News update from the ISNA Convention in Chicago Report by Raja Petra Kamarudin in the USA

Anwar's ghost haunts Mahathir halfway around the world

Mahathir's speeches - whether he is giving his Merdeka Day address, Aidil Fitri Speech, New Year Day message, or whatever the case may be - always follows a set pattern. First he will talk about the economy and how the foreigners are out ot colonise Malaysia. Then he will talk about the threat of racial conflict in Malaysia and he will remind us of the "big one" on May 13, 1969. Finally, he will talk about the Anwar Ibrahim trial and, in no uncertain terms, explain how he knew Anwar was guilty all along even before the verdict was passed down by the courts.

You can see that Mahathir has a phobia about these three subject matters. It seems to haunt him wherever he goes and no Mahathir speech is complete without mention of these issues. Mahathir no longer needs the service of a speech writer as there are no speeches left to write. He just recycles the speech he made two years ago on 2nd September 1998.

Mahathir's speech to the 300 or so Malaysian students in Chicago recently was no different. You can see that, even in far away America, Anwar still haunted him. He could not rid himself of the memory of Anwar.

Mahathir started by talking about the dangers of racial riots in Malaysia. He reminded everyone present how Malaysia was torn apart on 13th May 1969 with great loss of lives and property. Mahathir probably thought that the 70% to 75% Chinese audience was the perfect platform to talk about Malay-Chinese conflict.

Mahathir "revealed" that there are certain elements in Malaysia who are trying to start racial strife. He never did reveal these "elements" that are trying to commit this hideous crime though, but we can all assume he meant "the other side".

What Mahathir failed to mention was, barely weeks before that, members of his own UMNO party, the Malays, had threatened the Chinese of Malaysia. A crowd of angry youths had marched to the Chinese Assembly Hall and gave the Chinese one week to apologise for their "17 demands" made about a year ago during the Tenth General Elections.

The Chinese tried to explain that the matter had already been resolved way back in 1999, but the Malay demonstrators refused to listen and the gathering became very abusive, not to mention vulgar, with four-letter words being freely shouted.

The Chinese were petrified. They remember very well what May 13 was all about and how dangerous the wrath of the Malays can be. They quickly ran to the Democratic Action Party or DAP, a predominantly Chinese based party, though it is multi-racial. DAP in turn got in touch with the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party or PAS and expressed their anxiety at this whole "Malay-kill-Chinese" drama, which no one doubted was staged by Mahathir.

DAP was worried that Mahathir, who realises he has lost the support of the Malays, may try to use Malay nationalism to win back support. This means Mahathir has to make the Chinese the enemy. This will then unite the Malays. It is quite natural people become united in the face of a common enemy.

PAS then called for an Alternative Front or BA meeting. At this meeting PAS issued a public statement warning the UMNO Malays that PAS would stand in defense of the Chinese if UMNO ever tried to harm them. To quote Dr Hatta Ramli, the political secretary of the opposition leader, as well as Ruslan Kasim, the information chief of keADILan, "UMNO will have to step over the dead bodies of the Malays in Barisan Alternatif to harm the Chinese".

This was indeed a touching moment for all. Malaysia had, at last, reached the maturity level where race is secondary to justice. UMNO then tried to invite the opposition to join them in "Malay solidarity" against the Chinese but the opposition declined. The opposition was not interested in an anti-Chinese grouping.

In Mahathir's Independence Day message on the eve of 31st August 2000 this matter was again raised. Mahathir spoke about the "extremist Chinese trying to destroy Malaysia". Mahathir also likened these people to communists. Mahathir had also earlier warned the Chinese that there will be no compromise on Malays rights and privileges and that the government will defend them to the last. That's like telling the Chinese to go to hell or we will send you there.

In spite of all this, it was one enthusiastic crowd in Chicago that day. They were applauding Mahathir like a conquering hero, not realising he is the villain behind the "dangerous racial politics" he was talking about. Don't our students overseas ever keep up with the news back home? They seemed so ignorant of what's happening.

Mahathir then lamented about how students prefer to spend their time politicking instead of studying. Of course he meant the Malay students as what he has said so many times before.

Mahathir then complained that people are being taught to hate the government. Either Mahathir is confused or trying to confuse. No one ever mentioned about hating the government. It is only he who is the target of hate. But he makes it like if you hate the prime minister, then you hate the government, and this makes you ungrateful for everything that you have received in life.

What puzzled most people was the way Mahathir kept talking about Islam - quoting verses in the Koran, relating stories about the Prophet, and so on. Now if Mahathir was talking to a Malay or Muslim audience this would have been very appropriate. But about three quarters of his audience were Chinese. What would they know about all these things? I am sure they were as confused as a Malay audience would have been if you started talking about the scriptures, or quoted from Luke, or something like that.

After rambling on for awhile, Mahathir then came to the finale and his favourite subject - Anwar Ibrahim's trials. Here Mahathir gave the impression that either he is getting very senile, or he is the best bold-faced liar in the world. Either way that makes him most unsuitable to continue as prime minister of Malaysia.

Mahathir said Anwar Ibrahim was given an opportunity to defend himself in a court of law. The judge had asked Anwar many times whether he pleads innocent or guilty but Anwar refused to reply. In short, Anwar chose to remain silent and did not defend himself. That's why, according to Mahathir, the court had no choice but to find Anwar guilty.

Mahathir then revealed that even Param Cumaraswamy, the UN representative, agreed that Anwar had been given a fair trail. According to Mahathir, Param even pointed out that the judge was a PAS member who had contested in the general election on a PAS ticket before he became a judge and was given the Anwar trial to handle.

What Mahathir was insinuating is, since the judge used to be a PAS member, then he must be a very fair judge. I suppose this is a compliment to PAS as Mahathir is suggesting the judge is honest because he was a PAS member.

Now this is all a load of crap and I am convinced Mahathir is not senile but a bold-faced liar. Anwar fought tooth and nail to clear himself of the charges and Param said the exact opposite of what Mahathir accused him of saying. Param, in fact, said Anwar's trial is a travesty of justice.

Mahathir pointed out that in Malaysia homosexuals are despised unlike in America where it is okay and men can marry men and women marry women. I don't know whether Mahathir was trying to insult Anwar or the US, or maybe both.

Well that, in part, was Mahathir's speech in Chicago. It was just like any other he has made and, believe me, will be the same for all his future speeches as well. Mahathir no longer has anything new to say. And he is so paranoid of Anwar that he cannot not mention Anwar or the trial. Mahathir seems to know so much of Anwar's "crimes" I wonder why he refused to testify in court when subpoenaed to do so.