We’re not stupid, we see through Dr M

He still opens his mouth, but the sting is gone.

COMMENT

by Iskandar Mohamad

These days, former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad grouchily gripes about the Mahathir days and about how stupid Malaysians are. If he shifts the blame to the preferred victim of the season, it is a blatant hint he wants the entire nation to revert to the good old days when things were moving to his so-called good old ways – which failed anyway, even by his own measure. His ability to surprise, even shock, owes as much to that complexity as to the content of his policies.

Today, when Mahathir opens his mouth, his innate gift to outrage or to provoke anyone seems to have lost its sting, despite the complexity and inane predisposition of his logic.

Mahathir deceptively veered the nation off-course with his infamous divide and rule Mahathirism via racism, religious extremism, corruption and cronyism, thereby securing an immovable position in Malaysia’s hall of notoriety.

Once the country was on autopilot via his authoritarian rule, he skilfully undermined the foundations of civil administration, educational institutions, the independent judiciary and, ultimately, the trademark peace and harmony long enjoyed by Malaysians, especially those in the pre-Mahathir years, thanks to Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Before us today is a Malaysia at its peak of divisiveness, dissension, and disinformation. Important institutions operate in mediocrity and ambivalence – the trademark of the Mahathir years. Yet, he condemns his successors for failing to match him in accomplishments.

Mahathir mudah lupa

Paradoxically, Mahathir gave himself the irrevocable license to single-handedly select his successors and then the divine right to condemn them at his leisure and pleasure without ever acknowledging his error in choices or role in killing democracy.

There is only one explanation for this enigma that is Mahathir – the sum total of his personal response to political demands shows how Mahathir first, foremost and last is a ruthless politician with an insatiable need for power.

He forgot one thing. His father was a teacher from India whilst his mother was Malay with a distant relationship to the Kedah royalty. The other prime ministers either had blue blood or family members entrenched in politics. A former goreng pisang seller at the market, Mahathir seldom refers to being an outsider with humble beginnings.

If Mahathir feels Malaysians are stupid, does he know how, with the swish of a pen, he irreversibly undermined the standard of education in Malaysia? If he thinks Malaysians are stupid, he is responsible for our stupidity. Unknowingly, he has exposed his own vulnerability and desperation with such an insulting statement.

In mid-November, Mahathir accused Putrajaya of implementing education policies that have resulted not only in widening the gap between races but also between the rich and the poor. He claimed he wanted every Malaysian child to go to national schools where the medium of teaching would be Bahasa Malaysia. He has really forgotten what he did to the Malaysian education system.

As Minister of Education in the 1970’s, Mahathir implemented the national policy of using the Malay language as the medium of instruction in the national schools and public universities.

Twenty years later, he backtracked when many quarters expressed their alarm that the Malaysian standard of English proficiency had deteriorated.

With no admission of making a wrong decision in the 1970s, Mahathir went on to justify why he was re-emphasizing the use of English, supposedly for diplomatic relations and international commerce and, of course, keeping abreast with IT and scientific knowledge.

Too little, too late. His earlier justifications for implementing BM as the medium of instruction still resonated; so his plan to revive the use of English fell apart because nationalists objected to his proposal. Still, private colleges were allowed to use English as the medium of instruction.

The truth is Mahathir did very little to implement useful, enduring and representative policies for citizens across the board.

Illusion of coherence

Despite not being a true blue Malay, he created the illusion of coherence and fanned over-confidence to the hilt, even to the extent of excesses and hubris. Many were drooling too much to realize the deep repercussions of Mahathirism.

Fast forward to the present. We see our education system at its lowest ebb ever in our history. We have many graduates from different levels of education without the ability to string a coherent sentence in English or even the ability to think,, all thanks to Mahathir and his carousel of failed education policies.

Last week, he audaciously accused Malaysians of being too stupid to run MAS.

Once upon a time, Malaysians were stupid to have allowed you to bulldoze your way through the decades of your authoritarian rule. We were stupid to believe in your grandiose dreams of 2020, the failed MSC, non-stop running gravy trains, and ludicrous justifications for failed projects.

Mahathir, we are not stupid any more. Are you?