Step one towards dismantling Tun M’s legacy is to strip his titles

Focus Malaysia : IF that is what former twice premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants – since he is no longer relevant now – his legacy should be dismantled and he should be stripped of the titles given to him by the palace.

When the rakyat gave him the second opportunity for a second premiership reign 15 years into his retirement, he destroyed his own legacy by breaking the trust of the people who were willing to forgive him for his past.

Once thought to have propped up the country’s economic growth by dishing out his mega projects to his cronies, his past has now returned to haunt him.

He should know what he did that caused innocent Chinese and Malay victims to be sacrificed on the altar for the sake of his and a few other leaders’ political mileage during the May 13 political (as opposed to racial) riots.

Recall how he had forced Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman to resign. We all remember how his handpicked successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was forced to step down and does he think he can do the same to Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the unity government?

He should also know what he did to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tun Musa Hitam, the Memali villagers, and the people he placed under the Internal Security Act (ISA) during Operation Lalang in 1987. Many of the reporters from The Star, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Watan lost their jobs or were unemployed for many months.

Hurting feelings of Chinese

His once-ardent supporters are now either gone or already in the 70s or 80s or 90s (like him who is 98) if they are still alive. Many would have faced the judgement seat in the afterlife but this Tun continues to create disharmony between people of all races in Malaysia.

Since becoming the main character behind his Malay Proclamation agenda, Dr Mahathir has once again attempted to play another round of destabilising a government that was set up legitimately by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA).

He should face the music for what he is doing. Given that the police have already concluded their investigation of his case about a month ago, perhaps it is time for the palace to act if the Deputy Public Prosecutor chooses not to charge the nonagenarian for his seditious remarks against the Malay Rulers as well as the Chinese born and bred in Malaysia.

In a speech which went viral, the former PM who was both defeated and lost his deposit in his Langkawi constituency during the last general election even has the indecency to claim that the Malays can no longer depend on the Malay rulers to protect them.

In a most bizarre manner, he then blamed the Chinese for using their opium money to control the Malay rulers.

Pic credit: Wikimedia Commons

For the record, opium trade no longer exists. Even at a time when the opium trade was booming, not every Chinese were opium traders. The Chinese were brought in by the British to work as labourers in both the ports and the tin mining.

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