Mahathirism and the Pakatan phobia

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has warned that the Malays will "lose their power" if the Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power, and he went on to label Pakatan leaders as a bunch of self-serving and racist politicians.

The elder statesman said such a situation would not be not far-fetched, as illustrated by the way the opposition ran the states it had won in the watershed March 2008 general election, when the ruling BN coalition lost control of five states.

Taking the example of Perak when it was still led by PAS's Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar, Mahathir (left) said the former had "followed DAP's orders" until he fell.

"So they call it a Chinese government. We might get a prime minister who is like Nizar... his name is Malay, he is a Muslim but he is not actually free. He is a tool of others and this could happen," he said in an exclusive article sent to Umno-online.

He also took the opportunity to brand DAP as a racist party for repeatedly raising racial issues for as long as he could remember.

Mahathir continued his tirade against PAS and Nizar, who was deposed after a spate of defections in the state assembly swung a simple majority in favour of the BN in 2009, accusing the Islamist party of using Islam as a means to garner support.

He also took a potshot at PKR, saying the party was merely posturing when claiming to fight for the Malays, when its actual goal was to fulfil the personal ambition of de facto leader and Mahathir's former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, to become prime minister.

"Unfortunately, Umno dropped this person, and in anger that he lost his opportunity, he formed another party. His struggle in singular, and it is not for race, religion and country but to become prime minister."

Mahathir went further to accuse the entire PKR leadership of being self-serving, saying they were only interested in using the party for their individual benefit.

"That is the basis for (forming) Keadilan (justice). Keadilan is just a name... (they) formed Keadilan as if this country has no justice," he said.

Meanwhile, Lembah MP Nurul Izzah Anwar today accused former prime minister and PERKASA patron Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of perpetuating the politics of racial fear to keep the ruling Malay elite in power, which she said was detrimental to the nation’s stability and progress.

The PKR legislator also offered to debate the veteran UMNO politician to disprove the claims he articulated in a blog post yesterday, in which the latter denied he was a racist.

“The ‘politics of fear’ uses Article 153 as a political instrument of deceit and despair,” the first-term MP said, referring to the Federal Constitution. Article 153 concerns the special position of the Bumiputeras, which includes the Malay community.

“I find this statement as irresponsible and as a desperate attempt to destabilise the nation,” the 30-year-old said of the country’s longest-serving premier.

The eldest daughter of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and a rising star in the PR bloc called on Malays to stand firm against the described threat to their community.

“We must fight back by emphasising on the ‘Politics of Hope and Liberation’, which will transform the Malay mind from the false fear of losing their identity and economical development to a positive force that will create a confident and liberated community,” she urged.

Nurul Izzah claimed the Malays have been persistently “indoctrinated” to “act out a victim mentality narrative that degrades, confuses and paralyses a community to remain enslaved intellectually and emotionally first by the colonial masters and now by its new reincarnation, UMNO”.

She stressed that the other partners in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition were also guilty for not speaking up for the communities they represented.