to step down, you have the responsibility."The circumstances he referred to-the Anwar issue-has truly split the Malay electorate. Slightly fewer than half of the Malays voted for UMNO in the 1999 polls. The ruling coalition government won largely on the back of strong support from the non-Malays who fear a PAS-led government. PAS is a fundamentalist Muslim party that wants to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state. It is currently the leading opposition party in parliament.

When asked if he would run in the 2004 general elections, Dr Mahathir remained elusive and non-commital. "I don't know. I may be sick, I may fall down, I may be rejected by my party, I don't know," said the premier, who has been in power for 20 years, longer than any other democratically-elected head of government in Asia.

His outspoken and controversial speeches during the summit received overwhelming support from within the party but it is uncertain how well it would play over the masses.

With no tradition of reliable public opinion polls, it is hard to gauge public sentiment. Perhaps only time will tell whether Dr Mahathir's new "wake up call" approach will work.

Whatever it is, one thing is for certain: Dr Mahathir is not going to exit the scene anytime soon.