Malaysia's ex-leader stays in the game

Mahathir making rapid recovery

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is making a quick recovery from his mild heart attack, one of his sons said Friday.

"He is in good condition. We are convinced in just a matter of time he will be out of the hospital," Mirzan Mahathir told AFP.

"He is fine and he is resting," he added.

Mirzan blamed the attack on Mahathir's recent overseas trips to Saudi Arabia and New Zealand, saying his 81-year-old father had been "tired out".

"Can I have 'tosai' (South Indian pancake?)" No, you can't, says doctors attending to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the National Heart Institute (IJN).

The 81-year-old former premier, who was heavily sedated early yesterday morning, woke at 4.30pm yesterday feeling cheery after a good rest.

He asked for tosai but the doctors had to deny him with a polite, "only hospital food diet".

Get well soon , Just like Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir still wants a say on Malaysia. He still wants to play the game.

Meanwhile,Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi ordered police yesterday (Nov 9) to conduct a thorough probe into the murder of a Mongolian model who was linked to a high-profile political analyst.

"I have been informed on this by the IGP and I told him that he will have to investigate thoroughly and properly and follow the due process," Prime Minister Abdullah said yesterday, referring to the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan.

"Nobody is above the law, that is important to remember. Whoever is found guilty, action will be taken according to the due process of law."

When he was asked to comment on the government's stance on the meritocracy system and the use of English to teach mathematics and science in primary schools, he said :

"The bumiputra can still progress under the meritocracy system"

"The meritocracy system should continue and I believe the bumiputra can still upgrade themselves to face challenges and improve their performance," he said.

Asked if the government would consider teaching more subjects in English, he said the government would not do that at this time.

At the Johor Umno convention on Sunday (Nov 5, 2006), Johor Umno chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman questioned the government's meritocracy system, saying it was a form of discrimination and oppression against the Malays.

Ghani said it was impossible to strive for meritocracy in the absence of equal opportunities for education for rural and urban Malays.

He also described the Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian Race) concept as a "rojak" of races, which was unacceptable.

Abdullah today acknowledged that a person who is proficient in English may still find it difficult to understand certain terms used in specific fields, such as economics.

He said a functional literacy programme can be set up to train students to have the relevant knowledge of English in relation to a particular subject they will be pursuing.

Now Malay Chamber of Commerce questions govt's methodology
(Foong Li Mei - The Sun)

The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia yesterday questioned the methodology used by the government to calculate the corporate equity ownership of Malays.

It said in a statement that Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin's revelation in Parliament that bumiputras controlled 36.64% of the 912 companies (as at last Dec 31) listed on the main and second boards of Bursa Malaysia as "puzzling".

Chamber president Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Maidin said: "The revelation is discrepant. The government's previous firm stand was 18.9% ... we are worried that this will conduse the Malays.

"What methodology did the government use that resulted in the contradicting findings that is diseminated to the people?"

On Wednesday (Nov 8), theSun reported that Awang Adek responded to a supplementary question in Parliament that the companies taken into account in the calculation of the equity ownership are the 717,935 companies registered with Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).

The report also quoted Awang Adek that if only the listed companies were considered in the calculations, then the number of companies would only be around 1,000, "so it is only right to look at the 717,935 companies registered with CCM".

To eliminate confusion and ignorance of the Malays about their real economic status, the chamber urges the government and Malay leaders to:

* prepare data of Malays' status that separates the government-owned companies from those of bumiputra status;

* call Malay intellectuals to work together in preparing a complete and accurate data on the economic wealth of the community; and

* be firm in stating the Malays' position, and not speak out of fear or favour.

Abdul Rahman said statements by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) and Awang Adek were examples of the Malays' status being turned into an issue to provoke racial disharmony.


Proton talks with foreign firms

Shares in Malaysia's state-run carmaker Proton have climbed 20% after it was revealed it was in talks to sell a stake to a foreign car firm.- BBC

Peugeot and Volkswagen are among those it has held discussions with, a government minister said.

In January Volkswagen dropped plans to invest in Proton after it refused to relinquish managerial control.

But the government said that letting an outside firm take a 51% stake in manufacturing operations was possible.

This would allow Proton to manage sales and distribution, while another carmaker uses its expertise on the assembly lines.

Firms such as Volkswagen are looking to tap into the growing Asian market, while Proton wants access to new technology and help to protect its market share.

It is facing stiff competition from rival Asia carmakers that have been eating into its market share.

Malaysia's Second Minister of Finance Nor Mohamed Yakcop said government would make a decision on a tie-up within three months.

"We will do whatever it takes to make Proton viable. If we need to give them significant equity, we will give them significant equity." he said.

The government will decide within three months the possibility of giving approval for German carmaker Volkswagen AG (VW) to take up a 51% controlling stake in Proton Holdings Bhd's manufacturing operations.

Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop said on Nov 10 that the government was also talking to many carmakers including VW and Peugeot, on strategic partnership for Proton.


Malaysia's ex-leader stays in the game

Former Prime Minister Mahathir's trademark audacity could harm tentative peace mediations in Thailand's restive south.

(By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor )

Thailand Regional peacemaker or national troublemaker?

Mahathir Mohamad, who put his stamp firmly on Malaysia during two decades in power before retiring in 2003, has always worn several hats: economic modernizer, third-world champion, political schemer. He swaddled ethnic Malays in preferential perks, then scolded them for being lazy. He courted Western capital, while sniping at Western democracies.

But his latest double-act may be the most audacious - and paradoxical.

Since late last year, Dr. Mahathir has been brokering secret talks in Malaysia between Thai military officers and representatives of ethnic Malay insurgents in southern Thailand, paving the way for peace talks aimed at ending nearly three years of violence. At the same time, he has gone on the offensive against his handpicked successor, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, calling him unfit to lead the country.

Thanks in part to Mahathir's statesmanship, Thailand's new military-backed government has agreed to hold further talks in Malaysia, subject to a cease-fire and other preconditions. But Mahathir's brazen bid to undermine Mr. Badawi's leadership has raised doubts over the next step in the tentative peace process. Without the full backing of Malaysia's government, analysts say Mahathir's mediation efforts could fall at the first hurdle.

Badawi has expressed disbelief at what he calls "doses of venom." The row between the two men has opened a damaging rift within the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, where Mahathir still commands loyalty.

"It limits his effectiveness as a voice of the Malaysian government, because he's attacking that government," says Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia specialist at John Hopkins University.

And in a region fraught with communal conflict, Muslim-majority Malaysia is no small voice. It's already the host of negotiations between the Philippines and Muslim rebels on Mindanao island, where its officials are leading an international mission to monitor a 2003 cease-fire. Malaysians are also represented in a monitoring team in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh province after a 2005 accord ended decades of conflict. That mission is due to end next month after local elections are held in Aceh.

Even without the combustible Mahathir, though, Southern Thailand is a stiffer test of Malaysia's mediating skills. Several groups are blamed for the violence, and exiled leaders may have limited command over local gunmen. Moreover, Thailand has accused Malaysia of harboring militants who cross the porous border between the two countries to evade detection. In turn, Malaysia has chided its Buddhist neighbor for its rough treatment of its Muslim minority in the south.

Since taking office in October, Thailand's new Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, a retired Army general, has struck a more conciliatory tone toward the troubled south. On a visit there last week, he apologized to local Muslims for past abuses, including the deaths of nearly 80 men in Army custody after a 2004 protest was brutally suppressed. Charges against a further 58 protesters held since the incident were also dropped.

"I come here today to apologize for what the previous government did. Most of the mistakes that happened were that of the government," Surayud told a Muslim audience in the southern city of Pattani, to loud applause.

The peace talks predated the overthrow of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai premier. Mr. Thaksin's hardball tactics to counter the southern unrest, which has claimed over 1,700 lives, had upset senior figures in the mili- tary and the palace, which embraced Mahathir's offer to open backdoor channels to exiled insurgent leaders.

Behind the withering criticism of Badawi, a soft-spoken Islamic scholar, is a battle over Mahathir's political legacy and party patronage. The spark came in June with the cancellation of one of Mahathir's expensive pet projects: another bridge across the strait to neighboring Singapore.

Seizing on this decision, Mahathir attacked Badawi's economic record, then accused the premier's family of profiting from their proximity to power. This claim resonates among UMNO politicians who feel excluded from the spoils of patronage, as well as ordinary Malaysians seduced by Badawi's "Mr. Clean" image.

Mahathir has also tried to paint Badawi as a weak leader who bends to foreign pressure on trade issues, such as the import tariffs that protect Malaysia's national car company, Proton.

For his part, Badawi has largely held his tongue, allowing his allies to blast Mahathir as a meddler with a personal ax to grind. Mahathir was excluded from an annual UMNO conference this week, amid calls for him to be expelled for his outbursts.

In an open letter published Oct. 27, Mahathir claimed that he was being silenced by the Malaysian media. "No one dares to comment, criticize, or oppose anything that is done by the prime minister," he wrote.

One very recent development alter Mahathir's contentious relationships: He was admitted to hospital in Malaysia early Thursday after suffering a mild heart attack, but doctors now say his condition is stable. Badawi was among his visitors, but Mahathir was sleeping at the time, his son told reporters.

As Malaysian commentators digest the irony of Mahathir - a leader who censored critical reporting and enriched his business allies - decrying Badawi for running a nepotistic "police state," the peace track in southern Thailand appears far from certain. With no sign of a letup in violence, analysts are skeptical that Malaysia can bring the two sides together, consumed as they are by internal politicking.


Malaysia Proton Mahathir Abdullah Ahamd Badawi Asli Equity share Bumiputras Proton