Mahathir is back to his old ways - will not last long as PM

Mahathir is back to his old ways - will not last long as PM

Can a leopard ever change its spots? What more a 93 year old Leopard ? This is what Malaysians who had voted for change in Malaysia are finding out very quickly. 

On 9th May 2018, Malaysians for the first time ousted Barisan Nasional in the polls after 60 years of being in power since independence. They were sickened by the previous governments years of abusing the institutions of judiciary, police, corruption agency and the civil service for politics.

Malaysians hoped that a change in government will help restore the integrity of the institutions. They were also sick of moral policing and the use of Islam to favor political advantages. They voted for rule of law and change in the way of governance for the past 60 years. They wanted an end to institutionalized racism and political cronyism.

Mahathir was part of the 60 years that Malaysians were sick of. 22 years was his rule of total lack of freedom by the citizens. Mahathir had employed the use of Machiavellian politics to kill political enemies and abuse the law as he pleased. Always blaming the insinuations that he manipulated. For example, he blamed the police and the judiciary for the sodomy and corruption charges leveled against Anwar Ibrahim when he was Prime Minister.

Becoming Prime Minster again, Mahathir is recycling his old habits and methods of governance. His staff at the Prime Minister’s office are his old staff once again. His businessman cronies are also the same old ones again. The real decision makers are his men behind the scene - the not voted ones !

In this madness to kill off Najib, the ex Prime Minister, Mahathir is now resorting to his old tricks that he used against Anwar - making use of the police, the attorney general’s chambers and the corruption agency. He has placed his own people in these agencies - again at his own wish. Mahathir had begun to start the reign of fear. Very soon, any political dissent will be frightening.

The only thing reining him back is the numbers that DAP and PKR the other component parties have. 

However, it is understood from inside sources, that they are unhappy with the way Mahathir is once again manipulating the system and the law. 

It is already two months and Mahathir has not even fulfilled even one of the Pakatan Harapan promises.

It is becoming clear - with Mahathir and his recycled team around, Malaysia is not going to get the reforms that DAP and PKR have been fighting for years. The Malaysian people’s hope for a real new era of accountability, rule of law and good governance is going to be dashed.

Shamsul Bahrain