Tun M - Part Deux

A follow up this post.

Three letters published recently in Malaysiakini, further helped explained my ambivalence about Tun M.

This letter by an ex UN rapporteur, exposes some of the old shenanigans of Tun M's that are contra to his current stand ... a few excerpts

"It was the same Mahathir when he was prime minister in 1990 who hounded the then formed Election Watch headed by Tun Mohamad Suffian. He wanted Bukit Aman to investigate as to whether the six-man group of the Election Watch contravened the Societies Act 1966. The six members, particularly Suffian, were vilified in the media by Mahathir to the extent Suffian resigned from his chairmanship of Standard Chartered Bank to avoid any embarrassment to the bank. "

" Again in 1990 it was he, Mahathir, who publicly criticised the six men of the Election Watch as ‘critics of the government and therefore they would be biased and will not be neutral’. That the six were an ‘extension of the opposition’. That the six wanted to ensure that ‘no investments came into the country’. "

"Since retiring from office as prime minister, Mahathir has been attempting to portray himself as a paragon of virtue. But Malaysians cannot be hoodwinked so easily to forget his past. Similarly the international community.

It is amazing how Mahathir could resort to such virulent verbal attacks particularly against Bush when he, Mahathir, during his premiership wanted so much for an audience with Bush at the White House to boost his image.

Eventually, he secured such an audience in May 2002. It was reported that a sum between US$900,000 and US$1.2 million was paid to secure that meeting. Mahathir did not deny that money was paid to secure that meeting. He was reported to have said ‘it is a practice that if you want to meet their leader (Bush) you have to go through a lobbyist and the lobbyist has to be paid’. "

This letter by a retired fellow, was more hard hitting .. some of the excerpts below ..

" Remember the brutalisation of Anwar Ibrahim? Just a quick recap; this was the excuse given: Dr Mahathir told reporters that Mr Anwar might have hurt himself to gain public sympathy. ‘It's not impossible because he will get plenty of mileage if he showed he was abused by police,’ Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying by the national news agency Bernama.

And there was a genocide taking place in Malaysia's backyard which Mr Global Peace choose to ignore. This, of course, was done by his good buddy Suharto. Many tens of thousands of Timorese died as a result of this 'generalised warfare’ constituting the bulk of the estimated 200,000 victims of Indonesia's genocidal occupation policies between 1975 and 1999.
Mahathir actually supported the Indonesians. Mahathir, who often lectures Western countries for their ‘hypocrisy and double standards’ has been a staunch defender of Indonesian behaviour in East Timor. Asked in Singapore to explain his opposition to East Timor's independence in light of his outspoken support for the right of Kosovo, which has a Muslim majority, to break away from Serbia, Mahathir said Indonesia was entitled to integrate the territory.
'The difference between East Timor and Kosovo is that East Timor has been with Indonesia for 25 years, and during that time there were no massacres,’ Mahathir said. ‘'The Indonesians were not behaving like Serbs,’ he added, conveniently forgetting Indonesia eventually killed over 200,000 Timorese - one-third of the population - in one of the worst genocides since World War II.
Oh yes, it affected one of our own too. Any one with a bit of conscience would remember the poor lad Kamal Bamadhaj a 20-year-old student, who was shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers on Tuesday, Nov 12, 1991. "

and the third letter, which hits the nail in the head, in my opinion, about why Tun M is doing all this ....

" Just how can anyone 'admire' him is a joke and it just pains me to hear people agreeing to his shallow, one-sided and often outright inflammatory comments. He just seeks attention without which he is just so insecure. "

If there was one virtue that I wished he had, now, is the sense of humility. The mark of a great man is not how high and mighty he is, but how he behaves when the chips are down. Tunku was not a perfect person, but people who knew him still remembers him as a gentleman and have fond memories of him.

Tun M ? ... the man is an enigma ... but, if and that's a very2 big if, he could just be a little humble and make peace with his wrongdoings, I think he would serve the country better and be remembered fondly.