Why is the government of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, holding up for more than three weeks the release of 800 copies of a new biography of former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad by former Asian Wall Street Journal managing editor Barry Wain?
There can be no doubt that Mahathir and Najib would have already read the biography, “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times”.
Is either of them objecting to the release of Wain’s biography of Mahathir and want it banned like Mahathir’s “Malay Dilemma” when it was first published in 1970? This will be the irony of ironies.
Both should know that the year 2009, very soon to become 2010, in this Internet era and age of information and communications technology is very different from four decades ago in 1970 and any ban or censorship of Wain’s new biography will make it even more popular among Malaysians.
What is Mahathir’s stand on whether Wain’s new biography on him should be released to the Malaysian public without any more obstacles from the authorities in Malaysia?
If Mahathir thinks that he has been defamed or maligned by Wain in the new biography, he should avail himself of the legal process to clear his name and reputation and not to support any ban or censorship of the book.
What is of more pressing national interests and importance is the serious allegation by Wain that Mahathir had wasted or burned up as much as RM100 billion in his 22 years as Prime Minister on grandiose projects and corruption – working out to an average of some RM5 billion a year during the Mahathir premiership.
What Najib should do is to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate whether Mahathir had “wasted or burned up” RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption in his 22 years as Prime Minister, as this will also reflect on Najib’s commitment to frontline “combating corruption” as one of the seven agenda-setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and National Key Results Area (NKRA) in his Government Transformation Programme (GTP).
Will there be any Cabinet Minister who dare to step forward to support such a Royal Commission of Inquiry?
Mahathir should declare whether he would co-operate with such a Royal Commission of Inquiry to prove that Wain is wrong in blaming him for the legacy of “wasting or burning up” RM100 billion in his long tenure as the fourth Malaysian Prime Minister.
What NR can do to TDM,he too can do to him. Both of their hands are dirty,so hand in hand they would remain silence to save themselves.It’s not uncommon for thieves and murderers to stay together.
My sources tell me that after a few weeks being held up in Port Klang, the book will be released shortly. It appears that some people were so nervous about the release that they actually sat under the rambutan tree and did nothing about its clearance.
There is no point in having a RCI on Mamakthir. Everybody associated with the squandering of billions will have the same selective memory process when called to testify and in the end there will be no satisfactory outcome. We should learn our lesson from the “Korek, Korek, Korek” RCI. Waste of taxpayers’ money. Just disseminate Barry Wain’s book as widely as possible. Someone should finance translations into Malay and Chinese.
Most of us know the eerie side of TDM and “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times” will definitely give us an insight of all those eeriness. I always remember his favorite phrase of a “little corruption is all right”. Lets see what he meant by a little corruption. Is RM100 billion a little corruption.
To get Najib to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate whether Mahathir had “wasted or burned up” RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption in his 22 years as Prime Minister. Its a catch 22 situation, for if that happens the other guy will also immediately ask for a Royal commission to investigate the murder of Atlantuya.
When you have so much shit on yourself, dare you take on another? …then shit’ll hit the fan!
If by some miracle, Najib do set up a RCI to investigate TDM, maybe we should also ask the RCI to find out why the jet engine that was stolen during Najib’s watch as Defence Minister in 2007 was kept quiet until now? Does this cover up have anything to do with the upcoming GE in March 2008? And then later, was it because ” it was someone’s destiny to be PM” that held back the disclosure of the missing engine? It is also interesting to find out why something that was hidden for so long is suddenly disclosed. Its timing to coincide with the GTP launching anything to do with it to embarass the PM?
it appears to be some opposition from within the bn to ‘leak’ the engine incident.
guess nr would be calling for ge soon to re-consolidate his own power within bn and the parliament. who knows he might be able to take back the 2/3 majority and the pr states.
Mahathir economic was in actual fact another kind of Ponzi Scheme economic where it look very good in the initial stage where oil money was there to use to cover for the wastage, but as all Ponzi scheme it will pop up when the money is drying up just like the oil money is drying up and now the time for GST.
Mahathir is the father of big spender and he believe the more you spend the better you are. The worst scenario was most of the spending was a gone down to the drain. It is payback time for the people now.
One must be real gullible to believe that this expose on the missing jet engine is a normal news item.
I think it was deliberately released to undermine/discredit Najib since he was the Defense Minister then.
Surely there is tussle going on within UMNO. Here is the proof:
1. The Nazri attack on Mahathir and two opposing camps on BTN.
2. The absence of BN MPs on the budget vote
3. The expose on the illegal transmission of money to Rosmah.
Why are all these things coming out now?
These are all clear indications of an impending implosion within UMNO.
Just you wait. Najib won’t last long as PM.
Had Barry Wain been a Bolehland citizen, he would now be savouring his smarting black eye (courtesy of the mamaak’s henchmen) in a Bolehland prison, awaiting charges of sodomee.
UMNO has long ago lost its sense of what is right and what is wrong. If they can say with a straight face that Tan Hoon Cheng was put under the Internal Security Act to protect her, then you can safely say that they actually qualify to be put inside a mental asylum. So don’t have to ask them anything. No better than asking a madman anything. I wonder how many of them qualify to go to syurga. I won’t even be surprised that not a single UMNO member will be there.
How dare you guys ask for a RCI on Mamakthir ? He was by far the best economist we ever had. He pioneered the concept of “accelerated multiplier effect” by public expenditure that even nobel laureates like Fogel, Becker and Krugman could never understand.
Mamakthir pioneered the concept of “if there’s nothing there, build something there”. Then he went further and pioneered the concept of “if there’s something there, tear it down and build something even bigger there.” He also pioneered the principle of “If the seller doesn’t pay you a fee, get it from the buyer.” His policies enabled so many generations of UMNOputras to get rich…and his successors to carry on his super policies. How else could Najis buy submarines, and pay a local company RM500 million in commissions ? How else could Najis lose a RM50 million jet engine to a south American country ?
Tsk, tsk, this is a Nobel prize material we are talking about. If Mamakthir had not ranted and raved against the Jews, he (and not Obama) would have won the Nobel peace prize for service to humanity – of the UMNO kind.
Give the mamak the inaugural Nobel Prize for Racism for the years 1980-2003 (23 Prizes in all)
PR should waittill it gets to Putrajaya and then set the RC. Now will be a waste of resources and pointless if he is set free.
Consider this: Y did someone give up his ancestor’s family name n change his race?
N then Y did he take so much trouble 2 cover n bury his ancestor’s trial?
Y did he become more racial n racist than most in his new race?
Y? Y? Y? Go figure them out
So that he could b the number 1 man n control everything, fingers/toes in all pies
RM100 billion is kacang lah 4 all d personal sacrifices he had made
Many ex-presidents and ex-prime ministers have been charged,found guilty and jailed ,for example Taiwan,Peru,Korea,Parkistan,Agentina,Mexico,Indonisa etc,for criminal squandering,looting and cheating of the people’s wealth under their watches respecitively.Comparing all these criminals to all our ex-prime ministers,I find most of them,especially the two surviving ones,having wealth and assets far far beyong their means.We have PDRM,but just remaining like NATO and MACC ,afraid of big fish,hence cannot do anything at all. Guess we are pretty unlucky,living in this land we call “boleh land”. Unless we all wake up in the next GE,we would certainly continue to live and sleep in this wild wild world.
His Tonto-Mathias seems an expert on economy with his predication of other people’s failure except our own. Forgetting that only his blind supporters would buy such idea. All those projects arepriced 3 times the on-going market value including those under ‘piratization’!. And the audacity to print such article in his blog is a reflection of the inherent simplistic mind. Without doubt, the tendency to continue this path is hard to avoid, as this would mean the end og the gravy train. Hence, any further creation of RC would only mean spending more money! Maybe after PR takes over!!
We are paying the price for what Unmo/BN done to all malaysian for the next generation to come.
It’s US100 billion instead of RM100 billion.
A most despicable act by an imitation BUMIPUTRA who has sold out his ancestral roots!
Despite the huge 100 billion riggits burned, Dr M is still quite popular among certain quarters in Umno and Utusan.
This kind of thing can only happen in Malaysia, another name for Zimbabwee.
Can a man still walk tall given that his name is linked to gross wrongdoings to the nation?
Any right thinking and righteous person would sue to the hilt to clear one’s good name, given that money is of no concern; even to the extend of engaging a team of Queens Counsels.
I WOULD!
Najib to investigate his godfather?
After that…who will investigate Najib?
From a tiny book…written by a nobody..named..”50 Reasons why Anwar cannot be Prime Minister” …Mahathir acted on that and send poor Anwar to 6 years jail……came out proven not guilty.
Now a book written by a professional journalist..who knows Mahathir personally….why is that big mouth old man so quiet?
He talk so much to teach others……yet no comments on the book?
At least Najib said…..’FRIVOLOUS” in response to Bala’s accusations.
Mahathir’s silence is standard guilty ones behaviors. Najib’s “FRIVOLOUS” means …”I am not guilty. You go and prove I am”
These bands of robbers and thieves….practices double standards….in everything..because they have great powers.
I like to quote Confucious saying..
‘To be rich without stealing is the way to richness”
UMNO dirty politicians not only steal….but are greedy…showing off with false titles……and Islam greatest hypocrites.
The problem with our political system is mired by patronage. The deputy PM is always the deputy president of UMNO and must be a close associate of the PM , otherwise he can be fired or jailed like Anwar. They must be buddies and hence when the PM steps down how can we expect his deputy who takes over the reign to do anything on him on whatever wrongs he had committed. Instead he is given all the protection. That is why we are different from other countries where in many instances the ex PM or President are prosecuted for the wrongs committed during their tenure.
The laws of the land confer the Prime Minister the absolute right of an absolute monarch. There is no way RCI can find him acting morally right and legally wrong. The man uttered as many ‘cannot remember’ as he pleased in RCI on Lingam tape, he would do the same in any other RCI.
The only hope is for him to migrate and so as not to cause further harm to the country. He would migrate as soon as Anwar becomes the PM. People would certainly want him gone, in whatever manner, sooner.
Hi Loh why should we let him migrate when PR rules.We should let him taste his own medicine, a kind of description he gave to Anwar. Remember the shoes thrower,a couple of months ago in Paris,he got the taste of his own medicine.He’s pretty silence now.Jesus is right when he said what you sow,you would reap.
Banned – that’s the story of Najib’s Dilemma.
And what’ Mahathir’s Dilemma – To release or NOT TO RELEASE, that is the 100 billion ringgit question!
Mahathir’s Dilemma 2 (Sequel to Mahathir’s Dilemma) : 100 Billion Ways on How to Cook the Books for RM100 billion Scandal!
In a corrupt system, corrupt breeds corrupt
A corrupt president or PM must hv a corrupt VP or deputy PM 2 succeed him
So that d equally corrupt new P or PM will not send d exP or exPM 2 face d firing squad
Hence, d corrupt culture is propagated
“If Mahathir thinks that he has been defamed or maligned by Wain in the new biography, he should avail himself of the legal process to clear his name and reputation and not to support any ban or censorship of the book.”
Well, what does Wain knows about Malaysian politics, apart from secondary sources. It is not that Mahathir is afraid to defend himself. Obviously, some of Wain’s contention could be wrong. Only that by defending, other truths may just surface which would incriminate him all the same. So wiser to keep quiet than risk self-incrimination.
Anyway, it is a no-win situation for him. By keeping quiet, obviously people will ask, “Why is he so quiet?” when he could make a storm in a tea cup when an Australian premier said only one word, i.e. that he was recalcitrant. So what Wain says, I believe, must be true.
“If Mahathir thinks that he has been defamed or maligned by Wain in the new biography, he should avail himself of the legal process to clear his name and reputation and not to support any ban or censorship of the book.” – YB Kit.
Why does Tun Dr Mahathir need any legal process to clear his name and reputation? Barry Wain did not allege that TDM was personally corrupt, did he?
If all the former AWSJ former editor did was to criticise TDM’s administration’s record and legacy – that it epitomises corruption at new heights causing the country to lose $100 billion to cronyism and nepotism – this is something that is no skin on TDM’s back. He can live with this book, and maybe even flattered that he is noteworthy enough to be written about by the former AWSJ editor.
For example: There was a time when the then Pemuda UMNO chief (Zahid Hamidi) (allied to Anwar) initiated an attack by criticising Mahathir’s economic policies as being laden with cronyism and nepotism. TDM’s counter attack was unabashed and brutally honest: he published a list of government contracts and their beneficiaries. He basically said that his cronyism and nepotism had helped 6 million “cronies” (meaning NEP’s beneficiaries) amongst whom included his accusers and critics. There was no visible support within UMNO then for TDM’s detractors. The attack fizzled out.
For TDM was a ‘successful’ politician by long tenure precisely because he was able to exploit the impulse and insecurities of his constitutency and buffer these insecurities and anxieties by the panacea of the NEP of which is the champion!
If the insecurities may be assuaged by the sight of grandiloquent infrastructure projects rigged with leakages – if these white elephant projects were beneficial only to a handful of crony captains to represent in symbolic terms the success and creation of wealth amongst the so called “haves not” – it was considered a necessary evil for which TDM should be praised than criticised. Thats the prevailing thinking then and even now….
There will therefore be no Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to prove that Wain is wrong.
This is because Wain is of course right but his being right has nothing to do with the fundamental issue of the political/feudal patronage system of cronyism and nepotism of which many have come to associate the implementation of NEP with, and which system is even today the fulcrum of the entire BN/UMNO set up and raison de etre.
To have an RCI on how or whether under TDM’s watch $100 billion had been wasted or burned up on grandiose projects and corruption is to question in same vein why after his watch another RM12.5 billion will be wasted by his successors on PKFZ.
The call for RCI is a good try but it won’t work because what you are basically calling for is a RCI on the whole political feudal system of patronage facilitated by the NEP that (warts and all) is handed down as part of TDM’s political legacy and embraced even now as sancrosanct and fundamental to the very existence of the ruling party and beneficial to its constitutency.
TDM then is likelier opposed to any ban or censorship of Wain’s book though those in power themselves may have misgivings that the book will expose their modus operandi!
As to the part of being labelled “Maverick”, I am sure he revels in it.
Fame or infamy – no matter. What is important is to be noted. Why else he said that he would shoot the Vietnamese boat people, or attack Jews as Zionists, quarrel with several leaders one of whom (Keating) called him recalcitrant? To be maverick and controversial is infinitely preferred top being an unknown nobody that attracts no news and attention.
Note this : when Nazri accused Mahathir as “racist” over his support of BTN, Mahathir, prodded for a response by journalists at a function, fired back: “I must be a racist if Nazri says I am racist. Don’t ever say that I am not. He knows everything. He belongs to a party which is racist… which is Umno.”
So if you accuse him of cronyism and nepotism or leakage of $100 biillion, he would give the same response and say the same thing with a touch of glee than apology.
After all he thinks he is saying the truth. Isn’t he? So why should the powers-that-be agree to an RC, proceeding on the implicit assumption that something wrong that has been committed, when in truth, it is only something biasa??? Apa lah RCI!
There is no point in having any Royal Commission until the Judiciary, the Police and the MACC are independant of the corridors of power. Energy should be expanded to correct these otherwise and Royal Commision is a total waste of time and money
Najib may be facing a personal political dilemma now. Although he didn’t quite like the outspokenness of Dr. Mahathir, he was afraid to step on the toe of this shrewd man. Perhaps the said book on Dr. Mahathir’s biography will have to stay in Port Klang’s custom warehouse for some longer time, pending for Rosmah’s final decision on how to deal with this political hot potatoe!
Any new biography of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar wasting RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption will immediately be released into the market, with the govt giving free copies to the public and school libraries. It would also be made into a compulsory course in the local universities.
Should, could etc. but in the end, never will..Najib is already in warm soup with Mahathir already. All Mahathir need to take Najib down is promise to back to Muhiyiddin..
What this nation can do is demand that Mahathir sign over rights to his life story to the nation such that we can do as we please so that we can make a movies with all the gory details..You have to admit we can make a bunch of movie – dramatic ones, funny ones, scary/horror ones, sad ones etc..We can’t get back RM100billion but maybe a few hundred million if we do it right and tell the truth…
Frivolous, frivolous, no need 2 waste time over the allegations lah
Carry on wasting/burning more RM
1 fighter plane engine sold off, now another, n another
Very soon, submarine engines also lelong or twitter off, check eBay
Meanwhile, more buildings, bridges, tunnels may collapse
Remember these are proudly declared as “Satu lagi projek BN”
Najib should resign and “relocate” his 1-Malaysia to Hell where Altan is waiting for him.
Mamakthir through his own website has now said that he would be willing to subject himself to a commission of inquiry. He has laid down a host of conditions, though, but I still think Kit should take him up on his offer.
Just about to say that, but Godfather has already said it. I wonder why he set so many conditions. Those conditions only make me feel that he is guilty. Why must he pull in Abdullah Badawi. Why can’t he wait until Wain (or someone else) writes about him and then we can have another inquiry.
Smart he certainly was! He couldn’t stand M. Thatcher but certainly loved her idea of privatization which was turned into ‘Piratization’. just look at all those projects, none of them make any profit except to those given the rights to build and operate them. The 1st round is the construction cost up 3/4 folds and since the investments come from Gomen, just pocket the operation surplus! This had been his version of piratization! He forgot that ‘easy money’ means saying go to Hell with basic business principles.
Maybe taking up his offer with conditions should be accepted!
Why must he pull in Abdullah Badawi? (ekompute)
When my nephew took a piece of chicken wing with bare hand from the dish with no prior consent from my sister and someone complained about his improper and unhygienic behaviour, my nephew would answer, “Young brother also took some without using a spoon or chopstick, and he took a big piece of chicken thigh, that is much bigger than mine!” He was trying to justify his own wrong by claiming that what he was doing was just a common practice by the social norm!
Dr. Mahathir is not much different from my nephew, who only wants to find excuses to explain off his guilty-consciousness!
All Prime ministers can be investigated but most of the time they are heaped with praises that their wrongdoings are brusheds aside.We have to start the culture of investigating so that future Prime ministers will work for the country and not for himself and his ministers.
At least it’s no longer a frivolous issue
At least he did not retort, like our “women’s champion”: “I don’t gossip. I don’t read uninformative articles and I don’t indulge in unproductive activities.”
Investigate lah!
///KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has welcomed Lim Kit Siang’s proposal to set up a royal commission of inquiry to investigate whether he “burned” RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption during his 22 years as prime minister.
Dr Mahathir said the commission should not be made up of government nominees, but should have impeccable people as members, including foreigners and those of Transparency International.
He suggested that the commission should not focus on just one prime minister, but also Tun Abdullah Badawi, also a former prime minister.
He also wrote that for the inquiry to be successful, the government must give an undertaking for full access to the commission of all the documents and accounts between the period of 1981 and 2009.
Dr Mahathir also agreed with Lim, who is DAP adviser, that the investigation would reflect Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s commitment in combating corruption. He said he would cooperate with the commission.
Dr Mahathir also requested that the book be released immediately.
“I am not in need of government protection.”///–NST
The ball is in Najib’s court. It would appear that Najib needs government protection rather than Mahathir, if a Royal Commission of Inquiry is not ordered.
At least you have the decency not to deny the truth of the assertions in the article. It hurts you and thats because your values are being called into question and your responses prove the point.
Lee Kuan Yew will have his party returned to power each year. So too will China’s communists and Russia’s Bosheviks. Totalitarians always win because they rule over a mindless money making comfort seeking bunch like they have in Singapore. Thats the trade off. Fear and intimidation and two of the greatest known motivators. Lee uses it well.
The truth remains the truth regardless of who speaks it or for what reasons they do. Lee Kuan Yew is no antidote for Malaysia’s woes.
The fact some of you make that challenge reinforces the truth of the article in GRK about Chinese misplaced and suspect loyalties in Malaysia.
It is not a denial or rebuttal but a reinforcement of that view and for that I thank you.
One need not do a poll to find the truth. These mechanisms too can and are often skewed.
One merely needs the empirical evidence from the responses of Chinese like those of you who responded to demonstrate the validity of each of the points made.
Keep reading there are updates designed for the “nincompoops?” you speak of. I disagree because it is evident that intelligent people like you too have read it.
http://takemon.wordpress.com/
Once more Thank you.
GRK