{"id":163334,"date":"2018-05-10T22:37:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T02:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=163334"},"modified":"2018-05-10T22:37:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T02:37:53","slug":"ex-strongman-seeks-legacy-as-saviour-of-malaysias-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/10\/ex-strongman-seeks-legacy-as-saviour-of-malaysias-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex strongman seeks legacy as saviour of Malaysia’s democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Known<\/a>
Known as an authoritarian leader who ruthlessly persecuted his foes and stifled dissent, Mahathir Mohamad was an unlikely choice to steer Malaysian a more democratic path. (Photo<\/a>: Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

KUALA LUMPUR,\u00a0Malaysia\u00a0\u2014 Known\u00a0as\u00a0an authoritarian leader who ruthlessly persecuted his foes and stifled dissent,\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0Mohamad was an unlikely choice to steer\u00a0Malaysian a more democratic path.<\/p>\n

But the pugnacious politician, remarkably robust at age 92, pulled off a stunning electoral upset on Wednesday, denying his former protege Najib Razak a third term\u00a0as\u00a0prime\u00a0ministerand ending the ruling National Front’s 60-year hold on power.<\/p>\n

It was a feat many predicted was impossible.\u00a0Malaysia’s election this week was expected to provide more evidence that democracy\u00a0in\u00a0Southeast Asia was\u00a0in\u00a0an inexorable retreat. Instead, it became a powerful beacon for people power.<\/p>\n

Mahathir\u00a0is now the world’s oldest elected leader and, analysts say, seems intent on using what may be the final chapter of his life to clean up\u00a0Malaysia\u00a0\u2014 he called it a \u201cmess\u201d \u2014 and fashion a more positive legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very sleepy this morning,\u201d he joked at a lively post-election news conference Thursday. \u201cI got up late and lots of people got up late. The moment I got up,\u00a0as\u00a0I was having breakfast, I called all the officers concerned and told them all things we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahathir\u00a0was a maverick Malay nationalist\u00a0in\u00a0the early days of his political career who survived expulsion from the dominant United Malays National Organization party, and became the first commoner\u00a0prime\u00a0minister\u00a0of\u00a0Malaysia.\u00a0Though credited with transforming the Southeast Asian backwater into a modern economy, his dominance, like that of his contemporary, Lee Kuan Yew\u00a0in\u00a0Singapore, was stifling.<\/p>\n

Under his 22-year rule, the judiciary was a tool of the government, the media were muzzled and a system of economic privileges for the Malay majority and second-class status for Chinese and Indian minorities remained entrenched.<\/p>\n

Among the stains of his years\u00a0in\u00a0power was the sacking of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, following a power struggle. Anwar led street protests against\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0but was imprisoned on charges of sodomy and corruption and appeared\u00a0in\u00a0court with a black eye from a police beating.<\/p>\n

Mahathir\u00a0had extravagant ambitions for\u00a0Malaysia’s economy, backing the construction of the famous twin Petronas Towers\u00a0in\u00a0Kuala Lumpur that were once the world’s tallest buildings and creating state-owned carmaker Proton, which never really prospered despite being sheltered from competition.<\/p>\n

Not long before his retirement\u00a0in\u00a02003,\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0caused global outrage with an anti-Semitic speech to leaders of Islamic nations that portrayed Jews\u00a0as\u00a0leading a global conspiracy to oppress Muslims.<\/p>\n

Even after stepping down, he remained influential, smoothing Najib’s ascent to the top\u00a0in\u00a02009 after criticizing his first successor, Abdullah Ahamad Badawi, for poor economic management. He also supported Najib\u00a0in\u00a02013 elections.<\/p>\n

Then he became Najib’s most ferocious critic\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0prime\u00a0minister, initially regarded\u00a0as\u00a0a cautious reformer, turned to\u00a0Mahathir’s authoritarian playbook to survive a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal at the 1MDB state fund that damaged the country’s reputation.<\/p>\n

The United States and several other countries are investigating allegations of cross-border embezzlement and money laundering at 1MDB, which was set up and previously led by Najib to promote economic development. The U.S. Justice Department says at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by associates of Najib, who denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Mahathir\u00a0publicly reconciled with Anwar, again\u00a0in\u00a0prison on another sodomy charge he said was fabricated by the National Front, and joined the multi-ethnic opposition to \u201csave\u00a0Malaysia\u201d from a corrupt elite.<\/p>\n

Despite two coronary bypass surgeries,\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0kept up a hectic campaign schedule. He sometimes spoke several times a day at rallies and also updated his tactics for the social media age.<\/p>\n

He was rapturously welcomed at opposition rallies and seemed to relish poking fun at the plutocratic Najib, describing him\u00a0as\u00a0someone who would try to buy his way into heaven but who’d be sent to hell.<\/p>\n

When he wasn’t invited to a forum that planned to debate whether at well past 90 years he was too old to be\u00a0prime\u00a0minister\u00a0again, he turned up anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs\u00a0far\u00a0as\u00a0health is concerned, I am not senile yet,\u201d he announced to the stunned participants, many of whom stood and snapped photos with their smartphones.<\/p>\n

For good measure,\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0sat\u00a0in\u00a0the front row and tweeted: \u201cI’m here guys. Say it to my face.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move was trademark\u00a0Mahathir, his appetite for political brawling apparently unsated.<\/p>\n

Ahead of being\u00a0sworn\u00a0in\u00a0as\u00a0prime\u00a0minister\u00a0again, he promised to seek a full royal pardon for Anwar, criticized a represssive \u201cfake news\u201d law introduced under Najib but didn’t say it would be repealed, and vowed to cancel an unpopular goods and service tax.<\/p>\n

There are hopes that\u00a0as\u00a0a powerful figure for the ethnic Malay majority he will have political capital to reform the loaded electoral system that kept the National Front\u00a0in\u00a0power for six decades and pare back the system of economic privileges for Malays. It remains unclear what, if anything, he would do\u00a0in\u00a0those areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know about not liking me. I’m a very nice person,\u201d he joked when a reporter asked about rumours\u00a0Malaysia’s king, who swore him\u00a0in\u00a0as\u00a0prime\u00a0minister\u00a0on Thursday evening, doesn’t look kindly on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the support of the majority of the members of parliament,\u201d\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0said. \u201cThat is what the provision of the constitution states. It doesn’t say I like you or I don’t like you, I love you or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR,\u00a0Malaysia\u00a0\u2014 Known\u00a0as\u00a0an authoritarian leader who ruthlessly persecuted his foes and stifled dissent,\u00a0Mahathir\u00a0Mohamad was an unlikely choice to steer\u00a0Malaysian a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":163335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[21105,851,1363],"class_list":["post-163334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-mahathir-mohamad","tag-malaysia","tag-prime-minister","mauthors-stephen-wright","mauthors-eileen-ng","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}