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-\11 Early Introduction to Brutal Politics
I'MI II
PAtGRAVE MACMILlAN
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registered in England, company numbef 185998. of Hourw:lmills. B asingstoke.
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Outcast to Presidential Premier
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'il"andal, What Scandal?
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lH]
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Prime Minister for Life, Almost
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i'()liticized by War and Peace
Thf, autho r has asserted hb right to be identified as the author 01lhi5 wort: in acco rdance w,th the Copyright, Designs and Patenh Act 1988. fin;t published lOO9
The Making of a Malay Champion
the United Kingdom. Europe and other countries
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I'll Uncrowned King
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l"Il ' Perils of a Pragmatic Islam
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A 'itrident Voice for the Third World
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coontry of origin.
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I h ' Destruction of a Dcsignatl'd Heir
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processes are expected 10 conform 10 Ihe environmental regulatioos of the
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, I'I..ce in History
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.1,11.111111 1\.1,,11,1111,111 • .III h~' du<;h,l(', While h(' has 1x'('1l a public figure In '1.1.11.1\\1.1 h" 11.11 1 , j I I'lIt ury ami wl'll known abroad for almost as long, he 11.1\ pu'wUh'd hunwlf iI') a bundle of cont radictions: a M alay champion, I\'h" \\,.\ ti ll' MdldY!>' fierces t crit ic and an ally of Ch i nese-Malaysian bus! 1H ~""III('n; ;t lifeless campaigner against Western ('Conomic domination w ho
,Is.siduously courled Amcrican and Europe" '1 capita lists; a blunt. combatiV(' individua l who extolied till' virt u('S o f consellSlIal Asian values. Much, of course, ca n he cx pl ain('d by pOlitical ex!X'diency: Like aU sue pol i ticians, Dr. Mah,lI h ir compromised where necessary \0 mt.'Ct the competi ng and shi fting dCln
character, Ha series of persul1,1(> ", as Klloo IkJ.ok Tei k pu t It in his 1995 study of the man an d hi s ideology.l Crit ics and admirers, who loathe and lov!! him with equal pass ion, are bo th co rreTt sometimes. [n the words of On(' sage wh o has know n and observed Dr. Mahathlr Since hIli student (lays, he is "so likeab[e and worthy of respec t at times am[ so utte r[y ruthless at olhers". z Unlike Khoo, I do IIOt an,, [yS(' Dr. Mah'lt hlr's !X'rformiH1ce wilh in a thl'Or(>t· ieal framework. As a tOllrnll list, I tell h is slOry from ground h~vel, examinIng the in teresti ng and signi rlcant ev('nts In his li fe ,lnel tile impact they had on him and the country. I foJ1ow him from birth in 1925 in modest circum· stances to his practice: as a provi ncial doctor, from outcast flfS t·tcfm 1");lrlla mentarlan to Ma laysia's longest serving prime min ist<'r and Third World spokesman, and from the heights of authoritarian IX)WN to tILl' depths of polit.ical recrim ination In retirement aHef 2003 . I take iI fres h ICKlk Oil til(.' <:on troversles that characterized his political cafl'Cr and ('xilll1 ine wh"t 22 yeilfs of strongman mle have meant for this former British territory. llirst encountt'"rl'<.l Dr. Milhathi r when I was IXlstl'd to Kual" Lumpur from 197710 1979 as a staffcoTfespondl'nt for th e Ashlll i'Vt/1I SlIt'('t 'II/mUll and he was deputy prime minister. Ill' was olltspoken and t('sty about l1l'gativc pull licity, especially after hI.' switcl1l'd from the ed llca tlon portfolio 10 trade and indust ry, responsible for attractin g foreign In ve ~ tr11 t· IH . lie remai ned eVl.'r ready to ucnounCt' critical foreign pn.'s5 reporting during h is premiership. In the interests of disclosure, I ShOll id nwn tlon that I hl'ld managerial posts and responsibil ities fo r the lo um(/I '.~ coverage of Malaysia from 19M'" to I Y92. Dr. Mahathlr spea ks for himself. As the author o f dO%{' IIS of books, stud ies and re pon s, the willing voice In hundreds of Interviews, several thousand speeches a nd a n ul most end less stream of commen ta ry, he has had his sayan nearly every conceivable sub ject. I lis memoirs will follow whe n he is finally satisfied with t he drafts and resists the tempta tion to
.,
vII
rewrite them one marl.' time,J I weigh his words against his record, relying heavily on reporting, by myself and others, supplemen ted by personal Interviews. In an effort to fiJI the gaps, reconcile differences and illuminate the \hadows, I interviewed Dr. Mahathir threi! times for the boo k. Two meet ings took place in his city office on the 86th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers In the hea rt of Kuala Lumpur, and the other in his regular office at the Perdan a Leadership Foundat ion at Putrajaya. Between the second and thi rd Interviews he had open-heart surgery and a follow-up operation for a ,('riolls Infection in the wound. He also answered additiona l questions sub mitted by email. Similarly, his wife, Sit! Hasmah Moh amad Ali, readily agreed to an interview and responded pro mpt ly to e mail que ries. The two of their seven children I a pproached, Marina and Mukh riz Mahathi r, also !\ubmltted to quest ioning. The fourth prime minister of MalaYSia and Ihe first commoner 10 hold the Hill', Ur. Mahalhir in many ways was an outsider. A nationaHsl and modern izer, essentia lly pragmatiC, he had litt le time for m les, customs and trad itions that migh t obst ruct his ambitious pla ns. Ever the maverick, he delighted in bucking the system and opting fo r Ihe unconventiona l course, especially if told he could not, or should not. Even whlle exercisi ng tighl political control, Dr. Mahathir never embraced the Malaysian establishm('nt , preferring to try and create a new social and political order more to his liking. Some aspects of Dr. Mahat h ir's early life hitherto have remained obscure, which might be considered surprising given how long he towe red over Malaysia and projected himself intem ationally. Part of the expla nat ion for the mystery is h is presumed sensitivity to bein g the grandwn o f an Indian Immigran t, whic h raised cultural barriers that fellow Malaysians have been reluctant to breach by questioning h im diJecUy. With me, Dr. Mahathir dis t-usscd his family frt'Cly and noted the influcnccs that shaped his outlook and stecred him into politics. Part I rovers events on his way to becoming prime minister althe age of 56. Part II, the body of the IXlOk, is a thematic treatment of Dr. Mahathlr's leadership of Malaysia. It opens with an account of how he defeated suc cessive IX>litical challenges, and expLores his vision, an all
,III
I ,'''rll'tI/.!
\\']1.1/,111' \1 11111 II v I lIllI"l ,h 'II'I" " I' ". II IIII\\" 1II r>.1,IIMthir':. "'t hink big" philo, \"1'11\ \\ 111t II PIUlltl'l,·" ,t Pllltih ' loI,T II" wIling all sorts o f world reco rds, 111-. ,11,,\,<,111",1 1 wllh Ih, IIhl' t,,~.11 hUllwllollls t h at constitut e the Malay. \1,111 11I,nl.l/, 11\
. 1,I Ilf1c<.' fcl t. I'art II I assessel> Dr. Mallathi r's Ie'Sat"y a nd looks at his place in history .
f'o"'w()Id ix
At the Instit ute o f Soutllea:>t Asia n Stud ies in Sin glLpOTI', the libra ry staff wt're extremely helpful and ISEA'i spffialists ge nerously sha red thei r know. I{'tigl:'. Among them, Musta fa izwdd in a nd R. Rarnas
Barry Wai n Sin gapore N.B.
Resea rch in g thh book gavc me the opportunit y 10 make con tact with ma ny MalaYSia ns, quit e II numher of them old fr ien ds. Mo)t were on ly too willi ng to hdp. It was an affirmaUon o f thc d leerful coope.ration and cour. tE':>y I haw foun d throughout a long associatIon with th e cou ntry. P,tra m CUIlHtTaSwil m y was g('nerous with his limf' in discus~ i ng the illter. section of legal and poli t icallsslles. Alxiul Wahab Mohamed Osman rounded up all a s ~ort m ent o f l(){'als in Alor Star to relive the early Mahath ir years. Abd ullah Ahmad W
I. The protpelling "Orne place nanH.'S In recent years - for example, Johor instead of Johore, Melaka for Malacca and Alor Setar rat her t han ;\lor Star - I ha ve u~ed the o ld slyle for con· sistency, since the book spans bot h periods. 4. Malaysia's currency, the ringgit , forme rly known as the Ma la)'~ i an dolla r, and before that the Straits dollar, was loosely pegged to an American dollar· dominated basket o f currencies d uring much of the Mah ,ltil ir era. The ringgit fluctu ated betwL'en an a n n ual average of RM2.:m :n and IlMZ.8 U 2 to USS I bet ween 198 1 and 199 7, before falli ng to RM4.S4 S0 when the peg was abandoned during the 1997- 98 Asian ('(o nomic crisis." The gov ernment ftx ed the rate at IlM :t80 wilen in trod ucing curr(' IKY ('ol\t rols in September 1998. Notes Kiloo 1100 T d\.., J',mI<Juu.1 u{ !"'[,Iiwtllirbm: All /lild/(o(" /lIlIl IlI0SI"u(!IIY uf j\,("II"II/i,' Moil,mwd (Kuala l.umpur: Oxfo rd Unlw rsit y Press, 1995). 2 Email correspontknn' wi th long.ti me acqualnt3nC(' of Mahalhir Ivl oh
2 $(oplembcr 2007.
J 11/.'11 ,.,../ III t-1.lllalhlr 111'K"r"d print-ouls of tIll" l·hapt!.'r of his unfinished memoirs ill e.lrly 2UOI'I ,lIal explained why hI.' had 1>...... /1 I,IlIabll.' to complete the job in fIlort
Part I
than flV<' Y{'a(s. "lk-("au.'K' I wrile ,1m! then I re-read and cornocl again. SomClim('s I
di
ard what [ havl' wrHlcn ,lOd H'wrile Ihe whole ch;,pler again ... and then SQIll;."
lime whilc Ic-rea
with Mah:llhir Mohamad, 31 Mnrch 200 8.
4 Kamlndcf Singh Ohlllon, MaJors;"" "'"rris" l)oJhY;1I tll<' MII/IilUlir Era (1981-2003); l)iJ('"IIUI/(IS u(f)('l'f.'lQfIllU'/11 (Singilporc: NUS I'J('SS, 2009).
.s. BalrY Wain, 1981 6
.. f nter Dr. M, Reaching for llis Gun", /\j;
Bank Nq ;,ra Mal
The Making of a Malay Champion
1 Politicized by War and Peace
Alor Stilr, the capital of Kedah state. might have Ilt'Cil a slcepy backwater in the e
tocracy lived in relat ive splendour in th e northern outskirts ,lrouncl lhe palace. Senior civil servants and til!! wl'althy occupied fml' hOI11('$ closer 10 the centre . The rest shared the rcst, wi th the poorl'sl fmding she ll er o n the oth er side o f the Kedah Rive r that b is('('ted the IOwn . Mahathir Mohamad was burn sout h of the river. ,\ s Mahat hir was to discover, inequality was not con lined to own ing a colonial houS(" in the best neigh bourhood . Ili s father, fou nder o f the gOY-
ernment's first EngliSh-medium st'comliuy school in Keda h and a passiona te educationist, could no t gel his daughters inlO seco ndary school. Members of the elite were gi ven priority, as t hey were in almost everything else, fro m university scholarsh ips to coveted iolls in the Keda h civil service. Allhough Ma h athir obtai n('d the at·ademic distinct ioll that usuall y won a scholarship fo r someone wit h t he right ped igree to st udy abroad and gain professional qualifica tions, none was fo rthcomi ng fo r hi m. Bri tish elit ism aod a Malay sen se of hiera rchy com bined 10 let pt'ople know th ei r plact.' in societ y. Tunku Abdul Rah man !'ulra, son of the Sultan of Kcdah and the independent coun try's tirst prime minist l'r, did beller than most royalS in socializing wi th fellow cit izens, but h(' never forgol his rega l orig ins. Explaining wh y h(' wnu ld not have known Ihe young Mahathir, Tu nk\1 Abdul Rahman sa id, HHc was 11 nobody. His fa ther was a subordi na te offic er in Kedah . I did not mix with his fathe r. We had a dub in Ketlah, a special club for civi l servant s, fo r royalty and so Oil . They had a subordinate dub. "l The discri min ation Mahathlr's fa mil y sLlffl' rl'd because it lacked t ile necessary sorio-eco nomi c bac kgro 1lnd and con nC'ct ions was genera l, not perso nal. 11 sa id much about Mahat h ir's st reng th of c ha racter, and the fami ly su pport he rel,:eived, Ihat he did not all ow it to obstruct a successfu l career in medicine and polili cs. Indeed, it made him more determi ned to succeed, .1
1'()liticll.",1 by WIIf alld Pro((' 5
though memorieS of the jn€'quiti e~ of t he system permanently colollr€'d hb ou l1ook. Where th e esl,lbli shmcnl was concerned, Mahath lr was a mavt'rick, an "outsider" In the words of Zainuddln Maidin, a iou rnalist-turned- Ix>liti clan and supporter In Kedah. 2 Mahath lr challenged tilt' rul ~ a nd convl'ntions, whem'vcl tl1(' y appe,ned to make no sense, or got In his way. He {eve lied In being a contra rian, doing what was popularly forbidden . To many others, Mahathir's youthful experience man ifested itself as an inferiority complel( that made him fight harder, shout louder, build bigger and remain sU IX"rscnsitive to any Slight or uiticislII . "I prefer to say he ha~ a big ch ip on his shoulder," cOllunentecl Ahdullah Ahmad, a long-ti me poli ti(:al ally. t Khalid Atxlullah, ,Ill ea rly business pa rtll€'r and friend for more than half a cen tury, observed wit h a gentle laugh, "I t hill k he has a little sUlx'riority com plex." Khalid quoted an Arab proverb to explain Mahathir's mentality: "If you Sl'l' me with o ne eye, I have 110 eyes to see you, If you see me with both eyes, I have all my eyes to see YOll ."4 Eyes wide open, Maha thlr focused on l>olitics early. lie got hooked while he was stili In school and never deviated fro m his desire to become a IXllltIcilln_ Every ste p he took, incl ud ing q ua lifying as a doctor, was meant to enhance his credentials for a j)olitlcall'arl'l'r, He t'nteted the national\>olltIcal arena 1x.'Cause he was unhappy with the state of the country and wan ted to Change it. Most of all, he set ou t to Improve the status of fellow Malays, the country's predominant ethnic group who, despite the;r numerical superiorit y, lagged economica lly behind the ChineS(.', He would not become prime minister umit the age of 56, aftt'r overcomi ng s{'veral ~'ri ous 1x>litiGII obstera k, a semi-rural slum in Alar Star, on lO )uly 1925.lI i5 fat her, Mohamad Iskandar, a teacher, had lX'l'n recruited
from Penang by the Kedah state authorities to open a secondary school for the sons and daughters ofthe sultan anc1 local cli te. Left with Iltrl'C children after the death of his wife, he moved to Alor Star and married Mahathlr's mother, Wa n Tcmpawall Wall lIilnafi, a loca l woman 14 years hIs lunlor, who (1 that Iskandar hailed from Kerala, Mahat hir said he was not CV('1l sure it was his grandfat her who was the immigra nt, Si nce no records survived a nd hi s father had never mentio lled the ~u\)iel·t . "Frankly, \Ve don't know whkh part of Indi,l we CHme from," he sa id. "Maybe thi s grandfather or ))re,11 grandfathe r: One of thelll lIlust have come from India, .. ra Mahath ir never met his gra ndfather Iskanda r, who d ied before he was born, though he knew his grandmot her, IsJ...a ndar's wi fe Sit i Hawa, whom he idenUrloo also as a "Pe nang Malay". Like his father, Mahathirdid not dl.\Cuss his Ind ian side publicly, and the mall('r was trea ted like a dirty fa mil y seCret and no t me n tioned ill poli te company. Aft er he became (\cplrty prim e mi n ister, an offi cial govern ment publication described his fa tlier as the firs l "Malay" 10 become a seconda ry school headmaster. A genealogical cha rt displayed in Mahathir's old house, converted Into a museum in 1992, traces his li neage through his Malay mot her, bu t has almost not h ing o n his fat her'S side. While he was al'li ve poli tically, Maha thir left the impressio n it was a sensi tive sub ject, eve n wHh his im mediate farnily, !l t hough ill' was highl y amused when p('oplc
f'olilidzl·,jI)y W", fIIull't'(ltr
from Ind ia , Pakistan d to influences ill Ihose fo rmative year,>. No factor was more import ant tha n hi s pipe-smoking fath er. Master Mohamad Islmndar, as he was called a t school, IllI poS<'d a similarly strict regi men at home (IS hI.' fam olls[y did In the classroom. [It' ~upervi~ed h is children's homework, helping them with mathema ti<."S an(1 English. RelatiVl.'s s<.'nt thei r children to stay with the fam ily, knowing he would insist that they study. Ilis rok' wa~ to Inulka te illl ll e <:hildren work habits and Icarn l n~, ha villg acquired his OWIl education in Penang over tilt:' obje<:tions of his pa r~'llt s and lifted himself 10 a pOSition of illit hority and respect in th e w mmlinH y. As Mahat hir recalled, "The sou nd of his l:ough dS he approadlcd the Imll St' wa ~ l·llough to ~n cl us boys flying back to our books.'<1 ~ Wilful though nol rebellious, Ma hathir "bsorlx.'{1 tll~' worklOild and ('xcelled al school. Quil't, studious and not m uch interested ill sporlS - Ill' once lOld a friend he played marbles l(, - he read voracio usly lind kq )t pr<:tty m uch to himself. At hOllie, Mahalh ir had his own ide,ts ami st ud to them with precociousobstinafY. /\5 llis sist('rs sa id, they found 110 point in trying to stop llim once he had made up his mind to do SOmet hing !x-l-;!USe he knew exactl y what he willlted. The whole family learned in the enel that it was easiest to let
7
stubborn lillie Mah athir tlo things his wily Y In d ue COUTSt', the ell ti rt' country wen t along with him. i\dull Mahathir's (h enu· song - suggested by ot ht.' rs (lncl readily C'llIbraced by h im - was the oTie pO]Jularized by Frank Sinatra, My W!I)'. In lalt'r life, MJlwthir wa s often judged (0 be " ull-Malay'· in his domJnan t personal values: disc ip line, ha rd wor k and self-im provem e nt, tIll' qualities acquiTt'd from his highly- motivated a mi up wa rdl y mob ile father. Real izing the rewa rds of striving for excell ence, he believed oth er Malays coul d b(' successful too, if thcy were given half a chance and changed their attit ud('s. providing that opportu nit y and trying to br ing about (I ll adj ustmen t ill the Mala y mindsel would remai n a lifelong COtll 111 it IIlt' n\. If h is fathcr was em otio nall y distant, Mahathir fou nd love a nd afkt·tioll amollR the womcn in the household . Wh ile his siste rs indulged the la st born, his mother l'ould be counted Oil to provide protection on those occasions that his fath er 10:;1 his temper with the boyyl They C
1'lIlilici7.t'1i iJ,' W(If 11/1,1
8 Ma"wsiall Maverick
Much to Master Moilamad Iskanda r's disgust, however, nOlle of his four da ughters could attend secondary school in Kedah, as all places in the girls' school were taken by children of the elite. He was silock(.'d when the school rejected h is fi rst daugh te r ;Iher she had fi n ished primary school. S'lid Mahathi r, " Ik was wry annoyc'd because he was a government officer, and he was invited to Kedah to start the school. And yet this girls' school, whi ch was started la te r on, refused to accept my sister." NOlle of the other th ree girls had any better luck when their ti me callJe.2-.i Jllst how galling Illat was to Moharnad Iskandar, who was obsessed with ed ucation as a mean s or getting ahead. can be gaug('d by o ne measu re: He had fal siHed the birth da tes of h is sons to ensure they could start t he first yea r of prima ry school wit hout any of the usual arguments about having to wait un til the foll owing int ake. Mahathi r's bi rth certifICate showed he was born on 20 December 1925, and it remained his official birt hday, bei ng c hase r! hy t he guvernment, for exa m ple, a~ Ihe day on which to op('n his o ld house as a museum. BUI , a .~ Mahathir discove red from notes written by his father in t he back of a di ction ary, he WilS actually born fi ve mon th s e;IfJi ('r. I lis fath er h'ld given ,Ill the boys arbitrary Dt'Cember birth dates , while r('cordi ng the correct datt's in the dictio nary .2~ If the autJlorities hoped to make amends lal(>r by na ming a prima ry schooL established wit hin the Sultan Alxlui l lamid ColI<.'ge mmpound, aft<.'r Moharnad, their dforts went a .... ry. They ca lled the school hy mistake Iska ndar, which o f course was his fathe r's name, not ll i$.2..'i Hundred s of uniforrned students froill the Iskandar school :111(\ the COllege, girls induded, marched in Moharnad's fun eral procession in 1961 , recognition of his con· tribution to education, but also a relll inder of his niggling un llappiness. Mahalhir's teenage innocence was sh attered by two tra umati<: ('vents, whkh tboroughly polit icized him and ch an ged the course of his life: t he Ja pa nese occupalion of Malaya from 194 L to 1945 a nd Britai n's return aft er World War II wit h radical pl a ns for the fu ture ad ministrat ion of the country. Mahathir watcht'd arriving Japane~e troops flush a British soldier out of the local COlLrthouse, drag him 10 the riverbank and bayonet him to death. His tasting memory of the Japanese in te rlude . how(' ver, was the e xpo~urt;' of Malay "backwt up a coffee stall in t he local market. They sold thc ~ h op for a small profi t ,1nd gradu· .lIed to selling bana nas and morc lucrative items before the war enck-'d. But most Malays werl' not so savvy or adaptable. Many, induding his own broth ers, who wer(' retrenc hed by the Japanese fro m their government jobs, foun d it hard to make ends mee!. Ma hathir described their lack o f knowlt'dge of e ven pe tt y trading a~ "piti ful~. He condud(>d tha i If Malays were l'ver to enjoy t he same living standards a ~ Chincse, they would nct'd ext ra government ht'l p.
l't'II(~
9
As it happened, t he return ing British proposed to form t he Malayan Un ion , which wou ld rem ove the advlll1tages t he Malays had long enjoyed, while extendi ng citizenship freely to all races. As Mallathir and ot hers saw it, if the Malays were behind when Ihey already receiwd preference in areas such as employment in the bureaucracy, land ownership and ed uca tional assistance, t hey would suffe r grievollsly in the open com pe tit ion being e nVisaged with the Ch inese a nd Ind ia liS. Int roduced in 194 6 over ferven t Malay objections, the Malayan Union grouped t he nine Mal ay states, where Britai n ruled iud irectly th rough monarchies headed by su ltans, with the settlements of Penang and Malacca - which Britain ad ministered di rectly, en the worl d's most complex sod ety -three communitirs d ividt'd hy rt'ligion, Ia n· guage, culture, value system s, place of residence, o<:cupat ioTl and income - Ihe Ilri\ish had made no attcm pt to integrate the im migra nts, originally regarding them as guest workt>rs. Now that they and olher fore igners had control of the economy, Britain was intending to grant them citizenship. As pout of the Ma lay nationalist outrage that swept the country, Mahathir led schoo! friends in orga nizing protests, mai nly produci ng and distributing posters at nigh t. 1·le jOi ned activist group~ and attended, as a n observer, a Ililtlona l congress of Malay organ i7.A1lions th<1t gav(' biJth to UMNO. 2f> In t he fa ce. of lhc fiert·" UMNO·kd res istance, tl1e British aba ndo ned the Malayan Uni on in 1948, replacing it with a federation Ih at allowed the sultans to retai n certa in powers, tho ugh under o ne overall govcrnmcllt. Although M
... my in terest in politics was st irred up act ually during thl' Japanese pe ri od . You know, I read a lot of history, a nd I felt that the Mlllays seem
10 M ,tlilysicm .\1m-wick
fated to liVl' u nde r t ile do m inatio n o f o the r peo ple ... they IISl'd to be under the Thais ... a nd Ihey had to pay tri b ute to China . They had to submit to t he British, the I'o rtuguesc ... for 450 years .. .! rcad ,Iboll t t he thirteen colon ies and how they struggled for independence and ho w the United Sta tes e ml'rgcd .. .th is innue ncccnsio n, which d wind k'
" (lli/icilt',/ by W", (llIII I'CllCI' I I
Re locat ing in 1947 at 22 fro m t he fringes o f e m pire to the commercial l·en tre of colonia l Malaya , Ma hath ir encou n te red a co m pletely different world in Singa pore,) r It o pened h is eyes to the possibili ti es o f modern Izatio n and confirm ed his worst fears abou t th e Malays bei ng d ispossessL'd of t heir own cou ntry. Th e island settlement al t he foot of the Ma lay Pe nin sula admi ni stered d irectl y like Ma lacca an d Penang prev iou~ l y, was Uritbh territory, having been aC4ul red from th e Sulta n o f JohOTe in the ('arly nineteel1th century, a nd a nyo ne bo rn the re was a British su b ject. Ma hathlr r('<:alled, "They we re so very fa r a head of us - huge urban com · mun ity, very sophistIcated and very rich peo ple - wh erea~ I carne fro m Alar St ar, where Ihe Ma lays in particula r were very p OO r. "12 The dangers, tho ugh, we re just as co nspiCUOUS. As Maha th ir wro le, t he "easy·going" Malays had been u nable to compete wit h the " native d iligence and busincss drive'" or the imm ig ra n t C h inese, who had been encouragl'd by the Uritish 10 settle in Singaporc. O nce the o wners and ru!l'rs, Malays now were to he fo u nd o nly in the poorer quarters living in dilapidated (Ilial' and pla nk huts, "sometimes only a stone's thro w from the pa latia l resld ellces o f Chinese m illio naires" . ·llleY wo rked as S}'Cl'S, fIIkmrs k('/mll , tambies - d rivers, gardeners, o ffice boys - and cooks. Most English schoo ls w('re compktcly withoul Malay studl'n ts. So un en viable was t he positi o n of the Mala~r"s in Si ngapore that ~ most of them have lost their .sel f-respect and racial pride". If Malay interests .....ere not safegua rded, there was no doubt what would happen: .. ... the prevailing condition in Singa lx>re would invade t he Peni nsula"_.l3 Malay under.represe n tatio n in hi s college, where 630 of 700 students were non.Ma lay, rei n forced th e impressio n o f t he ir exciusion .J4 Aga inst strong opposition, M'lhath ir argued fo r the rete n tion of a 75 pe r cent q uota in favo ur o f Ma lays for govem ment scho larshipS to t he col1cge.·15 W hile M,lha thir d id well in his medica l stud ies, it worried him t ha t ot he r Malays, who n um be red JUSl seven o r the intake o f 75 stud ents in his year, o ft en struggled. Only fou r o f the m grad uated as doctors, d espite special coaching to wh ich Mahat h ir con t ributed. O ne w ho had tro uble with ph ysics a nd chemist ry and need ed his help - she had not been able to study these subjects in h er second ary school - was Sil i Hasma h Mo hamad Ali, the only female among the Mal ay students, who was fr om a resl>cctl'd fami ly in Selangor state. Although Ma hathi r wa s sh y and awkw;ud in the p resence of girls - meet ing th e o pposit e sex was a totally Ill'W ('xpc rien te for him - he soon bc<:ame "possessivt'" and " Iea lous " ..u> Dr. Maha thlr, who grad uated In 1953, married his f!CSt and o nly g irlfriend in 1956,;1 unio n tha t was 10 last a lifetime. Not sur prisi ngly, Ma halhlr acq uired a jaund iced view or the often unruly, poorly educated Ch ine~c who jo slled aggressively in the crossroads port. !-Ie knew from perso nal expcriencl' how the Malays were often brushed aside and their d ignity flouh.'d . I Ie o nce askl'll a laxi driver to take hi m to the ho me o f a
12 MalaYS/lilt Mmw;r/c
WOl1ldn frie nd, only to be deli vered to the servants' qua riNs of the house. 17 Mahalhlr had a long memory, particularly wll('n it carne to insults and e ne m ies. Invited to Singapor(> in 1978 by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Y(>w soon after becoming Ma laY5ia 's deputy prime minister, Dr. Mahathir did not try to hide his deep a nti-Singapore feeli ngs. l ie told his host t hat Singapore Chinese looked down upon the Malays.jB At a personal level, however, Mahathir had no trouble: at all making friends with people of all ethnic backgrounds. In the Class of 47 - Ihe stude nts tho ughtfully named it aher their fres hman year to include those who graduated late o r d roPlx' of US. "l'" They held regular re un ions, in Si nga pore o r MalaYSia, c ulmi nati ng In a 60t h ann iw rsary ga ther in g in 2007 . with Dr. Mah athlr always making a suprem e effort 10 all(! nO . While he wa'> prime mini ster, he wo ul d t(' li hl:i bodyguards a nd min de rs 10 lea ve, exposing himself to the Tagging of aging medicos reliving their youth, and dish ing il out to them In retu rn. At these intensely private, Informal ga therings, Dr. Mahathit and Dr. Si ti lIasrnah, both considered to have good voices - he rs somewhat better t ha n h is - were usually ca lled upon for a duet. In 1997, Or. Ma hath ir sa ng My WtlY solo, with lyrics written for the occasion by class members a nd featuring Arneriran investor George Soros, blamed by the Ma laysian leader for aggravating the A~lan t'C(momic crisis that )'ear.4O Living away fro m ho me for the first ti me, Mahathir proved a true son of his father as he managed his time eXp.:'rtly. Sor ializing little beyond occasio nal visits to thl' cinema, he shunned campus poli ticS, d ismissing such activity as " playing gall\es~, a nd telling fellow students he prden ed to pmticipatc In tht' 1'('31 polit ical d ra ma unfold in g on th(' Ma lay P(' ninsula.~1 Mahat hir bcca ml' president of the college Islamic Socicty, and edited and produced an issllc of his medica l school lou mal, the O w/drou. lie continued writing artick-s regularly enough for Ihe Stmits "'/11"5 lind Sunriay Times to hel p buy a motorcycle; Siti IId",mah n.xll· pil lion. lIis varied o utput, written in a ~di r('d, d idactic style. W>lS a "rt'm arkable accompli shm(·nt fo r a ful l-ti me studen t in a demanding d iscipline ....' ! And if was apPl'('Ciated, >It least by the Straits Timl·s. An editor called him to the paper's offic(.>$ in Singapore and as ked if hl' was intt're:.t('(] In a job as a journalist. No, he was not. Singapore gave bi rth to an ur ban myth, Ihat Mahathi r thought of himself as an Indian when he ellle red un iversity. The story was relold in severa l gossipy versio ns, losing no nc of it~ appea l across the decad('s. Academ ics, diploma ts a nd even a forme r cabin('t COlleague delighted in passing along the dNails, all complet ely un tru(>. Mahat hir's fath er considered hi msel f a Ma lay and he l'nsured that illl his l'hildren were noth ing else but Malay.
Politicized by WilT (I//(/l'l'II(('
1:1
In hi $ w ritings, which began be fo re he went 10 Singapo re, Mahathir identified totally wit h the Ma lays an d show('ti he was intimately familiar with thei r custo ms, social life and problems, whether it was educat ion, fis h, ing or pudi plim ti ng. His more overtl y poli tical Wllt rihuti ons were polem· ical, and uncomprom ising in dcf(>ncc of Malay rights. Foreshadowing the nationalist sta nce Ihat wou ld make him a hero to m an y Mala ys when he enter('(1 Pa rliament, he crit icized the colonial admi nistration, l'alled for the re-i ntroduction o f Ma lay as an oflici al language, alongside English , a nd made tht' case for "reta rdi ng progrt'ss" somet imes in order to help tht' Miliays advance. Well ahead of his time, hl' also advOt'a ted women 's rights, a rgUing espt"'C ia lly for women to be give n opportunities In education a nd employment .H At the same lime, Maha thi r bega n to reveal critica l opinions about the Ma lay'S themselves that would be, their "low aver;lge in telligence quolien l ... ~~ After graduati ng, Dr. Ma hllthh spent only four years in government s('rvin~ in Pena ng and Kedah befort· resig ni ng to o pen a private practice, while his wift' was to work as a docto r fo r the govern mellt for 2S years. Alt hough the im med iate reason fOr his q uitti ng was the failure of a superior to support h is ilppl iGlI iol\ for a posting to study In a teHch ing hospital in Pena ng to be a surgeon, h(' also wanted to remai n ncar his aging parents. Borrowing money from a brot her-in-law. he opcnl'<.l in Alor Sta r the MAHA Clinic - a name mean ing Qg r(' al~ in Mal ay thai rornbined the first two lette rs of Mahalhir and lI asmah, his wjfe~5 - in 1957. As one of only five privall' d octors in the town and the fir:;! Malay, he camc to be known as ~Ur. UMNO", with his office often Identified as the " UMNO Clink". Dr. Mahath ir acquiH.' While t he sa rcasm was never far away, Dr. Mahathlr would carry much of h is bedside man ner Into po lit ics: Evl'n his <;ha rpest comments. which stung, l'Ut and wounded, were usually cleiiv('rt'(l in d ulcel lones, as if adv isIng an ill farmer to tak(· hh pills three times II day . Mu khrlz Mahath ir saw his father lose his temper and curS(' on ly once: whl'n It was di~cove red Imt in t ime that someo ne in Dr. Ma hathir's re-election ca mpaig n office had Incorr€'<.'tl y completed his nomina tion papers in an a ll cmpt to sabotage his ca ndidacy. Th e expletive was m ild, Mukhrlz said . " In Kcdah, t'speciall y t hat generat ion, they swea r somewh at politely."47 Dextero us, Dr. Mahathi r spent his spare limr In a home workshop on car]X'ntry, wood turn ing and metalwork. l Ie built boo.ts powered hy outboo rd motors and used machinery to fashion wrough t Iron into name plates, lam ps
l'olitic/I.'YiIIY
and chandeliers. " I likl' the feeling of b ui lding things, of working with wood o r metal a nd crt'atillg something," h e once told a II ri tish jo urnalist. No on c who witnessed h im at his h ()hbi ~ do ub ted he wo uld h ave m ad e a fml'surgeon. Dr. Maha lhir and Dr. Siti lI asmah we re a lso in volwd in welfat(' and p ublic hea lth activit ies. W hil e he, a s Preside nt o f the Kedah Tub('rcu lo sis Associatio n, visit ed Indian workers on rubb('r p lan ta tIo ns to tr('at and give advic(' to 'I'll su ffe rers, '~ she threw h('1 weigh t beh in d the K('dah Fam ily Pla nn in g Associa tio n. At Dr. Mah ath ir's request, Sha ilri Oaud, a federal bun.·aucra! and friend, helped him l'Stablish a private l'tlucat ion association to fi n
w,,' IUI,II'~l~~
15
a l Titi Gajah, I I 1..Jlo!l1t:lres out o f town - on t he pn'stigio us northern s i d ('. ~s Desigm'd by Baha rud dl n Abu Kassim. Ihl' archlt~t responSible for t he Natio nal Mosque in Kuala Lu mpur, the house feat ured mod ern conV(! nil~n Ces unknown to most locals and sat in spacious gro u nd s that backed on to iI river and upen ed at Ih e front to a vista o f almost endless green fields . lIoth p arents strl'ss{'d the t rad iti o n al and relig iOUS values that h ad bC<'n d ru mmed Into them : honesty, gratitude, r('~ I)('Ct for elders, hard work and discipline, along wt\ h the illlpOTtanC{" of cdur atlon and the valu(> of mo n ey. Dr. Mahat hlr j'lug hed when the kids e nter('(.l [}('wspl ol'ks of Mal aysia, t he children lea rned about tht wider wo rld fro m the ir father. Mari na was not a ll owl'd to h ave pen pill~ from South Mrica o r israel because of apa rtheid and the I'a l e ~tinjan cauSl.' . Twice, an Ame rican teenager stayed wit h the fa m ily fOI a cou ple of lIIonth s u nder a st ude nt exchange p rogra mme, which Dr. Ma h ath lr " was reall y in to", a s Mukhriz Mahathir put it. The pa~n ts lost some o f their ent husiasm , though, after Marina, at 16, returned from three months in California "quite influ· c nCl'(1 b)' the AmerIcan way o f life~ , in Il{'r mot her's wo rds. Marina had become u very forward , argumentaliv{''' , Dr. Sit i Ilaslilah sa id. '>II Marina l
profitilble. Dr. Mahathir recall ed tha t befo re tht war the re had been oilly two Malay shops in the wh o le of Alor Sta r.!" He helped found the Malay Cham ber of Com merce and later serv('(1 as a director. "Mah athlr was an inspiration," said locally-born Jaafar Ism ail , who in 2007 was th e exc· C\lti ve d irector, infrastructurt·, of an Australian-listed internationa l invest· men t fund and asset manageme nt group. " I saw business as a th ing to dO."62 One of Dr. Maha thir's noteworthy investments began with his pilch to a sa les representative, who distributed pharmaceuticals to doctors, to q uit his Penang-based agency and ioin Dr. Mahathir in fo rm ing a riva l compan y. Dr. Maha th ir, w ith 30 pe r cent of tht' eqUity, was one of eight shareholders whe n MICO Farmasi Sdn. Bhd . was incoqX)f;lthi in 1964. He organi zed the fllla ncial side wh ile the former sa lesm all put together the manageme nt team and ran the company. [t was ca lled Mleo, at Dr. Mahathir's sugges ti o n, for Malaysian India n Chinese Organ ization, beca u~ e the o wn ers were drawn from all three ethnic groups. In addition to distributlng drugs wholesale throughollt Kedah a nd Perl is sta tes, t he company o perated a reta il pharmacy in Ala r Star. In 2008, 44 years later, MleO waS humming a long with a staff of ten, its origi nal family shareholder structure sti ll in place, including Dr. Maha thir' s stake. The managing director was l'la ja Nasrudeen Abdul Ka reem, 46, the physiCian son o f the salesma n-founder, who had taken over u pon his fathe r'sdea tb in 1992.fL1 While Dr. Mahathir told friends he was t rying to make money to launch his political bid, he did not hesita te to flaun t his wealt h. He bought o ne of the biggest and most im posing alltomo biles eve r produced by Detroit, a blue Pontiac. His later expla nation tha t he acqu i.red the ca r from a friend, who was the agent, because he was haVi ng trouble se lling the Po ntiac and offered it cheap - "only 12,000" dollars - and o n ins ta llments, was only part of the story. At a ti me when most people in Alor Star wal ked or pedaled bicycles alo ng d usty streets li ned with low wooden bui ld ings and everyone knew who owned which ca r, Dr. Mahath ir was makIng a stat ement: It was "a symbol of h is aspiration to prove the capabilities o f the Malays", as one admire r saw it .64 Most immediately, it was a d eclaration that the boy fro m the wrong side of the tracks had arrived. "Maybe there's somc clement a lso of that," Dr. Mahathir conceded. In case anyone m issed the poi nt, Dr. Mahathir employed a Ch inese d river. His later contention , thai "'1 never realized that I was doing something odd " and that he hired the mao because he asked fo r the job and spoke Malay, should be taken with more than a grain of salt. His friends in Kuala Lumpur certain ly let him kno w they found the arrangement "ullusua l ~ . Remember that Dr. Mahilthi r had ci ted Malays working as drivers as evidence of thei r marginalization in Singapore. As he once told a frknd , "A driver sits in t he front of the ca r, but who is the t/lan? The master sits in the back. Who opens the door? The driver." M
NatiOnally, the UMNO-Icd Malays, energized by the likes of Dr. Mahathlr, secured arrangement s for independence largely o n the ir term s, fo llowing British re- recogn ition in 1948 that Malaya was essent ially the land of the Malays. Independent Malaya, which materialized on 3 1 August 1957, was a "Ma lay ~ nation -state where the "specia l position" of the Ma lays was rctognized in til(' Const it ution . The sovereignty of the sulta ns in the nine Malay states was reaffirmed, and Ihey were given powers to reserve government jobs, licences, servic<.'S and scholarships fo r Malays, exercised in practice throug h political leadc.rs. But while the 8ritish COl1CN.kd Malay polit ical primacy a mong the various races, they insisted that UMNO work out a basis for inte r-racial cooperatio n, uni ty and harmony. It took the form of an Allia nce linking UMNO with political parties representing the- Chinese and India ns. The three lJ.clrties negotiated what came into focus later as an unwritten "social contract ", which most Malays hOIX'd wou ld lead to econo mic improvemen t while most no n-Malays hoped to gain po litical intlw:tlce. Although Malay was the nationa l language and Islam "the" religion, qua lified non-Malay residents of Malaya would share ci tizenship with Malays, and they would en joy fr('edo m of worShip. The terms of the agreemcnt remained cont ent iolls, making the fut ure nation-state subjcct to contin uing racial pr<.'S sures an d challt·nges.'.6 Just ,1S some Malays always would be ready to prt.·ss even harder for k<'II/(II/(//1 Mday/l, Malay supremacy, there would be non-Malays prepared. to resist Dr. Mahathir would be in the thick of the recurring wrangling. Although Dr. Ma hat hir was well placed to plunge in to national pol itics, trou ble loomed in the form of his naggi ng d isagreemen ts with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, wh o was acclai med as fJupa Ml'uieku, Fa ther of Independe nce. At one level, it migh t be considCfl'"(l an inherited clash : Master Mohamad Iskandar had fo und it necessary 10 get outside help to kee p a young Tun ku Abdul Rahlllilll in check in h is sch ool. The fi rst to aomit ill ad ulthood tha t he was na ugh ty ;m d in need of disc ipline as a child, t he Tunku U5ed to arrive every dily on t he sholllders of a n aged palace attendant, resple ndent in a go ld -studded cap as pa rt of his royal regalia . With t he approval of the Tunku's mo ther, Mohamad Iskan dar had pul a stop to the fancy dress, in the in te rests of equality am o ng the students, and he devised a q ui ck solution to a teacher'S complai nt that the Tunku was disrupll ng hi s class. He sat him near the teacher's table./)] Differences between Dr. Mahathir and Tunku Abd u l Rahman, however, were much d('('per. The irrita tion and pe riod ic ill -feeling, which would be a factor in Malaysian polities fo r 40 years, was m utual. The two came from vastly d iffe re nt backg ro unds and generatio ns, and saw the world through d ifferen t eyes. It was hard to imagine two more opposite personalities, who happent'd to be horn in the same stat e and e ngaged in the same endeavou r at such a cri tica l juncture in the cou ntry's h istory.
l'uiitidu,l lJy Wi/( amll'(,lIet
18 MfliCly.\ i(!/1 Mm't'ficle
On(' of 45 children of t he Sultan of Kedah, Tun ku Abdul ltah man was an Anglophile, who readily admit ted he had misspe nt his yout h In Engla nd o n slow ho rses and fa st wome n . Hl' ea rned h is arts degrec wit h t he lowest possible marks fo r a pass a nd was 4 5 by the tim(' b(' passed his fina l bar cxam, ha ving work('(\ In t he Ke(\ah civil servi ce. A con fmll ('d bon vivan t who con t ln ucd to d rink and ga mbk modera tely, he was su perstitious, ( h ,m nl ng and pu t a high store on bei ng happy, t hough h(' had na tura l po ll tlcal instin ct s a nd devl'lopcd a s teely resolve. "The Tunku ", o r simpl y "Tu nkll ", as he wa s affecl io mllely known even though n umero us others of royal birth bo re the same tit le, became UMNO lea de r fo rtU itously. When th e post opened up unexpectedly in 195 1, Razak Il ossein was asked to stand, but nominated his friend, the Tu nku, bccause he considered himself too young. Not only d id Dr. Mahath ir not smo ke or gamble, he st rongly disa pproved of t he lifestyles o f sen ior civil servan ts and po lit icians who spe nt their I('bun.' hours in bars and dance halls - and on the gol f cou rse, a game played by the firs t three prime ministers. He was incenSE.'d by feudal aspects o f royalt y and scat hing about the ho ld tha t so me tradit ions had on th(' Ma lays, exemplified by the proverb, "L.et the child d ie, but lei not t he custom pe rish . ~ He po in ted out wit h dour logk that " if Ihe ch ild d ies, t hen the custom d ies alo ng wit h HIt.1>!! As (ar as Tunku Abdul Rahma n was concerned, Or. Ma ha thir lacked respect for Malay custom known as fldot and did not know h is place. He was certain he r{'Cognized in Or. Mahat hir an in f('rio rity complex occa· sioned by h is part-Indian ancestry, bet:ause he hl ms('lf had suffe red from t he same "diseasc" whe n loo ked down upon over h is skin colour while studying in Cambridge. "To ove rcome th is feeli ng of Infe riori ty, ~ said th e TlI ll ku, " I bough t the mos t ex pen sive, at tha t ti ll1e, super sports car a nd I sped through town i n It 1ll.1 king quite a nuisan("(,' o( myself. Just to be noti ( ed . " t,~ While Dr. Maha thir had his gian t Pon tiac, he wan t('(illlon,' tha n personal a ttention. He had a cause to sell as well . Although he and Tunku Abd ul I~ah ma n shared the opinion lhat the Malays were not very clever or dc ma nding, they pa rted sharply over wha t should be done about It. Th(' Tunku fi&'l lrt'(l they wou ld be {"onlenl to control the machil1<'ry of st ate, heading govern ment departments, the po lice and Ihe a rmy, a nd Issuing licences and eollel1 ing taxes. He was q ui te open alxlut leaving business to the Ch inese because. he said, they were good a t it and the Malays "have no idea how to make money" . Dr. Mahath ir wanted noth ing less than to teach the Malays to com pete and get thei r fai r share of Ihe nation's rk h e~ . Dr. Mahathir and Tunku Abdul Rahman first clashed during t he antiMalayan Union cam paign back in the 19405. The Tunku was "very an noyed ~ when Mahathir, still a stude nt, corrected gram matical mista kes in a letter draft ed by the Tunku to be sent to the colonial st'cretary."-' Dr. Mahathir
19
('merged as a n inte rna l c rit ic in 1954 after Tunku Abd ul Ra hman - na med chief minist('r of a gowrn men t that was gra n ted hom e ru le after lead ing t he Alli ance to vi ctory in 5 1 of 52 contested s('ats i n t ilt' count ry's fir st ge ne ral ell>etion - negotiated wit h Lon don for an end to t he British IH(,Senee. Dr. Mahat h ir ob jected to an agree me nt allow ing Brit ish a nd ot her Co rnrn omvealt h fo rces to remain in Malaya afte r Indepe nde nce In retu rn for a commi t ment to th(' (oun try's ex terna l dc(eIK c. Hc so mt'\ im{'s fo und hlrn sl'l f out of s te p wiIII UMN O's ]('adersh ip and sharIng vIews w ith oppo~ lt i o n pa rties. He al so opposed Ihe adoption o f the fol k tunc TI'f(lIIg Hula ll , r("packaged as Nt'${1 w ku , as the national a nthem, o n the grounds of its ~en ti nl{'n t a li t y . H e lost th,tt a rgume nt, 10 0 , but h ,1(1 Ihe last .sely when he bc\:a me prime min ister much la ter. Chairman of UMNO in Keda h and kno wn na tio nally, Dr. Ma ha th ir was eXpl'i:led to be a cand icla te in the 1959 gene w l eit'Ctio n, t he fi r~t in indepcmk n t Malaya. Hu l he wit hdrew over a mino r con fl kt, revea ling another side of his pe rsonality ,lOd po lit kal style that would crop up Ix'riod ically in his ca reer: a deep se nSi ti vit y to t he act ions of o thl;'rs all d, on occasions, an all-Of-not hing response to po lit ical problems.?) Dr. Mah ath lr had proposed t hat UMNO members choscn as candidates should have ccrtaln {'ducational q ualificat ions, alienating some mem bers, who appea led to Tun ku Abd ul Rah man . Or. Ma hat h ir sa id that as "th e party p resident backed t hem ", he "wit hd rew from acti ve IJa rtici pati on in t he party".ll Determined that when he madc his en try II would b(' all h is terms, Dr. MahathiI kept up the crit icism. "There Is no way that I wi ll go 10 Kua la l.u mpur just to tag along with t he Tu n ku a t the gol f course In order to make a comeback, ~ he sald .1\ lie did not have to. Nomina ted as thc Alliance ca ndidate for Kcdah's Kola Star Soulh parlia mentary constituency in 1964, he rom ped home aga inst a I'ersa tuan 1 ~ l a m 5.1 Ta nah Melayu (PAS) opponl'nl.
Notes K. I hH & /11,' Tllllle" 'rClfJI:~ (1'el.. lln l; Jaya: Str.. tcgic tn fo Dl,,'clopIllCIlt, 2002), l'p. 13 1- 132. Zain uddin Mald ln. '111(' Oilier Si(i(' of MdlU/tlti, (Kuata Lum pur: Utusa n I' ublicatiolls &: Distributors Sdn. liM ., 1994), p. 14. tntcrv!{'w wit h Ab.... u llah Ah mad, 30 May 2007, Intervit'w with Kh alil! Alxlullah, 28 f d1fuary 2007. John FUllston, ~ jl() lit il"lI l Cau.'crs of Maha thir M o hamad and An war Ibrahim : [la ra lll.'! , Inll'rsl't'l ing an d COlllllClin g Li ves", IKMAS Work ing Papers (In stitute of Ma lays ian and In tl' rIl llt lonal St ud lt'S, Uni Vl'rslt l Kl' ba n g ~a .m Malaysi a), no. 15 Ou l y 1998) : I- Iv, 1- 32. Con 1llct ing Vil'W$ I'xlst on Ik M"hathlr's orisi ns. Two pro m ine n t K holars 113 V(' wri Hen t hat Dr. Milhat h lr'5 fat her w as an immi grllIll from In d ia . See Joh n Flln~toll , "The Legacy (i f I)t. Mah at hir", AIIS/w /IIIII nmlllc/III R('I'irw, 30 Ju ly 2004; an d Michal'll .t'i fer, /Jicfiollfuy of 111(' MOf/rflt Po/ilks or s.mtll('(lst Asia (London and N~'w York Routledge, 1996 ('< li tlon ), p. 158. Khoo Roo Telk, "arwioxr.s or Ma lUl tlljr-
Kua Kia Soon g, cd., R.~~a rch
2
3 4 5
6
7
8 9 \0 II 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
36 ]7 38 39 40 41
1'111: A"lmd/rcllml W('.~ml'l tyof M:a po re: 1'11111:5 ~kdla I'll'. Ud .. 2000), p. 276. Ibid., p. 276. Intervll'w wit h Or. Won): I I1'c Ong, 21 M;HCh 2007. Interview with Dr. Wong lll'l' Ong, 2 1 M;HCh 2007; pho ne in te rvi ew with Dr. Jaml'S Mumga~u, 2J June- 2ooS. intervl("w with Wang GUlIgW\l, 6 Oclolx'r 2006.
42 jolm Fu n~to n, "l'ol1ll\'al Url'i.· rs of Mahal h ir Mo h arnad and Anwar Ib rahim: l'araHel. ImefSCCllng and Conl1lcll ng Ll vl'S ~. 4i Ihld. 44 Ik Mahathlr Mohamad, ~Ma l ay I'logrc)s and the UniVl'rsity·, In Till' Emir YI'
.'III f:
2 An Early Int roduction to Brutal Politics
Grilbb in g the political spotlight after hb election, Or. Mahath ir t'stilbli sh t'd a re pu tat iOn as a n a{"tive and articulate parliame nt aria n in dcfc lH:c of the Ma lays. II<- became lJMNO's ma in spokesma n in the ruling party's con flict wit h Si ngapore, led by Lee KUan Yew , over the kind of ~ocie t y t hey were tryi ng to bulld. L Or. Mahathi r'$ fir st parl iamentary l('rlll. from 196 4 to 1969, was an extremely turbulent lx-rial! in tlw co un try's political dcvelopmen t, and one of the hottest Issues wa~ the presence of Singapore. By \he lime Dr. Mahathir took h is place in the lIouS(' of Re presentat ives, Malaya had become Malaysia, a new territorial con figura tion whose legitilTlacy was opposed hy the Philippines a nd challenged hy Prc:.idelll Sub rno's Indonesia with a m](~d incu rsions. Established 0 1\ 16 Septemix'r 1963, Ma!;lysi
,I
22
/(I
Bml,," '/Jlil io
23
being "pure Chinese chauvinists" and "the most cOlll munal a nd rilcialiM In their attitudes". He discerned only one d ifference between them: "The Sociensitivity of most Mala~ian Chinese.' The Singaporeans may hav(' lost th('ir Malaysian Mi]laysla dreillll, !Jut they left a mark on Dr. Mahathir that was to haunt him for a long time: the label of "ultra", or communal extremist, which was adopted enthusiastically hy his Malaysian o ppOnt'nts liS well. Certainly radlc"l, Dr. Mallilthir appealt.'d emOtiOnally to the Malays and often frightened the Chinese, who viewed him with suspicion. Yet he deniLxI being an {'xtremlst and COIllplained that he was misinterpreted and mhunderstood, and that the tag made it hard to explain his stand in a rational manner. Dr. Mahathir identified with a younger group in UMNO that began to develop diff(,rent "iews from those of party leader... They urged greater gov· ernment assistance for Malays. closer alignment with Afro-Asian developing countries and opposition to foreign troops being based In Malaysia . Elected chairman of the Afro-Asian People's So lidarity Organization's committee for Ma laysia In 1964, Dr. Mahathir represented the coumr)' oversea~ in
All E(/flr/lI/roclr/('1i1J1I 10
socia ll y, 'I unku Abdullah 0l)1l8~d by ('storting h im to t he S~ln ngor Club, the J...1Kl' Club and elsew here, while j><'rsuadl ng him 10 da nce a nd have a glass uf white wine. "I hrought him down to my level," said Charlie. "OlhcrwiM' it would have Ix't'li horing."1! In tIll' COOlp4ny of Tunku Abdullah, who would later build a substantial business group, Dr. Maha lh ir's ent repre neurial sparks began 10 ny aga in. ThC'y went inlo partnership, starting a limOUSine service from the airport to the city, and acquiring a 20·room hotel in Su mat ra, but neither venture took off. Lacking borrowing power, thcy had to sell out to a third part ner after acquiring land and lJuliding W!sma Budiman, a high· rise commercial building, in the capital. ~It was a good effort" and they made "so me money", said Tunku Abdulla h, t hough poli t ics remained tlil' priority for Dr. Mahath it. With t he v.uious races r('presentcd hy the All iancc, however impe-rfecli y, and the economy til-king over, Malaysi a was s('('n inte rna tionally as a developing·world sun:('ss. 'I'll{' newly n eate-d count ry had survived ex pansio n to include Si nga po re, Sab'lh .t!ld Sarawa k, co ntr.lctlon wit h lhe wit h, d rawal of SinglL pon:, il Chin il·backcd l'Oll1munist imm gcm'y that rcqulrl'<.1 ,I s la t ~' of emergency frolll \ 9 48 to 1960, d as rite farmers, fts hl'rlllcn and rubix'r small·holders, it was insuffi c:icnt, o r not gUldt.'d by tlte appropriate pol icil..'s, to promote meaningfu l change. Malay rural life, in fact, was st.tgnating. with farmers missing out un the growth bei ng achieved by the overall economy. While the provisIon of roads, irrigatio n, electriflcat iun and \(ochnical advice hel ped, such in frast ructurc cou ld Ilot Ovt'r(,OIlW imtitutional nmstraints such as l.tlldICssncss, lack of rCilsonahh: cred it and marketi ng rnOl lopoiies.I(I Looking back, poli tical sck'nti.st Jo h n Funsto n fo und t hal thE' rcason for the lack of Ma l:ty progrl'ss IV:tS t hat UMNO did not have control of the political ~ys t elll, despite wh,lt WitS al most un iversally belil'ved. Whilc UMNO fi eld(.'(i most candida te.. In eJections a nd h;lci a dl'dsive majority of C:tbinet slo ts, it was thl' ChI nese "art ncr, till.' Mahlyslall Chinese Associatio n, that provided
Hrutd l l'oliti(~
25
IIImt of the AllianC(' funds and held the two key port foli os, Financl', and ( ormnert·c and Industry. t\ nd while It was true tha t power was concen trated III the hands of Tunku ,\belul Rahman, he was no typica l Malay and did Ilut alway'S repr(!';l'nt their interests. In many ways, the Anglicized, mahjong· pl,tylng, horse race·loving Tunku had m ort' in ( o mmon with the leadl'rs of Ilit, Alliance partner part ies than with the ran k .md file of ur'.1NO. II Presciently, in a newspaper artldt, published in 1968, Or. Mahat hir fore· '»11\' ,I "pent·up reservoir of iIl. feeli ngs", with thl' potential for violence, l)l:hlnd the seemingly "harmo nious relationship betwc('n thl' raccs". Noting tiM! racial intolerance leading to riots had occurred In the United States, IIritain, Africa and neighbouring ASia n (ountril'S, he said preventi\'(> mea!ourcs were needed to avoid it haplX'ning in Malaysia . He was in touch wllh people on the ground, and ~J kno w that tlu.' s lg n ~ and ~ymptorns are ,rlrt.'ady there.~ flaving giv('11 a similar warni ng In an art icle the previo us month, I.)r. MahJI hir co ncluded, "If I may say so again, soon it may be tOO 1,lIe. "12 Just over a year later, on 13 May 1969, Dr. M'l hiltitlr's grim prcdit"tion came I rue. Three days after a gelleral election result u pset the precarious Ih11a nce of hope and kilr, following a camp'llgn thill arouS(.'(1C()mTIIUl lal p.ilS~ ions, Malays ilnd ChinC!>l' indulged in an orgy of kill ing, looting a nd lJurning in Kua la I umpur. Although the Alilanre government retaIned a majority In Parlla· ment, UMNO lost Mof its 59 scats, on(' of thelll Dr. Mahal hir's. The oppos· Itlon won 14 urban scats, 13 of thcm at tl\(' cxpen!><: of Ihe Mala~ian Chinese ASSOCiation. Critk'ally, the opposition captured half of the scats in the Sclangor ':Ilate As!';embly, raising the possihility that a Ma lay state that included the nation's capital would pa..s in to Chlne!>C hands. Chin('S{' a nd IndIan opposition ~upporl('rs paraded th rough the streets of Kuala Lumpur in cciebrdtion, taunting and insult ing the Malays. Fea rful that they were losing their last refuge, political domina n('(', the Malays retalIated. The} slaughtered each otllt'r with an assortment of f'c"alI.'<s, a type of macheue with a wooden handle, I<.niH'S, daggers, iron b.1rs and mlwr improvised weapons. while torchillg CJr\ and buildings. By the time the anny moved In and n .'SIOR'
26
Ma/ays ian Mi/wric/;
In UMNO, young Ma lay nationalists asso cid the Tunku when ['AS called him "the son of Siam " - a rder('nce to hIs Thallllothcr - which impllt'd h(' was unfit to be the leader of the Malays. So, Dr. Mahathi.r said, h(' expectc(1 that the Tunku would have defended him , des pite his having "two spoonfuls of Pakistani blood in my body" .
Ha ving wit hdrawn earlier at t he me rest hint o f a brush wilh Tunku Abdul Rahma n, Dr. Ma hathi r chose Ihe ext reme opposite tack this time: front al a ssault. 11 was all or noth ing aga in. And it was huge ly risky for anyone hoping to climb the political ladder, though it was almost certainly carefully calculated. As would become clearer later, Dr. Mahath ir rarely, if ever, made a pO litica l move without weighi ng the like ly con sequences .
All
Hllrly Itr l ro.JlldiOiI
I I)
IJmtll/ /'ulitic....
27
Mort' than most , he reali zed how deeply unpopular the TUl1ku had become .1I110 ng Malays. I he Tunku was dou bly furious to fi nd t hat Dr. Mahathir's lette r was Itt'ing read th roughout the count ry. While student sympa thizers passed o n ,nples, til{' lett er wa s systematic;tl ly distrihuted by a group th at included It,lz,lk's Ili
All Early '"/rudu( liuI/ to lim/,,' PfJlitio. 29
over, anu Tu nku Alxlul Ra h man of higher learning were agitat ing for his removal, making it necessary for the Natio nal Operations Cou ncil to ban "any meeting, proc('ssion, demonstrat ion or puhlic uttera nce to get Tu nku Alxlul Rahman to '>tep down from o fflcc ". Dr. Mahathir's letter wa!> abo formally banned. with printing, selling or distributing It punlsh .. ble Ily thrre ycar~ Imprisonment and a rille of RM2,OOO. Witll this son of protectiOn, no outsid ers could force till' Tunku to quit, Ihough iu~t itS surt'ly he wou ld Ita longer iJave the final sayon m thai Tunku Ahdul Rah man wanled to detain him, but they persuaded the Tunku it would o n ly make a martyr of Dr. Ma hathir. 21 Too late: I Ie was already a hero In Malay eyes. r he rapid seq uence of shattering events - a traumallc election c.1mpaign, his d efe,tt, th(' "May 13" violence, the I'unku le ller, double expulsion - gave him an al lllost cult-like following In his community. As poli tical '>Cientist Khoo noo ·1elk said, "It trilllsformed him from being a failed elecloral Gtlldidate int o a living symbol of Malay na tionalism ."l4 III no siage during hi s almost three years in thc polit iCal wi l dcrttc~s did Dr. Ma hathlr lose interest In shaping the debate on MalaYSia 'S future . III addition 10 running his clinic a nd inve . . ting, he stepp{'(\ up his writing. In early 1970, he publishl..'d hi~ best known hook, 71'1' Malay DiI(,III/1/(/,.!5 \vhich was promptly banned in MalJysla, remai ning p roscribed until Ill' be<:ame pri me minister in 19R1. Th{' ban ad ded to Dr. Mahathir'!,> maverick image without the conten ts of Ih(' book remai n ing st.'uN, sinC(' it WitS ilvailable in Singapo re and he ;l c{"cpIed ~pca ldn g invita tions and discus~cd Ihe sub· s t;tll("C of it . Two otht'r puhlicatiortS that ilppeil red a few Yl'a rs la ter we rt' \ ubsta nt!aily written during this pe riod. I'mu/HfIllI)l'IIiasa Kt'ril, publiSht'd in 1974, appeared in English in 19M5 as GI/;/lt' (or SIl/(/lIlJltsillt~~SIll(,II . It ad viS<'d Malays how to get startl'd in busin("Ss a nd, in particular, how to succeed
,I}l,tlmt Ch inese competition. 2.. The 14 essay . . publish ed as M(,lIglllltil/pi t ,,/11/((111 In 1976, and issued In 1986 as Tilt' Clll/lll'US", was a r{'fleclive work tlt.tl e mphasiz.('d t he importance of spiritual values, 1..'(III(aOon, dis(·iplinc ,I lid o rganizatiOIl. It was n lt ka l of (·orru p tion, d('\t n lCti v{' opposition 10 wwern mcnts from pressure groups ilnd allegedly decadent Weslern ways Il',istance to hard work, u ntid illess, nud ity and hOlllosexuaii tyY Contcnt iously, TlI(' ,\o' ulay Vi/emma argued that the Malays W('fe t he orl~ll1al or indigenous I>copie of Malaya, and should be accepted as the "tlt'lmitive rac{'''. II rejl'cled lion-Ma la y claims to political, linguistic and lullUral parity wit h the Malays. but not o n the grounds Ihat the Malays \\'t're ~uperior in any way. Just as co unt ries sud ) as the United States and \u\tralia required a certa in minimal assimila tioll of migrants to their own n.ttional culture, the Malays had a right to expect the non.Malays to do the \,Hnl.'. The aim was " not d l.'Slgned 10 IX'Tj>ctuate the p rivileges of the o ri /olillotl ddlnitiv(' race to thl' exclusion of thl' II{,W immigra n t races ... sell i(-rs willing to conform to !ttl' characteristics of the dl;'fmitive cit izen will in fact IIl'uJlll(, definitive citil.('Tl!'> and will excTcist lill;' s,11lle rights and pri vileges". III praCti cc, they wo uld l1 ,-,ed to ~ peak Malay .m d b(' ed ucated In Mal.lY, Iitough thcy would 11m be required to ado pt lsliHlI. I he book defi ll ctllb titi(o : "The Malay dik'lllma is whether they shou ld 'lOp trying to help Ih('IIl~l'lvC5 in order that Ihl'y .should IX' proud to be the t)f.)()rcitil.e ns of a prosp<.'TOus country or whether the), should try to get al \nllle of the rid ll'S thai thi~ country bO.lstS of, even if it blurs th{' economic IUtture of Ma la ysia a little." The answer was never in doubl : "The cup o f M,llity bitterness must IX' dlluted. A solution must be found, an {'(Iui table \olutlott which denies notlting to an yone ami yl't giv('s the Malay his place lull1e Malayan sun ." l)r, Mahat hir's proff<'rl'd s(l iut io n was ~conslrw,:tive protection", a vaguC' h'rmlmplying a level of \ upport somewhere in betwt'('!l leavi ng the Malays lll'fellceless in tlw facl' o f Chinese aggr('ssloll a nd making their lives so lomfo rtable that they would fo rgcl how to compele and p rogress . His lOllcern about over·prou."Cting the Malays was d ue to his helief In the then ptlpular, later discreditl--d, notion known as Social Oarwinlsm 10 explain tlldr inferiority and C hines{' superiority. While he never used the term , Ik Mahathir, like Social Darwinism's other adherents, applied tile phrase u~urvi val or the fi ttesl" - firs l coin('(j by the IIri tish econ o mi st, Herbert 'pencer, after C harles lJ arwin'~ evolu tion ary thL'Ory of ~ lI atural select io n " to the comp('titlon for survival in huma n soddy. Dr. Mahathir even l'1lI!Jrao::d the eugenics oHshoot idea, that thL' unfi t transmit their undcsir.thle characteristics. The book su rmised Ihil t tile e
:'\() ,\-JU/
to spend most of their ti me resting or talking to each other. hi-breeding, and tile abS(~ncc of inler-raoal marriages in rural areas, together with certain ~i al practke~, Silpped their enterprise and had a diSilstrous cffect on the Malay community over the long term. The Chi!lc$l..', by contrast, from a homeland littered with disasters and with a custom of "cross-breeding" . were the fit survivors of a natural weeding Out proc('~. If all prOtection for the Malays were removed, the book argued, "it would perhaps be possible to breed a hilrdy and resourceful race capable of compelln~ against all comers. Unfortunately, we do not have four thousand years to play around with. " So while Dr. Mahathir accepted the need for constructive protection Immediately, in the end it would be "the peopl<' alone who make themselves equal". In other words, he conctuded that till' ultimate solution to Malay Inequality was to remake the Millays, ("haI1!:lng some of theIr "inherent traits and char
All Early Jnlro.iut"liull 10 Bru/llli'/ili/io
:-1 t
wide application of tht' 30 per cen t quota was broadly in li ne. with PI. Mahat hi r' ~ argume nt th at equa lity requ ired that "each rare is TepTe\t'lltt..'{1 in every strata of sOcie.ty, il1 l'very field of work, ill propoTtion mOT{' 0/ kss to their percentage of the population".JO Alt hough he played no part III formulating the econo mic blueprint, Dr. Mahathir Wil~ godfather to the NI'!' and would always be slrongly ident ified with It in the public mind. With Tunku Alxlul Rah man in retirement, the way was open for RilZ,lk to u:ltabi litate Dr. Mahathir, which he did by readmitting him to UMNO on 7 \Iarch 1972. A Malay-language newspaper cartoon depicting his return ,I'> Superma n, descending from the skies to be met by alJ members of IIM'lO's Supreme Council, arms outstretched in welcome, Irrltaled some of them who did no t want him back. II Among those who agreed to his Te-admission only reiuct,lIltly was a fellow physiCian, Ismail Abdul Rahman, the highly prlnclptl'd deputy prirn(' minister and home aHalrs minister, who kit Dr. Mahathir had gone too far in his criticism of IheTunku. ,12 Aftef such a tumultuous, decade-long prelude - and partly be<:au~e 01 il Dr. Mahathir's ascent wa~ meleorlc. He re-entered Parliament In 1973, appointed 10 the Senate by Kedah state, ;Ind was returned to the 1I0use of Itepresentatives in a general election th e following year. Imilledlately made a fuJI minister, bypa!>sing the normal progres!>ion from a deputy position , he served in a coalition government that had been broadened by Prime Minhter Razak heyond the o riginal Alliance to becon1l' the multi-party National Front. M PAS had renamed itself l'Mti Islam Se-Malaysia and jOined the administration, Dr. Mahathir could not contest his old seat, but moved inste
32
M"lfI}'~ilm
Mlm.'rict.
s tr~' nglh
(iKtionClI
would come in 1975. and tlit' (JutCOIllI' would sh:lj:w.' polllh;s for a g('neThlp for tht' (:mllltr)' before ht, died. As the UMNO General Assembl y ap proached in 1975, Ra7..ak ca lled In Alxlullah J\h mad to discuss tanics for Ihe ell'Clion o f tlue<' vice p residents. These po~ts w\'re comidered nucial , as one occujlter for natiotl l{a7.ak was equa lly adaman t who was 10 be slopped: Syt'{l Jaafar " lImr. dubhed the Lion of UM NO, and Ilarun Idris, UMNO Youlh leader .md \'hl('f mlni~tl'r 01 5d angor ~tal(', \; who W ('rt" hard-core TunJ...u supporter~; Muhammad (.ha7.a1i Shane, the home affairs minister, regarded by the Ri17..i1k cam p as a political opportunist: and Ila rn7.ah Abu Samah, trade and ind UStry minister and ,lIlother brother-in-l aw o f Ra7.ak. Harun, SYL'tI Jailfar Albar and Gha:wti were pollllc.1l1y unacceptable, while Razak would f,K't' i1u:usalions of nepotism If Ilamz,rh w,,'re e lected. Rawk told Abdulla h to make sure the four d id not win "I n that or(\t'r". He sa id Ih<.' abrasive ;\bdu lla h ('ollid " use his big stk k~ and Ra7.ak's name 1x.'CauS(' he did not want tlll'lll to be el('(too "at any cost". 1>1 Apart from working the grou nd at d ivisional leve l to get the votes a nd avoid last-minute defectioTllo, Abdullah plarHlt'd to have Razak Inlluencc the outcome of the e\t'Cllol1 hy e ndorSi ng his thr(>(> preferred candlda\('s in h is op('n ing speed1. Alert to that poss ibility, Tu nkll suppo rters o n the Suprell1c Council, at Its last [\l(>('tillg before tlte General Assl'mbly, warnC'd h im not tu mention pNso nal prefl'rclLces. As (I plOY, Raz.1k suggested that Senu Abdul 1~'lhma ll . UMNO's secretary g('neral and a kn ow n Tun ku a lly. chcck a draft of the speech, which Abdullah had prepared. Senu left th t' room and retuTlwd 1.hout half an hour later to r<,port findi ng no Int.'nllon MH I Cly~iCl n
A II I;'"rl}, IlI/mdllCllul/lo HmWll'ulilio
:0
of names. In fact. Razak's choice of $c!n u was ddilx'rate, as he was the sort of person without the patil'lI((' 10 comb his way lin(' by line through a lengthy ,Iucumen t. The names of Gh:. far, Tengku Razaleigh and Dr. Mallat hlr were Ihere, bu t he missed them. Breaki ng his promiS(' to tile Su prl'm e Cou nci l, It.Lurk read that .spl"('ch, drawing audible objections from a few delegates.!'> I he three Wl'J'(' duly elected, and in Razak's preferred order. (;hazali Shafle, who sa w himloelf as a rutu rt.' prime mi nister, was part il ularly upset by his fa ilu re 10 win a \'ic(' president 'S slot. Indeed, the dynamiC ( . hazan, a former JX'rm ancnt s<.'CrNary of the foreign ministry who rose to prominellce wi th the National Operations Cou ncil during emergency rule, \\',IS humiliated to trait the freld . Hamboyalll and brim ming with confldenct" however, "Ki ng Ghaz" or sim ply "Ghal''', a~ he W.1S kno wn, neVl'r relinIluhhcd his ambit.ion to lea(l the cou nt ry, and plotted to make it 11 waHty. Gha7..ali actually fou nd himself in conten liun when Rolzak died in January 11)76 - unexpectedly, since 1I10st people d id 110t know he was ill - a nd lilt: leadership of Ma laysIa Wil~ thrown witie opt'n . Razak was succ('l'(icd by IllMd n On n, who heks ovcr his dlok"C. Ghafa r, the 11l0St senior vice pTL'Sident. lacked higher L>(lucation and socill l gracl'S, ami was not comforta ble speaking Lnglish. Tengku Ra7.aleigh was, in many ways, h b ideal: royal. soph isticated ,md dependable. Uut, as Tengku 1t:'I'Alleigh h illl'iClf \'olu nteidents, got the nod . Not close to lI ussel n, Dr. Mah athlr wa\ as surprised as anybOdy. He speculated Ihat Hu ssein ('ould have' r('l ll'd o n sOllie advice an ill l~ a 7.A1 k gave
All Early {lIlr()(lI/dim/lv
him. Dr. Mahilthir said lh at whtn he W('nt to ~l'e Hussein, as Kazak was being trl'
/Jml, . I I·Qlilic~
3S
Syed Jaafar ,\Iba r, who succel'ded Harun as head of UMNO You th, spearheaded Ihe citmpaign to root out alleged com munist sympathizers ill senior government positions. lie was jO ined by Tu nku Abdu l Rahma n, who too k re\lenge on tlw Raz
All /:·,trly Il/Im(/lIclilJ/l /11 11m/III /'u/ilics
In Novcm lx:r 1976. i\lxlul1a h Ahmad. 36. and Abdullah Maj id. 50. deputy m inister for labour and manpower. who had workt-d as R.1.zak's pr('S..~ set:retary. were arrested. along with fo ur o thers. Intimidated by Sp\.'Cial Branch oOk('rs, the " two Dollahs", as they were known, d uly aplX'ared on TV and ronfl'SS('{\ to commun ist act ivity while they held o fliee. As the witch hun t accelerated and widel1t'd, Depu ty Prime Minister Mahathir and Musa I-litam. miniSter fo r primary ind ustries - the ultimate targets - Ix>gan to (cd the heat. The arrest of the two del)lIty ministers "in itself was a ll acking tiS, indir«tly," Mus.1. \:lld later.'" GhazaH was abk to jail so mallY people wit h no rcal ('vid('lIce because 11(' had an unwitting accomplice in Prime Minister Husseill Onn . Upright. honest ami 1l1·sui tl'{l to the rough and tumble of Ma lay polit iCS, Hussein did not effectively mll trol t he UMNO he ullexpt'cted ly inhNited , Gha 1.ali wa .~ on e of two cabi lll..'t III('mbt' rs Ilussein r('l ied Ilcavily 011 for advice, tlH.' o t] Il'r bel rl~ Flll(lnct' Mill iSh,'r Te rlgku R<1 zaleigll I{alilla II , Naivl,ly, II u~s('11l accepted Ghll ZlllJ'S r<-ports at face va luc', as if una w ar~ that the S p~'clal Uranc h m ed coercion whc((' nec(,ssa ry to ex tract confess io ns fro lll political dl'ta irH.'I'S. !)Omc of Ih(' detain('('s. such ilS SanMd Ismail and Abdulla h Malld. w('re l'asy prl'y ix'cau!>(' of their past involvCn1l'nt \'\I ith the Commun ist Party d uring thc anl lowerfui frie nds. however. Abdullah was unable to ddem l himself a~ainst increasingly incrim inating - and doctor('(i - Spedal Branch rc(>OrlS. He spent most of the next ftvl' years loct.ed away, two of whi ch were In solitary confincment. sl Dr. Mahal h ir an d Musa, who sat next to eac h o t he r at wee kly Cabi net nl('~' t l n~s c hai red by th e prime minist('r, were aware of Ghazali's manoe uvrings, Said Musa: " Wil en Hussein Onn SlIyS, 'Thi s is from neutral sources'. we'd nudge each ot her and say, 'Special Branch. Special Bra nch', That's a ll. We kllew what was going Oil , yes," S2 Musa said that "I f Ghil 7. had his wa y. all of Ull would havc Ix.'cn in" detentlon_ It was to Hussein's credit, MUSil said , that he had resisted GhazaU') recommendations that Dr. Mahathir and Musa join the o thers Ix.'h ind bars.
37
It .....as no t for want of trying o n Ghil1..ali·s part, though . SYl-d !-Iusin Ali, a political prisoner for 19 months at a cam p at Taipillg in Petak state, was suddenly transferred wit hout explanation to Kua la Lumpur in mid-1 976 at thl' height of the anti-communiSI hysteria. I\ n assoclale professor of anthrolXllogy ,Ind sociology at the Universi ty of Ma lay", Ill' had been detained ~ince latc 1974 for sUPI>or\i ng protests by f;mllers at Baling in Kl'ep around the d ock fo r [warl y Ihr~ days and nights, wilh ou ly brief breaks, by tea ms of Special nr;mdl officers who focu$Cd 0 11 h is socia list leani ngs and possi ble communist li nks. Olle officer spat on his face repeatedly, The n. whl'n lIis head ached ,mel hl" was al his mm t vul nerable, a fTl'Sh int errogator switched subjects. "Syed: he said. ~We kno\\' that you have con nect ions with the underground. We know Ihat you .....e re the interm('diary betwl'Cn ullderground elemen ts with Dr, Mahathir ,lIld MuS-.:I Hitam, You Illllst td lus alx>ut th is."H At the ti ml', Syed lIusi n All was puzz led why the police wantell him to implicate Dr, Mnil athir an d M u~a . Only llIud} laler , aft er he had spent !oix yea r~ in detenti on aC( lIst'u of hel pill !-\ the Communist Part y ill"ld dis)l'minati ng subve rsive ldt'a 5 ccn a giant step closer 10 the prime ministership. Although the ilntj.communlst ca mpaign fizzled after Ihe death in early 1977 of Syed Jaafar Alha r, Dr. Mahathlr I1vt.'d in ~ colls t ant fear of being :trrested on the orders of his hillden enemlcs" imd his ""ucccssion "remai nl-d uncertain even when he was ver), nearly t hef{'H, ilCcording to an associate.'>'! Gha/.ali ll1<1de one. final attempt to d iscred it Dr. Mil hat hir. Thre(' d ay~ before he was to be installed as prime mi nister. his 1>oIUka i secrelary for seven years. Siddiq /I..'!ohaml'xplaln wh y Siddiq had bL'Cn picked up only in 1981 whell he had been su~pe cled of spying Since 1979. I.ong "fler, Or. Mahal h ir agreed that t he dramat iC arrest cou ld hilVC \)t'l'lI tl m('d to stop him ta ki ng over as pri me minister. "Th e act io n agai nst Sidellq I11lght have [had l lhat I lIlC'lItio n .h he said, "So it would SI!cm he was an ot her age nt o f infl uence who has becn placcd in Ill y offi ce, a nd t hw.:fo re I I11 lg ht he SUbj('l·t to t hi s Idtist Infiul'nce. ~ ss As his politicill allies lind others were being roun ded up, Dr. Ma ha lhir had laid journalist friends repeatedly he did not be lieve tlu.' y were guilty.Sf,
All Early IlItrcl
Two wl'~ks after bl'l'Om ing priml' minister, with Mus:! as his deput y and home affai rs minister, Dr. Mahalhir rcit'ased 21 peopl t' oci ng held under the Internal Security Act, induding thoSC' silcrificed in Ghai'..1 li 's desperate bid for power. Some were broken in hea llh, spirit a nd fi nancially by til(' time they were tieed. Othe rs who survived incarceration in better shape, notably Sam ad ]smalJ ,nlel /\ bdullah Ahmad, returned to promi nent pos!tiom. Samad worked as t'dlt orla l adviser to h is o ld newspaper gro up, received an honorary doctora te from a uni w rsity that la uded him as a "cham pion of the Malay language, and a poJitkal activist and genuirw nationalist", and was knighted by Malaysia's king. H Abdu llah reslI med his political career as a member of parliament and later was appointed editorin-chief of the New Strait!> Time!> jJublishing group. Dr. Mahathir had a fairly miSerable five year:. a!> deputy prime minister, quite apart from dodging Ghaza li's hullet~ . Although Hussein Onn had cho ~en Dr. Mahathir as hi~ deputy, he did not ~e-cm to tikI.' him pe rson all y lind often ignored him. In Dr. Mahathir's a~sessrnent, Hu s~ein treated Ghazali 5h3fie and Tengkll Hazaleigh Hamlah ilS de facto deputy preT11icr~, consu lting Ghazali on defence and security. and Tcngku Ral.aleigh on ccon omiD, finance and party affairs . ~1! rheoretically the S{'cond most powerfu l man In Ma la ysia, Dr. Maitathir found his title (.-ouoted for almost nothing with Number One. Under tll(' impressron that "I had innuence with him ", Dr. Mahathir went to sec Hussein to persuade him not to proceed with till' IlrOSl'cution of Haru n [dris for corruption . "lIe took out the file from his safe and banged it on the table." said Dr. Mah at hir. "Then I realil.ed that . although I may be the deputy prime minister, my standing is not thal hi ~h . " lIusseln got IUSl as ilngry when Dr. Mahathlr tried to persuade him to re-examine Abdu llah Ahmad 's case.S'I At times, relations between Jiussein ilnd IJr. Mahathlr almost broke down. Musa Hitam ree;lIl('d visiting the deputy prime minister's office when Dr. MalhJthir was complaining about Hussein. ~ I lifted the phone and :iaid, 'Tal k to him. YOu 're the deputy. Talk to him'. No, no , no. He never did."(·l It was extremely lru:itrating for I)r . Ma hathir, who was already bursting with many of the idea s that would mark his leadt-rship. He advoca ted a freewilY to run the length of peninsula r Ma12. 50 close to the pinnad{', 1Jr. Maha thlr was s lill trea ted
request, lcngku Raze allowed to go to the Cabinet for other ministerial opinions. "And, of co ur~(', he agreed. you know," T('ngku Raza lcigh said. "You go up to him and explain to him ni cely, he'JI accept il." That I('ft Dr. Milhathir "very unhappy with me", Te ntku R(ll.1Idgh said. ~ lIe thought that he being deputy prime minister couldn·t gct t hillg~ through, but I (QuId go and whislX'r to Ilussein (lnd everyth ing was OK."6-1 Not only was there no personal chem istry betwet>n leader and deputy, tlley ilbo had starkly con tra~ tin g sty lc~. Whe r{'as I)r. Mahathlr was ke{'n 10 remake the country from top to bottom , Hussein was cau llolIS to the point of dithering. When reading a !)rid, he underH m'd key words three o r four ti mes. Loath to make a tough decision be/ore consuillng all parties, he would usually agft'e to "consider it" a:-. a way of postpOning an outcome. One of his favourite expressions was, "O K, I' ll slt-ep over it."/o-l 11 (' onc(' advi~ed Dr. Mahathir that ~when yOll have a problem, illst don't do .rnythi ng"; It would go away, he ~aid.b~ Even when Hussein reached a decision , he might ha w second thought ... For example, Dr. Mahathir per~uaded him that MalaYSia should strengthen ih claIm to part of th!' disputed Spratly Island~ in the South Chi na Sea by llCl"Upylng Amboyna CIY. With th e navy ready to move in, Hussein "c hanged his mind one wel'k later", said ])r. Mahathh/!6 The VietnamesE' bea t the M(llaysia ns to the purtell and established a permanen t preSence on the cay. In a cabi net shuffle in 197M. Dr. Mahathlr relinquished the education portfolio and bec,1me minister for trade and Indll~try, where he was happy to proceed with some of his plans that did not require govermnent policy changes. He estab li shed II heavy industries corporation within his minbtry, and minim ized his unhappi ness with Hussein by spending time abroad ~clli ng Malaysia . Dr. Mahath ir'S fOllr years as education minister were remembered for the tough stand he had taken agai nst Hudcnt and academic protests. Ill' forced ~cholarship holders to loign guarantees that Ihey would not bc(:Ollle involved in politics, and amcndl'd the U ni vcrsilie~ ;\c1 to give the gov('rnmcnt cxtensive diSCiplinary powers over staff and students who were politica lly actlve. 61 L~ventu a lly, Husscl n fell vi ctim to his own ph ilosophy. /\ s Ihe work piled up, elemen ts in UMN O defied his weak l ea d cr~h ip by fo rcin g the readmissio n of lIanlll Idris to UMNO, aft er Hussein had insi sted on hi s expul sion follow illg his convi ction Oil corruption c harges. Alt hough Haru n 's nmrt :Ippeals fa iled In early 1978 and he \\'('nt to jail, liussei n was being prl'ss(>d to pardon him . At t he 1978 UM NO Gencrill Assembly. Hussein was hum il Iated by being chall cngC'd fo r t he presidency of the party by Sut aima n Palestin, the UMNO publicity chief, who ~ecured just over one-fifth of t he VOtes. While Sulaiman was not a S('riollS contender for na\lOllil 1 k'adershi p, his candida cy was ;m act of defiance by I fllflm su pporte rs. As a fri e nd of
All ElIrl}' /lI/ WlillfliulI Iu /JnllIIl /"'lilic.~ -II
Slliaima n who OPI)()sed I larun 's prOse<"u lio n and felt thwarted u nder HU$seln, Dr. Mahathir had reason to support the diss id('nt challenge (·ovenly, :IS TllmU\l rcd, and dissuade the prime min is ter fro m bei ng temp tl'd to sec k a seconel t e rill . Willie Dr. M,,11cga n failing after the surgery. /1 Bu t in a ny case h e could no t copc wl lh Ihe job. When Dr. M aha t h lr too k o ver o n 16Jul y 19RI, he wa~ handed 11 0t 011(' I'lit 18 rcd d ispa tch boxes, used to Gmy pendi ng files h('tWt'l'lIthc office au d h Oll1e, which Wt'ft' awa it ing attention.;1
Notes
2
.I
4
5 (, 7 S y
10 II 12 U
1-1 IS 16 17 18
John FLl n~ton, ~I'ollticill Cilreer.; of Mahathir Mohamad and ,\nwM Ib rahi m: I'araltd, hltt'r'wcting allli Conflk ting Uves·, lKMAS Workmg l'alX'r, ~I mtllu t c o f \ialaysiLLn antllntertl;ltionat Siudies, Un ivnsili Kcbangsaan M,llay~ia l, no. 15 Uuly 1998): i- Iv, 1-32. I'arli.unelll.uy ~batb, M:"llily~la. 26 May 19 65, Cited III Khoo 1100 f("ik. I'"""IUJI.('~ 1)1 !>/"llO'" SIOry: I%S-2UOO (Singapore: 1ill\(.'~ Media I't(". ltd ., 20001. pp. 274-275, nobln A(hht'ad, MII/lllliIi, vf M('/(Irlill: 5t(l/ I.'5111" lI lIlId /,I',/dl."( \ London: lIihlsclI~ I'lIhll ~hin ~ COlllp:lny, 1989). p. 54. Inll'rl'it-w .... ith :vt u~a Il il alli . 3 Ja nuary 2007. Tun ku Hahm, "l"lIl1 kll /I bill/I/all: ,\ I'",d,m Ii" Ufl' (KU,II,1 I.umllur: All Mhlia Publicatlul\s 5dn. Bhd., 1998), "Fon:wold ". UlilitUlIi>croo. Inll'rvlt'w with T\lnku AW ullah Tuan~ \I Mxl ul ROliulia ll, 22 Marth 2007. Tunku Abdullah pasSI..'rita I'ublhhing s..11l. IIhd., 19Y5), Pl'. 133-t36. Dalo' Ahdull
I ') Interview with Mu~IUlz Milhalhlr, 22 Mardi 2007. 20 Oato' AbdullJh Ahmad, Tell.>;ku Abdlll R"II/tui/l (,lrlI. Ihal th e Malay~ IJCkC'(lthe ab ility and l"Onticil'nc(' 10 sun:cc\l, did hl' cha nge 11 i~ mind. -I "d m it th"t al the linK' J f('it very db al)J1'Oln tl'(i. I ~pok(' to m;lIl y p<..'Opll' my age Ihell who di d not hav(' the cOl1ftden cl" . J too was no t confident t hat Malays could achie\'e .~ lIr(('~5. Nuw r rC Vl' rse my si (accesSl"d 19 January 2006). 46 Inlervi('w with Tcn~ku Ra7..1lt'lgh t 1~1l1 7."h , Z9 May 2007. -17 Barry Wai ll, ~M "la ySi ll Ex-IIrt'Oller 51111 Ket:ps His Hand On th e Natioll's I'uls(,", Asian We/II Stfl'rI /mml
50 S1 52 53 54 55
56 57 58 59
00 61 62 63 64
r..s
66 67 (~
69
70 71
Inl('rvlc w with MU"'1 Ili t",1I, J January 2007. ln h:rv l('w With Abd ullah Ahmad, 26 February 20Q7. Intl'rvl('w with Musa "Ha m, :q an l.la ry 2007. S. Il u ~l n All, /'wo ,,'r1rf's (l k/rll/lim l ViI/will Trill/} (l't'la lln gJaya: IN$,\ N, 1996), p. I09. Zalnuddln Maldlll, fill: Ot/u', Shit, of M(l//(/ f/llr, pr . H-H. [nlcrvl('w with Mah .. thll Moham:ld, 20 lIIIa/ch 2007. 7...ainuddln ~ I a[din. 'n,.., 0 111('( Side.- af MII/IlIIMr, p. 73. Samld ism ail pa\scd ,Iway un 4 September 2008, ag('(j K4. IntcIViI:w with Abdullah Ah rn 3d, 30 \-lay 2007. In tcr.h.'w " Itil M~halhi r Muh3U13d, 14 \ IIJo:\lst 2007. Jrner1;!cw with Mu~ iliUm. 3 J3 11U3ry 2007. Inler ... h.'w whh Mahath1r Moh'lIllad, 14 AugU~l z007. Jrlll'I\'ll;W with l engku Razal('igh lIalrll'Lh. 29 MJ)' 2007. Ibid. Interview with M \l~;1 lIi1 am . .'1 la nuary 2U07. In lt'f\'lcw wllh r>.l ahiLthir M oham ad , :'1 I March 2(x)". In \(~rvlew wllh Mahalh ir Mo h am Jd, 14 ALlgU~t Z007. JI)hn hrnS h)ll, "1'011 11 1":1 1 C,lfet'rs o f Mahathir MohalTlad and AnWllr Ihrllhlm : r
zocm.
Be.forl' poli tics: rh e y() lL lI.t:e ~ 1 o f n i ne rhlldr\'n, Mah ath ir I carn ~'(i 111\' vall1l' 01 d is .. cl pline, har d work alili s(·lf.imp Wv\'nl(·nt fro m h l~ fa th r.:r. He e ntered t he IIJ tiOIl;11 political arena \0 Ill'l p fell ow MUI!l y~ clllim 111I'1 r ~h afe o f tile IWllon's ""'('
Lil t'-Ion.; union : Mah31 hl r married Siti Hasmah, hi's flf~1 and only girlfrknd. after Ihl."Y nll:1 a ~ rJled lcal Siuden h al un i \"~rsi ly. T h l'Y cekura lrtl Ihe ir S2 nt! wl'tldl ng lUIfII\·tr--a ry in 2008. SoUltl ... , l'l'rd.ma l.c-adNShlr) ~ound.lll on
\ p.1rlncr!ohip: Although ~hl' \I c".'«.'d cil'ar of poIIUt·\. ';Itl 11,"m ~h wa, new r far from her h u ~band's 5id{'". !lilt' anompa nit.'(1 .\oIah.llhlT to rarty gal hl· Tln g~. political rall il.'"S .1Ild MKial fun c tlon ~. o flt'n tra\'dling abmad with him as well
'6
47
II.aods on: 1\I\cr he !x"i,:aml' prime minh tf.'r, :..iahalhir 1001.. a p.:r;.onal inl\'rC'lt In no.:arly every JSpt.'Ct of ~ralayslall nfl.'. Here, he and Sill Ilasmah in~ p..:("1 Mal.l), lextlll... :'111 uaft cenUe In Kuala [umpur . ....mra·: Informillion
',,"p.llltll<:ll l . \-I:II")"id
In tunc: Ma halhir a nd Sill IlaslTlah had good vol ...c~ and en joyed singing, en tertain· In.: g Ul'S ts wi th a duel on spedal occasions. Il1.s t helllc )on& was M}' W"y. a l ille rc lkctin g n alllt~l lnstln("ls t h.:1t Wl'[C ohvlous hom chlldh()od.
o rr d ut y: DC~pl h! tOlal i0101l:l"5lo n In po l ill~ , Mahat hir efl<.-cI!II('ly S<.' pa ral l'\J po litical aeth'lty fro m his PW h,-'5slonal, §OCial an~1 I.unil y li1<', Ilc d id no t di sc us.., currl'nt puli t " leal C\lcnt~, no matter how moment ous, wit h Siti Ilasmah and thei r l"il ilcirl"n,
Formal slttlng~ Sill Il a~lllah was
Part II
Prime Minister for Life, Almost
3 From Outcast to Presidentia l Premier
Alt hough he swept into offICe with thl' I nt ensit y of i . typhoon, Dr. Maha thi r moved cautiously 10 consolidate his l)Osltion
Malaysia. Taking comma nd of the poli t ica l pMly tbat had expelled him 12 years earlier, he had to contend with ildvcrsmics who rega rded him as a usu rper t o Ix> opportunistically dcposccl. Wh ile intr<xhl(,:lng activist domestic
and fo rdgn poliCies and managing a Sp
As OL Mah athir imposed his fo rceful personali ty d ll d priorities on t he polilicaJ system a nd the country, howeve r, hl' engaged in bitte r conlests with UMNO pretenders. result ing i n two major uphl'avd Or. Mahathlr's credibility and (Tl'ated a crisis of legitimacy for UMNO among the Mal ays, but stili he managed to re tain his authority. select a successor and relire at a ti me of his own c hoosi ng. Simuit anL'Olisly, Dr. Mahathlr weakened statt.' and informal iustitllt io n s and packed Ihem with loyalists to facilitate.' hi!. autocratic rule. In the most egregious case, he interve ned to subd ue the judiciary and en sure it would yield the results he sought when his politica l con trol was endangered. In Ihe National Front government, t he Malaysian C h inese AsSO(i;lIion and the Ma laysian India n Con~rcss - sta lw,nts from tlw ('arly days when th('y, wi th UMNO , constituted the ru ling All iance - fo und themsel vl's duw n grad cd. Across t h<.' yea rs. Dr. M ;:rh,uh lr t ransformed t he regillle in Ma laysi a into a high ly institutionalized party-st,lte Ihat he pe rsonally operated, manipulated and dominated. Dr. Mahathir and Malay~ia not only had phonet ic consonance,1 but also sha red an eerily sImilar eight-c haracter ldcnlity, and wcrc at tim es vi rtually synonymous.
f rom OulfllSIIO 1'1"('$;<1,"1/;(1/ /'rI'lIl;er 55
Although J1r. Mahathl r did nOt murder
With a comhination of ru thlessness and de:.\terity, Dr. M3halhlr deUveT('d SCK"ial pcolce olnd \u~taincd e<:onomic gro\\1h, introducing incrl·asing numbers of Malaysian" to middle-cla~ com forb. Even it th('y w('te critical, few w{'tc willing to joop.lrdi)'c their rising living standards, or risk ost racism and WOI"S(' , to explore alternative:'>. Corporate Malaysia, hookl'd on constant economic expamion, lined up ~lidl}' behind Dr. Mahathir to kN'p the COntracts and profits - flowing. lSy the end of his 22-year tenure, Dr. Mallilthir h;ld remade the country In his own image and become Malaysia's Hpl"C'lldcnUal prcrnil'r",2 rar too late In the day, Dr. Mahat hir's opponent~ realized that he played harder, faster and smarter than anyone they had encoun tered, making most of them look like rank amateurs. Although h(, h('(.1I11e add icted to Ihe job, Dr. Mahathir did not seck it for the perks o r the payoff~. lie had a miSSion, to bring ;abou t an economic and social re\"olutioll t hat would turn Malaysia into a fully developed and re~pectl'd nation within a genNation, \\ ith the Malays playing a prominen t part. I\s Ihat r('quired his pcr:;ona[ attention and leadership, political longevity wa) ess(,lll ial, regardless of the cost. The price could always be rationali/ed in terms of h is project, which was for the good of the country. There ,,\'S no higher priority than :.taying In power. for Dr. Mahathir, a political animal , the ends ju~lified the mean~, though he specifICa lly denied il was a guiding principle. I After his retirement, two of his great riva ls in UMNO, Musa 11ltam and Tengku ltazaleigh I la m/jlh, used the same word to dC'K'ribc Dr. Malldthir: He was, they :.aid, a "politician". ·nle term con tained a grudging admiration for Dr. Mahathlr's willingness and ability to do what was necessary to survive, unhindered by ethicall:Qnsiderations or the harm It mIght do to others . Both acknowledged his dcd~iV(' advantage - ,I k,lIt'r insllnct, a readiness to go for tilt' lugular ,II critical mome nts lllld vell tUf(' I>t'yond what previously had I:>een accepta ble behavIour in Ma laY!ilall politiCS - att ributes they wert' pleasl,(j to report they I(lckcd. Musa, who scrwd as Dr. Mahathir' ~ fITst dcputy prime Illini~ter before quitting in aCri mony, butl'nded up on comfortable terms with Dr. Maha thlr, s<,id, "When It suits him, he s<.ys ' today I love you'. Tomorrow, if it suits him, he says 'I hate you'. 'Today you are a lovely man, tomorrow you are ugly'. Th3t's Mahathlr, the polltl cla ' l.~l polit i c~
The ir judgment did not ru le out Dr. Mahathir being a caring doctor, a loving fa ther or a fir m fr il'nd, provided tha t fr iend did not get in his politica l way. Dr. Mahathir was adept at sepa rat ing poW ies fro m his professio nal , social a nd fa mi ly lifc. Au thor Hehman Rashid, who dated Marina Mahathir and found her mother to be t he "quintesscm:e of gentleness and grace", wou ld thereafter find himself " unable to believe that such a woman would countenance the sort of man M ,. hath ir'~ bittercst enemies wet(' convi nced he was".5 Dr. M
FI(lm UII/mSI/o I'r('sidelllial Pr('mia 57
45 minutes on the m, start ing with the English-Ianguagl' NI'w S(m its Times, followed by th(' Millay- language UtI/sail ,'''a/nysiu, before going on to the others. He had lime only to scan Ill(' headli nes, read art icles of im mediate interest and ma rk others to read lat ef, In th(' car or at horne . Dr. Ma ha th ir usually went homl;.' to have lunch and di nner with his wife, leavi ng the office between 6 a nd 6:30 p.m. at the e nd o f the da y. If they did not have an evening function, he would read or write, rar('ly watching l V - "because I li ke to ~ doi ng things, lIot just silting down" - before sck'(:ting his wardrobe for the next day, lind retiri ng abou t I I p.m. for six or sevcn hours sl{'('p. Dr. Mahalh ir did his best to in ject his sense of pu rpose in to his min isterial colleagucs and the bureaucracy. In th e officc, as at hOI11(', he cou ld be aggressive and de man ding if Ihere wNe delays in wh at he wa nled done. lz CiYil se rvants were req ui red to Wi.'a r nametags for easy iden liflCation by t he public in case of poor service, and they had to clock in and out for work. He also wore a nametag. It simply said "Mahat hir". Everywhere Dr. Mahath ir went he carriL'd a notebook in which he re("Orded th ings that needed attention : from iI meeting with a potential ill vest or to dirty drai ns and poor street lighti ng. UNotliing was too small and noth ing too big," sa id Daim Zainuddin, who twice served as fi n ance ministerY Dr. Mahath ir opened his weekly cabinet meeting by pulling out his notebook, reading h is en tries and calling for action by t he relevant min iste rs. Someti mes he produced h is own photos as evide nce. He gave a si milar pocket-sized notebook to each minister amI encouraged Ihem all to adopt his habit. A techno logy buff, Dr. Mahal hir realized t he potentla l of info rma tion technology befo re his colleagues aTHI to ld the-m it wou ld revolution ize daily lifl· and the way business was conducted. 1-Ie ensured all ministers were given computers in the early 1980s, eve n though few knew how to use them.14 Fearful that he would run out of t ime to introd uce h is fa r- reach ing reform agenda, Dr. Mah athlt was always in a hurry. His greatest regret was that he "began late"; at 56, he was th e oldest person to be sworn in as Malaysia's leader. ls Just as he read books between customers as a teenage street vendor ami between patients as a doctor, he shortened his signature as prime minister to a scrawled "M", in place of il flowing "Maha th ir bin Moh amad", to save timeY' lie disdained golf, the game of Sou theast ASian diplomacy, beca use it took too long to play. In 1996, a t 71, after he had bC'Cn prem ier fo r more tha n IS years. Dr. Mahat hir said, "I don' t th ink I shou ld waste time. [don't know how much longer I have."17 In reli rement , discussing his developme nt record across two decades, he remarked. "I did n' l haw lTludl time." I~ One way Dr. Ma hat hi r cou ld have saved a lot of tilll(' W il~ to le I hi s staff draft h is speeches. common practice everywhere. But he insisted on writing his own, leaving his press sec retary, whe n he was deputy pr('rnie r, wit h lillie to do except arTil ng{' media con ferences an d prepare short fo rewords for sOllvenir program mes. I ... Whi le Dr. Mahathi r could not possi bly write all
.. I 111\ Sl){'eches as prime mi nister - he deli vered t housa nds - his forceful, dh t.lltiC style was recognizable in many of them.l° Speeches wril\('n by ullll'r\ "do not reflect my th inking, or my way of putting the words in to "·lI ll·nces", he said. Alt hough he ()Tlce could touch typc, he chose to labour ,m,ly on cach speech in longha nd. "[ fee] sa ti sfi ed writing it myself," hc ... Iul. 'I Dl'splte intense pressures, Dr. Ma hathir had no t rouble relaXing . [-Ie \\'Iluld nap most days for IS min utes after lu nch at home in a comfort•• hll' th air. in the car wh ile being driven to an appointment , or on a fl ight, oI(Tlvlng reJreshed ..n Even a~ he aged, Dr. Mahathir showed litt le sign o f ll.lHHlng. For instan ce, in 2003 he {"onducted, alert and han ds-on, the .111111131 meeting o f t iH' International Advi sory Panel of Malaysia's I\llIhlmedia Su per Corridor. From 8 iI. lll. to 6 p.m., he asked and answered thoughtful questions, received members in his house for dinner a t 8 p.m. .lIId personally saw t he m off at J I p.m. "That is 11 d ear fi fteen hours." IJh\Crved Naraya na .It Murthy, a n Indian businessman and panel member. ~ I 01111 sure there arc IlOt ma ny 78- yea r-Old people who can exh ibit that 1.1lld of mental and physical energy."2.1 Ol1e reason Dr. Mahal ilir could rest eas y was that he never made mist,lkcs, or at least none that he admitted. He rebuked Musa l lit
S8 M"/"ysillli Mm'i'rkk
Ihlt Dr. Ma hath lr went ahead, turn ing his personal o rdeal into a nil lio nal triumph. One of !he few times Dr. Mahathir ap~art'(1 vulnerable was whe n confronted by flowers on whkh pollen was visible, which caused him to have asthmatic attacks. I k· was also allergic to fea thers and d ust, once suffering severe ly on Layi ng Laying, a Ma laysia-claimed outpost in the disputed Sprat ly Isla nds, aftN e nco untering migratory birds. And, fo r all his selfcontrol a nd gru ff d<.'meanour, Dr. Mahathir cou ld b<.>come emotional in public, periodically breaking do wn in tears. While some cynics offc rt,' they fared made it almo:;t impossible lO lIdeat the Nationall:ront governme nt. The real pOlit[(al cont est took place imide the hot ho u:;e o f UMNO, givcn ilS renuality In the ruling coalition after 1969, rat her than in gl·nera l e k e· liollS. UMNO delega tes chose a presiden t - the party Illet In eflcral A~scmbly annually, iJut voted fo r office holders eVfry th ird year _ who auto mat lrally becam e prime ministe r. lie wou ld then select his cabinet mini sters and appoint t he c hid m inister of eac h statc , lIy trad ition, the party's deputy president was regarded as the heir apparent for the top job. For Insplratlon in how 10 ensure he remained In power, Dr. Mahathi r looh'<.l 110 further tha n the m an he criticized for dictatoria l trailS, MalaySia 's Ilrst priUle m inister, Tun ku Abdu l Rahma n. O ut o f office in 197 1, Dr. Mahathir lind analysed the Tunku 's mod us operand i in an academic art Ide. In offi ce, he procC«led down the same path, o nly mo rc delibera te ly, syste maticall y a nd effectivcly. Dr. Mahalhir said t he Tu nku's firs t actiOll, on ta ki ng over UMNO: , ..was 10 seek amend ments to the party's co nstitu ti on giving the presi· den t the right to choose h is own secretary-general an d nomina te six o ther mem bers 0( tilt· execu tivt.' cou llcil. These amendme nts decis ively gave the preside nt cOlllpl et(' con trol of the parly. __ jTheY I marked the beginn ing of l h(' e nd of democratic prac tiCl'S within the party, and by ('xt('mlon wit hin Ihe government s that we re domi nal<.'d by the party ... To ensur(' the presiden t will no t be cha lle nged the 11 sta te bra nches of the UMNO were broken up in to numero us small d ivisions which dea lt with the Iwadqua rters directly ... the president a rrogatL'd to himse lf the right 10 choose all the cand ida tes for ele<:tions, his posi tio n thus beca me
from
OIlI(u_~ 1
10
l'rt'.~hkt1fi
S9
(umpiete ly imm une to cha llenge, The drift bac k to feudali sm culmil1i1 tcd in the preside nt naming his succesSOr in true feuda l fashion. lO While Dr. Mahathi r appeal'\"d to assume the il'adership of UMNO smoothly lIussein Onn's retirement in 1981, his manoeuvrings SOlVed the seeds of Virulent factionalism that surfaced later. Tengku Razall'igh was left k-eling he IMtlIX"l'n dou ble-crossed twice and deprivt'(l o f his rightfu l place as deputy lllt'\ident of the party. Tengku Ra7.alelgh co nduded that Or. Mahathir "cannot I"" trusted",JI but it was the young Kelantall prln<.~ who lost out. Although he .I hllo~t unseated (Jr. Mahathir when he later cha lle nged him for the leader~hip of UMNO, Tengku ttt7.aleigh was forced from the government altogether, ,I lrushing blow for a ma n who h,l(\ I)(.-'('n taknt spnu<.'(\ fo r natio nal leader~Illp In his 305. \)r. l\'la tlathir had o utfoxed Tl'ngku Razalelgh whe n I-iussein ann S UIll IIIUlWd them both to a nlt'eting at the prime mi ni ster's officia l residence ill "-tl.l la Lu m pur and told them he was quitting bec;lu~c of ill hea lt h. There W,I~ no questio n he would hc slIcc('t?cted by Dr . Mahathlr, who was deputy IJM NO president and deputy prilll(, mini ste r, Tengku Razak ig h was finan ce Hllnister and a party vice preSldc:nt. Hu ssei n "implo red the two of us to work together, which Mah at hi r acknowledged during that mecting ", said kngku Razaleigh. "I thought then.' was ,1/1 understanding that we call work 1UJ.il't her."u Assu ming he would be uncha llenged for the deputy presidency as part of the tacit agret-Illellt, Tengku Razall'igh told "a ll my ehaps" to support Ik Maha thir for president. But aftl'r Dr. Maha thir was no m inated unopposed, h'ngku Raza lcigh found himself in a da~h with Musa 1-IHam, the education minister, for the deputy's slo t. Mindful of the nC«! to strengt hen his hold un the party, Dr. Mahathir did not openly e ndorS(' either, wh ich would have ,Iitcnaled one of the powerfUl contestants alld a legion of followe~ . Instead, he made a (\<"Ilwcralic virtue of leaving the choice tu the UMNO General Assembly. Behi nd his public ly neutral stance, however, Dr. Mahathir supported Musa, with who m he had closer personal til'S. Or. Maha thir was wary of the ambitious and popular Tengku Haz,1leigh, whose royal status was another strike against him In I)r. Maha thir'S eyesJl lly S<.-<:Tetly bad: ing Musa's randidacy, Dr. Ma hath ir hopc(I to check Te ngku Raz.1h.'igh's rapid rise, while re<:ogllili ng tl1,11 Musa, ix'hind h i ~ easy smile, also cov('ted the top spot. Te ngku Raza leigh said that Dr. Ma/Mth!r, o nce o n lOp, sho uld have behaved "like a father" an do o t taken sides. " I co uld easily have become the deputy prime minister" In 1976, he said, by pcrslJ
1111
Flom Dllte"!it ta 1'r~/(/l'tllil./l',ellli/', b I
cou ld have played to win also," Tengku Razaleigh sa id, "but I was tx.>ing too fair - beca use H's in Ihe same party, you know . W.... 'r~ no t fig hting anolh .... r P.lrt y."H In a ran(orous ra(.'e with Musa, Tengku Razalclgh was the early favourit ...., bu t his declaration tha i h(' could not lose and would leave the Cabinet if he d id so work(.>d aga inst him in a commun ity that valued comprom is(" and po lJt cn ess . I.~ Musa won by a vote o f 722 to 5 17. When Tengkll Razaleig h no minllled agili n illld c halleng(.'d Musa for the deput y presidency in 1984, Dr. Mlihathir WilS m uch more confident of his own leadersh ip, havin g stet'red UMNO to an impressive victor}' in a general election in 1982. Ii(' openly !laded hi .. deputy thi.s time, helping Musa we;!lhe r anot her roill ng contest to retain his post by a slightly wider milrgi n. After using Musa to daml~n the threat from Tcngku Ra7.alcigh, Dr. Mahath lr rcversl"(l their Toles to ensure MuSil did not build too strong il power basc In UMNO. MlISlI wanted Tengku Razalcigh out of tlw govt'rnment altogether, on the grou ndS that his presence would perpctuatt' a growing split within the party. Ind eed, Musa was under t hc imprcs~ion he !tad i111 " unwritten agreement" with Dr. Ma llathir that Tt.'llgku l~a7.ak'igh would be pu rged from the Otbinet and denied any nominatl"(i post in UMNO if he contestl'd again in 198-1 and 10st .:16 Instead, Dr. Mahathlr shifted Tengku Razalelgh to the Ministry 01 Trade and Industry, while replacing him as UMNO treasurer. like Tengku Razaleigh earlier, Musa and his backers considered th .. t Dr. Mahathlr had brokt'n Ilis promise, o r at l('ilst half of it. Although trade and industry was less prestigious tllporters. In a cOllfldentialletter of protest to Dr. Mahat hlr that was leaked, Musa listed all the patronage points available to Tengk u Raza leigh, including granting import permits, rl>COlIlmending local partners fo r fore ign investors and nominating individual s for the distribution o f shares. Musa said Te ngku RazaJeigh would have "t he greatest opportun ity ever to pre pare hirnself for his politica l future, eve n better than jinl l:inance".n In truth, Dr. Milhat h ir kept Tengku Razaleig h's candidacy alive fo r a third clas h in 1987, just In case the pri rne minister needed to cuI Musa off at the knt'es. Whi le Dr. Mahathir did not invent Ihe info rmal system of checks and balances to rest rai n rivals and remind o thers they WeTe In constant competition for the prime mi n ister's favour, he em braCl'
Io,ll.lI1ce so me of the o ld-li ne, en t renched polit icians. Al most half of till' , \ htl ng mcmbers of parliamen t and Slal(' ass('mblies, amo ng the m three m iniste rs, were drop ped in favour of fresh Cilndi dates, younger and better n lu('ilted, who might share Ur. Milhathlr's outlook .l !) In a campaign t hat I ,, ~ \..I.'d co m[>l'lIing issues, it became a refere ndum 011 his rust nine months In uffi ce, c harac terized by Vigorous attempts to shake u p the bureaucracy, d t'nunciations of <:orruption and promises to push ahead with heavy iudustri,11 and infrastructure projects despite a slowi ng econo my. I)r. Mahathir l~rsonall y co-opted star candidate An war Ihrahim, the charismM ic presidel1t of tile Ma laysian isla llli( Yout h Movemcnt and a fiercc gov' ,'lllIlIenl critic, who had positionl'(\ tht' movement as independent of both I J~ I NO and the opposi t io n I'arti [slam Se-Malaysia (PAS). !\fter Anwar casily t,.ptured a PAS constituency and took hi s place in Parliament, Dr. Mahathi r hnmediately made him a d eputy minister, promoting him to a full mi nisIl'r the following year. Attending his fi rst UMNO General i\sS('mbly in 1982, I\,. war aggre~ivcly contested the leade rship o f t he party's youth wing as Dr . M" hathir's man, defeating the stodgy innulllX'nt, who was also a deputy m inl,tcr. As head of UMNO Youtil, Anwar autornat ically became an cx-oft1ci o vice p rl.'!l lde nt - a ll within
From O ll rC" , IIQ l'rC5idcllliall'r("mi('f
stakes and sha qX'lled com pcli tion fo r government contracts, privatization awards and othe r bene(IIS. Musa Hitam 's abrupt reSigna tion as deputy prem ier a nd hom e affa irs min ister in early 1986 opened more flss ur(,s with in UMNO, and confir med three years of rumours of trouble inside what was dubb('d Iht' 2-M administration. Dr. Mahat hir had never liked the label, bestowed by the local press, gnllnbling that it shou ld have lx.'Cn understood to mean Mahathir Mohamad rather than Mahat hir-Musa. Sure enough, when the breach {.·ame, at the heart of the friction was Dr. Mahathir's umviction thai Mu.sa .saw himself as nearly eqllal and want("'(1 his jOh prematurely. Admittedly, the two had sharply cont rastillg political styles. While Dr. Mahathir was asS<.'rtive and brooked little criticism, Musa tended to he more personable and moderate . And they di ff('red sometimes over policies, with Mu ~a d('("idedly unenthusiastic about some of Dr. Mahathir's plans fo r hea vy ind ust ry . But it was Dr. Maha th ir'S helief tha t Musa wa s disloyal and trying to topple him from the premier's perch t hat caused t he I)reach. "Your accusations towa rd me are a terrible blow to my dignity and credi bility,"" Musa wrote in a seven-page resignation lelter that was reported by the foreign press but not by domestic news outlets. Fo r a replaceme nt deputy pre mie r, Or. Mahath ir turned to Gha far Ba ba, t he weallhy businessman who had qui t Hussein O nn's Cabine t ten years ea rlier in protest at Dr. Mahath ir's selectio n for tht' sa me post. Ii(' was a sound bet for Dr. Mahath ir, who hild his eye 011 UMNO's nex i trienn ial de(."\ ion. F.x perlcflccd in govern ment , Ghafar had bee n a vice preS id('n l since 1962, proving his cons isten t pa rt y appea l. At 6 1 and dependent on t he government for bu siness, tH~ wa s lln likt' ly to risk it all fo r a shot at the pri me min isters office. Even at th is s tage, 6()-year-old Dr. Mahathir's choi ce to succeed him - eventually - was Anwar Ibra him, hut he was nol ahout to let Anwar, ]1-1, get too near too soon. As t he Ma laysia n economy began to contract and patronage avai laLlIe to keep followers on board dwindled, even deeper factiona l alignments coalesced a round Musa and TengKu Razaleigh. Sha ring a common desire to cllrb Dr. Mahathi r's growing strength, they joined forces to oust hilll. As the 1987 LJMNO Gen eral Assembly approached, it was dedded that Tengku Raza leigh would oppose Dr. Mahath ir while Musa would defend his deputy presi dent' s posi ti on against Ghafar. The clash between the two sides, dubbed Team 1\ and Team II by th e Malaysian press, compel it'd al most all asp irants for party posts to declare thdr allegiance openly. Dr. Ma hat hir used a genecal electi on in August 1986, which he called a year before his five-year term expi red , to narrow subtly the options open to Tcngku Raza leigh and Musa. While t he electio n was lit tle more t han a sideshow, Dr. Mahathir risked wea ken ing his hold on the UMNO presidency If the Nationa l Fron t polled poorly. At the same ti me, he left his UMNO rivals no choice but to close ranKS and campa ign against the oppo-
63
\ltion 011 some of the same issuE'S they sough t to use agai nst him in the Ultra-party feud . DeSpi te a sagging econom y, disunity in t he Malaysian Chi nese Association as well as UMNO, and scanda ls over state-owned Bank lIumiput ra a nd Malaysia's attempts 10 rig the international lin price, the Wwernmellt won easily. The Na tional Front took 148 seats in an expanded I77-sca t I';HHt IOila lly well. Complet ing a 111i nor (abinet reorganiz
With the battle tines drawn publicly in early 1987, the contest fOi UMNO fI-presented a radical departure in Malay POlitiD, which traditionally eschewt>d confrontation and made a virtlle of unity, consensus a nd loy"lty to le gave members more favour,IIJle coverage, the police coopt'rated in issui ng, perm its for meetings, and the tax nefi ting disproportionately from state munifice nce, identifying Finance Mi nister Daim /.alnuddin as the princl pal offender in mix ing private busincss wit h public offi ce. Ch,lTacterbtically, Dr. Mahathi r ~ought to (ulti vat l' a rnOllg LJMNO delegates the fear that a vot e again st Team r\ would usher in a period of uncertaint)' in whi ch tht' most unli kel y or out rageous tum of events - in brier, instability - was possible. Ill' said that if Ghafa r lo~t to Musa fo r the deputy preSidency, Ghafar would stay as h is deputy premier. lie also said
thai techn ically Ill' could remain prime mi nister if he lost thc presidency. and that o nl y II vole of no-confidence in i'a rliam('n t would remove him . Malay~la's Con .. Utlt tloll ..... as silent on both polnls. Since Or. Mahathir was unpred lcta hl e and was acqu iring a reputation for m,tking his own rules, noLxxly could be surl,' how he would react if the vou' went against him. Ills own ltuPlxHtcrs were apprehensivl'. As one of them said, Dr. Ma t1 rival~, dropping from tile C.,bhll't Tea m B's nine ministers and d eputics. In sac king Atxlullah 1~1dawi, Dr. Mahathir tras hed the traditioll that sen io r pu~itio n s in Cabim't should go 10 those who performed strongly in UMNO l'k'ctiOiIS. Dr. M
plague t he Malayltian justin' sYSll-'1ll for dl'cad ('s. An the steps were in t e r~ locked, part of a strategy to eliminate sources o f resistance and give ProMahathir u nfettered con trol of the coun try. hen aHer Dr. Mahalhir sacked his m iniste rial roes ami d ecided to play hardball , his grip o n t he party and cauOI ry was far from assured. As he Ivaitcd fo r the I'iigh COlirt to hear a suit filed hy 11 Tcngku Ray.a leigh supporters seeking to in valid ate the UMNO Gencrall\ssembly leade rship vote, ,I wcond yea r o f re("('ssioll meant more bankru ptCies, worSt:'ning u ll ell1ploy~ men t and further bclt. tightcning all ro u nd . Pred icta bly, relations between Malaysia's mai n ethnic g roups began to fray as insecurity took hold and 1)Oliticians looked for scapegoats. With the competing UMNO ca m ps l"Ontinuing to clash at .. 11 levels, threat~ Iling the co here nce o f the part y, some leaders resorted to naked communal politiCS. Portraying themselves as champio ns of the Malays Inevitably meant e ncroaching on Ch inl'se emotional terri tory. ror their own reasons, the ':Il lnese poli1icallJilrties ,ll so adopted sharpcnlng communal attitudes. Trying to rt'cover ground lost in tile previous yea r's genera l e lection, the Ma la¥$ian Chi nes(- Assol'ia\lol'1 was 1I1ldt'r prl'ssun.' to reaSSN! itself ;l s the commun ity's represen tat ive in Ihe governmen t. Determined to protcct Its electora l g,lins, the o p positioll preIlSl'. Acting leader Moham('
66 Malaysiatl M(l verick
The round-up profoundly shocked the na tion bccause Dr. Mahath ir had cultivated a f:tvour,lble image over t ill' ISA, encouragi ng the hope tha t it might la pse into disuse eventually . [Il his fi rst six years as premier, hUIIdfl>(ls of people held without trial had been r('[eased , leaving only suspected hard-core subVersives still in jail. Mo reover, Dr. Ma ha th ir told [a wyers how he had fe ared arrest un de r IIw [SA afler being expelled from UM NO in 1969. ~$ And, as de puty premier, be had narrowly escaped being implicated in UMNO factio na l fIgh ti ng that saw innocent allies incarcerated. Dr. Mahath ir, howc"cr, maintained that the 119 detai!l('('S were fanning the names of Tacial unrt'st and religious zealotry. "Preventive action must be taken now to S;IVC tile cou nt ry from disastrous ri01S," he told Parliament'"' Residents of the capitalundollba.'dly were reJieVl'd t hat the silu at ion had 1x"en defused, though they nol'(.'d thm UMNO was a major contributor to escalati ng te nsions and thil t the govern ment waited fa r too long before damping down. While no doubt some of tht' pa rtici pants in the ugly communal debates were behind iJars, Hone of the high-profile UMNO organizers and instigators, most conspicuously Nailh, had been arrested . In fact, most of the detain('('S had no con nection with recent developments in Kuala Lumpur. !\ more common {eaturt' W,lS that they had oppos<.'d goveTllment poliCies or offended the UMNO leadersh ip's sensibilities. Many were prominent academ ics and activists who worked for non-govern mental orga nizations that w('re concerned with issues of illl l>ortance to all ethllic communities. While they som eti mes highlighted corrupHon a nd misust' of govN nmen t I>OWt' r, they were usually considered no more than irritants. nUl with UMNO diVided, they were providing ammunition for Dr. Ma hath ir's factional rivalsY Cha nd ra MUlllffar, 40, a political scientist who fo unded an d Il'd th l' m ul ti racial reform Illovement Al iran - small but in fluential and based in Penang - was probably t ht' most sllCCt'SSflll [n stirring broader aWaretlt'SS
Prom
Ollt(fl.~t
to I'n'.5h/cnti(l1 !'(('m il'l
67
Their detention c hilled for a decadc or more Ma lilysia's budd ing middle d ass, where liberal views a nd social activism we re spread ing beyond urban Chinese and Indians to growing nllrnbe r ~ of Malays. As the police net wldelled, some Ma laysia ns who were te mporarily a broad refused to ret urn home im mediately, having heard wh ispers thc)' were "on t be list". Others took to sleeping at d iffe rent places ilt nigh l ilnd notifying fr i('nds ilnd family of their wht'rea bouts at all ti !11 c!~, Critics accused the 1>01 ice o f stag~crilJg the (\cte tltions over many wC!e ks and nabbi ng people a t all hours of Ihe day and night deliberately to spn!ad fear
From Oll/(m/ IQ l'I('5;(/<'III;
revoca tion of their publishing licences by the home affairs mi nistry, though restored the following year, left Malaysia for the tim(' being wil hout a ma jor paper not controlled by UMNO. Although the Slar, which (·arried a weekly column by Ihe pa per's publlsher and the count ry's fIrst priml' min ister, Tun ku Abdul Rahma n, had been the most Ou'sr~)ken. Its crit icism of the govern men t was fairly mi ld. That ca utious line wa s understandable, as the Star had \)ce ll owned since 1977 by a government party, the Malaysian Chinese Association . The paper's disappearance meant the UMNO-ownt'(l New :)trait.5 Times had almost no competition for English-language readers. "We ,Ire on the road to dictatorship," Sducation min ister in th e late 19 70s, he had supported the suppression of the student mOVl'ment and introduced legisla tion that ended university a ut onomy. As deputy prime ministe r in 1979, he had no hesitation in using the ISA to detai n unionists in a dispute with state-owned Ma laysian Airlines System. The rewrd showt'd that the "growing atllhorltarian ism" of Dr. Mahath lr's leadershi p actuall y began almost the day he too\.: over as prime ministe r.so Constitutiona l amendments in 198 1 empowered the king - in practice, the executive - to pro("iaim a state of emerge ncy even "before the actual occur· re nce of the event" tha t might threate n s('curity, eco nomic lik or publi c order. And his prod,Hllation could not IX' 'Iut'sUoned in court . 11 was a dra:;tlc departure from til(' 1957 Constitution, whkh stipulated that Pa rliament should decide when an emergcncy ('xisted. Dr. Milhathir al so tightc11(!d regulations affecting press freedom sewral timl's bctw{'{'n 1984 a nd 1987, strcngthe.netl t he Official Secrets Act in 1984 and moved to head off any possible political Challenge, espt'Cia lly from civil socie.ty grou ps, ou tside t h(' political party system. Under an amendment to t he Societies Act, a n organization had to register as a "politicill SOCiC'ty" to (otU[J1t'lI t o n the polides or activities of the government. Otherwise, the Registrar of S<x:leties, a civil St!fV,lIl t ullder the Home Ministry, could InterprC't allY (omment as "political" anc! deregister a ~.lC iety . While ("()JllprOlll ises were acceptt>(1 in 1982 and 198:~ to accommodate incre(1int'1("t. If t llerli' wa:; a liberal gloss to the 2-M adm inistration it was provided by Musa, a nd his departure left Dr. Mahath ir free to indu lge his autocratic insti ncts. J laving ta\.:en over the Home Ministry from Musa in 1986, Dr. Maha thir would keep it fir ml y in h is grasp for 13 years, usi ug the ISA
,I
69
more fredy than a ny of his predecessors. Soon aftN Ghafar replaced MUSil, Dr. Mahathir pushed another Official Secrets Act amendment through Parlia nwnt in defia nce of a nine-month ca mpaign by Malaysian lawyers, Iou rna lists, lahouT unions, reform grou ps lind the polit ical oppositio n. It enh anced the ~ in ti mid ating effect " by hroaden ing th e defin it ion of an o(ficial s(!crct an d, for t he flT st time, prescrihed a man datory jail scntence fo r vi ol ators ..s2 H,m.lly had the prison gates slammed shu t on the Operat ion I.a lang lIetaine(!s tha n Dr. Mahathir moved again to limit the spacc availaule to .1nyone t'lse who might disagree with him. In f)(oce mlx-r 1987, he inlroclut't'd two pieces of legislation on the sam!.' day that imposed addi tional restrictions un publications, and granted broader [x)wers to the po lice to curh puIJlic gatherings. I\n amendmL'nt to the Polict' Act made it easier to prosecute OTgan il.l.'rs ilnd participants of ostensibl y priva te meetings that turned illto public forum s, whilt.' I he I'ri nting Presse:o and Publications ."ct was am{,lllkd ,lgaln in ,I way tha t would "furt her bind an (), pro-est,lblishment media" .\l Dr. Mahat hir said the amt;'nc1mcn ts \wr~' aimed at i ndi v idual ~ and groups who abused the government's li beral attitude. "Being liberill to them is m.e offe ring a tlower to a monkey," he said. "The rnon\.:ey wou ld rathcr tear t he flower apan than appreciate it.'> l:Ieauty." Just when it appearL"t1th,lt Dr. Mahathlr had de.ued all ohstadl'S to his rule, he fo und a new target in a not her un-ekcted body, thc judiciary. Stu ng by $l'veral COllrt cledsioflS, he set out to Wrt'St discretionary power from the judges an
70
Malay~iclll
Maw'rick
Ilaving been thwarted al limes by the cou rts, however, an aggrlcwd and aggressive Dr. Mahath lr fell dlffef{'ntly. In privat e, one of his fa vou rite sloga ns became, " Hang the lawyers, ha ng the judges." ss Oeep In h is heart, Dr. Mahathir fou nd it hard to res lX'<:t legal practitioners. Ill' hao no doubt he was t rained in a more noble profl"Ssion . As he noted, " I ask questio ns of m y patit.'llls to gel at the truth . The lawyer a5ks q uestions of his cllell l in order to find out how to ddend his client even if he i~ wrong.',·16 One cast.· t hai annoyed hi m was the gove rnnwll t 's all t'mpt In 1986 to ban the liang Kong-bascd Ib inll Wall St/t'l't JOllnlal for tlm.'i.' months and ('XlX'I its two Kuala Lumpur-based staff correspondents. The Supreme Courl , the l,:oull try's highest legal tribunal, ruled that re porter John Uerthelscn was denied his right 10 a hearing when hi~ work permit was ca nt."('lIed. Ur. Mahathir was al50 d('eply unhappy that lim Kit Slang had Ix'cn able 10 obtain an injunction, before his detention, delaying the north-south highway contract. It further irked Dr. Mllhathir that the lIigh Court ruled 111 1987 that hi) I lome Ministry did not have the right to stop Chandra MU7.affar'~ 263·m~ m ber Aliran organization fro m publishing II Malay·la nguage wrsion of its English mo nthly magazi ne. Or. Mahathir said the IlIws In the lJerthelsen case clearly sl.:erclse of ministeria l paWNS, Dr. Mahath ir took to modifying !t.'ghlatiun so tilal a m inister's decre<-' Wa) sel in conuct('. Typicoilly, the a mendments to the Print ing PreSses a nd Publications Act gave the hOIlll' affa irs mi n hter "absolutc dis-
fWIII
Olll((j~ r
10 I'ft'lidcl1lirlll'rCIII;er 7 1
«et ion " in gra nt ing pu bli shing liccnccs and print ing permits. I-\is dt.'Cision I.:ou ld not be "called in q Ul-'S lion by any court on any ground whatsoever". Amendmcnt s to tll(' Consti tution wh isked through Parliament in March 1986 tackled the problem. as 1)r. Maha thir SilW it . he.. d o n: They virtually emascu la ted the ludit: iary. The judiciary's powe rs were removed from the Constit ution a nd tran sfl- rred to Parliame nt. Spt'cific .. lly, t he 1I1gh Courts were de nied tile constitution .. ! righ t to jud icia l review. Abo, the attorney ,general a ~sumed responSibility for dec id ing wil ic lt court should try " parli nllar cri m inal ca),C. Almost overnight. t he judiciary was strlp pl'd of much of Its indepe ndence a nd aut hority, underm ini ng the sep,Hatio n of powers l'llVlsaged ill the Constitution. S7 With Lim Kit Siang still in jail in early 1988. t he Supreme Court d i~ 11li ssed his legal challenge blocking the government from awarding the huge no rt h· ~ulh highway con tract 10 United Enginttrs (Maill),)iil) 1~ l!d .. a company ulti· mately controlled by UMNO. It was a significan t victory for till' government ,md a Sl.'lback for puhlic-interest litigation . though tilt' thr(>e- two split iuds· menl \'IllS a reminder of the e.'l:ecut ive's vulncra billty iJeforl' an independent judicia ry. J\ High Courl judge orde.red the release of Ka rpal Si ngh, Li m 's lawyer, ruling thaI his two·year detention order - approved by Dr. Milhat h ir as home affairs mlnister- was "made without care, caut ion and a proper "fnsc of responSibility". Shamelessly, a~ one critic oommentcd , the polin' re.arrestcd II:arpal undcr the ISA it cou ple of hours aftef he was frc<>d. The TengJ...u Razalelgh supporters Sl't'king to oV('rturn Dr. 1I.·!ahathir's el{'<· lion got more tha n t hey bargained for when the High Court 111 FE'bruary declared UMNO, the backbone of Ma laysian politics since 1946, :1Il illegal organization. While tll{' ruling created consi(\fralJle confu~lo n and aPIX'arl'<.i to be a blow 10 Dr. Maha lh ir, in reality it was what he sought and antiI..ipated. rhe last thing he wanted was a rc·run of his ~ howdown with Tengku Itazaleigh. He had committed himself to the formati on of a new party free of the troublemilkers. 111e UMNO II, as they were called, were <;ccking a h e.\h party elect ion a ll the grou nds Ihal the poll held in April 1987 was flawed. They argued that some delegates who voted were from part)' bra nchC'i nOi approved hy Malaysia's Registrar of Sociel ics. A total of 4S dcleg,'le," sel('('(l'(l a t the branch level were unacceptable under party rules a nd Malaysillil lilw, thl'Y l'Onh.'. udl'(l, which could have affecwd the outcome. Not only ",
72
M{/Ia~ic/ll
MClwrfcl.:
th e ill-fated efforts of his ri vals since the R('glstrar o f SocietlL-s came u nd er his Ho me Ministry. When fo llo wers of Tengku Razaleigh, un der the nom ina l leadership of ex-premiers Tu nku Abdul Ra h ma n and Hussein On n, tried to register UMNO Malaysia, t hey were refused. T he registrar told them that UMNO, though illegal, had not yet b("('11 d eleted from the list o f societies. A little latl'r, Dr. Mahathir's groul) had no such trouble reg isteri ng UMNO Haru, or New UMNO, which IJcfore long was referred to as simply UMNO. Dr. Mahath ir bt.'Came mcmber numlJcr 000000 1, a nd subsequently would refer to il as "m y" party.'!! Hy registe ring a new party befo re wai ti ng to see if the UMNO 1 1 wo uld ap p(~al within the 30 d ays allowoo, Or. Ma hathir had painted himself into a corner. A sllcc('ssful appeal would restore t he legal ity o f UMNO fro m which Dr. Ma hath ir and his fo llowers wo uld be excluded under UMNO's constl tu· tio n, beC1Hlse they now belonged to anot her political party . The UMNO II had not planlH.'(llo 3PI'('a ' , b ut decid ed to do so on the r('Com IlH' nda\lOIl of t heir lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who realized the impllc.ltlOn s lat(· in the day. Shafe{"s notic{' o f appea l, filed on d ay 29, C
the day Ihat Sal1eh met the prime mlnist('r, the acting lord president, t\\xIu l lIi1mid Omar, post poncU the hearing o f t ile UMNO I I a ppeal. What Dr. Mahathir d id no t te ll Salleh. or the rest o f t he cou nt ry, was why King Mahmood Is ka ndar m ight wa n t to cooperate with the prime mi nister in decapi tating the jud lcl itua tion fo r ml'," he sa id. 60 Malaysia 'S Constitution, howcVl'r, gives thl' heredita ry rulers of the country's n ine Ma lay st'ltes. meeti ng as the Confc re nc(' of Rulers, the power to remove t he king by a mal o rlty vote. A compd ling case ('Quid Ix' mad e that Dr. Mahathir was llTldt'r a strong mora l o bligatio n to in fo rm til<' Conf('fence of Rulers, with whom he met regulilrly, Ihill tile sultan they elected fo r a five·ycar term as l1('ad of slate, had takt'll Ihe li f\~ of an innocent man . Indeed, a small group of Malaysian I"wyers made an unpubliclzed private attem pt 10 persuade t he rulers to remove t he king, nol over the killing but because of his role in Ihe action against Salleh Ab
FrOlIl
Ih(' Lord President, Tun Salleh Abas, and some other things. That's the reason".t'" Or. Mahathir's con tention Ihat he was carrying out the king's instruction that Salleh be sacked sal oddly with established IHal-t ice and t he prime minister's own fi ercely held view that t he mo narchy had no place in po litical 'Iffa irs . Under t he Co nstit utio n, t he king acted o n t he adv ice of t he prime ministe r, not th e oth er wa y a rou nd. Wh e n he wa s no longer king, the Sulta n of 10hore apologized to Salleh for his role in S;lllch 's di smissa l, sayi ng he was "made use o r" in 1988.1>·1 The sultan in vited SaJleh to his palac(' and expressed regret over wh at had happened more than fou r years earlier. "In the meeting. the 10hore Sultan openly asked for my fo rgiveness ix'eause of his involvement ill the move to d i smi~ me as the lord president in 1988," Salleh said / 06 /\fte( he left po litics, Dr. Ma hat h ir sai d the king also had been upset by anot he r let ter from Sallch , sent earlit'r, in which Salle h co m plained about noise d uring repai r work at t he king's palace, near Sa lle h 's ho use.1>7 When t he cha rges against Salleh were published, however, royal di spleasure over renova tio ns wa~ nOI one of the m. Rat her, lIIany ~telllmed from speec hes and in t erview~ Salk'h had givl'n, and some even related to his l>e haviour after suspension, [n essence, Salleh was accused of bei ng biased against tile government. The proceedings against him were considered by independe nt legal experts to be high ly improper in several respects. For a sta rt, Or. Mahathi r, as his accusl'T, got to 1li1111(' t he six-membe r tribuna l. Onl y one judge met the principle of being of superior rank to SaHeh, d l'spite the availability of suitable cand idates, wh ile th e incl usion of the speaker of the liouS(> of Itl-prcscntativcs was inappropri ate under Malaysia 's separation of powcrs doctrine, Thc tribunal refused Sal1eh 's appilc,1t ion fo r the hearilll)s to be ope n, and declincO 10 ;td journ to give his British counS('llime to appear for hi m. The p.1rticipation of I lamid Omar "made a mockery of the whole proccss".bI! As acti ng lord preSident, Hamid stood 10 be confirmed in that position if Salleh was convictl"(I, and as chairman he would cast the deciding vote if the pa nel was dead lockl'arty as one of the 20 judges who approved the letter written by Salleh to the king, ,\ lthough the public did nOl know, [[a mid, too, was vulnerahle to pressure, having lost considerabk- a mount of mOtley investing in a compa ny that subsCtjueTu ly [>crformed poorly . lI is fin ancial losses, as well as sodal indiscrt'tions, w(' re known to the- gOV('W TlHmt, having been circu[at('(1 In a SlIraf Il/y(m.~, the con tcnts of which he confi rmed, in a private iTllervi ew, to be accura te.~ lIamid told a Bar Council delegation that urged hilll not to accept a role in the tribunal he fcared h(' would be dismissed if he refused . "If I am sackl'd, will you or the Bar Counci l coTll[X'nsate my [0SSl'S of remuneratio n," he said. m Convi nced he could not gel a fa ir hearing, Salldl withdrew a nd sough t an order fr om the I-ligh Court 10 halt t he t ribunal for b('illg allegedly
,I
OU I(I.~ 1 /(J
l'II');I(/"lIli(1I l'r(mi(or 75
unconstitutional and il legal . Failing to gel a respollse a nd fea ring t he tribunal was wit hin days of submitting its report to the king, Salleh 's colT nsel sought a tempora ry ban from th(' Supreme Court. The most senior judge _ considering that the lord president was suspe nded a nd thai the acti ng lord presi dent was involved in the hearing - took the initia tive and convened a ftve·member panel t hat iSSLled the stay order. Soon aftef, t hose live judges we rc also slIspe nded, aftcr a complaint by Hamid that they conspirecl to hold a special session of the court wi thout hi s approva l. A second tribu nal was esta bllshed to hear charges of gross misbehaviour agai nst th(' five. The first tribuna l's report , dcsc rilx-d by a n e minent Q UC<'II'S Cou nsel In Ilrltain as "the most despicable document in mooern legal history", found Salleh gu ilty of misconduct and recommended his reTlloval. 7 1 He was sacked as lord president wit h effect from 8 May 1988. On the same day, the appea l by the UMNO 11 was heard by a mi xed pa nel of five Supre me and lIigh Court judges, presided over by Ham id, and dism bsed t he fo llowi ng day, Dr. Mahatllir had survived , As Salleh wrote late r, "I have no doubtand few would now disagree - th at it was th e UMNO stlHa th at led to m y destruction as a judge." n The second tribunal's re port - the work of "young colonels IwllOJ W l' f l' appointed to sit in judgment against gencra l s~, since th ree of the five members were reia t ivt'ly junior judges of the High Court and the accuS€'d were all Su preme Court judges" - recommended in a spli t vote that two be dism issed and the Il1r('(' ot hers reinstated. Whe-n Hamid subsequently was confirmed as Lord President of the Supre me Courl of Malaysia, one constitutio nal scholar wrote, ~This eleva tion of a ma n, wh o many believe had violated th(' fund amental rules of natural justi Cl" underscored t he irregu la rity o f thc who le l'pisode."H The Ma laysia n Bar, reprcs('nting al l th e coun try's la wyers, pass('d a resolution of no confid ence In Ilamid by a vote of 1,002 to O. All t he IIlgh Court judges who wcre Involved In t he affair wcre promoted to the Supreme Court in due course. The aSS3 ull o n the judiCiary, as it was ever after know n, though mot ivated by polit ical factors, opened the way fo r money to SCi.'p into the system. So me of the judges who played ball wi t h t he Mahat h ir administration rose rapidly and cou ld not resist the temptation of bribes. They came to occupy sonte of t hl' most senior posit ions In the judiciary, seemingly unto uch able as long as th ey coo perat cd with their polit ical maste rs. The integrit y of oks, law reports and legal authorities to court, they now carriN!. cash so the judges could reach a decision ~w ith complete disregard for facts and the law!".17
Frum Oillcast
The judge anonymo us ly c irculated II ]].page document li sting 112 ai le· gation s of impro priety: 39 charges of corruption, 21 or abuse of power, and 52 o f mi scon duct, im mora lity or oth er indiscretions. 7H The government forced the judge, Sycd Ahmad Idid Syed Abd ullah ,\; did, to resign, but d id not prosecute him, even though it declared his allegations baseless and said all the dozen judges q uestioned by illwsligators were clean . What many regarded as till' "finaillail hamm ered into the coffin o f jud i· ctal indepe ndence" was anot her constitutional amendment i.n 1994.7'1 Apa rt from restrUCturing Mala ysia's judicial hierarc hy, it al lowed a judge 10 be dismissed for b reach ing a pro posed, governme n t prescri bed code of ethks. Although t he rest ru ct u ring, to create an appelll co url al home followi ng the aboliti on of ap peals to the Privy Council in Bri tain in 1985, was nec('ssary, the adoption of new nomencl ature arous{'d suspicion. The Supreme Court reverted to its origi na l na me, the Fede ral Court, and the lord preSidl'llI became Ill(' cllief justice. Seemingly inno cent, the renamillg l'xerc ise could be percej wd as furt her subt le dim inutio n of the prest ige of the jud iciary,!IO Later, Dr. Mahal hir sai d It would have mad e no difference if a fuJi pane l of the Supreme Court had considered the apIX';11 aga inst the judgment o ut lawi ng UMNO. I-Ie said UMNO "w,mted noth ing more than t he valida ti o n of the electio n resu lts maki ng mc president a nd Ghafar Baba depu ty presi. den t".NLWithout ex plaining how he wou ld haw dealt wit h two UMNOs, had Ihl' aPI.>Cal by the UMNO tl bee n successful, Dr. Mahath ir sa id thaI even i f tile full bench had hea rd the appeal, "I ' m quite sure tha t I'll somehQw or oth er manage to stay o n as leader of UMNO. "k2 :\S it was. Hamid. Dr. Ma hathlr's c hoia~ fo r lord president, hamll..'d him ,I clea r-cu t victory. tn March 1988, befort' the fi n,ll court decisioll on the lega lity of UMNO, the governme nt had allw nded tll<.' Societies Act to facili tate the transfer of the old pa rty 's assets to ew UM NO. All New UMNO had to d o was adopt a constitut ion that closely rese m bled t he old o ne and admit a ma jorit y of UMNO's memhers. The amendments con tained disincentiv<.'s fo r dissidelltS te mpted to caLLse trou ble. If those who did no t join the new party o bjffted for mally 10 Ihe assets transfe r, they could be hel d lia bk for their share of rtlc o ld party's debt. Dc. Mahath ir made sure his most co mmitted opponents, ('specially those associated with the attem pt to form UMNO MalaYSia, WNe not admitted to New UM NO. The rest he courtl..'
ti) I>f(~~ idl'/l ti{/I /'11'111;('1
77
New UMNO candidate backed by the National J:ron t machine, 011 a plat· for m of rl'bu king Dr. Mahath ir over the !kIcking o f Salleh Ahas. But an y hope of spurring disaffcrt ion and build ing lIl o mentum d issipated wilen thl' N(,'w UMN() candidate pi pped tile Spirit of '46 stan d,lrd beare r in all o ver· whe lmingly Malay Johore state constituency five months late r. After tht, National Front <.'asily r('tained a M,llay-majority pa rliamen tary seat In til{' suburbs of Kuala Lu mpur in January 1989 - with a MalaYSian Chine-se Association novice against an old·style, tai nted Spirit o f '46 candidate - t he rebel offenSive was effectiwly d ead. ,\It hough Dr. Mahath ir sufi'c-reci a heart alWck in January and required immediat e surgery, he had emerged a.~ t il e un clisputcd victor from Ihe UM:-.J O power struggle. Mus;! and many of his fol h)wers w('re enticed to join Dr. Mahathir's UMNO wlt ho ll l any prom ise o f reward, leavin g Tengkll Razalcigh com mand ing only 12 seats in t he Ilous;,,' o f Representatlv<.'s, 31 1d wit h narrowing proSpl"CtS. Or. Mahathir conti m wd to discard anyone whose loya lty was suspect, demandi ng fideli ty to his leadersh ip abo ve ot her qua li t ies. " I d on't nt'ed intelligen t, honest, hard-working pcople in Parl ia mc- Ll t," he told Mohamed Tawfik [smail, a tirst ·term parlia menta rian and Musa ally from Johore Ill' was about to axe. Urg ing Tawfik 10 go into busi ness . he said, " My me mhe rs o f parliam e nt should stan d wh ell I ('nter the chamber, thump Ih (' table and shout. 'Long Liw Mahath ir'."!l\ As polit· lea l sci(.>nt ist Gord o n Me,lIls observed . afte r a cou ple of years of turmoil, "lor polit ica l fr iend and foe ali ke, Dr. Mahat hir had berome the epicenter of politics."$.! Dc.~!,ite the instillation in him of fiv(, coronary bypass arteries, Dr. Mahathir retu rned to the scent' after several months convalescing with 110 e rosio n of his authority . With win ner's d b dai n, he conti nued to enhance the power of the executive branch. Parliament passed alll ('nd ll1 en t.~ to the lSA and o ther laws on emergency powers, crime and d rug preventio n to remove judiCial review . In the 1990 election, Dr. Mallatbir led the Nationall·ront 10 ano ther comfort· able victory, winning 127 of the 180 scat .., against Spi rit of '46 in scp.lfat(' a lli:lnces with both PAS and the Democratic Act ion Pilrty. f\lthough the Na tional Front wa s floo red in Tengku naz.lleigh's home state of Kelanlan, losing all state and fede ral sealS, Dr. Mallat hir retain{'d his two-thirds majority In Parlia ment. Afler Dr. Mahathir scored hi s greatest electoral triumph in 1995, capt uri ng 162 of 1'12 parli amen tary seats, a de mo ra lized Tengku Razaleigh and su pporters disba nd ed Spirit of '46 and drift ed back to UMNO. According to a jo ke (loing the rounds, UMNO stood fo r Under Mahathir No Op[Klsition. Similarly, Dr. Mah ath ir conce n trated power at the to p of UMNO, part icularly in tl1(' pres idency . His displ,ty of ~ brute stre ngth " in routing the dissi den ts - as MU SH Ilitam described it - ma rked Dr. Mahath lr as not only a supl'rio r leader a nd strategist, but also an unforgiving Ollt'. Seeped into th(, psyche of every UMNO laddN·cli m b<:f was the gnawing fea r that 10 make
f rom Ollle,,!>t to 1'"."sil/t 1lf/lt/ [>rr mil!"f 79
what l'ould tn' co nst rued as 11 move agai nst Or. Mahat h lr in vited poli tical obli vio n . If he could d estroy Mu sa ,lIId Tengku Hazal elgh, he would 1I0t hesi tate to snu ff out t heir own political CiUl'e r~ - and the good life en loyed by them and t hl'ir fr iend s. Mu s(I called It "a poli ti cal Ma ha thir thi ng" : t he prime min lstl'r's "ability to crea te this worry, hl'Cau~e if yOll are so powerfu l nobody dares c hallenge you . And he managl'l1lo crcate thai impr('ssion. And nobody darlod, indeed. "ss Stili , Dr. Mahathir took no ch ances. After his narrow sq ul'ak in 1987, Ne ..... U MNO'~ constitu tion was c hanged to makl' it almost impOSSible for anyone to cl1<1 ll(ong(' h im and h i ~ deput}' by arranging so-called bonus votl'~ for th(' num bt'r of nominat io ns tha t cand idatt's received. Ewry nomination received from party di.... isiom for the posts o f preside nt and deputy p re~i de nt c.ml ed wit h it ten bon us votes. Thl' n um ber of vo tes t ha t could lx' gat hered Ih rough lIom inations almost equCsidcllCY in 1 99~ , Dr. Mahathi r sh ifted fro lll a ple,1 for nO contl'st, to a neut ral stance, 10 a comllll'nt that was irltcrprelt'd as an l'ndorscment of Anwar, hi s obvious choi("e to su(("et."tt hi lll . Anwar ma rshal kd sllch a show of strength (X>fo re the Ge n ~ ra l Assemhly that Ghafa r had no choice but t'O step down. Anwar not only ~ame vil.x' president unopposed; he also brough t to power a slatl' of th ree vice presidents known as the Vision Tea m, while other fo llowers ca pt ured most sea ts 0 11 t he Su preme Council.
Thl' results signalled da nger for Dr. Mahathir, tho ugh also a warni ng for anyone te mpted to try a nd e xploit the sit uat ion , fo r Dr. Mahathir had shown he wa s poli ticall y ast ute, eve n let hal , whe n see min gly cornered. ;\na lySI$ ca lculated th,1I Anwar probabl y had e nough con tro l of tht.' part y to fo rce Dr. Mah ath lr Into early reti rl' mcIlI before lo ng, If he so c hose. Dr. Mahat hir was testy when as ked by journalists if he wa ~ l o ~iT l g h is grip on UMNO. "Wou ld yOLI like to lx-t?" he reton ed . He made h is po int about still being boss by wailing a mo nth before officially maki ng Anwar deputy pri me minister. IT I a no ther move lO circumven t Anwa r's advancemelll , he a plX)ill ted Mu hyldd in YasSin, who lOpped Ihe vice presld{'ntial poll for Anwar' s team, to a Ju nio r port fol io . Clea rly nut confide nt, though , Or. Mahat hir invoked pa rty unity as it highl't cause t han democracy a nd insisted o n a " no conl('S1 " agrccml'nl wilh Anwa r for their posit ions before 1999 . Alt hough their relations were strai ned al ti m e~, Anwar was still Oil track to succeed Or. Mahill hlr as of early 199H, but comp lications thai arose over the deelx'nill g effects of Ih e Asian economic crisis wrecked tra nsit ion plans. On 2 S('ptem ber, II day aft er introdUCing capHal controls, Or. Mahath ir sacked Anwar as deput y pre mier a nd fin a nce minister, claimi ng he was morally llrlfit. The real rcason was t hat he believed Anwar was t ryin g to ta\..e advan tage of t he l'COllom ic uphea val to unsea t h im. O n 3 Septe mber, the UMNO Supre me Council compi led wit h Dr. Ma hal h ir's demand lhal Anwa r be stripped of his deputy preside ncy a nd party membersh ip. O n 20 Septe mber, /\n wa r was arrested under the ISA and hcld without access 10 a 1.lwye r or his fa mily . Whe n he appeared in COUft at the ('nd of the month, charged with ahuse of power and sodomy, he had a blal"k eye, the result of being bashed in custody. I)r. Mahathir had learned from 1987, whe n the ru ling polit ical elite fractu red over the Te ngku Rilzaleigh-Musa challengl'. Ry relTloving immedia tely any pmsihility that Anwar could makt' a return to UMNO politics, Dr. Ma hil lhi r was able to CMry the party's top leadershi p with him. But lower level leaders a nd the party rallk a nd fi ll', as with Malil)' society
Abdu llah was 59, scarcely re presenting the hopt' of regeneration in a pan y In d (.'cp trou ble. I\ppalled by the humiliat io n o f An war, the Ma lays routed UMNO in the 1999 general <'Iect io n . While t he National Fron t secured Its two-third) ma jority in Pa rliament, win ning 148 of 193 seals, UMNO had its worst r('~ult ever. Its re presentation fe ll from 9 4 scats to 72, wi th fou r ministe rs and live deputies being defeated. UMNO's problem went beyond numbt-rs . No longer able 10 dalm confide ntly majo rity Malay su pport. the party's very legiti macy wa~ in dou bt. The best estimates put UMNO's share of the Ma lay vole at betwecn 40 :m d SO per cent. Wh ile most UMNO leaders advoca ted reforms to bo th pa rty a nd gov(,TIl ment po licies to meet public dem ands for improved gov. e rnam:e that focused a ll An wa r's persecution, Dr. Mahath lr ol*.'Cted to a ny concessio ns. l ie cracked down hard again on his po lit ical o ppone nts, pa rticularly PAS a nd Keadilan , prosecuti ng and jailing several leaders and restricti ng the ir aH e mpts to m obi lize. The measures included withdrawi ng petroleum ro ya lt y pn yme n ts , am ountin g to more than RM800 milli on a year, from OPPOSition-he ld Trcngga nu state, even though they wcre lega ll y guara nteed. i)r. Mahathir was able to win stronger su pport fro m no nMalays wonkd about Islamic extre mism after the "Septem ber II" terro rist attacks in the Unit ed State.... As prime mi nister, he was secure. Ye t UMNO leade rs and fo llo wers alike knew ill the ir hearts t hat o nly Dr. Ma ha thlr's depa rture wou ld assuage Mala y anger, as muc h of It was directed at him personally. Mind ful of Anwar's fate, t ho ugh , nobody who hoped for 11 future in the pa rty was abo ut to ask him to go . Whal they reall y nel'dcd was a Dr. Mahath ir o f three decades earlier, the o ne who da red sjX'ak bluntl y to Tunku Abdul Rahman , to accept responsibility for thl' 1999 debacle a nd q uiI. Si nce acquiesci ng under pressure, even If It was unspoke n , was a na thema 10 Dr. Maliathir, pa rty insiders te nded to agrl'e wit h h ust ile Inte rnet a nalysts, who pred icted he would di{' with h l.. l>oots o n. An wa r suppo rters bega n deriding him as " prime mi nister for life". Dr. Ma ha thir s h atte r~1 the irresolution In his closing address 10 the UMNO General Assembly In )Ull{, 2002, abrupt ly depart ing from h is text to .say he was resigni ng "fro m UMNO and all positions in the National F ront~. As he broke into sobs, su pporters mobbed hi m at the podium, some o f them also In lears, imploring him to remain - a ll li ve o n TV . Dr. Maha thir W,IS taken to a bac k room, a nd his deput y, I\ bd ullah Badawi, appeared :Ifter an ho ur to Say he had been persu aded to stay on. Lale r, it was anno ullced thilt ill' WOu ld rctirt' at the end of October 2003. Fo r 16 mo nt hs Dr. Mahathl r s{,lyed o n in the pOSition he had vo wed to avoid, as a la me duck priml' m inister, making arra ngeme nts so that Malaysia would be run for the foresccable fulUre by hi s a noi nt ed leaders. IIC' e ll surl"d tha t Abdullah faced no con test in UMNO electio ns beforE' he ht.'<:amc prime minister. Ahdullah, in fa ct, was the firs t depul y prl!sldent
never e l('("ted to the post by the pa rt y, t ho ug h he was "approved " under an arrangement that saw no Challe nge to the president o r h is depul y. Dr. Ma ll athir also extracted a public pro mise fro m t he party's th r\?(' vice presidents that they would accept AbdutJah's futurt.' cho ice fo r deputy prem ier, and support thill pe rson unoppo.s<'d in party electio ns. Or. Mahath ir made kno\'\'n his preferC'nce fo r Naiib Ra7..ak as deputy, a choict' confirm ed by Abdullah in due COUI'SC. As promised, Dr. Mahathir ~tep!X'd down on 3 1 October 2003 in an atmosphere of nt.'ar d isbelief th,lI his era was fmally e nding. B)' volunta rily surrendering power, he o nce l1Io re confounded his n it ies. Wh ile Or. Mahath ir did no t reta in any official government o r pa rt y o ffi ce, h(' said he would play an active ro il' as an " or d inary ~ UMNO memlK'r, ,IS if a pcrson with his record could ever be considered o rd inary. I~ a l he r, It was th(' new leadership that appeared le55 than life size. necall that Abd ulla h was once a member of the Tengku Ra7.aleigh-Musa Team U, a nd Najlb it ,ld belo nged 10 Anwar's Vi sio n Team. "ThaL .IIIust Illakt.' o lle wo nder", ohserved political scientist Kh oo 1300 Tel k, " if the going gels rough, whether histo ry w1ll re peal its('lf as tragedy or fa r(.'e".9!1As it happened, It was a bit of both.
Notes
2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9
Ctiw s. Kesslt'f, ~'nl(' Mark 0 1 fhe Ma n; Mah alhir's Malay~la ah ... r Dr. Mahathir~, in Bridgel VJd sh, l'. NguY"n, cds, TIl(' MII/tly:;ilm/Ollml'Y: I'ms,es~ ill Oiv..,sity (Singapore; TI m es F..dltio ns-M.nsIHlll Cavendish, Z004), p. II:. Interview wil h MuSil Hilam, 3January 2007. Rehman Rashid, A Maiuysiilll /lJImu.-y (retaling Jaya: Rehman Rashid, 1993), pp.I72-173. F..ddin Kt100 and Jason Tall, ~Tr
Wall Stred IO/If/wl (hereafter A WSI), 18 October t 984 . \0 Emait correspon d"nc!" with Mah.Uhlr M oh amad, 251une 2008.
11 Ibid. In terview w ith Si ti Ilasmah M o h ama t\ Ali, 17 Janua ry 200~. 13 interview with I)aim Z,li nuddln, HI October 2007. 14 Mm a Hltam, "VV" Wert! F()Jl () w('f$~, /:", f:mln,t E(l!fI(Jflli( Ik vk w (hen:aftcr Fn,R), 9 OCloix'r 2003
From O/llCQst to 1'1C'd.,.'fIlill/ I'rt'mi('f 83
1(, 1n1('rv iew with Mahathir Moh:ullad , 14 ,'uguS t 2007. 17 "MVdo pment Cenlre, ZOO?). p. 65. 20 John ruml on , - I'ol.ilical Carl'('fS o f Maha t hir Mo hamad and Anwar Ibrahim: I'atallel, In terSl.."C\ing and Con ilicling l.ivcs", IKMAS Wor king Papt"fS (I nstil ute of Malay)l:m ant.lln tl'rnalionlll Studll'S, Ullivefsi ti Kcb,'ngs.aan Mal(fim/~ WI A.d u (S ub':UJgj;)";); I'elan lacccssed 19 ja nuary 2006). 24 hm-rvi('w with Musa 1'llIam, 1 April 2ooH. 25 intl-fvil'w with Sili Ha)mah Moha m,ul AU, 17 January 2008. 2(' Rohin Alillil('ad , Ma l",II ,I, of Mtlltlydl' : Sf(lf~ IIWII tm,l 1.<'lfdl'1" (londOn: I lIhl~c ll~ I'u bl ls h ing Compan y, 1989), p. 11:1. 27 C1\t."ong Mel Sui 3nd A.libah A,nln, 1Jt:/illl: 1'It' MUll &.>I,illli ,/le' Emsmll ("e tdllng J;}~'a: relandukl'"Ublicalion5 1M) Sdn. Bhd., 1995), p_ 140. 28 Ibid., PI" 140-1 41. 29 fntl'rvil-w wit h Sili Ha~rlIa h Mo hamad Mi, \7 ]anu:HY 2008. .10 Mahathlr II. Mohamad . MProh\(>n!S nf Democratic N;)tio n-Ruiltling in ~bl :,)'sla· , Solidmity lI'hilippint"li), Octot.x: r 197 1. :iI lutcrvlew wi t h I"engk u I(;tza ldgil ilalma h, 29 May 2007. :-12 lut<'rvie\\' with Ten);kll H111.,ltigh lIamz;) h, 2 1 March 2007. '\3 Chftmg Ml'i Su i and Adibah Amln, /Ji,/m: Till! Milnlle/lind fill' Elligmll, 1'. 30. '\4 Intc rv\('w wit h Tcngku \{'I./".all'igh lI;,mzah, 21 M;)rc h 2007. 35 A~it, 1982 Yl!lIf/x)jlk, Far East('rn 1'.«()nomic Review I.ld., p. 194. :S6 In-Woll Hwang. " ('f)QIUlliul( " u/ilio: 7l1t' Mu/"rsi(f/1 5111/(' Utulrf M(.I/(Ifilir (Sl ngap (al"c..-ssOO 19 Ja nua ry 2(06). 46 St..-phen I)uthll', "New Dt-Icllt io ns NN Ma l
47 Ila roid Crouch , flflwmmw/ &: .'i«il'ly I" M(lI 1 <' ll ti () n ~ Nl'I Ma l'l y~ia's Chid D f ~slden t '~. 50 In-Won Hwang, 1'1'f"S{)lItl li""', / l'olilin, p. 125. 5 1 Ibid._ p. 126. 52 Ibid .. p. 12J. 53 A.,ill 1988 YI'IIrhl: .....k, Far f..as tcrn Eco nomic Re\'i('w t td., p. 180. 54 Slcph(-n Duthie, -\4ah;) thir's Rift wilh Judiciary Worsetts WSJ_ JO J)('t.-emher 1987. Mahathir Mohamad, SllCCCh at the ,'~;)n l..aw Assocldtion General Assembly, Un iversity o f Malaya. 26 October 19112. S5 K. I)as. QlIl's/ifJIwlllt' Cf// lll1trt (Kual;, lum pur: K. I)a~_ 19<}U), p. 6. S6 V.G. Kulkarni, Murray l liebert and ::,. jaY3S3nkaran, "Tou/o:h Tall;: Mah .. !hlr Th ri\'l'S on No-NoTlsclIst.' I'olll·lcs·, Ff.£R, 24 Octobl'r 1996, p. 2:1_ 57 R.S. Mllnc ;)nd Ola no: K. MaulY, M tI/uyshm "/Jlili($ UmJcor M (II/{/II11" p 47. 58 Ab n ffll'm.' / Jcmlcl ·''rU)flll(', :W jamklry 1999 (ac(l'SSL..:1 14 IA'CI:m her 2(06). 59 I)\.'('J;.s l'orgivenes Alir,m MQlUldy, 1995; 4, p. 27, an English \r;)I1Slallon o f a ro:por t in 1I(.wJalh, 2 1 April 1995, p. ]2. 67 Dr. Mahathir Mohamd(\, "The Tun Sa\ldl s:,ga~, 6 Julle 2008 lalleltklncl udeUlogs= I > (accessed Z8 " Ugll~t M
,
, \
H
,
2008).
oS 11.1'. Lel', CUII)t/(ulilJlwl Ctltlt/ict.~ ill C(l/UI'ml~/"''''' Muluys i" (Ku~,l a I.um pur: Oxford U n ivc~rsily l'le~." 19'J!I). p. 60. 69 Interview with 1'~r;Ul I Curnaraswamy, 19 O\:lI)lx'r 2007. 70 Ik' h L1h Vi, ~ If I don 'I ,\c«'pt, I'll he 5;,..-k('(\", I O{"w lx-, 2007 (aa:esS(.'(1 1 (ktohc: r 2(07). 7\ Gl-offrey Rob<.-rt.son. -Justice lIangs In till" Ii.llance·, Dlm'm", 28 Augus t 1911.8. 72 Tu n Sallo:h i\bas wi th K. Oas, Mtty D(IY lin //l51Iu (Kuala I.umpur: Magnus Books, 1'189), p. xx. 7j George Seah, - 1..'SSOns 10 be l e;)rnt fro m tht' 1'J!Uj Judi cial Cri~is ~, A/inm M{)lItMy, ZtX).&: 8, p. 40.
7-1 t l.l'. lc.-t.-, Cumt/w IiQlw ( COIlf/ic/!; /11 C"nICIIIIHmIfY M"/llysitl, p. 57. 75 Paralll Cl1 mal;'~wamy, ~J ttC\icia l Rd()f lll ~ M U~I Mee t thl- Test ofConslitutiona li t y~, SIt/l, 30 Dcct:mocr 2008. 76 Ral) hal'i l'UIlI, " Rulings Sparl; Con troversy In MnlaYliia-, ,\ WS/, 25 August 1995. 77 Untitled, unda l\'(\ anony mo\,s 3:l-pagc doc,mlen! circulated in 1996, wh ich Illgh Coul! ludgr Sycd Allmad Id id Syed Abdullah Aidld laler admittt..:l writing. p. I. 78 Rogef Millo n. "Cou rtin g Co n trovcrsy~, Ali(' Yo"I't.J:.clJm , 26 July 1996 (acn'5S('(l 16 Fehrua ry 2(06).
84
M(li(lydm/ ,\ l m'l!rkk
79 1l. I', 1.('(', OHMitll/jUII,11 CO/JIIi(t~ ill COlltt'fIlJXIr<Jry M(I/(I)'Sid , p, 127, 80 Ibid .. p, 128, S I Dr. Mall ••!hlr M(lh:lIllUd, "TIll' Tu n Salleh S.lga~. 82 Inten'iew wIth M.. h .. thlr Moha mad, 20 Mar.;:h 2007. 83 lnH'l'Yh;-w wll h Mohanll'U Tawft l.. Ismail, 2] SI.1>1l'moc'r 2006, TawfIk is the old{'~! 'IOn of a (OIl11el deputy I)lim..: minister, the lat('hmal1 Abdul ltllh lllan. Dr. Mahat hir Imer dcnlL-d making the comment. Fk said Tawfik was dfOppt.>d 1",'Cause o( his ~lacUusuc I""rfunndllct'·. Dr. Mllhathir Mohamad, NFilnah~ , 15 Ft..iln.ary 2009 <:h tt p://chedo:l.co.nlched<>thl0g/2009/02/fimah.h tml> (aro.~ 20 Man.-h 2009). 84 Gonioo " Mt'an~, - Malaysia in 1989: Forging a Plan for till' Futu re-, SOW/Wflst ,u;.", "f!itifl 1990, p. 186. gS Eddi n KII()() and Ja.)On Tan, "Transi tional 'nmcs", p, 25. 86 In-Wo n II wllIng.l't:rS(IIllIliled Politics, pr. 173.203, fn 110. g7 John funston, · UMNO: What u>ga(j' Will Mahathh l.eaV('r, In RI'fItX'liulls. p. 135. Sg Ibid., p, 135, 89 ItS. M Um' .llltl l)l'IIlC K. M,lIlzy, M"I(ly,~ illJ/ I'otitin Villi," AIItlllllllli" p. 1~(,. 90 Khoo 1100 T,'Ik, "Who Will Su('n..."(1 the Sucn 'Ssor?", Alim n ,WmJ lllly, 2ou.1: 5, p. (I.
4 Th e Vision of a Modern Nation
Dr. Ma hathir wasted 11 0 ti me in t ra ndo rmi n!; Ma la YSia in li ne wit ll his visi o n of II modern , indust rial il:ed natIon, sett ing !Ill' goal of hecoming full y d~' vclo pl'd by 2020. Olle(' dominan t pri ma ry commodlt i~ s, al ready rec('d lng, gav(> way to t he prod uctiOn of manu fa c lured goods and the em brace o f a high-tech fut ur('. Wit h the economy ('x pa ncl ing at a n a n nual average r,lte o f 6.1 plor ("cnt fo r th" 22 years 11 (' was pri m l' minister, ' Malaysia was o l1 e of t he developing world'S most successful countries. [I was a ll the mo re im pressive for being a Musli m-ma jority nation, indicati ng tha I Isla m could bE" com pat ible wit h represcntat ive govern men t and modc rn i7.alion . That it was achieved wh ile a comprehensive affir mati v!.' actio n progra m me was being appJil'
Tilt' Visi oll flf a Mtllknr NllljlJII 87
WHh lX"r Glpita GOP almost q uadmpling to about USS9,OOO in purchasi ngpower parity terms, poverty was red uced d ramatically. Malaysia expe rienced accelerated urbanization, and sa ..... Ihe elllergence of a growi ng middle d ilss Ihat included a sign iflca nl num ber of Mala ys. Change was most visible in Kuala Lumpur, wherl' gleaming steel and glass tOWNS sprout(x\, wh ile lIl;msions appeared alongside lux urious co ndomini um bl(Kks in resIdent ia l ,I rea~ to tween ttll' Malays and Chinese, the affirm ative action New Econo mic I'Qlicy (NEP) was leaving the poorest Malaysians beh ind. The evidence SUggestL"<1 th e NtP was be ing usc
and time, as iml~di ment s to progress. lie sought to instill in Malays iI com petitive spirit to replace fatalistic tendencies and lo w aspirati()n~. Th e nL'W Malay would possess "a culture suitable to the modern period, capable of mt'{"ling all cha ll cng('s, ab le to compete without assistance, learned and knowledgeable, sophist icated, 1I0[l(>SI, discipl ined, trustworthy a nd com pct('llt". ' Dr. Mahat hi r's endeavo ur to mod ify Ma lay cult ur(' and remove barriers to advancement in vites comp.uison wit h Turkey's Mustafa Kemal Ala turk. whos(' national revol ut ion in the L920s a nd :~Os influenced the independence gene rallon uf Ma lay intellectua ls. Id('Ologicall y, Dr. Mah athir can be described as a n Ataturk·reform er, pa rticularly in terms of developlllent.~ After victory in a nationalist war, Ataturk secularized Tur h' ~' by abolishing the sultanate and the caliphate, "disestab lish ing" Islam and replacIng sha ria with European la w~ . Emphasi Zing edu cat ion. he o pe ned modern school s in plac(' of m,tdrassa hs, ou tl;nyed polygam y ami gran ted wOllle r! equal righ ts with mt'rl. His a brupt, top-dow n, total cultu ral restructuring ai med 10 lift Turkey from the dept hs of ig noranCl' - the literacy rate was a bare 10 per cent -Into the agl' of modern civilization. In rt'spome to Isl'lm, however, Dr. Mahathir and }\tat urk d iffered fu ndamentall y. Where Atat urk boldly choS(' sec ularism, Or. Mahathir adopted a n Isla m ization policy, Il'adi ng UM NO to abando n its secular cha racter as it trkd 10 o utbid t he o pposition Parti Islam Sc-Ma la ysia (PAS) 0 11 religion . The two coun tries endL'!! up st rikingly dlff('f('nl. In Turkey, with a po pulation 99 per cent Muslim, dtizens readily iden tirled t helmelV('s hy thei r Turkish nationality, not tht' rel igion . By contrast, in 60 pt'T cen t· Muslim Ma laysia, Islam became the most im portant it!('ntity ma rker for the Malays. Most Malays t houg ht of th em selves as Mus lim firs t, Malaysian next, the n Ma l a y . ~ Turke y eV{'lIIl1al ly applied to joi n t ile European Union, while Dr. Mahat hir's Malaysia proclaimed itself an Islam Ic state, though it lacked tile attributes of o ne. While that might he considered a huge disappointment fo r Dr. Ma hathir, rega rded as the forelllost Malay na tionalist of his time, III he breezily declared thai "Ataturk was wrong"to blame religion for the downfall of til(' Olloman em pirc. Since Islam "is a way of life" and "includes everyth ing that you do", church and state cannot "really " be separated, he said. " On the job, Dr. Mahathir felt t he impt'rative, as d id his predeccssors. to represent all Ma laysians a nd no t just a single ethn ic comm unity. The N£I' recip· ients were bumiputras, a term COi ned from Sanskrit meaning "sons of til(' soil", covering not on ly Mal'IYs but' those judged to 1)(' "ot her nat ive r'Kes". Tlwy included the Orang Asli, origina l in habitants, in peninsula r Malaysia, the DUSUIlS, Kadaz.lns, liajans and ITliltly smaller trioc'S in Saba h, and the lbans, Bidayuhs, Mclanaus and others. in Sa rawak. Non-Malay bumiputras, a sub· sta ntial number of them Christiall, formed a majority in both East Malaysian s.tatcs, though official fIgures showed a Muslim majority in Sabah from 1900.
T"t'
Without le!>)(.'ll ing his commitment to the Malays, Dr. Mahat hir subsumed hi ... mmt clH'rished goa l within a wid('r one, that of a rapidly modcrni7ing Malaysia able to compete and stand proudly with other economically SUI.:· cessful lla liollS. Ur. Mahathir, the Malay champion, assum('(.i the mantle of a Malay!>I'1I1 na tionalist, adrusting the country's sights away from Malay versus Chinese to Malaysians against the rcst - usually the West. As one a nalyst put it, Dr. Mahathlr, al his most imaginative, looked decades ahead and enVisaged a society "in which the ra<-"eS stop looking inwards with prej udicc but rathl'f outwards with pridi..,".1 2 Dr. Mahathir set his sights on: .. .crea ting a psychologically liberaled, secure and developed Ma laysIan society wit h fait h and confide nce ill itself, justifiably proud of what It Is, o f what it has accompllshcd, robust enough to face all manner o f adv('rslly. This Mal aysian socIety must be clist ingui shed by the pursuit of excellence, fully aware of all its po tentials, psychologica lly subs('rvlell t to nom', and respected by the peoples of other nat ions.u Ovel the years, Dr. Mahathir reformulated, repackaged and refi ncd his vision , but never wavered in his com mitment to it. He relentlessly badgf..'red, berated and browbeat Malaysians, espeda lly the Malays, to shape up and convert his dreams in to rea lit y. If necessary, he wou ld crucify opponents, sacrifiu' allies and tole rate monulTlcnta l illStit utiona l and soc!;tl abuses to advance his project. Much of what he did, or did not do, could be explained by devotion to th is causc. Whe n Dr. Maha th lr bL'Camc prillle minister, Ma laysia was growing at a livel y dip, wit h a focus on the export of light ind ustrial products. Foreign companies, responding to a range of incentives, were prodUCing toys, air condi tione rs and electronic compone nt s for sale overseas in fret· trade 1..OIIes and providing robs fo r tens of thousands of young women drawn from rural homes. Malaysia's switch to the export-orien ted, ('mploymc nt generat ing industrializa tio n that was to ch aracterize East Asia's dynamic economies had taken place in the late 1960s. [t was a ste p towa rds recognizing that wit hout structural change, the patterns establi shed by colon ialism would persist and fail to deliver the divide nds most MalaYSia ns expectL>([ from independence. Produ cing grea te r qU
Vi~hm
or" Modcm Natio/l 89
1•. IVlng the ]X'ilsaJlt Malays 10 ttwir traditiona l farmi ng and fis hing in more 1'·ll1ote areas. Conscious that tin deposits were running ou t while rubber I,",ducts migh t be replaced by synthetics, and also tryi ng to guard against , •'Ill modity price fl uClua tions, Ma laysia pursued crop diversifica tion. Cocoa 1111 1 pepper were added , and the country became the world's biggest prodUl\'r .md export er of palm oi l. The production of 011 a nd the discovery of 'Ioilurhould spe nd gencrously, not l u~t Keynesian-style with borrowed mOrley In economic downturns, but at 1III times. "I had this crazy Idea" that if Ihe governmen t outlays money, "it ,tlmu tates the economy ... . usually it generates a lot o f economic activity, ,lIld peopl e make money, and of course Ihey have to pay laxcs. so Ihe gov· l'rnme n! gels back it s lll oney".lb Conv('rsely, "If you don 't spen d money, !hell the countr)' will not grow" .!? II we nt back to what a teach er had told 111m in primary school, that when Ihc Malayan government built Ihe railway IInc from Pena ng 10 l'adang Bcsar o n t he OOrdl.'r wHh Thailand, settlements
90
M{/I(/~i(//!
Mrllwirk
sprang up along the tracks .l~ Although he was pcrronally frugal, Dr. M:lhath ir spent (r(>ely and Malaysia's economy grew fast alo ng the li nl's he (il'cr('{'eJ, unh indered by such concept s as cost-benefit analysis and seemingly unconcerned about a futur e wit hout oil and gas. Wit h a poor opi nion of t he civil service and determined not to be ha mstrung by resista nce, red tape and incompetence, Dr. Mah athir devised alternative ways to speed up decision making and build mOmentu m fo r his initiatives, As he centralized aut hority within the executive branch, he increasingly bypaS5ed til(' bureaucracy in favour of special planning lxxlies answerabk- to him , as well as independent state agencies a nd corporations.!" The Prime Minister's IJcpanment was lIlore inlluentialthan any of the regular min istries, containing nat ional oil and gas company I'Nronas and the EcolIom ic Planning Unit, as well as the politically powerful Attomey General Cham bers, Anti-Corruption Agency, Public Service Commission, F.k'Ction Com mission and others. Or. Mahath ir's partner o n t he economy fOr much of the time was lawyerturned-busin ess man 0 3im Z..1 inmld in . Servi ng twice as financ e minister, fro m 1984 10 199 1 and from 1998 to Z00 1, Daim was at other times a go\'l'mment e('ono mi c adviser. Wilen tile A~ian fin an cial c ri SiS spread to Malaysia In 19')7, I)r. Mahalh ir brought Daim Ilac k to IH.'ad an emergency task fon:e that undercu t I~ank Negara a nd t he finance min ist ry. [)[liln was made mi nister with sp('cial functions in early 1998, before becoming fman ee mi nist('T fo r th(' ~ t con d time la ter that year. He was UMNO treasurer th roughout this ('ntirt period, (rom 1984 to 200 1. Both frOI11 Kcda h, Dr. Mahathi r and Oairn enjoyed a fr iendsh ip tha t contributed to the image and tone of the Mahathir adm in istratioJl . By h is actions, O:lim made II clear he was not going to let conventiona l notions of confli c t of interest interfefl' with the way he ran h is private busin ess empire, the ('("o no my, or UMNO's financial affairs. Tht'y became deeply entangled . Dal m's provocativl' stance added to the pe rce ption that th(' govern ment WilS conducti ng its business firs t a nd forel11ost fo r t he benefit of insiders. Although t hey remained on talking terms, Dr. Mahath ir and Uaim fell out politically a nd parted ways in 200 1, with Dr. M..1 halhir making the extraordinary com ment t hat he was tired of defending Dainl against allegations of corruption, "trying 10 whit('wash him, lilcra lly". zoThl' sam(' accu· sations had not undu ly t roub l<..'(l Dr. Mahat hir for the prcn:
"/1)(' Vi., jlll! (Jra Modem Nil l inl/
91
I'lected office in UMNO so that hc did Hot have to worry about ma king hlt'nds, or ]X'rhaps, face the public a nd the tnl.'(lia to explai n his wealt h. As 11\, put it , "J was not prepan'd to be blackmailed with votes . "~J He even In('nted having to campaign for Dr. Maha thir's fa ction when UMNO split In 19X7, despite Da im's ha nd li ng of the economy :md the party's finances Ik.'mg hot issues. His usual reaction to the severest and most ]X'rtine nt n itilhm was to ignore it, rega rdi ng it as "a wastl' of t ime" to respond. More 11I,ln anyon{' else in the administ ration, Da im had a fai rly free hand, 11l'(;lUse ev(>ryone who milttereel knew h(> had Dr. ~ a hath jr 's ear a nd stead1,1\1 backing. In return, he was loyal. Known to hi s frie nds as "Muscles", the soft-spoken and diminutive Da im, who usually shunned the press and often conducted business d ressed III ICa ns, a cas ual bat ik shirt an d sandal s without socks, saw no reaso n to ~ h :lI1ge his ways becausc he was in th e Cab inet. lie dismissed concerns ,llIout his overla pping publk and pr ivate int er('sts . All accelerated acqu iSItIon ~p ree , in which Daim boug ht signlflrant stakes in food, pro p(' rty and hllilding- nlaterials colTllJ<m ies, culm inated in his biggest a nd pOlentially Ino~t lucrative deal a we.:k Ix'fore Ill' WilS na med finan ce min ister. He swapped l'I~Sl per cent interest in Mal,1yslan French Bank a! ld ({MI2S mil lion in cash lor a co-dom inan t, 40.7 per cent ~ t a ke in the mllcll bigger United Ma lilya n Banking Corpora tion. The tim ing was most conve nient, as allowing a serving 'ma ncc minister to assume SI1
Once they surfaced, the tr,l11S<1ctions raised legal and et hical issues as well a~ thorny pol itical problems. Ma lilysia's lIanking Act of 19 73 required the ,Lf>proval of the finance minister for any "agrt'ellll.'n t or arra ngemen t" for t ile ~ :tle or disp0 S<11 of ~ hare s in iI Mala ysia n hank or affecting managemen t and other matters "which will result in a change in the control Of management of the ba nk" . l he mill ister '~ approval wa~ also required for any "reconstruction" of the bank that transfe rred any part of the hank to a nother corporation . Wh il e llan k Negara said the Cabi net had a pproved Daim 's purchase of the ban k shares and he u WilS never at any stage involved", the explanation left the question of legali ty unsetl itct, since the nanking Act made no specific
provisio n fo r Ih(' ministe r to delegate au t horit y fo r )uch approvals. And neit her d id It provide fo r the Cabin et to play all Y ro le in t he ap proval process. After Dr. Ma hath ir a nnounced in 1986 tha t l1lilli s tc r ~ , dep uty ministl'rs and their im med iate family would no lo ng(,r be ahle to buy shares in compa nies a nd woul d be req uired to red uce an y existi ng hold ings, Dalm's plan ned sa le of his controlling illle rest in Un ited Malayan nan ki ng Corpora tion proved ('v('ry bil as contentious as ilS purchase. He sold o ut to slate-ownl'(! P(·rb.1danan Nasional Bhd., the previously cO+domi nant sha reho ld('( th at h;'ld not subsc ribed to a prefe re nt iall y priced rights Issue in 1985, which had allowed Daim to ta ke outrigh t cont rol of the ba nk. A year late r, the sta te en terprise was paying at least I~MZ7 million m O rl' for those sha res, b,m kers estimated, though the price was not disclosed.25 Announci ng his Lo ok East policy in late 198 1, Dr. Mahat hir sOllght a paradigm shiH in the men tali ty of Mala ysians, ~s pecl all y in the Malaydo minated burea ucracy, wh ich had dl'l'l<.'d all previo us ('fforts to eli minate the inOuence of till' iong-gone Uritish. D«:la ri ng thai the West was in d('Cll m' and had lost the values Ihal made it great, he urgl'(l Malaysia to con5idcr japan , South Korea and Taiwa n - and, publicl y unstated, 5ingaporl' - as models for economic de,'eloprnent. Wh ile the Wl'St itself was awest rock at Ihe time over Japan's seemingly illexorabl(' riS(', Southeast Asia's bitt('r wa rtime memories precluded any srxmta nrous in cl ination to look nort hwa rd with aff('("lion. As Dr. MClha th ir understood fro m hi s visits to Japan, a com petent po litica l and bureaucrat ic eSlahli shm('nt was guidi ng the cou ntry 10 an {'COJlomic mi racle. With Ihe govCrrlmt'Il I and busi nl'Ss cooperating closel y, i n d u ~ t r l a l action was ra re ilnd economic pc:rforma nce did not come at the e X I .IC n ~e of national solidarity and ~oclal stability.u lf Malaysia could sim ilarly bleud economic achievement with local va lues and na tiona listiC pride, it would faci litate Dr. Mahathir's aim of tra nsforming the Malay com munity.21 In practice, ho wever, took East re mai ned a co nfu sing concept. Wit h Dr. Maha th ir clOSing meeti ngs by Into n ing dQI1IQ lIrisato X(Jztlimas/Ji/a and po litely bowing his heat..! in plnce o f t he usual "tha nk you", the gove rn · me nt dispatc hed thousa nds of st ude nts a nd sk ill~d workers to j apan to learn its secrets. ZIl Among the m was a disappointed Mukhriz Mahath ir, who had obtained a scholarsh ip to study in the Un ited Stales, but was directed 10 Japalt for fi ve years inst('ad by his fat her. "I didn 't like il at first, bu t now I hilvc no regrets," he sa id la te r.2Q The j apanese vie w of themselves as (ul t urall y un ique, and mo rC' aligned with Ihe industria l West than developing Asia, made it di fficult to transfe r so me of thei r p ra c li c~ s to Malaysia. With English the widely spo ke n fo reign la nguage in Malaysia, plan'> to teach Japanese and Korean to workers, and make Japa nese an optional language in S('("ondary schools, made little headway.
In a memo to senior government o ffici als in rnid-19S3, Dr. Milhathir sa id, East docs not mea n begging from the East or shift ing responsibility lor developing Mal;lysla" to the F.ast. Nor d id it mean "buyi ng .11\ goods from, ,)r grant ing all con tracts to, compa nies of the East, unless their offe r is hest". II) "et the idea persi<;;tcd that Mil laysia would be doi ng mort' husiness wi th Japan ,1I1d South Korea a nd CXlx-cted someth ing concrete in retu TII, espeCially for hcing such an a rucnt admi rer and will ing stude nt of thei r wi nn ing ways. Iloping flalt cry would soft l'1l the hearts of the Japanese, who had built Ihe world's second-la rgest economy with practices so pri..>datory they were '>Ometimes depict('s. Their prizes included ,Ill offi ce block ami convention centre for UM NO, a new hl'adqua rters fo r the Nationa l Equity Corporation, and a 55-storey tower for sta te-con troll ('(1 Ma layan II.Ul king 13M. None (:aust'(( more offence than the RM 3 13 mi ll ion contrart awarded by the gov~ nllne nt to twoJapancse wmpanles to build the sprawling Dayabumi (."om plex in Kuala Lu mpur, then MalaYSia's most ex pensive building, even though a loca l compan y bid RM7J million less. Dr. Mahathir's dcfenC(', tha t the jap.1nese would Introduce new management skills and modern buildIng techn iques, proved hollow. The bumiput ra ('ngineering com pany that the japa nese were req uired to work with subsequently complai ned tha t its ja panese part ners were using II merely 10 maintain good relations wi th t he government, and said that no technology transfer was taki ng place. 1l Complain ts that Malaysia was rea ping few t a n g i bl ~ be nefit s fro m \"ook bast ex te nded into Hade, in vest nU'n t, manageme nt a nd sh ipping. After nea rly t hree years, Ma laysia's trade dellcit with Japan had widened sharply, and the Ma laysia ns had lit tle success in persuadi ng th (' Japanese 10 buy more o f their manu facturi..'(1goo ds. japa nese co m panies were slow to invest In skill -i nte nsive indust ries in Mala ysia , and even slowe r to tra nsf('T new tcchno logy to their Mal aysia n un its and establish research a nd development facilitil'S in t he count ry. They also tended 10 bypass local contractors and supplie rs and acq uire co mpo nents, materials a nd services fr om japan_ Japa nese manu fa cturing cmnpan i ~ e mpl oyed more expatria te ma nage rs and staff than most ot her fore ign in vestors, locking Ma laysi ans out of decision- maki ng functions a ncl itLhi hitln !l. thei r career dt;veloprnelll. Wit h appea ls to Ja pan to use mo re Ma laysian vessels fo r th eir bila te ral trade going unheeded, the sh ipping imbalance contributed to a la rge and wide nIn g defi ci t in their invisible trade as weil .1.l In a hard. h itting speech in August 1984 t ha t reeked o f emba rrassment , Dr. Maha th ir registered his unhappiness over the way Mala ysia'S rela tio ns ~I.ook i ng
9 4 Mulil)'Sic/ll ,\1,wl:'ri(/c
with japan had f.. lled to c:volve. Accusi ng Tokyo o f co nductil1g a colo nia l economic relationship, he said the Japanese ('(:onomy was ext re mely proteclion ist, and the Japanese were guilly of "improper behaviour" o ve r ai r rights while e ngaging in "the dishonest and tensio n-generati ng" practice o f t ransfer prici ng, by wh ic h companjes show mini mal profit, or e ven losses, to avoid taxes. "We cannOt and will nOl re main merely as hewe rs of wood and d rawer ~ of wlwsll(lS- at least six were formed in the early and mid-eightles - also wt'n t now here. Ma laysia lacked th e close l-onn ect io ns betwee n the banks, government a nd ind ustry that were nec'O),('d. Mtl'r a liHl'('fold increase in export earn ings between 1975 and )9S0, the country's e{"Onomic planners had foreca st t'xports to top IlM63 billion by 19H5. They failed to reach nM38 billion. Dr. Mahathir blamed rapIdly advancing technology as well as ma nipulation by thl' developed counlrl('S for thl' collapse, a nd dcclart'd that "Ihere is no fu ture in com modities". As trad(' and industry minister as w~ 1I as d~ p ut y premie r from 1978 to 1981 , Dr. Mahathir had sold Malaysia to American, European and j apanese
multinationals as a plat fo rm o n wh ich to manufacture industrial products lor overseas ma rkel$. But as pri me minister he argued that eXI>orI ·orien ted IIlan ufacturi ng was insu ffi ciell t. "W(' do nOI wa nt to be grounded in the mediocrity of me re assembly operations, " he said . Al though the world was e nte ring a recessio n that would incvitably affa " Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir pUSIH.'opu iation - 14 million in I YIB - cars and steel esp('clally we're un likely to be profi table in t he dOlllestic IWlrket unless sheltered behind protectionist walls or sub\lcliLed. Either way, it would lx, a burden on local consumers, who e njoYl'd t'asy acc('SS to imported manufactu red good producers in fi elds already threatened by global oveHOIp..1city. Dr. Maha thir would have none o f it. 1-1(.' rega rded h('avy industries as a n cxp re~:.io n of nat ionalism that would show how Malays could advance beyond the eco no mic limits previously sct for Iht'Ill .)9 1-1(' was thinJ.;ing beyond indi Vidual prod ucts, prices and ma rket sharl' 10 the next stage o f industrializatio n, as in South Korea. Seoul had Ignored conven lional adviu' a nd refu sed the temptation to conll nue buyi ng st eel clw a ply frO Ill JaIXIIl , Dr. Ma hathir said , and now the Soulh Korea ns were scll ing steel to j apan . Ill' was certai n heavy ind ust ry wou ld bring simila r substa ntial benefitS to the Malaysian « onomy through technology, )kills a nd numerous spin-offs. Large manufact uring e nterpriS('s nceded SUPl>Orting indu5lrie:-. a nd services, which ITlU ~ t be provided mainly by locals. "Tht' spillover is literally t(('mendo u s ,~ Dr. Mahath ir said . echo ing h is prima ry school teache r's message. "Whole Il("W towns spring lip where lndu!>tries arc located .. . new ~ e rv ices and tr,ldl~ s spring up. " 4(\ Dr. Mahath ir conceded lhal Glrs, for exa mple, could he imported c heaper, bu t i n~ i 5t'ed lhc capacity to produce whid es was a necessa ry component of Malaysia's industrializa tion . Il l" was fnl5 tfilted that ma rly MalaYSians dId nOI shan.' his en thusiasm about building a great natio n and, worse, some did not ('ven bt'lieve it was po~ si\)I('. l ie urged them to "overcOIII(, tile mental block whic h condem ns liS to being the produccrs of primary com m(xlities to
TI,e
fuel til(' growth o f the industria li zed coumrie:<.".41 Just as ~eve rybody" had said Sou th Korea was "'stu pid ". I)r. Ma hathir disp.u aged his IIwn critics, pre· domin ant ly l'Conom ists. "Th ese peopk don 't have the faintest notion of what they are talking about". 1)l'Cause "whal they say h purely academic based o n theories learn t in unlvNsit il"S".4l One theo ry th aI kept croppi ng li p was economics o f \cale. Dr. Ma hat h ir had a typically novd solut ion: MalaYSia 5hould inc rease itS population by 400 p(;'r cent to 70 milli oll by 2100 to crea te ils ow n rll ilrket. li e r!"eom· mended five child rell ill ;1 fami ly. HI:<. pro nouncements j(1 ited till' fa mil y planni ng ,l ut hori tie.... who had iX'e n trying to hOld down popula tion grow th . as was :<.tanda rd practice In most developing counl ries. to lncrease the [)('f capita benefits of economic expansion . So t he official ta rget was SCI at 70 mil lion 1)(."Opl(' b)' Ill(' ('nd of the twenty-first century. even lhough no serious thought walO given to how Ihey would be pnxluctiwly absorbed. From Dr. Mahat hir'S lO tandpol nt. the government's lead In thl;' hcavy Inchm ry cha rge would also help It meet its NEP ta rgets, by giving bumiput ras t he ch anc(' to trai n as Industrial mana gers and ~ k ill ed bluc·co llar workers. But in hypa ssing Ihe Chinese who oomln;l\cd domes ti(' m'HlU· fae-turlng, lil(' government was forced to rely "alrno~t cxcl u ~ively on mostl y inexperil'lll·l'd. often in('pt a nd so mcli m('s corrupt cleme nts from Ihl' MlIli.ly-dominated govcrnme.nt appa ratus" - a nd foreig n eo m panics.~ J Most of lh(' busi ness went to large. Japant.'SC and South Korean companies without any open. com pemiv(' tendering. P;lrticula rl)' lucrative Wl're. turnkey COlllraC15 that gav(' them tota l control owr de ..ign. lIIaterial and l·onstructioll . The Malay!>iam found out later t hey had 1X"e1l ripp(;.'d off hy some of the foreig n outfits, which overpricl'{l hnlx)rtcd tt'chnology a nd su ppli cs.~· AltogN h{'r, it wa!> "a h('lIuva ('xlX'nsive way to transfer technology to II few workers~. 4\ i...3 ullc hed as the global recession gripp{'{1 Malaysia , wit h prol ects rurt by hureaucral-mlln agers lacki ng appro priatl;' t ra ini ng. Or. Mahathir's heavy tnd ust rlaUzation progralll lU(' f1 ou ndl;'red. Saddk'd with huge forl.' ign debts a nd h igh interest rates. ventures that were commercia lly unviabk g(,lIc rated few jobs a nd faik'd to l>park an economic take,ofr. Two cement plants, onl" tn Pcrak state and the otll('r o n I.
Vi~i""or II
Mu
IIJKO, Dr. Milhat hir nursed t he venture for two dccadcs. gloryi ng in its Itlany milestones a nd stubbornl y reSist ing its numerous setbacks, before r.1l11ng against its inevitable declill e. With Dr. Mahat hlr in retirement after 2{X)3 and no longer able to protect it agai nst foreign rivals. Malaysia's l'ar ... Im ply ran out of competitive gas. III COM and twO Mitsubish i companIes formed a 70 IX'r cent-Malaysian nwned joint ventur(' in 1983, Perusahaan Otomobil NaSional, known as Proton, and promiS<'d to havc II car on the road ~in rC("{lrd time". The prime mi n ister was fed up wit h the slow pace ,It which local assembler::. o f Illrl'ig n Vf..' h icles were incrcasi ng their Ma laysian (:(mtent. lie also was prel'ar<:'<1 to wri te off privatt-Sl'C to r ,Itl empts to eSla hthh complenlt'n lary ca r mdustries in the then !ivc-mem ber ASSOCiation of Southe:!:.t Asian Nations IASEAN). where p.'u ts proouc('d in o ne country might qua lify as loca l n)f1 I<.'. ll t in th(' olill;'rs. Alt hough the first Proton Saga was es~ n t iall y a Mitsubishi Lancer n orl;'. lrnporl('(1 in crates and as~mb l ed in Mala ysia . Dr. Mahat hir d rove it o ff thc .t~St'mbJy lin~ in SCplCtllbcr 1985 in a burst of ribbons. ha lloons and nmion.tll~tic hoo pla. I-Ie had a stretch verl>ion ma(\{' as hi s oflicla l car. Pro ton 's logo In itia ll y featurl'd the cres t from Malaysia 'S l'oat of arms. and sub~l'qu <':lI t mod('is followed the Saga. meaning it kInd of st!('d from the saga tr('(', in bearing patriotic Malay 11 was costi ng Prolon an cslimil ted nMJS.OOO. In despera tion, the com pany tUfll{'{1 to export markets.
'J1u' V;.~ il!ll of
Highly pro t('C't ed at h o me and n o t designed for s,Lle a broad, Proton predictabl y flo pped . Exports accounted fo r o n ly about 10 per Cl'n t of prOdtKt ion in the micl- 1990s, and d eclined lat er. Small n u mb('rs o f vehicles we re s h ipped to Banglades h and o th er Asian a nd Mid d le Eastern co un tries with low e mission a nd safety sta nd a rds. TIll'Y p roved more popular in Hritai n , w here they requi red m ore t ha n 400 costly mo d ifica tio n s to meet Brit ish standa rds .. l~ but co uld n ot escape the ir ~Iou gy im age. Despite b eing given catchi er names later, suc h as Gen -2 and Savvy, t lw y a p pealed mostly to eldl.'r ly dr ivC'rs and car ren tal companies thilt were offered gent'ro us Imy-bilck arra nge me nts. Nonetheless, I'roton a ll p<1[X'.r became one o f Malaysia's most successful and fm ancia ll y sound co m panies. It soon dom inated the Mala ysian car market, the biggest in Southeast Asia, ca pturing more th an 70 pe r cen t at its peak in 198H. Aflcr four straigh t years of losses, the compan y a n nou nced a mod est p rorl t in 1989. Earnings o ver the nexi year wi ped o ul aCL'\lm u lilted 10s5('s, a nd ['roto n 11 0 ldings Bhd . was li sted on the stock exd lCl nge in 1992, wh('re it Ix'GI111e a favO urite o f in$titut ional investors. fly 20(B, ti le compan y had cas h reserves o f ItM4 bil lion a nd PTOjL>('tcd profitability. But Prawn's success came at a h eavy cost 10 Ma laYSian consunH' rs: taxes rangi n g from 140 per L'en t to 300 per Cl'n t o n impo rted vehicles, a n ti up 10 40 pe r cen t on cars loca lly aSSl'm b lcd fro m import ed kits. Built in to the p roteCl ion, and litt le known to th e moto ring p ublic bein g slugged , was an opaq lll' import-lin' mi n g syst l' m for foreig n cars. Int rod lKed in the mid1970s to en co urage bumiput ras to ente r t he vehiCle dist ributio n bU5i l11.' :;S, tite n do mi n ated by forei gn co mpa nies a n d hliSill('ss grou ps o wned by C hinese Malaysiam, the :.ystc m cove red truc ks a n d motorb ik s as we ll a s ca r). Wit h the lTcatio n o f Proton, the licen sing system was blended with ta riffs 10 protect the n at ional ca r. Licensees we re gra n tl'd pe rmits, which (,> very ve hid e man u fac tu red o r asse mbled o utsid e Malaysia h ad to secure before it co uld be imported a nd sold loca lly . Th e Min istry o f internalio na l Trade a nd Ind ust ry issued t h e permit s to co mpani es con trolled by b u miputra in vesto rs. They d id not have to hi d op('n ly, a nd nor d id they have to pay a .~i ll gl e cent fo r a perm it , ma kin g perm its, tn e ffect , a licc lln ' to print mo ney . Licensees typ ica ll y SO ld the use o f t h l'ir rights to distri b utors hips fo r between RM IO,OOO aml ItMSO,OOO pe r ve.h icle, depend in g on t hl.' make and model. This dassic tOllgate o peration put more t han RM 1 b illion iI ye,l r in to the pockets o f the well-co nnecteu permit h o lders and yielded no benefit to the govern mcnI.4Q ~Y ou ca n b uy a home in Mal aysia ch eape r th an yo u can b uy a car," o n e ,In alyst wrote in 1 9~ 9. ~) Ma laysia n car o w ners were gene ra lly pay ing th ree t imes the price of a sim ilar modd i.n the Un ited States. Not o n ly Wl're rivals Il on
t ~l
II
M lXfcm ,'llIIlion 99
Pro to n to Malaysiall taxpayers, in the fo rm o f subsid ies, totaled between I(M 11 b il lio n alld RM 12 bill ion hy the mid-1 990s, acmrdi n g to a govern ment stud y. 51 The fu ll cost re ma in ed unknowTl. Mitsubi sh i bailed out o f Proto n in 2004, end in g a two-d ccade partnershi p lhat p ro ved ext remely lucrati ve fo r t h e Ja panese grou p. Whe n Mits ub ishi \Va:. selected by Dr. Mahat h ir for the p roject wit h o ut a n y compet itive bid \Il ng, it had l railed its ma in Japa nese co mpl'tito rs in MalaYSia, wit h a JliI~w n g(' r- car ma rket share o f less than 10 per cen l. Milsubish Corpora tion ,111(1 its aSSOCia te Mitsubish i Motors Corporation, w h ich eac h h eld IS I>cr It'lll of Proto n, we re gua ran teed ha ndsome ret u rns regard less of the vell\Ilre's pro titabilily. T hey were paid to p rovicll' the teCh nology, com pon ent s _Hld trai ning, as wel l as co llect ing paten t, design and o ther fees. Dissati sfi ed wi th Proton 's performa nce in 1988, the Ma la ysian govern me nt repl,lCed the company's bumlpul ra manageme nt with Mitsullishi executives. Mitsuhl~ hi 's wi lhdrawal fro m Proton , through the sale of sh;u('S to oth er in vestors, l\.'Ilt'Cted the Japanese com pa nies' diminished ro le in Ma laysia .5.l Over the pre\'Iolls decade, Proton had CUI its depe ndence on Mitsubish i by acq u iri ng autoengl necri ng companies stich as Iki tai ll's Lotus Gro up In ternational. Proton ,d\o ~tart ed ma king it s o wn cllgines, w hich it previously purch asl'(i fro m MllSlIbishi ,md ig Japanese su p pliers. But it was no t {' a~ y iOT I'roto n to strike out o n its Own. Pro ton's day of recko n in g n eared as Mala ysia met its o bligatio n s u lld er an .\.)I?AN Frl'C Trade Area pact, wh ich requ ired ta riffs o n all manu facturi.-,d g<xxls In the most dewlopeu mem ix'r countries to be red uu 'd to no more tha ll 5 per u~n t by 2002. Kuai" Lu m pur o b tai n ed a n cx!'m p tion fo r Gin an d compo ne n ts: 20 per cen t by 2005 o n the Wily to the 5 pe r cell t cap by 2008. A'S PrOto n grad uall y became l'xIX)sed, its share o f Ma laysia's 4 :~O , OOO a year passcnger< ar nlilrket tumbled fro m GO (X'r cen t in 2002 to 41 per cellt in 2005 and t ile co mpan y sli pped back in to thl' red . Th!' enti re Mala ysian moto r Industry. employi ng a total workforc!' o f more than IOO,tXXJ, was vulnerable, Includi ng Proton 's two fa cto ries b ui lt at a cost o f RM2 bi llion and producing ,l range o f ca rs fro m 1300 c..Co to 2000 ex.; anOther Malaysia-Ja pan loi nl venture, w hich be~a n pr<xluci ng il secon i.l Hnalion al car" tn 1994, the tiny 66O-c.c. Ka n ci l (mouSl.'t.il'c r) based on Daihatsl1 Motor Com pany's Mira m<xlel; ,I third "nation al r a r" , a Cl tro~ n wi th 1100 C.C. \() 1500 c.c. versions, assemhi ed b y Malaysia n interests witll te-chnology and equipm('nt supplied by Jora nce's Au tomobiles Ci trocn SA; and d ozen s o f uncolTl jX't it ivc 10c,Il ilUt o I.);uts makers and vendors. The bigg!'St threat emanated from Thailand, which had pursued th e opposit(' stra tegy to Ma laysia in the J'J9Os. Thailand turned Itself into till' ~ Di.!lro it of the E
'1'11(' Vh iull
reluctant to sell a major swkc or allow manage lil ent contro l to pa:.s Into th~ hands of foreIgners. Yel that seemed to be tile only ~\Tay to attract ecame one of the first serious pOI ntS o f co nt e ntio n bl.'lween Dr. Mahath ir and his s u ccc~sor , Abdullah Had awi.
To rt:vivc Ma laysia's flagg ing economy, which h ad bc<.'n puncturro hy glol>..')1 rL'Ccssion and further burdened by the government's heavy industry coullnitmenlS, tIll' Mahathir administration in the early 1980s d rastica lly altered the country's d evelopment st rategy. It rOOucoo the government's role in the {'(onomy and gave a bigger stake once again to private business. To switch from state-spurred to private sector-It'd growth, Malaysia encouragL'(i fo rel):;n invcstml,'n t and adoptl'tl a policy of privatiZation, wh ich nr. Mahmhlr utlvelle(! in 1983. I'rlvati7.a ti0I1 was 1I0vel, as th e worldwide wave that was 10 IX'Comc id('nt iflcd with Hritish Prime Minister Marga ret Thatcher ami U.S. Pr('sld(,'nt Ro nald Reagan was just gett ing started . It was also rad ical, since It prom ised to Tl'Verse the method chosen by Dr. Mahathir'$ p red l'Cl'ssors in pursuing the NE" : crealing public ('lIterprises to redistribute wealth and ):;enerate jobs. Trying to spelld its wily out o f reccssion, Ma laYSia had sunk in to ('l'OIlomic malaise. Its expa n siona ry fi scal policies, funded by h eavy borrowing ,It home and ab road, led to serious budget ddicits and rapidly rising debt-M'rv!C(' ( hargl"S. Uetween 1970 and 1982, gu ....eTll ment cotlSumption and investlll('nt as a share of GOP had jumIX-'Ci almost 50 lX'r (('nt as the bureau<:racy quadrupled . Cou nt Ing investments in Petron as, the public sector ~harc of GOP was about 3ij per ccnt in 19H2, one of the highest levels In the noncom munist world .~ t After thrt.-e straight years of large budget deficits - thl' ~ l lortfall reached a staggering 19 per l'Cnt of GOP in 19H2, financed by forelg ll borrowin g that tripled in th ree years - the guvernment condudt'Ci th at, as one senior finance officia l put it, "Wl' bit on more than we ca n chew."~" As Dr. Mahat h ir's fimmcc: m inister at the tl me, " I did try to contain h is obsession with big spending," S
Ilrli
Mo.if'm N flI il}ll
101
tu ov('rcom(' th e problem of rel'alcitrant worke rs, who showed t heir displeasure with houses and shups thaI did nOI give them a tip by spilling and ,r... ttering wa s t e.·~ Priva tization was a nuda l l'lem ent in Dr. Maha!hir's vision to mould M,llaysia into a nation of innovative entrep reneurs and skillL'{l, disciplined worJ.;erlo. I-It' would spo mof the naSCl'nt Malay bu~ines.~ da~:., which in time It)Uld lake its p lace alongSide successful, tlOn-Mlllaylo and be in terna tionally wlIlpelitive. Privatized ventures had to meet the NEP target o f at least m lX'r cen t bumipll tra equ ity IItid employmellt particlpation. Th e close conIll'Ction between privatizatioll and affi rmative a(1ion gO:lls made Malaysian privati7.ation unique. S? I'rlvatlzation Malaysian·style was as much d as cron ies by cri lics, were fl t'dgli ng ("nl rl'prclleurs as far as t he government was concerned.
\02
Mllllly~imi
TIIf' Vhi.", flf" ,\10<11''11 N mim/
Mmwi('/c
Th('y bought offlCia l a:.~IS at d iscounted prices, obtained 50ft credit alld cnjoy(,<1 st,lte-backed gu:uantees for loans. Dr. Mahathir was happy to ddl'nd the creation of corpo rate em pires built through persona l contacts with tile U M NO eli te. l ie a rgued tllat they were more capable of using slate pa lron:lge r('sourccs Ihan the hroad mass of bumiputras. They also performed "na tional servire" by undertaking Ii'SS profi table projC'"(ts in thl.' country's intl'rcst, he SOlid. While some high.profile non-Menefitt>d from privatizatioll, most lucrative contracts were di rected at Malay businessmcn asS(}. dated with one of Ma la ysia 's three top po lilics as prmaes for hi s own comm ercial int Nest~, with most of th em silting on the bo:lfds of his family companies; Anwar, by contrast, created a group of hu~ine~s associates to (i(-wlop a political base in UMNO.w r ile mo~1 successful were " Dulin'S boys", the best and bri!lh tl'~1 of thl' young cxecuti ves h(' had nurtured at Percmba Bhel ., a statc-owlled COIllmerclal pro(X'rty corporation, before joining the government. They IW'ca n1l' high profile multi-millionaires and cnjoyed celebrity st;lt uS in the late 1980s and 1990s, the beolitica[ figures, l's r~ci ally t hose who h:ld fought fo r the country's independence".101 The government ckdaroo privatiZl Wh ile there was no doullt that privat ized entit ies oJnsider
103
Much of th e debate about privatiZ,lIl OIl cCilSt'd after tht' ASiilJl fi na ncial crisis engulfed Malaysia in 1997-9H and devastatl'd Ihl' celebrated bu mi· putra companies, They were too indebt(,<1 and lackoo managerial com petence_ Thl' government eHher b;liloo them out 01 effectively fe- nationalized the m, converting private debt int o public burden, with no one held responsible fo r the 10sses.1>-4 In five years, the gov('rnmen t spent RMI I billion resclling seven privatized enterprises, including I{M7.71 b ill ion for two ligh t ra il 'iysterns in t ht? ca p ital.~ Altho ugh the NEP orficially expirt.' promoll'd a:. Vision 2020. Alt hough Illost of the cle men ts were famil iar, drOlwn Irom existing plam and programmes, I ht~ packag\.' ca ught the public Imagimllio rl and was the subject of numerous studies, seminars and ('onfl'rence:;. It would reqUire the country to grow at 7 per cent annually on avemge, from 1990 to 2020, dou bli ng GOP ('very ten years. GOP woullllX' eight timt.'S larg('r in 2020 than in 1990, .101i Malaysi;ms would be fou r times richer in realwrms. Dr. Mahalhir's Idea of a fu lly d cvelopcd nation went beyond the material. Ill' out lined nine "'central stratl'sic challcnges,N that must IX' met to achieve all-round and well-balanct.od development - politically, StK"lally. spirit ua lly, p~ychologicall y and cullUrally, as "-ell ,IS economically. Hi!> single reference to the goal of "one BIII I.,{5(1 \f(f/tlysia usually translated as "Mala)'sian race'" or "Ma l;J ysi:Jn pl-,<>ple", raist.od the hope for an ('nd evcntually to race-based politics. Although Or. Mahathir probably meant nothing mor(' than a un ited Malaysian nation bound together by prosperity, non-Ma lays, especially, saw him as the leader most likely to narrow ethnic diwiions. H
,
Altho ugh priva\i/..at io ll generated lots of buzz around the Mala ysian st(x:k ma rkel, it was the m()n~ dynamiC foreign-domina tl.'<.l, export-oriented manu· facluring Stx·tor t hat would easc Ma la)'siil out of its pro lo ngl'<.l slump and power It 10 glory. With unemployment at a r~'(or<J high and the economy contracting by 1.1 per c('nt In 1985 and growing by a fceble 1.2 per cent in 198(J, Dr. Mahathlr pragmatically IIber
104
MIl/(/ysillJl M.II'('fick
con trol. Whcn the Swiss foot! and drin k maker Nestle S.A. restructu red it s Malaysian ope rations in li ne wlt h the NEP, It was able to ret ain a 51 per ('{'n t stake, ratilt'r tl1an sell 7(J per (ent to local invest ors. /!. raft o f other measures culminated in Dr. Mahat hir's a nnouncemen t tltat the blllllipu tra equity requi retll('llts would be SUSIX'll(kd fo r ce rtain new foreign Inv{'stlllcnts and forei gn-owlled expan sions milde between 1 October 1986 and 31 D..::('('mi>t:r 1990, when the NEP was su ppo sed to end , Such investments committed in th at p('riod would no t be requi red to restructure t hei r ('qu it y "at any t ime ". Or. Maha thir's stan d loo k courage, since there was no more sensi ti ve topic tha n the NEP. He simply tol d the Malays that d istri bu ting jobs was as imponanl as distributing e'[ ulty . "ObViously, if t ht're is no growth th ere will be nothing to distribute," he said. Anot h{'r near simuitanl'ous st ructural adjustme nt a wor ld a way held profound implkalions for Malaysia . Worried by the st rength of Ihe dollar, the fin ance mi nisters of the five largl.."5t industri al {:oulltril'S, tlwn knowlI as the G-S, met at lhe I'la".a Hotel in New York ill 19R5 a nd agrced Oil concc rt ed <'rl'd an ew from t he in flux of Japanese investment, t hei r own currencil's appreciated and t heir product ion co~t s rose. They in turn relocated thei r manu f1lCtliring operations to Chi na ,1I\U Sou theast Asia, laking the Japanese with them . Fort'igll investment flooded into Thailand first , the n Malaysia ortant Y By 1980, cr ude petrolt'um ex ports had takell over the histori cal position of rubber as t he (Il ief fo r{'ign l'xt"hangc ca rner, and petroleum was contributi ng 2S per ("~'nt of govern mcrll f(~vc nu e by 19R5.'KI Hundreds o f 1housands of foreign wo rke rs strealll ed into M,tlays ia, ofte ll ilkgally and working ou t o f sight on plantations, as ullcmploymelllturned in to a labour shortfal l. Malaysia was a mong the world's fast est growing econ om i ('.~.
Kuala Lum pur also liberaliz('d the dOIllt'stic rmancia l sector \0 wl'lt'o me portfoli o investment , giving little thought to it:. hd ng the most mobile form of capital, relentlessly profit"sl..'Cking and prOlle to depart as q uickly as it arrived. Th{' government sought to take advantag{' o f this " hot money" to expand Malaysia's capi tal market ,md transform the country into a
nit- \';,;Ol! ofa MfHkm N(l/ iOIl
lOS
regional fina ncia l centre. Official statements h inted that Kuala Lu mpur aspired to overtake Singapore or displace liong Kong after the I~ rit i sh m lony's return to Chilla in 1 997. 6~ With Ma laysia one of Ihe world's "emerging markets" thell in vogue with foreign fund managt.:'rs, pon folio investment deluged the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, later rena med I\ursa Ma laysia. I'orelgn funds in vested in shares and rorporatt.' 5ecuri ties increased by more than ni ne-fold from 1991 to 1996.71' Big or small, other ('OUlltries were im pressed with Malaysia's performam·e. Sometimes-smug Singa pore was iolted by Kualtl Lumpu r's investment in con· tainer pOrts, a "super" aiqxlrt and an enlarg{'(ilina nctal centre. UTilis made us re-exam ine our competitiveness, improvt' our infraslrUClllrc all(1 work smarter to increase our productivity," said forml'r Si ngapo re prime min istcr I..l..'t' Kuan Yew. ?! St un ned by Ma laysia's vbible prog ress 51nl.;e a vislt 16 years earlier, India n Pri me Minister V.I'. Singh in 1990 ilsked his eco nomic advise r 10 prepare a paper thaI would help New Delh i emulate Kuala Lumpur's "~pec . taClIlar sllccess".72 The ani}' economic probk ms in tile mid-1990s scemed to be the stresses and strains of success. Ix mand for power began 10 outst rip supply. A gTOwlng shortage of skilled and semi-skilled workers drove li p wages, erCKling Mal aysia's competit ive edge in labour-intensive manufacturing. But the government dismissed suggestions that the economy was overheati ng a nd should be allowed to ta ke a breather. Despite Vision 2020's lofty rhetoric aoout balanced dewlopment, "acquisitive, profiteering, short-tennist behaviour proliferated" as the good times rolled. ""' It was a regiRw of accu mulation and speculation .... Ra pid growth l>rt-am{' e ntrenched as a desirable objective fo r its own materia l ends ... ".H Many MalaYSians "saw nothing else but weOllth ".71 With highe r incomes, lifestyks changed. The wealthy ilCiopted felishes that "followed the footsteps of the rich and famous of t he world", wh ile members of thl' middle-class nouveau ric he rompcted with ooe another over sta lus sym hols: blue-chip stocks, expensive houses, impo rted rars, golf club memherships and the latest cell phones.;s "We arc deve loping our unique Ma laysiall Dream," ecollomist. banker and former offitial Ramon V. Nav
106 Mafaysilm MflVf'rick
would reverberate throughou t East Asia, dt.'vastating Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea as wdl as Thailand. Herd-like panic by curren cy tmders and inexperie nced fu nd managers based in London and New Yo rk, treating the region as o ne Instead of a scri('S of quite disti nct L'Conomles, created a contagio n tha t spre.. d rapidly. As in vestors abru ptly withdre w their fu nds. share a nd property market bubb les in Mal"ys ia hurst , 1It1(krm ining the cOllnt ry's heavily exposed banking system. Ilaving traded as high as I{M2.49] to USS I in April 1997, the ringgit crumbled to HM4 .S95 in January 1998, as the Maillysian author· iti es abandoned its loose peg to iI dollar-domi nated basket of cu rrt'ncles. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange'S market l·apitalization plunged fro m RMB06.77 bill io n in 1996 10 RM :~ 7S.8 billion in 1997. The exchange's compo~ i te index, which stood at 1:t00 in Februa ry 1997, touched;1 low of 262 in September 1998. Or. Mah ~Hh ir's Vbioll 2020 was Imperiled as more than ItM30 billion nel in 1'0rHolio investments "l'd Mal"ysia in Ihe lasl nine mont hs of 1997, m uch man.' than ne t Intl ows ~I Tl ce 1995. 18 Elaborate symboh of tl1<.' vision the n u nder consl ruclio n - amollg t he m l'utra jaya, a new administrative cllpital for t h<.' coun try, the I.\akun hydroele.ctric dam in Sa rawa " a nd the high-te~: h Mu lti media Supe r Corridor - would have to be postponed, downsized, or abandoned with t he end of the high-growth era, More seriously, international finan cial forces that had intruded so dra m.. tkally would almost C<.'rtainly require the sort of structura l and market a'forms In Malaysia that might com pel Or. Mahathir to d ismantle his e ntin.' development project. InH iall y, Ma laysill follow<.'d Thai land's example in trying to defend its currC'ncy, with similar resul ts. liank Negara intervcm'
rh r I'iliml (If II Mullt'm Na lioll
107
age, which had found it easy to fund their often frenzied expansion by raising t:a pila l in the loca l stock markel, or by borrowing abroad. They had evolved Into politically protected market leaders, oozing wea lth and power, but not disti ngu ished by productivity or innovation and were completely un tested In export markl'ts. With the onsel of the crisis, they ~ mcd to be "living on borroWl"<1 lime and not just borrowed 1l10m:.'Y"."1 The most da maging case, in lenm of loss of Investor confidence, was the protracled RM2.34 billioll hailout, fro m November 1997, of Ik nong Bhd., UM NO's own holding company. After tak('Over rules were bent in Janua ry 1998 to permit United Engi n<.'t'rs (Malaysia) IIhd. 10 aC(luire :l 2.6 per cent of Rc nong, its pa rent company, al Ihe expe nse o f minority shareholders, Iht.' stock exchange lost RM70 billion in market capitalization oveJ the next thret' days.t12 In another Ilotcworthy casc, Petronas took conlrol of Malaysian Interna tional Shipping Corporation, afler MISe ,u.:quired t he Shipping assets and debls of Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd., wh ich was 5 1 per cent owed by Dr. Mahathir's SOil, MirJ:an Ma hathlr. When furth er pl;lOs were an nOUI1Cl,(\ 10 s;lve well-eonnectoo dt'bt-rldden h'IIlk.~ ami compallil-'s, "capital night hard· ened into a capital strikl': 1111.' market ..... ould not return if t he state, under Mah;lthir, could not be (jlsclpHm'(I ".!1.I Investors were unnerved lust as much by Dr. Mal1athir's vit riolic attach on the foreigners he hl'1d rtOSponsltJle for Malays i a'~ pain . Assuming a more dir('('t role in pol icy-making a~ the nhis d~ i>ened , Dr. Mahathir brandl'"d fon'lgn currency traders as "in ternational crimina ls~ led by American financier George Soras, a "morull ... wlth a lot of money..... I1-· lie accused the IMF of wanting to "subvert~ Malaysia's economy after an IMF official sUgJ;csted the government go easy 011 its giant infrastructure projects. The more he insin ualed a Western conspiracy to sabotage Southeast "sia, hinted at a Jewish plot against Muslim MalaYSia and r.. ik-d aga inst ~a n illternational dictatorship of ma nipulators", the fa stl'r capi t.. , depa ned Malaysia :lIld neigh· bouring c(llUltril.'s. lIi~ rC'marks "continued to undermine con fi clellCl.' and to exacerbate the situation until he was finally reined in by ollll'r govC'rnment leclders in the region", and no doubt by solile of his own adv i sers.K~ Ano ther aggravating factor was the perCeption t hat Or. Mahathir ami Daj m had ta ken ovC'r el"Onomic policy ma king from Fina n(C' Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who had endeared himself over the years to the interna tional fina ncial commu nity."" Dillm reappeared on the scent' in laic 1997, being namlxi ex('CuUVl' d irector of the N.. tional Economic Action Council , c hairc<.l by Dr. Mahathir, which was cstilblished to manage the crisis. When Or. Maha· thi r a nnounced Ihe <,'Olnmitmc nt of state funds to defend tile stock markel, Anwar WllS nowhere In sight. I)r. Mahathir fel t compelled to quash rumours of policy d ifferences with Anwar and to deny that he had ta kell over Malaysia's ('Conomic managelllcnt. ~ I a m responsible bKausc I am the head of government," he told reporters. "I can't let just everybody ca rry on thcir responsibility without myself helplng."'87
'/11(' VI$IOI/
Malaysia 's lower cxposur{' to private bank IX>Howings, serious though It was, meant It die! not haw.' to ru n to the IMF for emergency credit facllitil'S, a hu miliation 'Iuffcred hy'l hailand, in(\on('sia and Sout h Korea. A typica l IMF packilge, which irwolvl'd submitting to defla t ionary "cond itio nalitil'S", would have crippled Dr. Mahathir's gra nd plans. Still. Malaysia had to contend with an increa!'>ingly sh rill internal io na l clamour for fl.'fo rm, Including transparem'y, go<xl gov('rnam'e and 'Illowing fo reign investors to buy into and even control kw:al corporat ions. Domestically, Dr. Mahathir faced what he consi(i<.'red an even morl' urgent threat. He was convinced that Anwar, his deputy and heir app,nent, WetS plolting amidst the economic d iskH.:a tio n 10 topple him. Dr. Mahathir's sol ution, which put him at the centre of a worldwide controversy, wa) S<' ll'('tlve ca pita l conlrols, int rod uced on 1 $(>pternber 1998, 14 months aftl'r t he crisis Ilit. Ill' sacked Anwar th{' next day, de<:larlng him mOrllll y unfit tn hold office. In an effort to further 100s<"11 cn'dit and inc rease govern me nt sp<.'ndl ng to boost t he eConomy whit<.- keepi ng t he currency steady - the {,c:rform lng loam from the balan(e sheets of financial Institut ions, allowing d<,'bt-strilppt.'d hanks to resume Il'nding. Danamudal recapitaliled the ban k~, while the COrlX)rate Debt I~es tru ctu rin g Commillce did as it was titled. Contra ry tn llIa n y forec
of a MtHh'm
Nmioll
109
Malaysia rebounded more stro ngly in 1999 a nd 2<XX) than Thailand and Indonesia, though not as impressivl'ly ilS South Korea. In ;Iddition to proving wrong the pundits who predicted Ma laysia's demise, Dr. Ma hat h ir could take ytisfaction in the tarnished reputation of the IMF. 11(' helped discredit the IMPs aWilerity fix. the o rl('-silcd-fit5-l1l1 solution that till' fund misguidL>dly and arrogantly - triro to imp(lS{' in r.llSt Asia. Eminent economists continued to argue inconclusively about the effi cacy I)f Malaysia's action, which WitS e nta ugled in a global deba te about the timi ng of full-scale capit ill accou nt libcraliZiltion for emergi ng market economies_ Bu t in PTilCl iCt' Kuala I.umpur 's example mean t li llie. No o ther Lourltry subsequently opt{'(1 fo r capital controls, until th{' mili tary-instal led govern men t in Tha iland was tempted to inte rve ne to ctlrb the rapid ap pfedation of the baht in late 2006. The measure - req uiring for eign investo rs to dqJOsit 30 per cent of the funds se nt Into Th aila nd 10 buy sha res o r bonds in a non-i nt erest bearing account wi t h the central bilnk - tri&;l'reo it 5tock market meltdown In Bangkok and ra tt led ot her Asian rnarkl'ts . Just 24 hours aftef be ing imposed, the proviSion ap pl ying to the purchase of shares was lifted , t hough till' controls rl'maiT1{'d on bonds illld OthN de bt instrumcnts. The lesson fro m the Ix,tclH:d exer(" i ~e was thilt till' usc of ca pital controls continued to carry enormous risks. By focusing on defects in the internatlollalliystem , howevN, I)r. Mahath ir succccrled in d ivert ing attention from domellti<; naws and his problems with Anwar. Almost desperate by his o\\ln later admission, he was forced to contem plat e the elimination of the st a t c-~u ppo rl ed conglomeriltes, the heart of his cherist1l"d vision fo r the M;llays and Malaysi:!. Capital con trols for him lVere both a r~olitical and economk solution. As political scil'nt ist Khoo Boo Teik observed, had no o rthodoxy 10 ddend, Only interests to protect . Ill' had no theories to prove, only a project to pre.t'TVl'. And, if it 1l£'\.x1ed saying
·"c
110 M(I'I'phlII Millwiclr.
Or. Mahathir." Dai m's protege.. came u nder immed la((> fmancia l p ressure, just as d id thoS(' owing allegia nce to An war Ibrahi m whe n he was S should be modified o r scrap ped altoget her. During thl' general eleclion in 2008, the oppoSi tion led by Anwar Ibrahim made unprl'Ccden led gains, drawing support from all communities by proposing a Malaysian Economic Agenda thai focused on ne<'ds, rather than eth nicit)'. to rcplaC<.' the NE.r. Absolute poverty, which claimed half til(, popu lation in 1970, was reduced l'llOrmously. plunging to .').1 per Cl'lI t In 2002. [~u ral poverty fell to ll..l lx·r C(,llt while urban poverty shrank to 2 per cent. Malay poverty, much of II in rural areill;, drop(X.'(1 fTOm 64.8 per O?nt to 7.3 per O?n t in th(' same period. The incidence of poverty among Chinese and Indians also declined markedly.'1 Altogether, it was an outsta ndIng achie\'eme nt for o ne of the NEP's two main ai ms, even though Ihe incollle threshold used for the poverly line W,IS unrealistically low and underestimated the residual problem. Corrsiderable progress was also recorded in another key obtcctive, to enhance bumiputra partici pation In the economy and rt'{luce th e ga p between t ll(' Malay and C hinese communit ies. The ethn ic incom(' d isparit y rallo In peni nsular Malay,ia narrowed from 2.29 In 1970 to 1. 74 in 1999, though It wlcit:'nl>d again during the tX)() 11l yean; before resuming its jX)sit iw trend. By its o wn reckon ing, the g(jvcrnnl(.'n t failed to boost bumiplJtra ownership o f share c.. pita l, just 2.4 per ce nt In 19 70, to the 30 per c('n t target by 1990. OffICially, it ro!>{" to 19.2 per cent in 1990, before dip ping slightly 10 19.1 lX'r cent In 1999. But the government '~ methodOlogy underestimated tilt: amount - for example. by USing the p.:1T rather tllan market value of shares and excluding stak('S held in trust for bum ipulras - which mack it easier to a rgu(' for a CO Iltinuation of affi rmati v(.· action. According to o lle inc]('pe lldcllt acad('m ic assessment, the 30 per cent b umlpu lra equity target wa ~ a(/lleved as ('arly as I997.'l The 30 per cen t ilgurc had !Jl"Come so polltie
TIll'
Vbilill orll Mllllt'rn NII/i,m 111
putras and o thers was dosing, fi.ssurl'S weT':- opening within indigl'lloliS ranks. A!> o lle analyst put it, bumlpu tra gaills "have not Ix'(?n wide ly sharl'd". and inequali ty had "reared lis ugly head again" .'iM I n 1999, the average month ly income o f the bottom 40 per cellt o f bumi putm households was RM 742, with the correspondi ng fi gure for rurill areas RM 670, comparC(1 wit h RM865 for the bottom 40 per cent of all Malaysian ho useholds.'s Individ ual inCt]ua lity In Ma lay~ ia, as IIlcaSll r('d by the World I~an k using the common Gini Coefficient, was the WOTSI in Southeast Asia,"" wi(i<'lI ing fr~lrn U.452 in 1999 to 0.462 in 2004 .'J7 Malay dis...atisfaction WilS starting to build as bcuer-cfr and Ix:tter-("onnocted Ma lays benefited d ispro po rtionatl.'ly. The majority resented the lise of public funds to rescue wealthy M,llay cronies d uring thl' regiona l eco nom ic crisiS. It was a lso a soum.' of anger that Malay millionaires, for ('xa rn ple, could ta ke advantage of a 5 per cent ho using d iscount for b umlpu tras. Small-scale, mostly Malay farmers and fishermen, who d id not fit into Dr. Mahathir's idea of a modernizl'd economy, wert' bdng comparatively ma r~ lnaliled in a countryside where pockets persistl'(l without water a lld ele(·t riclty.'ffl And the children of newly minted mid dk'-class Malays wcre hest placed to capita lize on ethnic preferences In future, leaving thdr (ou nlry cuusins ilnd poorer ci ty rclat ivc~ further beh ind . Non-Malay bUllliplitras, p r('d o lll inantly in Ho rr1('o , were also being left in Ihe dust, a long with lower-class ind ians. They l'onstitutcd the Tn' W poor. Although o th{'r bu miplitras were supposed 10 be aCl"()rdcd the same preferential treat ment as Malays, in fact they suffered a highl'r Inddcnce of poverty and lagged in {'(lulty ownership and enrolment in higher l,<11Kation .9'l Several stu, ad ministrators, ma nagers and clerks.' ~
11 2
Mlllilysitw M,11'N1c1;
With the high-flyI ng Mal,lY c hampions chosen for privalized proil"<.1S toppling during tlil' A,lan ('('onomic crisis, attempts to crea te a credible bum iputra commercial and indust rial community all but collapsed. By 2000, Ihe governmenl had majority ownership of seven of the te n largest companlt'S listed on Uursa Ma laysia, ~an ind ication o f the failure of privatization ". Am o ng them were the two largest loca l banks, two p ri vatized utility com panies, a shipping line and a gas prodll(:er. The three o ther compa nies were C h in('Se owned. Nom.' was owned by a M ala>,.I0~ The one Ma lay who m ad e the top ten in ForIH:S'j rust Malaysian rich list in 2006, Sycd Mokhtar Alhukhary, was a T('ialiv(;, l;tle·comer, a busi nessman who had dill lied wit h Ar lwar and in whom Or. Mahathir invested heavily aHer becoming d isillusio ned with Dairl! Zalnuddln's prot~gb. H>fo Some l"Co nomlSIS argued that affirnliltivc action as a means to redistribute wea lth more equitably hindered groWlh and competitiveness, I.:lting Malaysi a's rclililve d edlne in Ihe EaSI Asian region: When the NEI' was introduced In 197 1, Malaysia ranked thi rd only to Ja pan and Singapore in terms of GDI' per capita; by 11)90, it had falle n behind Sout h Korea, Taiwan and lIo ng KOI~g as wcll. I01 And the gap continu",'d to widen, despite Dr. Mahathlr'S de nials, leaving Ma laysia scrambling to com pete in a globalized world, w here China and India were 5Ctllng a sizzling pace. Malaysia'S population, at more than 23 mi llion in 2003, had almost doubled since 1981 while simul taneo usly being urbanized and ethnically reconrlgured. The portion designatl'd urban swelled frorn just over one-th ird \0 almost two-thirds. I{esp:>nding 10 incentives offered when Dr. Mahathir set his 70-m ilIIo n goal, the birthrate dcfll..-'d established international patterns and d id not d ecline as prosperity increased. Malaysia became one of Ihe youngcst count ries in t he region, the e nvy of others sad d led with geriat ric liabilities. :r~e Malay birthrate was double that of C h inese and Ind ians, for Malay famrlres cou ld coun t on scholarships a nd Jobs fo r the ir childre n as well as tax breaks for more than two kids. l~ C.onstituting less than half the p:>pulation in 198 1, Malays beca m e a clear and growing malority, without th e need to be grouP(·' d among bumiputras to achieve nalional majority sta tus.)()<1 For nonMalays, minorities lackIng poli tica l power and shrinking furth er, the prospect o f being de mographica ll y marginalized at some pOint, however dis tant, fO~!('rl-'d a deg ree of unease. 11O Although the rest of the coun lry had learned to JiVl:' with affirmative action there were clear limits as to how much the NEP and its subseq uen t varlant~ cou ld help e nsure stabilit y and foster natio na l integratio n . Prosperity con trlbut('(1 to it genera l s.-1tisfaction that crossed ethnic lines. New urban reside ntial develo pments were e thnically diverse, in con trast wi th the o ld raciit lly homogelll'OlIs suburbs. The rows o f trend y resta urants in Kuala Lump ur's I\angsar ncighbourhood, along with the ubiquitouS McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC f'lst·food outlets, d ispensed offi cially cerli fied Ilaial fare, acceptable to
Muslims, as thc ea teries catered to every race. A mass consumption culture, common to all groups, appeared to be "the most Malaysianil.ing of all forces". 11I Yet ethn iC cleavages could nOI be wholly suppressed by rampant con· sumerism and rising class consciousnl'Ss alone. While Ihere was no rcpea t of the 1969 savagery, small-scale violence, mostly directed against Indians, occurred near the tum of the cen tury. In the worst luddent, in March 200 1, six people were killed and 37 injured in Kampung Medan, a crowded squatter area near Kuala Lumpur plagued by poverty, nime ami substance abuse. Dis tur bingly, elhnicity became ent re nched itS the basis fo r public assista n ce, even as il inad vertently prornoU.'d hH.'. Ilr. Mahut hlr jo ined tht' chorus warning against a "crutch mentalit y". Contradictions abounded in the ldC'
Notes Bank Ncgara Malaysia, pern·mage Gl)I' glOwlh: 1982.6.0; t98], 6.2; 1984,7.8;
2
3
4
S
1985, - 1.1; 1986, 1.2; 1981,5.1; 1988.9.9; 1989,9.1; 1990.9.0; t991. 9.5; t992, 8.9; 199],9.9; 199<1, 9.2; 1995. '1.H; 1996. 10.0; 19<)7,7.5; 1998, -7.5; 1999, 6. t ; 2000,8.5; 200 1, 0 ..1; 21x)2, 4. 1; ZOO], 5.2. TII~ Easll\ sifm Mir"clt: £':OIlQI1I;( GruW/l1 111111 f'r/blk I'ulky (Ncw York: Oxford Unlvcrsity l'n'5s, 1993). B.l n k Negara Ma lay~ja, pl'rcl'ulagt' GIW growlh: 1970,5.0; 1971,10; 1972,9.4; 19T1, 11 .7; 1974, 11.:1; 1975. !l.8; 1976. 11.6; 1977,7.8; 1978.6.7; 1979, '01.3. u..'(' Hwok Aun, "The NEil, VI,hln 2020, ,111(\ Dr. Mahathi r: Continuing Dilem· mas", In Brld~('t Wl'lsh. cd., 1/./·,I('(liolll; TII(' Mil/WIlli, Ymf!; (Washinglon: South· east Asia Studit'S Program, The Paul H. N 1t~c School of ,\dv,l!lct,,[ tnternational Studi('5,Johns II()p~lm l!nlvl>fslty. 20(4), p. 27'1. Ibid., [1. 27<1.
6 The Idea of ~ IIIt'lIlu/ fnulu,ll. lIlental rl'v()lulion. ([all'S In tile I~te I 960s. lind is Idenliflt'(l wl rh Scml Abdul Rahman, a forlller cablnct mlnhtcf and UMNO strategiSt. 7 Mahalhir Mohamad, spi.'ech al UMNO G('lwral Assembly, 8 Novcmlx-I 1991. 8 Ozay Mehmel, ~Mahathlr, ,\taturk and Dcvcloprn(,n1 ~ , In Tilt' MallUlilir Ew (Sul>.lngJaya: International lnvl'Slmenl Consultants. undatcd ), p. 38.
71~
1 J 4 MCI!IIy:.iulI MclV('r ick 9 Cilrotyn Iiollg. "Muslims first , Mal~yslan ~ St~ond". Si m iis Time~ . 21 Aug ust 2006. 10 Kh oo 1100 Td k. I'''md()u.~ o{ ,'>fa/m lilifislll; All IlIldl<'(11I111 musrllplJy III ....1ailtllilir MI,/uIII/1II1 (Kuala Lumpur: O}Cfo rd Unl\ltrsl ty Prt.'l..\, 1995). p. 17. 11 Inlcr\lltw with Mahathir Mohalllad, 2U MardI 2007. 12 K. Du, " Maha]hir'~ · Restor.rt lon·~. Pur f:tl5/em CCQtIQtll;'- 1«'1Ik", (hl'reaf(('r Ff:l~H J. II Juru' 1982. p. n~ . 1.1 Dr. Mn ha thir Mo hamad, ~~a l ayslil : Th(" Way forw,H(t ", ill Ah ma. ] Sarl i Abdu l 11;lInl(\, l'l.l., .'vI,/larsh/ 's Visioll 2020: UII,lrnIIllJlIi".~ I III' COIICt'l'I, IlIIfllim/;r}lls III/II GllI/llrn.'1I" ( l'l't.l l1 n ~jaya : Pl'Ianduk l'ub Ucat ions (M ) Stln . Bhd" 1997 (·di tion). p, ",001 . 14 \.orrJln(" Carlos 5.,la1.<1r, ~' I'j l">t Conw. IllSt Served': I'rl\latizatiun Under M~ha th ir", in Ikff«lioll~, p. 283, citing Radin SQc:narno At Iial and hi inal Mnam YuwL 1'w I;xpl'ri("ncc of Malaysl:' ~, in "1'rl\l'lti1. (arrcsSl:'l1 27 May 2CX)61. 17 Fa u ....az ,\bdul ,\ ziz, - Mahalhir Vt' nt:'l Frustra tio n ,In I)VD~, II Mily 2006 (art'C"SS(>d 27 Ma v 20(6). 16 intervll'w with Mabathir Mohamad, 20 March 2007. • 19 Greg Felkcr, -Mahalhlr an d t he l'o litiC'S of f..;onom ll' Policy in Mal(IYSi,' '', in Hff', ·cliOl.s. p. 2M . 20 In tervle .... with Ma hat hi r Mohamad. 20 March 201)7, 2 1 IHIC'rvl{'w .... lt h D .. lm Z:llnmldin, 18 October 2007. 22 IHtcr\llcw wit h M .. halhir Moh:'mad, 14 August 2007. 2:i Chl'Ong M<.>i Sui and Ad ilmh Am in , /Jelim; '11/1' ,\f(m Iff/lind II", C"i.~ II/(1 (f'etali ng Jaya: f'<'landuk l'ubllcatiom eM ) SUu . Dhd., 1995). p. R4. 2", R"p h acl Pura, " Mal.lysla' s O,Llm 11l'(l tu Pri\la te 1I:'I1 I.. I)(.>al", A$i" l1 lVI/II $,,('('/ }Q1",/II1 (hereafter A h'Sf). 30 April 19M6. 25 ttJ phael Pura, " I'(' rn:.s Will Buy \)aim Siakl' In MalaY5ian !lank", ,HVS}, 6 October 1986. 26 I.eI,,' I'uh Ping, "Thl' I..ook East l'oUcy. the Ja p;tne,e Mood. an d MLlllly~ia ", In H.t·I/I\·li(jIl.~, p . 321. 27 KhaLlII"h Md. Khalil.! . ~Mala ysi(L·japan Rcl iltions Urlckr Ma il,li !llr: 'Turni ng JllP
36 37 38 39
ViSkltl
(,r" M(I(km Nutioll
115
Ihld " p. 51. Ihid" p, (,0. Ihld ., p. 70. R.S. Milne and Ui an(' K. MaUl:'Y. MII/"Y-\;"/I Polill.s UU,1e1 Mlllwlllir (\.o ndon:
Rotltlcdgl:, 1999), pp. 64-65. 010 Milhat h ir Mohamad, Sl'(·t.'t·h at th e Sem]nar on Transna ti onal Cor pora t io n~ and Nat ional [)e\Ielopmenl, 2 October 1979. died In Kh oo 800 T("ik, I'(//(/(/ox(" 01 M"flbruary 1982, cited ill Khoo Boo Teik. I'llftlc/OXt'J (!/ Mu/",r/liri~lII, p. 120. 4.1 Jnmo 1<.$" M IVa,.. p. 70. H luld., p, 7 t. ",5 Raph il~ll'\l ra, "New Oo\ll.1tS Arist: 0\11'1 M ahathjr'~ Indu~triallir~it1child", ;\ WSJ. IOJune 19M3. 46 Raphael Pura, "Malaysia Garnbh'\ in bl)()rling Saga Car", II WSI , 14 JanuJI)' 1987. 47 Ihld. 48 j()L!lO, K.S .. M W<'IY, 1', AS, ",9 I.~'slle Lo pez. "M;II ilysi;1 10 l.oWl· r Car·llll l ~ort Tari ff s" . AW .'iI, JO Novl'mht.·r 2004. 50 I tal1nah Todd, "The Proton Sa!>:,1 sagil", Nt"" IIi/mll/tim",/;sl, No. 195 (May 1989), PI' 14-15. 5 1 Anw;n Ibrahim. spcilking \0 lourna lists In Slng.lllon', 2 1 May 2008. 52 !.I:slk 1.o]X"7., "Mihllbish i S<.>lls Proton Sh'!rl's", ,\lVSI, 9 March 2Q04. 5.1 Ra phaell'ura, " Mala),sla Stilt Will Cut Gowrnme n l Role", A U'SI. 30 August 19R3. 54 Ibili. 55 "Tcngku RaLall'igh Respond~ to Dr Mahat hl r's AIII~):a t ions aga iml lIim", Alirl'" MIlIIII/ly, 1994: 11 , p. ]6. 56 ZahLuddin Matdln, Tlw Olln'r SiII(' Ilf'Malw/hir (Kuala I.u mpur. U1\ISill1 I'lI hlk':ttions &. DIStributors Still. nh d ., 1994), Pl'. 6-7. S7 \.orrain!.' Carl(JS Salaz;lr, - 'nlSl Come, Hf"t Sl'm.-d': Privoltizalion Unrvl'(!': Privatization Under Mahathir"', p.288. 6S A~('nc.l: Fran Cl'· I· re~se, Reu te rs. " KL Spt"111 54 .lIb on l;'ailOIlt.~ o r Companies in I'a!il 5 Years ~ . 66 Ila n k N('oMa Mal" ysla.
Til(' V/li{)11 /If a
67
68
69 70 7I 72
n 74 75 76 77
7S 79 &l MI 82 83 84
85
86 87
Edmund T<'r~nn' GOJlW7. ;lOdjolllo KS .••"'lI ltlysi(, 's I'olit /w l UOl/omy: I'ol ilies. i'll/lUll/1St (111111'lfJrl5 (Ca m bridge: Ca rnbridge Unive Dily I'r~). 1999I..-dit io n J. p. ~ 1. I'ctN !<>car!;;.', Tile Rillllh' 01 1.111/(1)'5;1111 C(IJlil"li.~m: Ret!l·s('t'kI'~ or Rtfll Cdl'll/llists! (!'Iy(ilwy: Asia n St udks A~~ocillti()n of Aust ra lia wi th Alie n I\( Unw in a mi Un iversi ty of lIa w;.!'\ l'rCS), 1<)9<)), p. 59. Kh oo Ikxl Tdk, IkY(J/1i1 MII II,lt/lit: M" "w~ i,, ' r ,'ulilics iIIut i ls 1)i.q-u/llt·lIts (Lo nd on : /.('(.\ Uoo ~s Ltd .. 2{)()]), p. 42. Ibh!., p. 45, L(>l' KtW Il Y('W, I'-rulll '/W,oI WUfh/ lu fi'~ I: nle SiIlS,lpor,· ~wry: 1965-2()(X) (S lns ;rpore Tl ml's Media I'll'. Ud" 20(0). p. 289. jallam lI.amesh, " /-.I;lh;I l hlr·) Mautra ". Ilidill 10.Iuy (m tilt No'l. 2 1 Ma y 200 1 ( acce~sed I June 2006). 1.(>t' l lwok Ami. "Th~ NEI', Vblon 2020, and Dr. Mahalhlr: Con tI nu ing [)i klll mas~, p.273. J lalim Salleh, "Ocvdop1l1eu t a ud th l' Politics o f Social Stahili ty in Malaysia", SiJII /lU,{lst M/m l AlTim ,( 1999, p. 11'19. IbId ., p. I'JO. !'Itcphl' n Duthil'. "Ttl(' I\~iau l'.I:on{lml~t". A W 5/, 12 N(lVl'rnb~r 1992. J0l110 K.S .• M W a)", p. I MO. Ihid., p. 183. Ibid., p. 182. Ibid ., p. 18 8 . Khoo Boo Teil:, Ikyoml M"/lIItlIi" p. 47. Jomo K.s., M \VIIY, p. 187. Khc)O Boo Tel k, /k)'01II1 Mlilmllli" p . -19. Maggie Farley, "Mal aysian l.l'ader, Sows Trade 8arb~". I.#X ,\II,I('/(>" Time..~, 22 Sc:ptcmber 1997 (Jccessro 24 March Z009). M ter he retirl..'(i, Dr. M;tha thi r 1m" with $oros In Kuala Lumpu r and acC('ptl'(l th at the rmancicf was not rl'SpOrl)lhle for tin' Asian flnan· cial crisis. ~ M;L (ay.sia'~ Former I..eader M.,h:nhlr 8\LrI('S Ihe I latchet with Bnancler Georgl'Soros", CIIi,l (acc('!S('
IbId., I). 187 Raphael Pura, "Confidcncl' Crish: Tough Tal k by Mahathlr R.ttties OverS<'as In \'e5lOrs ', "WS/, 2 September 1997. 88 Kh()() Boo Tc i~ , &,'0,,01 }.ttl/lll/lli" p. 64. 89 In s('parate i n t ervicw~, they gave COllfliclin)o: an o u nts of Oa lm'5 de pa rture. Dr. Maha thir said ht: tired o f deft:n ding lJaim aJ.;ain)t a(cus,ltJOII5 of co rru p· tion, ~And I decided that, I tolll hi m, look, iI's ix'lter it he res18l1s ~ (20 March 2007). Daim Silid he re)Ig ll('(II)('t"l use he h:HJ tol d Ik Mah athlr alt he ou tse t Iw was IJking the pos t for a IImit('(1 ti me, Hb resignoltio n , hI' Sol id. I('ft Dr. Ma hJthlr with out his dosc.\1 political ally afll'r tht: uproar over Anwar's dl s1LIissa i and th(' set hacks in th e 1m e lt-clloll. ~ H Il t'It. .. h(· w() uld lx' JIOIIl'. lIu t he h ~~ to ('xplilin why I leill/e " OS October 20(7). 90 Lorraine Ca rlos S;'I;'7~lf. "'HI'SI COli\('. ~ irs t St'rlll'd': l'riv,l ti/'
92 '}3 94 950
')(, ')7
98 99 IOU 101
102 103 104 105 106 107
108 109 110
111
117
[lap('t d('IiVl'r('(l to cOllfc renl"e on Ihe Malaysian economy, o rgan l7.I..'(1 hy Ihl' Instit ut c uf South('d)1 A~lan (ac("('ssed :ll Aug ust 20(8 ). Koon Yew Yin, ~Whatls Wrong with the NEI'~. iIIircts an d Chall C' ngl's Und er th e Ninth MJlaysla Plan" . Lt'(! IIwok Aun. "Tlw NEI', Vblo n 2020 , and Ik M
112
,"',,,/tomN atiun
1.('(" Hock Guan, "Affirm ati ve /\ Cllo n in M a laysiu~, p. 2 16.
"'
119
l'rcciou~ mOIllCII U: M;J hathlr adhcT('(1 \0 a rigid rOut1rIC 10 R('t the IILnst out O r ('3e h d ay. Ill' us...'tI hIs defea t In the' 1969 dl'CtiOIl to work on \eve ral Ixxlks while pr3 ('!l~illg IIwdl ('" inc, rcadln~ hetw('('n p atll'n\.s to s;tV{' lime.
Svmu: I'rrdana
l.ca."'r~hlp F'ouml ••U"n
Dcrt touch: [)ulerous, Milhathir cnioYl"iJ (MIX-nt TY. wood turnlll~ and m{'lalwork, lTlilking boats, wrought Iron lamps
l Z0
1\
121
vis l(l u: Mr.halhir's uvt'fwhel m lnS prlorily was to tu rn Malaysia Ill to a lIuxic rn,
illlt'rrhltioll
lighte r mO Illl'n t: Ulually
~H'm,
Mah:lI hir
lMd~e rl'(l
kllow "'Ialay, to overcol1le tra its
he Ide nt ll1ed ,I S impediml'u\,\ \0 prn~Il'''' such a~ PJ~) i vity, I,u:incss .lIJd ~ub·
\crvi('n ce. U1tlmatdy, he mlndst,t.
l'xp re~~('d dl~ll ppolntml'IH
ov("r hh
dfo rl~
h) allN their
122
I ZJ
nil parad(': Mahal hir in\pecll-d \ I,.lavsI3n lroop~ at tht' ""Ilona I "h)rwmt' n! in ,",ualil Lumpur on Warriors DOlt", .II july ZO()2. As a backbencher, hl' opposed tht' presence of for£' ign ((\I C<" In Mala Y'ia but <1.\ prime minbler he did not ,,-~k Ihdr h'IIIOV,d.
Fa miliar face: Malaysian 'tlpporh:"" prorno ll'd ,I Mahathi r p('r~ona ill y (ull. Inst itutes o f hi gher learning were urgt'd !O In lrod UCl' a cou rse Oil h h t houghlS, a tt empt!; weu' made 10 no minate him fo r ... NO/x'l l'rlzc, and he accepted an award as Man of the M illenn ium.
5 A Volatile Mix of Business and Politics
lJefore Dr. Mahat hir lx'Came president of UMNQ, Ih(' Il
operati ng expensE's. Dr. Mahat hir plunged UMNO deep into th e ("orporal(' world, i n partnership with Dail11 Z,lin uddin, h is we
into a
V.1St
conglo merate, wi th Investme nt s th at sp
economy, ind ucing a profound ell.mgt' in t he na ture
The key to UMNO's translorma tio n was Malaysia's affirmat ive
way that enriched a political elitt', whose common att rihute was a n in timal<: relationship with UMNO, The mandatory 30 per cent 01 share allocation for bumiputras during a tompany's pUblit listing, or r('st ructuring, wa s usually channeled 10 UMNO-owned or -li nked ~'Ofporate entities and othe r party allies_ Wi th privatization, too, UMNO was used a~ a vel\h: il' to transfe r gove rnme nt holdings to pr ivil tl' or semi- private o wnership, mostl y for the benefIt of the sa me clique, With UMNO an active corporate player, the party at times was in COIIIpetit ion or collaboration will1 state-owned agencil's and priVate companies. Some valuable state asS<.'ts passed into UMNO ha nds, The fusion - and ofte n confusion - of party, stale and private roles went fa r beyond the governmentcorporate cooperation implied In the Malaysia Inc. concept. Husiness and polItics, ideall}' ke pt St'p
With UM NO m('rnbership an ave nue 10 riches, ever larger amou nts of money were poured into P,lTty and ge neral election s to ~eCll re posit ions with access to tenders, licences a nd subs idies, while part y leade rs in turn c hanneled benefits back to their supporters to mainta in thei r posts. Across the country, thousands of companies were set up by UMNO divisions, bra nches and members to COlll'Cl shares and ot her for ms of pa tronage a llo~ 124
\ ,1!L'(\ to bumiputra enterprises. Malays joined UMNO l10t so much to do comlI1unity service ;m ylllore, but to make the contacts and get tlw ("Ontracts that wuuld bring easy profi ts. Thc phcnomenon was known as Umolley politics", .Illd it dictated beh avio ur as milch as, or more t him, the offici al pa rty rull's ,!lId regulations that prohibited it. On mor(' than one OCC Societies Act 1966, UMNO was not permitted to h(-' in business. To conc('al its a~scts, the party us~'(ll he com mon practice of lI()minee mmpa nies o r (',\('(:ut ives, or alternat ive ly, trusted individuals, promi nen t ollsin('sSmell who ~urrep titious ly held stakes in various COIllIltInies o n UMNO's beh alf. The traj] could lead t llTOugh a bewil de ring maze <)1 transactions, in volving shell compall ies cap italized ill the legal m inimum III RM2 and compan il'S that were re peatedly reorga nized ilnd renamed. Another convcnk' nce fo r UMNO was that a private M.. laysian concern wllosl' ,hares were held by fewer thilr1 20 individua ls had "cxempt privatc company" ,tatus, which mcant it dId not have to fi le finan cial statements wit h the Registrar of Companies. Documen ts filed by com panies wHit govern ment or 1)O\itic.. 1ties often were not available to the publiC for SCrutiny at the registry, iln}'\vay. After UMNO ventu red directly into busi ness und('r Dr, Mahathir and Daim ,llId some of its trustees were publicly known , the party fared financits wt're required to he pl'lced with a govern ment agent ,mel sold off. Bu t in a process that WilS !lcver made ~I ear , Illost of those assets ended up in the hands of many of the SJl ne people who were holding and managing them fo r UMNO Ix'for('. The arrangemcnt ~'na bl('{llk Mahathir ami Dai m to mai ntain that tht' party, reconstituted as N('w UMNO, was no longer in business, wh id l was o nly technically trul'. \VhUe UM NO, as a pol it ical party, was req ui red to subm it its
A Vol/ilile Mix of /lusim:S5
UMNO's strategic role in the distri bution o f pa tronag(' contrinul('d to til(' severe factionalism that oonvulsed the party in Of- Mahathi r's lime. In former finance minister Tengku Ra7..a lc igh Hamzah's challenge 10 Or. Mahathir's lead ership in 1987, the party d issid en ts d irected much of their ire al Oalm, who was accused of Stri pping UMNO for perso nal gain. 1k.'Causc of the way he ml"ed hi s private investmen ts with .~ t a te and party b usiness, it would be il r{'Cu Trlng theme for as long as ])ai111 Tl'maim.x I as party treasu rer. Mter he q uit In 200 1, Significant sections ()f UMNO were convinced he had pockeled bil· lions that belonged to the party. Daim denied it, as did Dr. Mahathir, the only other person with acccss to the books, who then took over as tre:tsurer for two years. Whl'n hl' stcPI)('d down in 2003, Dr. Mahathir handed hh succt'Ssnr, Abdullah Badawi, thl' prime ministership and UMNO a,>set~ of RM 1.4 billion, in property, shares and cash. J I\ lthough the fo rm differs, lin k!) between politics and bUSiness arc widespread and growing in almost all East Asian co un tries. I In Jal)an, maior COTflora tions fund particular f:Ktio ns within the ru ling UbNal DCnJocrat il' Part y .~ T haksin Sh inawlll ra, who I)('came p rime mi n ister of Th ailand in 2001, brough t with hi m representatives of some 15 malor b usiness groupings who were able to seil." con t rol of the slate and contrive bUSi nessfr ie nd ly policies.6 Under Dr. Mahat hir and Oai m, MalaysIa fo llo wl'd the example set by Chiang Kai·sh"k's Nationalist Pa rty, which ruled Taiwa n for 55 years until 2000 - a nd returned to I)()\'\'er in 2008 - In taking direct or indirect control over a vast array of corporate assets. Th eir e nterprise was light years re moved from UMNO's early days, aft er Its formati on in 1946. when fo unding members usl'{l thei r own money to fund part y activit ies. So tight was the budge t in 1954 that Tu nk u Abd ul Ra hman, as pres ident o f UMNO and rc prest'nting the Alllilllce, had to share a bl'd wi th a member of his delegation when they visited London to d iscuss pre-inde pendence constit utfona l arrangements with the Urlli sh. ; Th e Tu n ku reca lled that in thos...' days he drove and cle:tIled his OW II C:IT because he cou ld not afford a dri vcr. At one point he sold 14 shophouses - two- o r three-storey b uild ings with businesses o n the grou nd floor a nd residences above - and do nated the proceed s to UMNO. Afte r independence, he reali7.ed he had disl)()Sl'd of almost all h is personal pro perty 10 contrib ute to the party, a nd o thers had d OIH.' the same.1I As the Tunku's SUCCl'ssor, Ra7.a k Hussei n was keen to end UMNO's fin ancial dependence on non -Malay su pporters - its coalit ion partner, th" Ma laysian C.hinese Assod;ttion, as well as Ch lnes(' businessmen and compan ies - for ell'Ction (;unpaign expe nses, eme rgenc!(>s and, emba rrassingly, even for routine activity. At times, an UMNO officia l at hcadquarters could not afford transport to k.eep an appoi n tmen t - S.1Y, to talk to villagers. Hc would have to wait for th(' Ma laysia n Chinese Association to send over a cheque, which then had to be C'dshed, before summoning a taxi to get to the mccting."
/111//
Polilies
127
!taLlk Wil S also under pressu re from UMNO's yout h wing to takl' control of t he fore ign-owlll'd, Singapo re-based media compan y that publ isht.'d Malaysia's ma in English-language da ily, the Simits .,.im/'s. To buy it wou ld require fumb , and UMNO'~ decision in 19 7 1 to build an elahorate tl{' W headquarters fo r it self mean t tht, party wo uld need access to ellell more \u bstantia l resou rces. Ap poimed pilTly treasurer b y Raza k in 1972, Teng ku Rilza lelgh lIamzah esta blish('d thC' UMNO Poli tical hmd to gi ve the piltty a stil ble fi nancial base, replacing the Informal "spl"cia l fu nd ~ Ra za k had been operating covertly Since 1959, when he was dt.>pu ty part y preside nt . II> As till' PoJitic:1i Fund was to be secret, the Supreme Council authorized the part y's leadership, e ffrcti llcly th e preS iden t, to 0 l)('rate it at his dl\cretlon . The arr~mcn wllo dealt wit h tile government: nor ~ hould it have anyth ing to do with government contract~. They cstabJish('d an elaborate procedure to aVOid any suspicion that donations could he ~I pho nl'd off for personal use. Every chequc donat('d to th e Po litical Fund had to be accepted by at least two of the th ree, photocopied :md circulated to allthrec. A receipt \'/Ould 1)(' issued immediately. The fund was audited an nua lly and the resu its reviewoo by the three of them. While some of til(' money in the Political Fu nd was transferred to an admln istrallo n fu nd to fina nce the party's d .. ily o peratiom, the contl'nts of the Polit ical Fund were never disdosLxl to til(' UMNO Supreme Co unciL11 With naz
II Vo/fltik Mix
It W,IS no t tilt' fir st tinll' UMNO had acquired .1 Il ewspaper. In 196 1, I'rilJl(' MinIster Tun ku Abdul It.lll/nan had taken ov<.'r Utusan Melayu Press I\h d ., p u blishe r o f t h e ll'ad ing Ma lay-language pa pe r, provoki n g a bitler st rike by ~taff, who ohjected to the loss of independence. As t he voice of the ~h lays, thc paper was a g.lIn· hling d('bt. When Razak learned o f the pUfl"hase, In' worri('(.\ that Tengkll IU7.aIl'igh wou ld leave his fu ll ti llll' job at statl'-Owned Ba nk Uumlpu tra, wlll'rc Iw was ch ief executive, to run his o\"'n bank. Raza!.. Insisted that 'I\:ngku Ra7..a Il'igh stay in his post and S('II hi$ man Chiang Bank sharl'S 10 UMNO, at the sallw price for which they had been acquired . The ('ntill' bank - wt>e's st (>pbrOlher a lso d(>Cided 10 sell h is 20 per cent stake - was transferTl'(l in 1974 to rI c<:t Ifoldings, which was able to pay cash fo r it.l~ 1I1 an C hlan,ll was re rHl Ill{'d [kink of Commerce. It end('(1 u p part o f C IMU Gro up - head ed by Ra ~1k 's youngest son, Nazir Rillak - whose state J\part from the New Str.1its Times Press, its subsidia ries and th(' !Jan k of Com merce, tht' only known 5ign if1cant purdl(lSl' made by Fk'ct un der JlInus Sudill and Tengku lla7~ll c i gh was in in su ranc('. In 1980, 1'l ('t.'t Group ('nter('d into a joint v('nturt' with Unit('(l Stal l's-baSi..'d AF IA Worldwidl' IIlSlIra ncl' to form Am('riC;11l Malaystanln~u ran(('.1 1 FI ~et lIol din g ~ all but lH"appe ared frOIll public view in 197 4, when it qllali flNi a.~ lin "exempt private company" and no longt'r had to tile fin Sd n. Bhd. was formcll in 1976 ilS a wholly owned "uh~ i d ia ry ilnd o perati ng ilrtn. I'ublic rl..'Cords s h o w that its profit grew strongly, from RM327,H3 in 1977 to RM [5 .7 mill ion in 198V"
Or "u.~il/t"SS
(I/ld l'oIifln
12<)
Oa im Zai nudd in, wi th a penchan t for sec recy a nd distaste for convention, took over Fleet that }'ear, displacing Junus Sud in. Alth o ugh he would no t be~:om e UMNO treasurer fo rmally until 198 4, Oai m e ffl'Ct ivcly exe rcised some of thil t a utho rity imlll('O to UMNO.lJ By 1977, 5till not 40, Dai m had made e llo ugh m Olley to ~ r et i re" . taking himself off to lIerkcley in the United l)t ;tlcs for two years to study urban planning at th e Unhfl'rsity or Califo rn ia. On his retu rn hOllie, Daim a({'epted positIo n as the non ·sa laried cha ir· ma n of Peremba Bhd .. a subSidIa ry of the ).;()VerE1l11 cn t'S b u reaunatic and poo rly rlln Urba n Deve [o pmcn t Author it y, all agl'IICy to promote bumi· putra in v('stmen t in the p ro pt'rt y mark(' t. At Pcr('lI1ba , fo rmed ilt his sug· gestion 10 group co mlllC'rcla[ r t.'al-t'~tate h oJcli n g.~, Il l' g ath e rt~ d aro und him it coterie of b rig ht young M,l[a y execu t ives, I1l an y traillt'd in accou lltalKY it 1lt1 engi neering, who wOllld oe(ome houSl'llOld Ha m('S as mit jar (:orporat e lind UMNO play(·rs. Kn o wn as Dallll' ~ prot cgb, o r 111(' I'ercmba boys, most of the m mainta in ed clos{' ties wIth him across the deals a nd yl'ilrs. Dalm's rapid ascendan cy (oi n( I(I ('(I with Dr . Mahat h ir '~ a5surnption of the prillle ministcrs h ip In 198 1. A lth ou~ h h c hl'ld no o ffici al pm ilion,
,I
Ix'h lnd the )cellt'S lJa lm acted as a troubleshooter for Ur. M"h.1th ir, travcllln~ to the United Slates to lobby for a change in tin reserves policy and discussil\g bilate ral prob lems with til{' British in London . While Daim was U yea r:. younger than Ur. Mahath ir and they did not get to know each o ther until adulthood, they were from the same poor neighbourhood in Alor Star, and h it if off. Oaim S('"emed to embody the new bret'(j of dynamiC bumiput ra that Dr. Mahath ir was trying to create. As Daim told local repo rte rs, "I wen t Into business to provt' one th ing: t ha t a Mal .. y ('a n also succeed in busi ness. Ucfo re now, Malays have on ly bee n (,omp.. ny directors, mainly figure heads o n d ispl ay."l~ 0 lx' rat if1 ~ mostly below the radar screen , Daim in 198Z won ("(Hlt rol of a ba nk, the establ ished path to serious wealth in Malaysia. I lis succe!osfu l bid a~ain raised t'yebrows beca use he prevailed over several hUllliputra CO lli rolled t'ompa nil's, some of them government affil ialed, which were at least a) well q uo lifit'd. Also, In approving h is 51 per ct' ll l !olake, Ba nk Negam, Ihe cent ral ban k, ignored ilS usual insistence tha t majorit y control of:t cOlll merclal ba nk be held by a corpora te ent ity rathe r th::II1 :tn individual, cspl..'ciaU y o ne with liHi e expe rience in ban king a nd finan c<'. The decisive fat'lor: Dr. Mahathi r gave the transaction his blessing.ls Neithe r ilai m's move to rteet\o manage UMNO's flilances, nor lilt' simultanl'OUS restructuring of t he French-owned Banquc de L' lndochine« de Suez that gave hi m conlrol of 11$ replacem en t, locally incorporall'(l Malaysian Fre nch I~a nk IIhd., W('fe publicly a nnounced at the time. The $(!Ilsitivity of Oai rn's close association with Dr. Mahathir and his undercover role at t=kc t WilS reflcctoo in und(>('lared !klilctions against the Hong Kong-b.1St."tl A.\i(1II WlllI Sl m!t IUI/nwl, wh ich rl'lxlfIl'(i both dt'vclopments. Aftt'r the "apcr carried an article on IJai m's expected acquisition of Indosuei'., the govcrnult'nt - o n Dr. Mahathi r's orders - 1K'ga n sYStCmatically to delay distributio n of the daily to subscribers in Malaysia. The government also blockl' When Dr. Mahathir
n few years la ter a nd polarizcd ,u ound factio ns led by Dr. Ma hat hir a nd Tc ngku Razakigh , the matter was bitterly debilted . It was th e ge nesis of gOSSip and specu la tio n in UMNO d rcles about the party eve ntually bei ng looted of RMS billion or R~·j 6 billion . Dr. Maha th ir and Daim insisted that Tcngku na7..aleigh left UMNO's fina nces thorough lyde.plctcd. Dr. Mahathir directed his criticism not just at rIeet's botto m li nt', but a t the system by which various pt'ople held lhl' sha res in trust for UMNO. He said the depart ing Tengku Ra......1Ieigh : ... told us that t here was no money left with UM NO. not a singlt' ce nt. So after thai I had to go around tradng tile sha rl'S, whic h werc ht'ld by difft're nt people. You sce, i n those days they gave shares for IX'Op\(' 10 hold o n because tht,y didn 't hilve fcd, t hey confirml.'
A VI}/" Iiit-
Singapo re, anti had repa id the loa n within two years from the profi t on tloati ng 49 per cent of the shares, he said. "What is that RM 500 million needed for?" said Tcngku RazlIleigh . "Ft('et Holdings was making moncy," he said, and held shares il1 only twO ('ompanit's, New Srrait s Times Press and Iji an Ch iang Bank U Confidential UM NO fin ancial accoun ts, profes~ iona lly audited ami -obta ined hy tilt' aut!l-or in tile course of hi s research , ca ~t grave dOllbt~ 011 t he ve rsio n propugated by Dr. Mahat hir and Daim.H The account s, which did not include Flect's opera tions, conftrmed t hat Daim inh erited" pa rty in sound fin illlcia l conditi on when he became treasure r in 1994. Tht top setTet UM NO Poli ti cal Fu nd - wh ich both Dr. Mahat hir arid Ua im sped fi cally said was emptyH - at 31 Decem ber 191B , 'Ktually had assets of RMH8 .6 mill io n and no liabilities, includi ng RM39 .H mill ion on fixed deposit and RM6.8 million cash ill t he bank. lnvestments in nine publicly listed and threE' unquoted com panies, r leet Holdings among tht'lll , tota lkd RMS.9 million. That ttgur(' seriously understated t hei r worth si nce the investmerlls were declared al cost. ror eXilmpll', the stakes in t he public companies, purchased for a collective RM..t.S million, had a nltren t IIwrket value of RM28.S mil lion. The UM N O PoliHcal Fund contribuWd ItM25 millio n towards the ('onst ruct ion of the new party he Dailn sought to tllrn a profit ill a hurry. "My role was to build lip tht:' Politica l I'und, as well as make su re the business acti vities generated income," he said . 17 Fleet adopted an a~res sive growth stwtegy that sa w it q uick ly add compan ies in diverse ,lIld unrl'l~t e-d fw ltts. Fleet snapped lip sta kes in TV 3, the cO llll1r y' ~ flTS t pri vate television station , till' hotel an d rea !-I.'st ate group, Faber MNlin Ma laysia Bhd., alld food retailer Cold Storage (Ma laysia ) Bhd., all publicly liste-d, alld CommerCia l International Merchant Ban ke rs IIhel . By Ill(' mid· 1980s, the- numbe r of companies had al most doubled, ('x\e-nd ing Ih(' Fk'Cl group's reach into con· struction, plantations and managemen t services as well as print and elec· tronic media, tel('("ommunications, banking, illsuram'c, retail ing, property and hotels. 18 Typically, holdings were acq uired "by a torre nt of ri~ h ts iSSUl'S a nd share swaps a nd ra rely invol\'l,,<1 cash outlays hy compa nies associated with UMNO":19 At the same time, m,IIlY of the com panies acq uired duri ng Tengkll Raza1eigh's tenure we re spun off ill a se rie., of sha re swaps to the subsidiary New Straits Ti mes P[('5S. Inter-group sales created a convoluted
Mi.~
/,{ IIIIM,,('~~ wu/ l'I)Ji,io
I :U
web o f high ly-leveraged concerns . III the ca ~e of the acq uisitions, Fleet'S hOldings in listed and un listed ('ompani('S were often pledged as COllatera l, and assets were sllUfIled a mong d ifferent li sted compan ies held by the enti re grollp. Alt hough Daim denied it ,~o crilics contended that in many cases the stakes purchased lIy FIC('t we re ei ther overvalued or thE' s har('s offered were undervalu ed, allow ing some ind ivid uals ;I ssocla t l~d with UM NO to make la rge profitS . ~1 Apart from what has been called Daim's " pape r cntrc prcll('ur ism", dcfi lll'd as the relentless pursuit of restructuring opportunities in St.'arch of a qUick pro fll at the expense of actual production, t here we rc othcr dist in c· tive fe iltllres of Fleet's acquisitions. Ma ny of them weTe co nnccted wit h Da im's family companies, or wit h his responsibilities a~ head of Pefem ba , ,lIld they w('re in his favo ured property d eve l o p Tllent.~2 From 1982 to 1984, Daim 's obligations were spli t three w<Jn. He was bu ild ing his OWII conglo merate at a ratc tlwt would make him the ridlest Malay in the ('ountry. As chair man o f Pcn.'Ill!)iI , he was serving the governmen t while also acti ng ,IS iln ulloflid al ad vber to Prime Min ister Ma hathir. And as chair ma n of t he 1:le('t group, he was UMNO's trustee. "I am a man who can do ma ny t h ings at Ih e salTlc tillie," Daim once said . " I can put every Olle of t hem in sepilrate companmenl s."H Hut in all aca demic study of Dairn's "triplt' capacity", TNence Gomez (,O!1Cluded t hat Daim did precisely the oppositc: I II" "apparently had no qualms a bout mixi ng hi s personal business intcrests with those of Ih(' com pan ies e ntrusted to him" ..... lnter!()(:ki ng d irectorships indica ted that Daim had a few common nom· ineest who were assigned by him to manage the companies under h is con trol. Mohamed 1)1.'sa I'achi anel Abdullah Mohamed Yusof, t he most prominent, were appointed by I)'lim as d irectoTS of Fit'{'1 Holdings ilnd Fleet Group. Desa was also a director of 1:lcet Group's main publicly listed companies and most of Heet Group's other private limited slibsidi'lries. He was also a director o f l'ercm ba, and sat on the board of two of Daim's family comp,lIlics, apart fwm being a director of pUblidy li sted compan ies in which Dai m had a sign itkant s take . l it' was a di rector of several maior govl'rnrnen t-owned comrmnk's as well. Abd ullail , a lawyer, was also a direct or of Percmba, and a director of some of Fl eet's listed ami private compan ies. YOu nger associates , Da im's boys, also se rv ed as nomi nl'es: Hil lim Saad, Moh,lIne(1 Razali Abdul l{ahman, Wan Azmi Wan li amzah and Taiudi n Ramli."1 Daim stoutly ddcndcd his busI ness methods: If I think the govern ment <:a n rnak(' money with me, why flOt'! I me,lIl, there's tra nsparel1('y, particular ly as ti1l'se are listed compan ies in wh ich I was involved, or where Pl' rcmba was involved . Wllere some group wallt to sell, and Pen'mha doesn' t want to bu)'. s ince r have t he cJ etiliis
134 Mil/aysi..", MawrirK
of t he company and I think it is a good inves tment for my fa mi ly, why no t? If cvcryb(xly is going to make money, why nOl? So I s{"e no reason why it is a conflict. so long as everybody dt'Cl.trcs t heir in t t'r('st.~6 Onc of t ht' go vernment's fi rst privalizalio tl s, the grant ing of a liccnce in 19R3 for TV), sl10wed Dairn's juggling act. The liccnce was give n to Flee t Group, which took 40 per c(-nt of the equity, while 10 per cent went to two of Daim's com p:tnies and 10 per cent to the holding company of t he Mala),sian Indian Congress, a pa rt nl'r in the ruling coalition. Another example was t he usC" of a Daim-owncli compa ny, Daza Sdn . Bhd ., to purchase the outstan ding, SingalxHe-owned 20 per cent o f New Straits Tim es Press for Heet, with the negotiations, including bank loan commitme nts, conducted by the ge ne ra l man agcr of Peremba _~7 In another case, Fleet invested Faber MerlIn , in whic h Daim had a major ('q lli ty sta ke, bought subdi vided land from his main pu blicly lhted cu ll1lxrny. while he WilS in contro l of both com panies. Only a mont h earlier, Fke t had been allocated all 11)(' sp(-ci al bumiput ra con vert ible unsec ured loa n Sloe\..: in Faher Merlin by the govern ment. La ter, Fleet acquired I)a illl's Slake in bber M e r lin .~'" Daim mi red himself dL-eper in <."ont roversy ..... hen he became finan ce ministcr in 1984 and accelerated Ur. Mahath ir's privat ization progr;lmme. Alt hough hl' quit PNelllba and pledged to put his businesses in a blind trust, "Daim brought to governmen t a view that no longer o;aw the spheres of govl'rnmem , party or priva te in ter('sts as di sti nct e!l ti ri(-s", wrott' Peter Se.. rle, em ac;ldemic speci .. list in Malaysian business. "For Dairn nationa l, political and priv.. te interc-sts migh l be pursued ~im ul\il!lcously or in t;mdelll ... ".~" I)" im himself described the situa tion as ·'co r11[ tlOlllll'SS" rather than a "connlct " of i nl erests. ~') As the eco nom y slumped in t llc mid -1980s, property prices sagged, lca vj n~ FIt"'t with a I"rge quan tity of overvalued real estate and ~hare'l tha t hild lost a signi ficant percentage of thcir market value. Fleet Group, wh ich recorded a RM27 _3 miJ1ion pro fit in 198-l, plunged iTito t he red, lOSing RM20 .:~ million in 1985. ~I The company's financial statem ent for till' year ended 3 1 August revealed a "shocking \ tate of affairs".~2 The auditors qua lified t he accounts on t he grounds that the abi lity of the company .md the group to l'Ot1tin ue operating depended ort th e success of various steps ta ken by ttl(' directors. The balance sheet inditated t llat curren t liabilities exc('cded current asset s by about I!M222.] mill ion . A significant portio n of the com pa ny 's investments - in listed ,mel lI nlistt-(\ subs l diarie ~ , iHnollll ling 10 RM 178.4 million - had been ph'dg('(1 to findTicial imtitutions In secure b.lnk facilit ies for Flcet Hold ings. The com pany also owed F!l'I..'t HOldings about ItM 235.6 mi llion . And Heel Holdi ngs itS<'l f had innmed losses, t hough as an exempt private compa ny it did lIot report the details. Sl By 1987, FI('ct 's debt had grown - or diminished, if one acceptl'd Oaim 's figure of RMSOO million debt in 1982 - to RM3-t3.5 million. soI To Slay
A Vo/alih' .Hi.x or /.! lIsil!('\\
135
afloat, Fleet Group was forced to sell some of its best assets to New Simi IS Times Press, in which Fleet \Vas the ma jor sha reholder. In ot he r words, the most profitab le a nn of \:Ieet Group was used to purchase its holding company's maior subsidiarics. ~~ UMNO was also seriously over-ex tended on another front. In 1981 , the party had gOnt' ahead wit h t ile cons truction of its 42-sto rey headquarters, together with a (o rw(' nt ioTl and exhibition fa cili ty , at a cost of morc than RM300 million. It was bui lt on a 3.6 hl'ct .. re site Oil wh ich l ellg J.; u Ra7. alcigh once had an optio n, which he had be('n pe (~ u1ldt'd to relinq uis h 10 UMNO at cos l. ~ Origin ally, UMNO pl1)1. UMNO·s lifeline, shrouded in thi:' usual secrecy, took the form of fi nandally beleaguered, publicly quoted United Engineers (Malaysia) Uhd, an engint'Cring and CClnstruclion company. Allhough it had suffered five straight years or 10ssl'S, h;ld never bui lt a TWljor ro..l d or bridge and \\',IS nearly insolvent , Unik{1 Engineers was t('ntatively award('(J a RM3.42 billion gOVl'rnmcrll CO il · tract in late 19~6 to (;oJllp lctt' 494 kHOIll('\rcs of the nort h·south high way strctcl1i n~ frOIll Th ailand to Si ll~'l por('. A consorti um led by the com pany - Projek l ebuh raya Uta Til Sclat;ul lIhel ., known as PLUS - would 0IX'ratt' the privatized road net work and colkt·t to ll s for :10 yelrrs along the cn tire high way. With tolls to be increaSl"(1 regu larly, revenue across the life of tile concession v..·ould total RM 17 hillion , United Engineers estimatl'(I, though the political opposition put it at RMS4 billion. In addition, the government provided RM 1.65 bill ion in ';supporlive construction 10..1.ns", as w{'11 as fina ncial safq;uilrds against exchange rate fluctuations on foreign com mercial loans, or a shortfall in toll (·ollections. In brief, PLUS was guarant"('('(\ profitability, securing U ~I NO' s financlal base. l..atl'r, toll roads were ex panded to cover much of the wu ntry, becom ing highly lilll)Opulil r ilt many caSt'S. TI1l' Ini tiall y-ullpublici7.ed conllectlo n with UMNO was th rough the control li ng sha reho lder in United Eng ineers, an equally obscttr(' concern wit h a money· losing recort..! cal lt'd lIatibuui Sdn. Uhd. For med in 1984 with a regist ered address in Oa im's of rICe, lI atibudi at Olll' st age listed two o f nai m'~ proh'!ges, 1·lali m Saad and Mohamed Razall ;\bdu l Rill1man, as directors and shareholders. After ini tiating ,I fi nancial rest ructuring package thai
,\ \'o/iI/it.- M ix o(fJusi/lt'.u muf /'o/i/ic.5
pawd t he way for I lat ibuel i to la ke over United Eng ineers, Razali reS ign ed from thl' hnarc1 . Il ls sharellolding in Ha tibudi was t ra nsferred to Hil ti rn , wh o wa s a lso .l The trouble was that with UMNO o utlawed , t he party wa s reqUired hy the Societies Act to place all it'i a~sclS wit h tht' gove rn ment's Official
137
Assis nl'C, for safckl'cpi ng or evcntual liquida tion. Dr.. Mahat hir's foll o we rs were "bit' to cou /ller legal move.) that would have requi red the m to disclose details of UMNO's ma n y busin esses, no t the least e m barrassi ng aspect o f which Wli S th('i r bl ea k tlnan d al pOSition . Liabilities ..... ere "massive", Daim admi tt ed I(j the o pposit io n ranks. Dr. Mahalhir exploited the same crucial "d va ntage tllat 11<1<1 enabl ed him to register a successor party to UMNO with a si mi lar na me ;Iile"d of his oppolI('nts. The Offi cial A.~sig nee's office, li ke the R<.'g istrar of Societies, was p il rt of his ho me il rfairs ministry. Operati ng in S(ocrecy, tli(' Officia l Assignct' sold UMNO's Halihudi interest in United Engi neers in June 1989, thoug h it remained publicly unknown until the following month, wh('n relatively sma ll, publicly listed Time Engineering Bhd. lIla([(' an announcl'ment to lil<.' stock <.' xcilange . rune E.ngint..ocring revealed it had JC
cable-cumltlunlcation lines. Wit h a 6O-mctrc right -or-wilY o n both sides of the h igh way. Un it ed Engineers effecti vely had bt'colllc O ll e of Malayslil's largest landholde rs.,,7 TIH.' Ti me Engi nL'i..·ring deal wa~ a Illodel for I he r<tpld cx pil nsion Ihat fo llowed . lIy cllterlng a series of financia l and partl al-owllership arrangemems with major subco ntractors, United Fngin€"<'rs and UMNO tried to e nsure quick returns from work finis hed, rath('r than walling several year) for toll reven ue to grow as st retches of the highway were completed. The acq ub.ition of controlli ng stakes in listed compa nl<.'s a nd the creation of affi liated jOil1l -vellt ure co nst ruct ion COllct'rns r('<ju ired little cash anel gcncratnl ready income. l.argely by swapping sha rpl y apprecilli ing United Engi nc<.'rs shares fOr those stakes, the compa ny mowd easily in lo the cemen t ind ustry, electrical contracting, man ufactur in g and properly. Un ited Engl necrs :llso landed a ho:.1 of ot her go ve rn me nt cont racts a nd privat i7..aUon deals, rangi ng from land recl am ation to " seco nd road li nk wit h S i ngapon~ . a nd ma n ufact uri ng d rugs and d ist ributing mL'C lical and dental products to staH.'run hospitals.!1H Hy clIrly 1990 UMNO, th ro ugh IHox ie!. working 011 its he half, princi pa ll y I iali m Saad and Anuar Othman, had regained control of most of the party'\ a~SCI.s."" And, largely through Un ited E.. ngirH.-crs, those prox ies had also built lIat ibudi Nominees inlo another la rge business grou p th at was ultimately be holden to t he UMNO leadenh lp.;'l) One Significa nt chu nk of shares in Utusa n Mel ayu Press, how('v('(, re mained beyond t he reach of t he leadersh ip . Tlll'y wcre registe rt:'d in til e nilrlle o f Tengku Razall'ig h, the fo rm l'r party t rcaslIn:r. Ill' signed a publ lr d l' l" larat lon tha t the sha fl's helonged to UM NO and iluthorized thl' l'omjl,ln y to p:ty allY d ividends to thl' party, but r(' fu sed to sign t hem over to and fi nancial OIX'rat ions of Ficct Grou p. Ik no ng SWil p!X'i..1" cont rol li ng block of its shares for t Il(' party's corpo rate stil kes, giving UMNO a com manding IllIeTt'st In !tl'llo ng. To generate nea rly RM440 m ill ion in cil ~ h fo r UMNO, Heet lIo ldings sold some o f its new !teno ng shares to existing !tenons ~ ha re ho ld ers and reduced its stake in the company to 28.5 per cent. UM NO was in no da ngl' r o f Iming control of Renong, because I ialim Saad also held, d irectly a nd Ind irl'Ctly, a !>ubsta nt.ial stakL,.7J
Also subsumed undl'r the Renong corpora te umbrella were the evcrevolvi n g comp betwE'"Cn the governmen t a nd the party" .76 In o ne "ext raordinary passage" trackL'" hy analysIS, Oaim's Sla ke in Cold Storage was fed thro ugh thr('(' UMNO-linkl'(l, ('asll-rich companies wi t hi n two years, ea rni ng substa ntia l profit at each )tagl,.77 Com men ted Peter Searle, the acad('"mic bu.o;incss specialist, "Although II wa s d ifficult 10 determine at what poi nts the imllvid uals concefll (:'(1 we're acting: fo r the party or Iheir private coqxx ate inlerL'St:i, ulti matel y it appeared thilt bolh were served by the rclatlonshi p.,,7x In l'uly 1991, o nl y n in e mOllths aftt'r the d ramatic reverse t;tk('o Vl'r of Reno ng, UMNO again rest ructured what had become its lIil g~ h i p holding colll ilany. A ~MI.9S billion package of measures sought to consolidate Renong's control over group companies, expa nd its olx'rations a nd bolster cash now. !tenong increased its stakes In United Engineers and TV3, t he two rOllll)Cl llies that were ex pected to con tribllle mo!>t lo profi t. In addition, Fabe r Group Uhd ., Ihe parly's o nn'-fa lte ring ho tel and prope rty COIlC{' fIl fo rmerly known as Fil ber Merlin, was brough t into the Renong fold. It had been le ft out earlier because of its heavy debts. wh ich had since been deared Ih rough a h uge cash in jection by Fleet I lold ing:..7'> O lpit alized at RM 6 billion 10 RM 7 bi11lon , He nong in its new fo rm was Olle of t he lOp t h rel' com pan ies on the Kuala Lmnpur Stock Excha nge.!IO Ily one estlmat l', l ilL' to la l valul' of U M NO'~ shares , in cl ud ing th ose Iw ld by nomi n('es a t pa rl y he(f UMNO's
A VOIHlil,· ...I ix
cred ibility. In the absence o f ~' vid('nce to the con trary, the blockbustcr dcal \\I,lS rcgard!:"<1as merdy "a new face on o ld pranices".tlj Actually, UMNO sti ll ow ned a majority stake in Ut usa n Mcl ayu Prl'ss, the now-listed Malay-lang uage newspaper p ublisher, wh ile the pa rt y's cooperative, Kopera si lIsaha Bt'rsatu, retained a hu!-:e in terest in Si1ll e Bank Bhd. 8·1 These inv('stl1lcnts, howeV(>r, were exceptions in the IIt'W order in whirh UM NO withdrew from d irect parly o wnership of cornpank's. lnstl" ld, control of party ,l ssets was transferred to private individuals, who Wt'H.' 'l(Toun tabl(' o nly to a fl'W sen io r party iead t'ls.85 Uy this legal techn icality, UMNO soug ht 10 dl'fll'(:t growing critid sm of the p'uty for doling out contracts to its ho lding companics, as wel l as avoid ing the risk of bei ng linancially rui nt'd agilill. If, as 1)aim latl'r claimed, UMNO received a "wry good " p rice for tht' l·ompanics t he Official Assignee supposed ly sold to their p revious rnanagers,1I6 the party should haw been not only d cbt-frl'{' but flu sh wit h cash. A~ it was, UMNO remained in fi nancial d iffi culty. In 01Id- 1994, til(' High Court ordered that a1l the assets ilnd liabilities o f the old UMNQ be turned over to Dr. Mahathir's New UMNQ, which o f coursc d id not incl ude the ('.-orporil te empi re. The court orde r reinstated UMNO's kgaJ tillt' \0 the jXl rly's headquarters, on whi<:h the party sUI! o wed about I~ M 500 mi llion , and to its many branch ilnd d ivisiollal offices throughout the C()Un tTy.1I7 Public corpora te and legal documents indicatt.'d the party's remaining assets tolalkd about RM1 .5 billion, while its tot .. 1 retai ned debt was more than RM I billion . One o f UMNO's lawyers estimated thilt the party's (lssets, minus its bank debt and other liabili ties, amounted to aboul RM348 million .1ltI T here was no doubt, howevcr, that UMNO le ad er~ cont inued to comrol t he party's dispc·rsed a ~sets; Oa im's boys got most of the lll . Aparl from H,tl irn Sa ad's takin~ OVt'r 1I1 0St o f Fl eet Hold ings' investme nts, Tajudin Ril rn Ii and Sa msudin Abu Ilassan obt aill('d contro l of t he listed com paniCS in thc Waspaves t ~roup, as lIa limtan was renollled. M9 While a few Chi nese businessmen with close t its to the ruling part y ended up with companies once d irect ly owned by UM NO, they apPc Hred to bl' oss igned the tilsk o f bail ing o ut well-connected M'l lays .'lO T he Renong-linked compan ies were required to wntrlbute mont h ly to UMNO's operatio na l ex penses. I'ay ment s, in the fo rm of cheques Sign ed by IwO o f tilt four UMNO trustees authorized to act on bd l alf of Hartihudi Nomi nees, 1V(.'re for varyin g a mounts specified each mo n th by Da im. AI general eJecti on tinll', Oaim simpl y told e
uf lJII.lill(SS (llId PQlitics
14 1
la rgl'st hene fiel ,lry of Malay~ia's ,Kceierated p rivatization p rOg ramme, took o ver the operat ion of the I'en kilom etres of vil luilb le land in )ohoTe. The compa ny also had the only national fib re optic network, and won the contract to build one of the light r;lil systl'ms in Ku,l la I.umpu r. Uut there were el l'a r limits to Halirn 's indepC'ndellce, m irroring the power plays in Malay pol ilics and the i1spirations of pa rticular UMNO leack rs. l~oT examp le, in 199.3 Ill' had to relinquish Re llo ng ' ~ interest in two major nlt'd ill companies, ·IV3 and New Straits Times Press, to businessmen aligned with Anwar Ibrah il1l .91 To aid his bid for the deputy presidcll<.:Y of UMNO, Anwar wa nted control o f the country's only p ri vate T V network ilnd the pu blishe r of English-, MalilY- and Chi nesc-Ianguage papers. Hil li m ill~ o r(Ospondlod to Ma laysia n govc.mlllenl overtures to perform "natiOnal seTvicl'" b y I'lking over the Phi lippine gove rnment's ailing National Steel Corporatio n, afte r Presiden t Fidel RamoS sought hel p from Dr. Ma hathir. The COsl: US$800 million, no questions as kl'd ."~ The Malay political leadership d id not hesitate to In tervene when llaJilll's e mbarrassing marital troubles threatl'ned to fractu re thc cumpany in 1995. !-lis wife resrx m ded to his divorce pl'tition wit h a claim fo r ltM500 mi llion "compensation" in cash and SO per ccnl of his assets. which she l>stimaled at RMS billio n to RM7 billion . The silaria courl (lril ma, i n volvi ll~ custody a nd visiting rights for their th rec child ren, was studded with allegations of intimid ation, d etention, Wiretapping, adultl' ry and 1)I
A Vmatilr Mix
Wi th politicians cult ivat ing p€'rson al lies with corporate ca ptains and assuming control OV('r ma ior com panies, fartiona li srn wit h in UMNO sharpened a nd t he Sl'r,101L1k' for be neJlIs intensified. Elected party posts bl'came llilSSlxHts to wealth ilnc! stil tlLS for which ca ndidates and thei r supporti ng Jletworks we re prepilre-d to P,IY on a scale- according to poten tial return s. Busincssmen who onCl' s hu n ned poli tics sought key posts in t he UM NO hierarchy. By 1995, t l1(' teachers a nd fa n ners who oncc dominated UM NO ranks hild long given way to civil servan ts, technocrats and op port unists; almost 20 per ce n l of UM NO's 165 divisioll;:l l chairmen Wl.'re millionaire blisillessll1 t:'Jl-c um-politicia ns.9'J The rapid descl.' nt on ru ral ;:I reas by urba n politida ns to cu ltivate a grassroots base, usually by buying support, Il>d to the furt her "mone tizatio n of po litics" .100 Uut it was ha rd ly a case of innocent co unt ry folk being seducl'd by city slickers. WIt h the pk'thor;1 of dewlopment pro jects delivered at villagl' and d istr ict ]('ve l unde r hU!lIiplIt ra progra m mes, lo("a l UM NO poJit idans had al ready Cllptu red ("(m lrol of loca l adm in istra tions fro m bureaucrats. The biggest b(,lIcficia ries of polir ies aimed at alleviating the pligh t o f impoverished peasants were, in fa ct , UMNO parlia mentarian s and slale assemblyme n, wit h th('ir Millay and Chi nese associates. They set up companies and ilwa rded t hclIl co ntracts, pe rsuading themsel ves t hey wNe fulfilli ng the :W per c('nt quota for bu ml pul ra ownership in busi n('ss aud manage men t, even as thl·y t>CCllllle wealthy and USl.,,<1 their cash to buy continut.'d su pport. Wt The internal d ash OW f the spoils was fiercest in the pre-sd eclion of general electio n candida tes, leadi ng to ri sing violence a t UM 0 branch and divisional m('eti ngs.102 In the most notorious case, a member of Dr. Mahathir 's C lbinet, Culture, Youth an d Sports Mini ster Mokhtar Hash llll, murdered a rival in Nq~(:(i Sem hila n sta te eight days beforl' the 1982 gcne m[ election. Although top pa rty le;I(ler~ repea tedly warned agai nst the evils of "money po litiCS", it spread exponentially in li ne with general aftlul'nce a nd iJt'ca me institutionalized ill UMNO. What had \x'en little more than a frt"(' IUllch -and-junket habit e~calated d ramatiCally with the 1984 clash for the deputy presidency bet ween Musa HHam and Tengku Razaleigh. An e~ti m ated RM20 million WilS spent on t hat w ntest, sett ing an exa mple that was fol low{'d in all subsequen t elections a nd for all positions, fro m branch leaders to party IJrl'Sidf: llt. In the d ivisive 1993 party elections, in which Anwar deposed Ghafar a nd An war's {('am of vice preSidents o utpolled oPIX)J1CnIS, RMSOO mill ion to nM600 mi llion was distributed. The pay-off rilte had increased nearl y :JO-fold in less tha n a decade. Among numerous a buses associated wi th th~' money ethos we re inside r Trad ing and tht mani pulalioll of sha re pr in 'S to raise funds for pOl itical campaign s. Amidst speculation about a sna p gl'neral elect ion in the second ha lf of 1989, for exa mple, tht.' sh,lrl' price of severa l lJMNO-li nked co mpan ies rose sp('ctacula rly fo r no other apparen t reaSOl\. Ki n ta Kella s PLC, Tim e Eng ineering lIml Unit ed Engint'N S sO:Ht!d betwee n al most threc- a nd
or HIIJil/{'55 (III,//'ulilic.s
143
eigh t-fold wit hin s ix mon t hs. to.1 As Anwar marshalled h is forces to drive Gha fa r into reI U(·tiltlt ret irl"IlH.'nt in Nov{' rn be r 1993, the Malaysian stock ma rket was gr ipped by a fami lia r frenzy. Uc twee n 4 Ja nuary and 9 JlIne, da ily tradi ng on both the excha nge's fi rst and second boards averaged 356 mill ion un its valued at RM 892.3 million, up from 77 .7 million lInits val ued at RM 20 7 mi llion fo r the entire 1992. Agai n , stoc k pri c(~s of th ree UMNO-linked com panies, [(enong, Id ris Hydra ulic (Ma la ysia) lIhd . and Grani te Ind ustri es Bhd., surged ne,lrly threl'-fold in illst ove r 11 m on t h . ll~ With UMNO also exerCising Intluem·e ove r regulatory and investigative agencies, offI cial inquiries into insider trading went nowhere. Dr. Mahathir was among Ihe earliest and loudest to decry the use o f money to win party votes, dt'Cla ri ng in 1984 that if the trelld (·onti n ued "on e day only mill io naires will lead UM NO ". ]I)S At the Ge ne ral Asscmbly the fo llow in g year, he denounced membe rs who dist ributed cash to be elected divi5ional cha irmen a nd ot hers who bought votes with ove rseas trips. lOt) Afte r Gha far revealed that o ne aspi rant was willing to spe nd up to nM 600,00Q in a bid for office, dc.lega tes "l iberall y a mended Ihe party const itution to deter money politics ".I07 The constit utio n was rewr itten again at a special (~ e n e ra l Assembly convened fo r the sped fK pllrpost' in 1994. It ban ned tile giving or recl'iv ing of " rewa rds, gifls or valuable. ret urns in any w:ly or In a ny for m n , and armed t he Supreme Council with powers 10 curb corruptio n. Wh ile tightening t he rules migh t have looked like a rt!asonable respo nse to t he unpreceden ted display of "lIloney po li tiCS" t il e previous yea r, in reall ty Il was a pub li c cow r for inactloll . Delegates had been (' rnha rrassed by news repo rts t hat I\ank N('ga ra rail out o f RM 1,000 ami RM5,OOO oates at the heigh t of the ca mpaign leadi llg to the 1993 Ge neral Asscmbly. lilt! t\t the convention itself, participants decla red tha t they had received gifts rangi ng from pens, radios a nd wa tches 10 fo reign travel and cash. Some deleg,lI es handed out their ban k account Ilumbers to contesting ca ndid at e s." ~) When tl1(' call fo r refo rm weil l up, the wo rst offenders jo ined the chorus, (('ign ing innocence. Za inuddin M,lidin, a fo rmer newspap('r ex ecutive who later became all UMNO min ister, called it "a mosl a m using piece of po litica l farce".ltO Z1inuddjn, who was close to the prime min ister, said it was "im possible" that Dr. Maha thir did not know wh ich peop le were In volved in "money politi cs' and the amoullts tha t had changed hands. 111 The he
it VO/Mi/e Mix ollll l$illl"$_\ mid Politics
Indeed, Dr. Mahathir bor(' responsi bility for th e mOIlt'y c ult ure well Iwyond that of a leader who fai ](,d to trea t a virulen t ca ncer repeatedly diagn osed in t he UMNO body. Il l' actively cOnt ributed to t h e problem hy increasi ngly ce ntra lizi n g pow('r in t he hands of tl1 (' part y president from thc early 19 80s ." ~ By tigh teni n g hi s gri p he ellsured riv'lh wou ld coalesce into stronger factions in all cffo rt 10 get a share of th e contracts, privat · ization o ppo rtuniti es and special b u rn ipu tra allocations of publicly-l isted storks. When the Asian ('conomic n isi s struck in late 199 7, the governme nt lost no t ime in bailing ou t i{ellon g an d ot her poJit i<:al fa vouril es. Renong by then was Ih{' cou nl ry's largesl con glomerate wit h debt s of m OTe tha n nM25 billion, abo ut 5 per cent o f the total loa ns in the ban king system . III Stale suppo rt was widely assumed to be a n attempt to rescu(> major Reno ng shareholders, specifirally Ha lilll Saad - and b y extension UMNO - at the eXIX'nse of minorit ies. TIll' govern ment also bailt'd out WvlNO over th e Pulr,l World Trad e CC'nlrC', persuading sliltl'·owned banks t o forg ive Khi chnat lk!rs.lI l1 at It'<Jst H.M 140 milJiOl I in aC(Ulllulatt'd int('rc st . " ·~ According to a confident ia l accoun la nts' re port colmnlsslon('d by UMNO in late 1985 a fter the UMNO wmplex was completed, it (ost almost RM360 million ;jilt! was finiHlCt'(j primarily by Io..lns of RM199.5 mi llion fro m Ban k Bumi pulra and RM64.9 million from M,llaya n 1~lIIking Uhd. As of March 1986, Khid mat Ik rsatu h ad paid just H.M S 1,570 in in terest, and the report- obtained, aga in , by th e au thor in till' COUTS(' of h is research - made it clear the compa ny would pay no more. III> MalaYSian tax payl'rs had subsi
145
d ollars."I~j Uaim also begged to differ, at least as far as he lX'rsonally was concerned. In a com ment d irected at UMNO a nd its leaders, h e said, "They do n ' t owe me a ny money a nd I don't owe them an y t hing ."'l~
N otes I 2
3 ..
S (,
7 Ii ')
lnll'rvit' .......... itli U m Kit Si" Il~, :11 t>.tay 2007. lnlL'rview witll Da im 7"'linuddin, Hi October 2007. Illt~·r vk'" with Ma hath ir Mohamad , 14 .\\Jg, lst 2007. Edm u nd Ter(·nn' (iorm'r., -I nlroduction : I'otitic;]t B U$inl'~S tn E.lSt ;\5i.1", ill Edmu nd t ercnce Gomer., cd., {'IJIi/je(l / 1I11.; ;jlll.'.'s ill filII ,b;(I (London: Itoutkgl·, 20(2), p. 6. [bili., p. 6. t'asuk I'hongpaich it. -Th"iland underThaksin: ,\nuther Malay)iar, Worki n g I'aper No. 1{)9, Septl'lIIbt-r 2004, f\~i;] Re5earch Cen l re. Murdoch Univer:>ity, p.7. Tllllkll Abdul \{3 h lll an, Vir'wl'lJiIl/S (Kua l,j LUllljlur: t l eim'm anl! F.ducational lIook, (Asia) Uti., 197H), p. 53, Stl'J,hl'11 D ut hie', "Mahal hi r Rival\ Ask Court 10 Ii;llt Nl·w UMNO D rive ", ibillll W,jl/ SIred i'mma{ (I1('r{·aftcT II WS/ ). 4 !\pril 191111 In tl"rviel\' with T{-n gkll R:nalt'lgh H~mz.lh, 29 M~ y 2007.
10
Ihid.
tI 12 1.:1 \4
Ibid _ 1ntervlew wilh TC l1 gkll Ril "~l lcigl l I-ia ll u.ah, 17 Jan uary 200ft Interview w i th Tcngku Rat.alcigh Ha rnzah, 21 Ma rch 2<X)7, Interview wIth Ahdullah Ahmad, I I\ugus t 2008. UMNO's dlrt'Ct m3jority SI3kc in Utusan Mel3}'u wa~ dls(·lnsed whcn the com p.1lly W3) puhhdy lis ted in 199<1, F.chllund Terl'lIl·e Gomez itnd J0ll10 K.S., M(llcr,l'lla's Puli/i('11 ECOIIIIIII}': l'IIlitin, 1',lIrumrSI' Cl ll cI !'mfill (l.;l1nhr idgl': CJllluri d~L' Universit y
I'a·ss, 1999
edition), 1'- 96. IS 16
In lt~ rvicw-"
wit h Tcngku H
p.l 00.
TercnCl' GOi11er., Polilies ill lIu_,ilwu: U,I,./,\/ O'I Crn pl!rct /(' 1111'1'S IIl/" Ilt5, (l'e talingJ;]ya: ForlUIll' En terprise, 1990), p. 58. t 8 Ihiel., p_58. 19 Interview wilh Oahu Zilt ll uddin, 18 October 2007. 20 Edmu nd Terence GOIIIl'I., ~I 'oti lj ca l8us iness in Malaysia~, in l'o/iti(UII~IISill<'s~ ill Ellst Asi" , p. 10 I. 21 I'eler Searle, Tile Rid"" (If M(lIClYSitlll ClIpita!imr: Rnll·s('I'kl'rs II' RI'(II e 'I/,lt,,/isls! (Sydncy: Asiitn Studit-:s A~:'i()clation of Aust ralia with AI1(·1I & Un win and 17
hlm und
Univcrsi ty o f Itawai'i
I'rcs~ ,
1999), p. -16.
22
Clw ong Md Sui and Adtu,lh Amin, /)lIim : Tllc' Mml Ildlill,111I(' ell/SIII(I (Pelaling Ja Y,I: Pelanduk I'uhlicatlom (M) Sdn, 6hd" 1995) , p. IS.
23 24
Ihid., p. IS. Ral)hael rur;],
25
Ibid.
26
Haphacl I'urit, ~ IJ)(iOSllel Unit Co nt rol Sh i fb to
~M alaysia':'i
Daim
Cha rts Path to i'ower", A WS/, 2,\ August 1984. Malays i ans~,
1982. 27 Intcrview with M"halhi r Moharnali, 20 March 2007.
A WS/, IS OClo\)(-r
A Vv/"ti/r 28 29 10
Ib id llUl'r\, ll' w wllh 1).lim Zal llUllul n , 18 Ocloner 2007. Ed m un d Tl' rl'llce (l o me!., /'o/itin ill fllI,ill/'S.!>: U,HNO') CorfJO"'''' flll ,(" tlllc'IIh,
.11
~KhidEJl,1 1
p.51t
32 Jj
.H
Ikr'l,l lu ~ I n. Hh d.: Accountants' Report fo r th e \'eriod from I ~ I June 1981 11) lhl Ma rch IIJR(' ~, \l analjah Raslan & M ohall1:td, Kual:1 l umpur. InI{'rvlew wllh /):ll rn Zmnuddl n , 18 OClolx'r 2007. lnl l'rvil'v. wll II Tt' ngku R,L!.Jlc!gh IJamw h, 17 j an uary 20()8 . ~UM1\O "olllicJI fund; i\ceOUllts, 31st Dt'("cmber 198r, i\nuarul. 1\:111.<111 k
(:ompany. :t.;;
36 P
.is .19 -10 -I I -12 -Ij -14
Intl'rvit'1I' with Ma h;lt hlr \iohamild, 14 Augus t 2007; in tef\·IN" with D:L iTlI jI"..amllddln, 18 2. Intefvil'w with DJim Z:Linuddin, 18 October 2007. nou).; I \tlfuoka, ·Fll'i.'t'~ Stormy Voyagc~. p. 52. I'l"tl:f \c.'Mh:. fI/(' Rldd/c u{ M"h,,'');,w CCipil/1Ii~III,
p_
I()(,.
Nick 'ieaw;lf(\, -Milllly~ia'\ ContfO'I-'('rsiai Finance Minister I'ron'\ an ·\hle I wnomk Mana8~r: '1 11e Dahn Skv.-c 19MR, p. 52. l.dll1und h.'ren\:e (;I)lnC:':, "Qlilin III BIISillr${; UMf\'O\ CO'PO"IIt' /1I~\·\/lm'III\,
p.' t Ibid., p. H. Inlerllj('w with D,lhn Z.linuddin, 18
S5
Ibid., p. 106.
50 Inter\'il'w\ wil h Tens ku lI.il l..a kt gh Ha m& h. 29 May 2007, 17 january 2CX)H. 57 lntl' r\'lew Wi th Tmgku Raz.lh.'lg h HanlZa h , 29 May 2007. 58 ;:,tcphe n Dut h ie, ·Court t\ lI ow~ ,\o ello n of l an d "eld by UMNO ~, tlW.~/. II januilfY 1989: Steph('n Dut h ie, ~ Con~ ul t ant. Mln l ~ t ry Di ffe r on UMN O Prope rt y V alllc~, AWS/, 22 h'bruMY 1'J8<J; Stq)hen Du t hie, ~ El fort tu i\u(\ lnn l' rOIX'rty Owned 11)' UMNO Slall ~ ~, t\W$/, 17 Ap ri l 1989. 59 Ra phael Pu rJ and Stephen Du lhie, '· MalJ ~lan ("". ourt A l lo w~ Il lg hwa)' Award: GoYcfllInt'n l Cilll GiY(' Rich Pro icet to n u n Ow n OO by Ruling l 'a tlY ~, I\WSI, 18 jan uary 1'JI~8 . 60 Ibid . 61 Ulm und Terence Go me,,-, Polllin iI' HII~itlC'SS: UMNO 's CU11X'rtlt(' /Il~"('s/m('''/$, p . 129, cit Ing IheS/'II, 29 Augu) 1 198 7,
Mi~
tlllIlIl;I/('H "IIII/'olilin
147
62 Sle phe n Du th il:, · (jlll A llos Polin ' 1(('1)('rl A('(usi ng Ma lay,lan C.lliinC'l of Cor· rul'lion· ..H VSJ, 7 October 198 7. tU Stcphl'fl Duthie, · Malap ia Signs Oisptlll.... J 1 11~hwa)' ['XI·, II W.W, 2 1 M3fdl 19H5. 6-1 Cill"ong ~Il-i Sui and '\ ll ibah Am in, /lIcphcn Du thie, "Ru li llg I.l'!S Maha! hir I '~ rt )· Rq:alrt :\5.."-'I.s". it ",51, 16,\UgLlst 1994. tl9 Ed mund Teren(c ( iomC1, "i'ol lti ('a llllL~ inl'\~ ill M alay~l a~ . i n 1'(,li/icul /llt.lillt's., ill l:Il.,r As ia, p. 97. 90 Ibid ., pp. 9 7-98. 91 Intl'I""lew wit h f()flm'r J{l' I\OlL g l'.~n·ullv~' , I" O~to her 2007. 92 Zafer ,\<:hi, et a I., " CnIl 8 1 0J1lcrU l l'~ in Em t·r,l\ing Mark eh: Tigcrs or Dinosaurs?". .') ffllf!!S)' 6< /tlls il l('\\, BOll t· AII CI1 &. Hamilto n , Stt:oud Quar te r, 199B. Hi.:pri nt N(l. ')R 2()(j. 9.1 E(imUll d Tl!rl'nct (iolllc z. /'uli l iw/l!lIIil/t'.u : C/11,/,urlilc Il/wAFI'II/!!1I1 "I' ,1.1a/(IY< ;,,,, I'oli/kal /'IIIII,'s f!owmvilil' : j,IT Ul'S Cook UI1I\'cr~lt)' of Nor th Q lI (~lls l aml. 1994), p. 291 9 4 R;. ph Jel i'ura, -'ne~ That Bind: II.CI1OI1S'S An ('t. Its J-li5to r)', R('veah Its U~hl1ity !)Id('-, AWSI , 19 ),ITIU3ry 19')6. 95 Ra phal'l rura. "Cha irman 's fa mily h ' ud Ratlll'S Renol1g~, AWSI, 19 Milrdl 19<16.
14 8
M ailly:; iUl '
M,IIWirk
<)6 R
13 Ma rch 199 t
91'l E(l l1L und "l'l'ftlll'I' Corm;z, "l'oli !it'al lIusincss in MaIJysia", inl'olil icui ii' J;".~ I Ibill, p. ~!). <) <)
IOU
WI
BIISi lll',' S
6 Scandal, What Scandal?
Ibid., p. 9H. Ibid., p. 9 K.
Sh,lI11sul ,\ , Ilailarutid in, "l'olitir,1I C h,lI lg(' and Economic i)t'wlol'!l!cn t ;u tlw Lrassr{)<>ts il! COl!tt:l1l po rary Rural M
Tl I(' 11I~ i
View (New Yor\-: : Pr o fe s~() r ~ World 1't',Kl'
Academy, 19K?!), pp. 87-90. ]()2 Ibid .. p. 90. lDJ
104
Edmu nd 'i'ercnl'e Go ml'z, Politi",1 fl IlSill ,'H, p. 159.
Ihid" p, 1M).
"Mon .~ y Politics in ~'Ia la ysia" , i n ,\f" llII lIli",~ /Of/mOll/ ie i'o/ki('s (Kuala t UlILpm: IN$AN, 1989), p. 1)7. Ill(, Edm und TNence Goml'z, rl,iilim/ U!lsim',s, p. S9. 10 7 Suhaint Azn:lm, "No Ruflll'f.! I'l'a thcrs FEER, 10 OctolWf 19R5, p. 16.
105
liarold C rouch,
n
,
1M
109
I.l·(' Kuan YI' W, Fwm n ,itd WQIId lQ First : '/1", Sil/Sup,,£(" SlQry 1Y6.~-l(JOO (Siugalx l/t':1 imcs Media I'te. Ltd., 2(00), p. 19 1. l
110 Ibid., p. 1(,7. III thid"p.I73. 112 R, S. Milne a n d Dia ne K. Mauzy, Mo l" y )im ic lI.evie w 1.1 (1., p, 153. li S Mahathi r Mollilm;J(\, ~T I1 l' U~'[N O Saga», i n Ik{kcti{)/IS Oil '\ ~ ilL b;II1f, }aYil : I'elanu uk Pu blicati ons (/0.1 ) Sdn. I>l1 d ., 20(2), pp. 120- 12 1. 116 Ed mun d Terence GO lllel, I',,!il k ,,! /lU.~i ' I('.).\, p, I.~ S . 11 7 I.~'slie I.o pe l , "Steellllake/ 's J)em ise ROils MalaySian I\i lf lks, Ta )(p~ yl'r~" , II IV.~/. 19 Sl'ptcm he r 2000. I II) Interview wi th Daim Zainuddi n, 18 O('[obcr 2007. 119 ~Khid!1lalllersat \l Sdn. Bhd.: Accoun ta n ts ' Repo rt fo r the Period fro m Is t Jun.: 19?! I to 3 1st March 1 9 1)6 ~ , H all,lfhll Rasl.1n & MoilamacJ, KU:l la l..umplH , 120 Ll'slic Lopa., "A t M ~l a ys ia 's Ikno ng, Chang(' is Abou t I'crl"l'ptio us", ,\WSI, 26 J ul~' 200 1. 12 1 Inl('rview wilh lim Ki t Sia ng, J I ),1ay Z00 7. 122 Intef\'lcl\' ,",'ilh Mahat hi r /o.·lohamad, 14 August 2007. 12.1 Inte rv iew ..... Il h Mahil thi r Moilamad, 20 Ma rch 2tX/7. 124 Michael Vali kiolis, ~Da l m 's Ex pa ndi ng E m pi r('~ , ,..f.BR, 25 March 20tH , p. 42.
Or, Mahathi r's adm inistra tlo n took offke in 191) 1 with th e slogan
I)a~ill,
cekap, (//1/(11/(/11 - d.:an, efficient, trus tworthy , Almost InUlledlat'('l y, however, it
became em b roiled in rtna ncia l sca ndals that exploded willl startling regularity. sollie ofthem truly slx"Ctamlar. A fe w were of an order of fll ag n itude that wo uld hav(> bco no my absorbed the shock of much o f the d issipated wea lth an d, where llecC$sm y, the gaps left by thl' missing b illio n s were plugged with til(> proceeds of oil and gas expo rts. Almost all the SCandals in volv('(1 the governme nt d in."Ctly, o r sen ior o fficials and b usinessm<'11 closel y cOllm: L"ttXI to UM NO. I n SOllie cases, improp rie ty - wlwthcr illegal or m erely ill-advised - was o ffiCiall y ilUtho rized or condoned for an a llegl'{lly h igher p urpose, Puhlic fu nds were sto len in vM ioliS ways, or si mply jXl ured into a big blad ho le In the name o f ventures t hat borde rcd o n the reckless, im proha hle, or ('ri m lna!. The e.'l: ten t of tile losses - and in ~m e cases the wa y the mOTl ey d isa ppeared - waS n e w r fully d ocum enled. Dr. Mahat ll ir'S admin istra tio n generally did no t ho ld Malaysians accou n table for the fin,lIl cia l (lisastcrs, and often la id th e blame o n others. By the earl y 1990s, cynics rema rked thM H had lx'('n a good decade fo r bad ochaviouT, or a b ad decade for good behavio ur. I Although h e iniliated, prom oted or at leasl approved some o f th e u nde rtaki ngs that turned Into o utrig ht ~ca m s , Dr. Mahath ir was remarkably blase about t h e ma ss ive wastage and fa r from em barrassed th at anotlH!r governm e n t slogan wa s "lea dersh ip by example" . His eyes fi xed on the bigger p icture, his vision of a modern Malaysia, Dr. Maha th ir wa s mo re co n cerned to mi n im izt> p ublicity abou t m istakes and misdeeds than to p u n ish those respo nsiblt> for egregio m offe nces. Two v i sit i ng acad emics, who int erviewed hi m in the late 19 905, we re take n aback to find him .d uugging o ff t he bad ('xper lenn.'s a nd unilltefcSt(>d in stud ying wha t ha ppen ed in ord er to
SC< lIIdal, Whl/r SnmdllP
persuaded to si ng h is fa vouril l' song. My Way, t hey suggested th at an appropriate e ncore wou ld be the a nthe m o f the lat e French chan teuse, Edith Piaf, It' /If' (('grl'tie rim, I have no regret s.! Dr. Mahathir's ulti mate p rotct:lio n was h is gove rn men t's large maj ority in Pari ill nlcni and it s co nt rol of the press a nd investigating agencies. Wit h a revolt b y backbe nc h n1l'mbers of the ruling coalition almosl unth in kable, il invariably fell to the slIlali 0 PIX)sit ion Democrat ic Act ion Party and its ha rried leilde r, Lim Kit Sia ng, to try and expose malfeasancc. l lis was a thanklcss tmik as t he pe rpetrators or benefi ciaries we re ofte n " Umno-putras", as Lim dubbed the UMNO elite and cwnies. While he could usually count on support from a few non-governmen tal organizations, their clout wa s limited by thei r inability to get their message across in the mainst ream med ia, or interest the po lice in invest igating allegations of corruption and o ther wrongdOi ng. Politica l scie nt ists ILS. Miln e and Dian e K. Ma uzy, comm ent ing tha t Ma laysia's fi nan cia l sca ndals "reac hed almost ende mic pro port ions" in thl' mid-1 980s, concl uded Ihey migh t have been ge nerated as a ro.!sul t of (I "gt'\ric h-qu ick men tal ity " that wa s l'ncouraged by th e policy o f pro mot ing b um i~l utras In busi nt;'ss. And Iha \, Ihey $uggested, may have "k d to Ihe pursu it of well ll h, unlem pe.rcd by C' thlcs, or C'W Il fear of the la w"':! Their ob~crv,lIion~ largely a re borne out in the fo llowing (asc ~tlld ies.
The tin cllpcr David l.l idner, a f,lst-tal king Egyptia n meta l trader who tril velled all iI Swiss passport , packed h is hags with a clever idea and headed for Jaka rta in 19S(), I~epresent i n g the la rge commod ity broker, Swiss-based Ma rc Rich &Compa rl Y, Zaidncr wa nted to handle saies of t in for Indo neSia, t he world's second.biggest producer. More than t hat, he had SOllie uno rthodox notions to offer aboU! how the international price of t in (ould be raised. Indonesian Minister o f Mines a nd Energy Subroto a nd o ffi cials of the state ti n com pany turned him down fl at. They knew Zaid ne r was smart a nd experitoJl ced e nough, but he d id not al wa ys play by the rules. Back in t l1c 1970s, whe n he worked fo r Amalgamated Meta ls Corporation, he had been fired afte r co m pany executives raided hi s offICe in l ug, Sw itzerl.ln ci , an d fo und a trou bling paper tra il. Th e evidence suggested he may have br ibed an Indonesia n offICial and his l30 livia n assistant, wh o bOlh worked for tht' Inter nat io nal Tin Cou nci l in London . There was also e vide nce of oth er irregularit ies inte nded 10 gain an edge in Ihe tin market. Alth ough the loplsodc was hushed up 10 save em barrassme nt to th e Ti n Co urWil, the Indo rH's lans knew a boul it si nce it wa s their man wh o was involved wit h laid ne r. Sub ro to was a Ilke- min ded ally of the "Ber keley maf"I", the tea m of a(ciairned tech nona ts ni ckna med aft€' r th€'ir alm a mate r in the Un ited Sta tes a nd appoin ted by Preside nt Suhart o. wh o were com milh.'d to rt'sto ring the count ry's re putation after the ruinous Sukarno years.
15 1
Undeterred, Zaidn er took h is proposal to Malaysia. t he biggest till producer, and foulld a more receptive audience. From his ti n-trad ing activities, he had con tacts at Malaysia Min ing Co rpo ration IJhd ., the world's largest tin conce rn known as MMC, which was con trolled by sta te-owned in vestment compa nies and worked closely wit h the government to im plement ti n policies. Through t he compa ny o ffi ci als he al ready knew, Za idner got acq uai nted with Abdu l Rahim Aki, MMC's group ch ief executive, who was polit ically well connected. The highe r Zaidncr we nt , the easier it became to sell his idea. As an acq uai n tance of the chief executive told Raphael " Rocky" Pura, the inveSti ga ti ve re porter who unravelled the esca pade for t he Asian Wall Strcc( /oll m al . Abdul Rah im "knew as much about lin as could be contai ned o n one-hal f of a ten-ce nt postage sta m p ~ . ~ Over the objections o f some MMC advisers who knew of Zaidner's ta inted past, Marc Rich was appoin ted as the compa ny's tilt-trad ing agent. Another c\scntial piece of the p id UTC was Dr. Mahathir's presence tit the top of the government. Hussei n O nn was still prime min ister when the Cahinet approved a clandesti ne plan to suppo rt saggi ng tin prices, but he was ill and Deputy Prime Minister Mahath lr was effecti vely ru nning the country, and would soon take ovcr formally from him . The prospect of outwitting the West appealed strongly to the nationalistic Dr. Mahathl r. He often complained IIlat coHlmod ity producers such as Malaysia got a Ta w dl'a l when trad ing their goods in international markets, which he fe lt were con trolled by the industrialized nations.s Looking back much la ter, Dr. Mahathi r acknowledged being con ned by Zaidner. "He spun a very attractive story", suggest ing " it would be possible for us to ket'p the price of tin h igh and in the process ma ke a lot of money for oursel vcs,~ Dr. Ma hathir saido"I must ad mit I was ve ry new to all this. I didn't understan d. ~" Alt hough the International Tin Agreement was one o f the few successful global commodity agreements, Ma laYSia was becoming disenchanted with the pac t's abil ity to deliver adequate returns on what was once t he count ry' s major foreign excha nge carner. All 30 mem ber cou ntries, bo th producers a nd consumers, were required to contribute metal or cash to an International Tin Council buffe r stOCk, whe re a manager was e mpowered to buy tin when the price fell below a speCifi ed level a nd sell when it rose aho ve a certain point. A wea kness fro m Malays ia's standpOi nt was that a ny in crease in the pri ce ba nd had to wi n the backing of a majority of both producing an d co nsumi ng members. Wh en consumers led by the United Stales denied producers' demand s for higher prices in July 1981. as Dr . Mahathir officia lly assunH.'d the premie rship. Ihe Ma laysian government instituted the Zaidn eroinspired scheme . In preparation for its covert attem pts to prop up tin pri ces, the government involved ra nking civil servan ts in the Min istry o f Finance, the Minist ry of Primary ind ustries and Bank Ncgara Malaysia, the central ban k, as well as lin industry officials. To hidc Ma laysia's tracks, MMC execulivl."S Incorporated a local com pa ny called Maminco SUn . Bhd. with paid-up capital of just RM2,
St'/III(/al, WI /,ll .')(;
which beca me th e go v~ rn rne llt' s secret ve hicle to carry out th~ ti n-bu yi ng plan _ Abdu l Hah im and an MMC accountant h~ld o nl' share l'ach and served as d ircrto rs. Nordin Ismail , a leadlng lrader at MMC and Zaidnc r's friend, bt.'Came general manager. The finance mi nistry directl'd state-owned Ba nk Ih llni putra Ma laysia Bhd . to extend credit 10 Maminco through Its offshore branches to pay for the lin . B... nk Bumiputra's coffers in turn were to pped up with fun ds hel d offshore by the national oil and gas compa ny, I'et roliam Nasiona l Bh d., known as Petronas. Maminco, which began buying lin in la rge quantities 011 the London Metal Exchange in July 198 1, continued wit h t he purchases th rough most of Novem ber. They wert mainly for three-month forward delivery. Mamlnco trad ~d through Zaidne r and Marc Rich, who placed their orders through member firms of t he exchang(". Mami nco also bought physical tin o n thc Pe nang market in Malaysia. The h('avy buying forced up tlu l'<'-month fu lurl'5 pri c~s by 20 per cent to about 8,600 pounds a tonne. Thl' appearance or wh,1{ the international press dublx>d a mystery buyer was particularly con"plcuous in the indust ry, since .lClUal demand for tin was fairly SI;Kk as the developed world headcd fo r recessio n. Ex I)Crienced indust ry hands suspl.,<:tcd Ma lay:..liI, but Dr. Mahat hir's govern ment consistently denied it. The Ma layslan-inot buying, Sl't up shorts~ lle rs for a squeeze . It mea nt that traders holding cont racts to sdl ti n thn.'C mont hs lalcf, in February, might fl11d 110 physi ca l tin avallabl(, 10 meet t heir obllHatio ns. They woul d have to Iluy tin from thl' mystery buy ~r at a hi gher price than that a t whi ch they ("()lItracted to sel l, or defa ult on t heir contracts. The MalaysiOlIl mOve Sl'lIt Sl>ot prices soa ring to a peak of 8,970 po unds a tonne, and set off a global scr
t53
lookl>(l like t hey were gOi ng to ma ke a killing, the sta kl's Wl'Te soaring dra matically and Mam inco hecame dangl'rollsly l"XIKlSl,
1S4 MIIIII)'.\ ;
sell tllc shares at a profit on th{' Kuala Lumpu r Stoc k Exch,lnge to re pa y tin [OSSt's. [n his investigations for the IUllmal, P IJr,1 uncovered ano ther likely back-d oor ch annel to help Ma minco settle with Ban k BUll'1 iput ra: a "sccret service vote" in the co untry'5 annual b udget. lhu,llly used for security and int ellige nce-related act ivity the governm('nt tr ied to sh ield from public view, this item con tainL"<1 funds that could be spent at the di screti on o f the fina nce ministry. By effectivdy transferring Ma lllinco's losses to th e n ationa l b udget d efici t, the government made it almost im possible 10 detect thl'm .IS Dr. Mahalhir's ad mission in 1986 o f the government's role, after five years of den ials or delit~rate silem:e, staggered the business world. H{' a lmost certain ly went public ilt the UMNO General Assembly because the Oemocratic Action Party had served notice that it intended to pursue the minter in Pa rlia me.nt. Dr. Milhath ir d isclosed the parts played by bo th Mami!l{'o and Makuwasa, but he was far fro m contrite. Rat her, h{' defended the govcrnnl(.'nt's actio ns and b lamed "massive cheating" by the 1.0nd011 Metal Exchange - allowing the short-sellers to escape - fo r depriving Ma[aysia o f Iradi ng p rofits. " If not fo r the cheating by the LME, changing tile rules to prot('("\ its members, the government would not have losl and the q uestio n of the govcrnment's involvement in maintaining the tin p rice would not have I)(,{,ll raised at all,n he said. No gove rnme nt offtcial had pm flted, he added. "Whilt was done by the government was aitm'
The UMr affair Hank Bumiputra and Petro nils, glimpsed in contact on the edges o f th e tin sagil, provt'd a highl y combu stihle com b inati o n during the Mahath ir e ra.
S(."
155
When th ey W(,TC brought togct her uy tIl(' d ictates o f d o mest ic politics, it was not always a com fo rtable or IJappy association. Incorporated in 1965 , B.lnk Bumiputra was assigned a central role in Ma lay.sla's affi rmative action p rog ram me. Specifically, the ban ]..: was to channel creclit and fina nda[ servic{'s to tile countrYS ide, where the vast majority o f Ma lays lived a nd worked in tradi tional pursuits such as farmIng and fishI ng. lIa nk [h lln lplltra was al so to fam ilia rize Malays with ba nking a nd train some of tltCI11 to b«ome bankc·rs. A preferred re pository of state funds, the bank grew rapid ly, though its socio'IX)lit ical fun ction inevitably ca used ib profita bility, In te rms of retu rn on shan.. holders funds , to lag be hind rival s. Some loss of commercial competitiveness resulting from forgolle lending to nOIl-bu miputra custo mers was im plicit ly accepted. To Olx'rate and kC<'p watdl o n such a politicaJly sensitiVl" instit ut ion, the govern ment lI ~ ua lly aplx)in ted ranki ng UMNO officials or civil servants closcly linked to the part y, ratlle r than profl'ssiooal managers. That left tlank BUlll iputra a sitt in g ta rget fo r wcllcon nected bUSiness in te.rests looki ng for c heap loans, the cheapest of which more accurately could be descri bed as handouts o r donation s. The lJank found it hard to say uno", ending up d islX'llsing a constant !low of funds to fa vou red recipients in the Malay establishment. As for I'elro nas, cstilblishcd u nder the Petmleulll ])\.'vc!0pllIcnt Act of 19 74, it fared considerab ly Ix'lter. It becanw Ma laysia's largest and richest corpo ratio n, and the country's b iggest source of tax revenue and fo reign ('xchange, with a n in ternational reputation for being a savvy industry operiltor. I~tl t wi th an assured income stream and an accu mulating pile o f profits, incl udi ng large cash de posits with banks around the world, I'etro n as, too, was sometimes ca lled upon to do duty alxwe and lX'yond its o riginal charter. Not requir(-d to disclose its fi na ncial accou nts, I'etronas refX)rted by law to the prime minister, ra ther than t he finance m in ister as might be expected. It was Dr, Mahath ir's favourite piggy bank, to be raided in elllt'rgcndes and 011 o ther sl>ecial occasions. While Ban k Bumiputra wa~ bein g used to buy tin o n a grand seall' in London, a wholly owned subsidiMY of the 1>.1 n k was be ing abused in even more breathtaking fa shion for l>e r~o nal gain in colonial liang Ko ng. I\u mlputra Malaysia Finance Ltd. (IIMF),
$('(11111<11. Wllllt S
!'reviollsl y unknown in bll s jn~ss circles, Tan wraplX'd h imself in mystery a nd assumed a f;u;ade of respectability by hiring prominenl advisers and Industry professionals. lie was ti le cent re of Asia-wide speculation as investors, analysts and journaliSts tried to figure oul the source of his appa rently bOIlomi<.' ss wealt h. The a nswer: I-I e was a bankrupt civil e nginC<.'r livi ng illega lly in Iiong Kong and had no money, but bluffed ma jor ban ks illto lining up to lend to him after persuading neophytc HMF to provide C m ian with freenowing funds. In ea rly 1980, BMF loa ned the the l1-obsclIrt' Carrian about RM310 million without collalcral lo buy a land mark building in I long Kong's Ct·lltra [ bUSiness district, a purchase Ihal PUI the compa ny on t he map as an aggreSSive propt~rty playcr.2Il Prime Ministe r Ma hat hir inherilec\ t he BM F affai r and could have chosen to step In and clean it up. No doubt it would have been a severe embarrassme nt for UMNO an d the govern men t , but Malaysians surely would have a pprE.'clal(·d a st rong state me nt that the new premier wa s not prepared to tolerate blatant misuse of public fu nds. Instead, lie optt!d to try to conceal t he IlH.'SS wh ile endorsi ng a barely- lega l sene t plan by lla nk Bumiput ra 10 recover loan losst'S al the ex pcmse of othe r stranded creditors. With t he bl·n el1t o f h indsight, Dr_ Mahathlr sa id t he ba n k was mismanaged by peo ple who did not understand ban king - "not always crooks, but quite Incompete nt" - who thought having a branch in Hong Kong was a sta tus symbol. "But trying to fi nd out who at:tually mismanaged II is not easy, you sct.,."2L Dr. Mahath ir' s priority wit h government-con trolled banks, after ta king offlce in J uly 1981, was to put h is a ppoin l'ft's in ch arge. In the sh uffle , Nawawi Mat Amin , a S('nim part!lE.'T in an accounting fir m and a Illember of UMNO's Supreme Council, took ove r as executive chairman of Bank !hunlputra in April 1982. lie replaced Kamaru l Ariff111 Mohamed Yasslll, a lawyer by train ing and o ne of M a lily~ia ' s best known ban kers, who had steCTed the bank through six years of rlIpld growth. Kamarul also had excellent UMNO affIliations, having served as the party's legal adviser and heilded its Investment un it, but he was removed because he was close to Fina nce Min ister Tengku Ra7.i11eigh Ha ml..ah, a political rival of Dr. Mahat hi r and {)(>puty l'rime Mi nister Musa IIitam _ Dr. Mahathlr wanted his own man running a major fin ancial arm of the gove rnlllcnt. 21 The details of BM F's dec p('n lng troubles were disciost'
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Th is was dynami te in Maldysl a_ Bank Humi putra wa<; considert'tl. the nagship of the Malaysia n fi nancial system a nd a source of et hllic Malay and national pride after overtakl ll g Thailan d's BangkOk Kank In 19tH as the largest ban k in Sout heast A~Icurc loan s, when th ey were secu red at all , was being erod ed seri ously by th e dOwnturn, exposi ng 13M F to such la rge losses th at the financi al health of Bank Bumiputra ibelf might be at risk. With liM P ope rating almost autonomously, the lines of responsi hilit y led back to Kuala Lum pu r .2~ BMF's lending decisions we re made by its own t wo-man board: Chairman Lorra in [.sme Osman and Mohamed Hashim Sha msud in were both prominent directors of the pa rent bank. Lorrain was a member o f Or. Mahathir's l>allel of economic advisers, while Hashim was Ban k BlImi putra's exccutiv~ di rector, a post t hat ra nkw second in the bank's h ierarchy . Ibrah im Jaafar, who ran IIMF's day-to-day operation s in 1I 0ng Kong as genemlmanager, reported d irectl y 10 torrain and Hashim . In a n In crimi nlLting turn, the Hong Kong-based press dis("overed that two of thes(' th ree executives, who had controlled 11M!' fr om its in('('ptioH, had outside business collnections with customers. Ibrah im held large personal ove rdraft facil ities in lIo ng Kong banks thai were gua ranteed by Carrian. lIash im became a di rt'Ctor of a sma ll compan y th r(.'C days befo re it received a cheque fo r nM 1.1 million fro m the wife o f the c hairma n of Eda, iust as UM F loa ned the group USS40 mill ion _~ As the controversy swirled through Southeast Asia with each fresh round o f revelations in Hong Kong, t he Malaysian a uthorities re mained tightliplX.'
lS8 MU/llysltm M(iI'('rje/(
fin a nce minister, he ordered Bank Nega ra to conduct an inqui ry in to 8MF after reading aiJout its troubles in the regional press towards the end of 1982.2<. L~nk Nega ra Governor Abdul A:dz Ta ha, in his fi rst com ments to reportcrs In April 1983, characterized the problem as a Hsitualion of what you call an ovcrexposure of loans, which I would regard as excccding ... usual ba nkIng pmdence". Ban k Uumipulra's senior executives as well as Ihe bank's external auditor were examin ing the subsidiary, he said, and " nohody should be alarm ed" about the loans because "the governmen t is fully behind" Bank Bumiputra .Z7 In Ihelr annual reports for the year ended 31 March 1983,u Bank Rumlputra and BM F maintained the sa me line, minimizing problems In Hong Kong, emphasizing that the pa rent would give full support 10 liS off· spring, and offering no ex planatio n for the lending spree. But figures in the reports indicated that It would be impossible to keep the lid on much longer. 8MF had doubled its lending In Hong Kong in 1982, when other banks were running fur (OVer, and It was funded entirely by head office, Bank Uumi pulra .2Y After a w uplc of year:; of modest growth, BM ):,s total lending, including shorHcrm money-market de posits and In ter-ban k loans, had ballooned 285 per ce nt in 1981 a nd 1982 to RM 1.55 bil lion. lJank Bumipu tra made only sill,tll provisions for losses t hat Illigh t a rise from Its Hong Kong loans. AI Ihe sa me timt', though, it increased its paid-up capital by RM600 million - 126 pCl cent - which suggested it was preparing to cover extensive bad debts. even though the bank denied iLlO Dr. Mahathir publicl y addressed the issue of BMF's doubtful loans for the first time at a pr('ss confere nce in J uly 198:i, on the co mplet ion of his second year as premier. It was eight months after the damaging dlsdosures i)('gan to surface, and Mala ysia'S normall y cautious and respectful press was de mand ing answers. Mter all, the two govern ment shareho lders In Bank Bumiputra already had been required to kick in an eXi ra RM600 milllon to increase the bank's capitalizat io n in pro portio n to their holdings. That mea nt 70 pe r cent of th e burde n fell on the National Equity Co rporation. which was established to ho ld blue-Chip Ma laYSian corpora te equity on behalf o f bumiputras by selling them shares in ils invest me nt portfolio through a unit trust plan . The remaining 30 per cent was held by the Mini ster of Fin a nce In c., the min istry's hold ing lInit. Also, there was no indi cation of how HMF could repa y the RM l.2 bi llion it owed Bank Bumiputra . Whether BMF was paying Interest on its debt, whkh would ,\lllou nl to RM93 million to RM I24 million a year at pn~vailing rates, was also nudal. If th e bank was nOI charging In l('T('st, it was tying up a huge amount in assets to subsidi ze t he I-Iong Kong opera ti on and act as a de fa cto reserve against BMF's poss ible bad d e bt s. ~ ' Answering Mal.tyslan reporters' questions, Dr. Mahathir was sanguine. lie aCknowledged that BMF l'rred by lending too heavily in the rca I-estate market, but suggestl'dthe collapse of property values was the prhnilry cause
Sew .ddt, Wh
I S9
of the problems. "Almost all " the 1)1Il\k ~ in I iong Kong were si milarly tlffC<'ted, he said . He agreed it had no t becn wise to provide t he bulk o f loan s to o nl y t hr(>e groups. "It Is not prudent, but yo u must rem('mber the ,ltlllosphere in Ho ng Ko ng at that time. Hanks were anxiOUS to le nd money Simply because the ('(onomy was booming, and when somebody who Is established comes to YOll to borrow money, you don't look too doscly, although by rights you should, " he s'lid. "Th is was their mistake." Dr. Ma hath ir sidestepped the q uestion of accoulltabilily, prom isi ng that Malaysia wou ld "take action" if malpr;lClh.:es were uncov('red, but said the emphasis was on tryi ng to salvage overdue ell'blS. not on "wilch h unt ing". lie S
160 Mtlifly.d ml M(l wrid:
In 199 1, a minority shim'ho[der in the defunct Carrian gro u p, llahantas!>as('(! Ca pri Trading Corporation, fi led a lawsuit in the Ull ited States claiming it was de nied a fa ir share of t he proceeds fro lll t he sale of the propen y.t;; The suit aill-ged that Bank Burniputra ami its sen ior office rs at the ti m e act ed " in ('oncert and in conspiracy ... to fra uduli.' ntly cO[1('ealtht.' lootingN of the prop('tty from Carria n's mi nori ty s har e h o ld e r~ and cred itors. It claimed t hey engaged " In a pattern of rac" etee rin~( by paying Jess than o ne-t hird of the prol>C'rty's m arket va[ lI{" de privi ng mi llority shareholders of aeJe and continued lending to Goorgl' Tan a nd Carrian . To avo id (il'tC<"li o n on one occaSion, they arranged for Ch ina-owned Ua nk o f Communh.'i1llo ns (Nom in(-'(') Com plm y Ltd. to make :I US$40 m illion loan on UMf."'s IX' ha [ f. ~' All the double deali ng, bnc k-room scheming and obfuSClltion began to fa ll apart days aft er Dr. Mahathh's press commen ts, when a 11M I-" executive, Jatil ibra him, W il S murde red in liang Ko ng. ~ 2 liank Iillrll[putra's hc,!d office had S('cretly d ispatched Jal il, an [nternal auditor, specifically to Insprt:t liM F's hooks covcrt[y while occu pying Ihe post of assistant general manager. 41 Lun'd to liang Ko ng's five-sta r Reg('llt 1I0 tcl,H he was later fo und strangled in a
remote ba nana groV(' in the Nl'w Territories. Mak Foon Tha n, 32, a littleknown Malaysia n bu sim')~nHm, was soon arrested, corwlctcd and jai led for his m urder. At the trial, the pros('cution linked till' c rlml' to an alte mpt to ball Oul Carrian.~5 Wit h Hong Kong hom icide detectives jo ini ng [rlVc~ tl g ation s by the polic(' frau d squad, the ~('c ur itics commission an d th e a nti-corrupt io n agency, eve nts moved swift ly. Police ra ided Carria n's offtces 01 1 suspicion that someone was sipho ning off assl'ts from the group. Cim lan and (;('org(' Tan companies were fo und to owe I.IMF much more t han either side had disclosed, effC<"tively sinking a ('n-mo nth eHo rl lo rescue the cong iorllera t(,.4b Ta n a nd his pri nCipa l allsista nt were arrcsled and charged with making false and misleading statemen ts in thei r roles as compa n y directo rs. It was a diffe re nt Dr. Mahat hi r who fa((_-d the pres.~ again Ihree mon ths later, in October 198]. Now he called BMF's lend ing "a heinous crime" and ~ a betrayal of trust ~ . lie [d{'ntifi ed five men r('~ pon s [ b l e for tile fiasco, said they Iwd accepted l'onsultan cy fees from BMF that werl' Hmorally wrong but 1I0t illega l, and Indicated til(' fo ur stlll in th ei r j ub~ would be asked to l e avt'.~1 But he madl' no mention of the reported li nanclal tra nsacti ons be twee n ~ollle lIM P executives and their Hong Ko ng customers, wh ich had been reported in the pre~s. Lorrain, Hashim and Rals du ly quit th ei r posts at both U/l.U a nd I\ank l.Iurniputra. Ibrahim fo llowed. 'I he surp rise was not that they were forc(.'(1 out, but th31 they had I)(.'('n retaIned so long as pari of Ba nk Rumiputra's strategy of using the people responsible fo r the bad loans to try and So:l lvage the debts,~~ As the government tried to pa rry increasi ngly stride nt calls for a full acc:ounl of what happened in lIo ng Kong, BMF sued George Tan for fa iling to rC'pay seven loans for which he stood as guarantor. The banking industry Interpreted Ihc move as a sha llow and bela tl'd effort by Hank Bum iputril to show it was serIous abo ut recovt' ring its loa ns and to di spel rumours of .. sepa ra te rccc)very effo r t.~ 9 The th rce--lIllin commit tee of inquiry announced by Dr. Mahatil ir in ea rly 1984 was headed by Ma laysia's Auditor General , Ahmad Noordin Zaka ria, a veteran civil servant known fO f his thorough and oftcn critical audits o f stale .1gencies. li e was jo ined by a lawyer and an accountant. Dr. Mahathir sa id they would have a broad mandate to pro be all aspects of I~MF's lending, incl uding any possible wrongdoing, and the find ings would be present(.-d 10 Mala ysia 's Parliament. nut his decision to have t he committee operate within the framework of Bank Uumiputra gave t he impress[o n that it wa s m OTt' in-house Inq uiry than inde j">t!ndent invesHgat io n . It lac ked t he k ga [ powe rs of a royal com mi ssion to secure evidence, call \\'itne~ses a nd cite fo r con te m pt those who d id 1I0t a p pear. Dr. Mahath ir saw n o difficult ies in gelling former bank execut ives and o thers to t"ooperate. "The government is int erested ill gelt illlo\ to the botto m o f th is," he sald .so H
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As th e comm ittee emt)ar kNI on a twO-yea r pa per c hase to rl'constnu:t tangled records, however, the government continued to give the impression it was still re lu ctant t o see the sordid details exposed . Noordin, th e c hairman, comp lai[)('d that he and his COlleagues rece ived oct ter coopera tion from Ho ng Ko ng authorities than they got al home ill Malaysiil :'i l After the commlttel:.' d('lIvered a series of inte rim re ports detailing irreg ularities by BMF's forrne r Sl'nior executives, [la n k Bum iputra filed <:omp lai nts with the Ma laysian police and ini tlatedlegal action against some o f the exstaff. lly now, mo st of th e suspect ba nkers were li ving abroad. Ma laysia's attorney general s,lid his decision on whether to prosecute the GISC would not depend o n the com mit tee's l't ndings, indica ting the police crimina l investigatio n was starti ng fro m scra tc h and would ig nore thl' volumi nous evide nce a lready gat he red by the commill('('Y In it c haracteriStic move. Dr. Mahathir d iscovered e nemies abroad plo tti ng to take advantage of t he situation to hlac ken Ma laysia's name, a familiar ploy to ga ther public support and dcfh..'C1 attention from d omestic difficult ies. He said I-Iong Kong pol ice improperly passed BM F document s, obtained during t he Jalil murder inqui ry, to the (~OI Oll y'S sl'curil ies COIllmission, and he refused to discount sll gge_~ ti () n s that liang Kong o r British officia ls might have manipulated the investigations to embarrass Malaysia. sl But forme r premier Hussein Onn. for one, was no t im pressed. lie jOined so me o ther members of UMNO, the Malaysian press, opposition p,ilrliamem.uians, intellectuals, labour 1I1l ions and consumer groups damouri ng for the t ruth, many persuaded that responsibilit y reached dl"t'p into the politil'a l establislLment. The l-ommitt~'s final repo rt, which consisted of two volumes ami tot:tlled 1.075 pages, was eve ntually publi shed in early 1986, but not before a rarlcorous exch ange Oetween t he comm ittee and the government. Committee me mlX'rs appl il'd max imum po litica l pr('ssure by addressing a press confer('nn.' a nd calling on the Mahathir ad min istrat ion to kttp its promise to nlilke th ~' fin d ings publ ic. While they dec lined to discu~s their cond uSiO ll s, they tantalized the publiC wit h the statement that the Ma laysian ,l uthorities ( ou ld have saved at least US$I SO million if thq had taken resolute action when C.lrrian dNjared its liqu Idity crisis in October 191:12.5~ Dr. Mahat hir accused the co mm ittee of acting "beyond its authority" in see king puhlication of the report Citing k ga l concerns. he to ld Noordin Ihat "you don 't care what happen s to o thers so long as you satisfy your rightcousne-ss" .55 There was little d oubt how taxp.:l yers felt. '111e extensively docu mented a llegations made the lhrec<:ommiltl..'C memlX'rs instant folk heroes. After praiS<.' for them (xJllrcd in fro m readers, the Slar, an Engllsh-Ia nsuage da ily owned by the Malaysian Chinese Association, a senio r partner in the National Front government, 1I
lVlml .'imlllJIII?
163
untold . It was left to t ile Ho ng Kong govern ment to ext radite Rais fro m Fra nce, and Lorr'lin and Hash im from Urilain, and to prOSl'("U\ e them successfully. They were all jailed for short periods, a lo ng with Gl'Orge Tan and seyeral others. Bank BUllliplI tra's 1983 results, .1I11l0ullced in 1984 late r than usual while the govl' rnrnl'nt a rran ged tile bank's resusci tation , set records for all th e wrong reasons. The loss of RM9 73 .6 mill ion for the year was the biggest in the histo ry of the Malaysia n banking system . 11 was Rank l'Iumiputra 's fir st loss since ope ning its doors 19 years ea rlier. /I. I{M I bi llio n write-of( on the I-Iong Ko ng loans exceeded by far t he total of all .. fte r-t
the same speech as he ad m ill ed Ma lil)'sia's in volvement in the till drama, he said, "Wily is t here only;:1 fuss about Hank numiputra? I\ccause it is a scandal, or because it is bu m iputra?" T he collapse of Singapor<." 's Pa nElectric Industries Ltd., Ill· said, caused t he loss of RM 16 billion in stock marke t capitalization, but it did lIot elicit t he saml' rt.'iu:tioll. "Wh y was it not raisc·d by the sca ndal-mongers from the o pposition pilrties? Could it be because it was not commillcd by bum iplltras?"6l The coml>a rison was spurious and contai ned ethnic overtones - what fo rmer de puty premi('r Anwar Ib rahim called, after he had 1x.>en d isca rded by Dr. Mahalhir, '·subtle racist inn uendos" - to suit the Malay audience. I'a nhll..'CtriC, o ne of Singapor("s biggest conglo merates, rocked the Singapore and Kuala I.um pur stock eKcha nges and triggered an unprecedented three-day halt in trad ing when it sudd enly wenl into receivership in late 1985. 11 brought down a ffiliated companies, sen t share prices crashing across the boa rd and cxposc..·d a tangk'(l web of precarious Slock-contract agreemen ts. tlut no public fund s were involved, and the paper losses (ould conc('ivably be retrIeved as the markets r(-'(overed. Furthermore, Tan Koon Swan, Pan-Electric's Influential slra reholder - who also headed the govern ing Malaysian Chinese Association a nd was a member of parliament - was held res ponsible. He was jailed In both Singapore and Malaysia for his role In the company's fi nandal demise. Ilussein Onn, the former prem ier whose integrit y was u nq uestioned , toot... the opposite stance to Dr. Mahath ir over Rank Ilumipuua's brush with o bli vion. "We are asking for trouble if the matter is played down, " he told local reportNs. ~ I t wi ll happen again if we don' , learn our lessons ... " ..,;! Appalled b y the skullduggery and u pset b y the governme n t'~ weak and rl'luctant respome, Hussein maintai ned a critica ll'rofil e as eventS unfold('(1. As at1 advher to Pet ronas wIth a(cess to Bank Bumiputr a '~ accO llll ts, Ilussein said in early 1985 that questionab le loa ns in MalaYSia, g iven Ollt to all kInds of prople, could match th use in 1I0 ng Kong. M His warnings were as prophet iC as they were ignofl'<1. Five unhappy years later. In October 1989, ['etronas had to save Bank lIu miputra again. The bank announced a loss o f RM 1.06 billion for the year ended] 1 March 1989, after making RM 1.2] billion in provisions for interest payments fro m loans pre· viously recordoo as revenue but never actually received by the bank. Once more sharcholders funds were wiped out - RM9-19 million th is time. M Petronas injected ano ther KM982.4 million, giving the f'ner~..y coml>any almost 100 lX'r cen t o wnership of till' bank. The restructuring paCkage Included a n extra ItM4S0 million in p rovlsluns molde In earl ier yea rs but never reflectt"CI in the ban k's pa id-up capital, In addilion to the RM 1.23 billion already f\oted . ~ This time around Bank lI um iputril blamed heavy lending for rt'al-estate aT1d property devclopment In Malaysia, not Hong Kong. Mohamed Ilasir Ismail, thc new executive (hairman who had brushed aside Hm s('i n's commcnts with thc assurance that nank Ilumiputra's bad loam. wert' no different from those of ot her Malaysian banks, now admitted t hat the bank was
struck by plurnnwting prOI)erty prices in 1984-85. A~ he pul It, "We lent a lot of money all ove r the placc."61 While Basir cited Malaysia's I~anking Secrecy Act in etecll ning to identify delinquent borrowers, record s from a courl case revealed how politicallycon nected cl ien ts had treated the p ubli cl y-owned b;m k a~ t heir own private account. According to til{' record s, th e majo r offe nde r wa~ UMNO, wh ich borrowed RMZOO million fromllank llumiputra In September 1 9H:~ to build a convention cen tre a nd office tower in Kuala Lum pu r to hou~e the pa rty's headq uarters. For the hug(' project, UMNO also borrowed ItM50 mi ll ioll rrom Slate-controlled Malayan Banking Bhd ., an d RM 13 million apil'Ct" from United Malayan lIanking Corporation and !'erwira lIablb Rank Malaysia Bhd.611 UMNO for years failed to repay a n y o f the 10.111.\ o r Iht" Interest on the loa ns, which by July 19&:1 amounted to nearly RM :«XJ million OW('(I to Bank 8umi putra alone. 111e detai ls were contained in records released In a legal su it after Malaysia's HIgh Court ruled in l'arly 19H9 tll
166 MU/llysillll
Mm't'r!ck
The onset of the Asian ffonomic crisis in 1997 revealed fa miliar weaknesses tha t belied the hype. Bank Negara sa id in March 1998 it had st resstested Bank Uu miputra's loan portfolio, and that in a worst-case scenario the ban k \"oul(l ne('d RM 750 mi llion to meet capital adeq uacy requirenu: nts. H Six mom hs later, after the bank posted a loss of RM 1.4 billion fo r the ycar ended J I March 199M, the governm en t pumpl'd in RM 1. 1 billion - RM350 m illio n beyond the imagined Iimit. 75 Just six months a her tha t, in what amounted 10 the fourth bai!-Qut of Ita nk I~umlpu lta in 1S years, it was merged with Commerce Asset-Holding Uhd., Malaysia's slx th-largl"Sl ba nking grou p. They formed Bumiputra Commetcl' nank, a new entity wit h nM6S billion in assets tha t was Ii~ted ami would be punisht",1 by the market for poor futu re performance. At RMI.S8 billion, ConUllcrt'C Asset got a b
The fore x fia sco On 16 Septe m ber 1992, ever afte r known a~ Ulack Wed nesday, (,eorgl' Soro~ mad(' himself famous and USSI . I billion ril'hcr when Brildi n devalued the pound. He Ix-t Lo ndon wo u ld lx' forced to withdraw from till' European h change Rail' MC'Chanism, which was designed to redun' exchange-rate vo latilit y a nd achl('vc monetary stability in prcpar<1de Introduced Dr. Mahathir, at a distance, to I\merican Soros a nd the mysterious ilnd largely invisihle world of currency trading that
S':fll!r/"I, What Scalll/I.I?
167
was to grow e.'pon cnUally wi th globalizat io n. A Hu ngarian Jewish inunl· g rallt who made a fortune from fina ncia l invcsllng and specu la tion, Soros beca me a high.proflle philan thropist with his support of democratic causes worldwidc. While Or. Mahath ir did not actually meet Soros then, he was familiar with his exploils from media acco unh. Later in the decade, when Ma laysia got pummeled in thc Asian financial crisis, Dr. Mahath ir blamed predatory curre ncy traders and fi nancial specu lators for the regiona l devastation. Calli ng fur tht' regu la tion of hcdgl' funds and currency traders, he denounccd a syste m in which greed rules and where t he value of money ranks higher t h,lIl th(' val ue of human lives and h uma n we lfare. Currency trad ing, he said, was "lUlIl<.'cessary, unprod uctive and immoral n • 71 It had ~ S('ve-rely impoverished countries and n:giom, ca us in~ m illions 10 lose their jobs, riots and ~trik("s, political and social insta bility".)11 f-Ie si ngled out Soros as the main villain in the piece. Thosl' sen ti ment~, (:'.~ IJreSs(·d so rn.-'tIUl'ntly and rorcefully, rcpresel1leti a 18U degree turnaround for Dr. Maha thir, who was once- happy enough to joi n the rus ll to makl' a bud from nervy Cllrn..'n(' h~'s. Iris Bank Negara e ngaged in so 1I\ u(' h sp('(,lllatiVl' act ivit)' in the secon d half of 1989tllat ti ll' U. S. central bank, the Federa l 1{('se rV(' Roa rd , priva te ly askcd thc Ma laysians 10 cool it.7~ The B:lnk of England o ffe red si mila r unsolicited ilclvic(· ..... ' lIank Nega ra complied to a l'ertai n extent, but only h.'mporari ly . While denying it had Ix-en speculating, the hank explai nt'd that at a time of volat ile eXChange mtes it was ~activcly " managing its external reM'rves to mai n tain their value. The main o bjective wa, " to be ablt' to hedge, not lO speculate·, the bank said .!11 In treasury d{'p..lrtOlents of ba llks across Asia, however, Bank Nega ra's trading was t he sourcc of astonishment. On some days, it would trade any· wherc from US$I billion to USSS bill ion. While that was a dro p in thc USS400 billion global bm'kct, it \'I,IS an I.' no rmous amount fo r a siogle central bank, a nd a huge chunk of Malaysia 's approximately USS6.S bil1ion in foreig n reserves. The I\ank of Japan, by contrast, would rarely reach USSI billion when it intervened in the fore ign-exc hange market in an atte mpt to drive till' yen up or down. The United State~ SCI a record for itself carlier in the year wllcn it sold USS J 1.9 bil lion in dollars, but tha t was over a thr~'("lT1onth pe riod, and o n ly at Ih(' peak of t h o~e o p('Tat ions did it sell USS 1 bill ion a d;IY.lU ,\ (entral bank normall y traded in the forcign·c:
168 M"/flpimr Mawrick
cent. And in June the ba nk paid an est imated RM680 milliOn to im:reas(' its sta ke to abou t 30 rwr cent in M,lIaysian International Shipping COrporation, ttl(' count ry's largest sh ipping company opcrat ing overseas.1!3 The transactions Wl'r(' made by FinalKe MiniSter Daim l;linuddin to enable the government to pre-pay foreign debt. M It was p rec isel y in this period, betwee n J une and Septe m ber, t hat other trader~ reported Ball k Negara entering t he Illarket at th e S;lJJH:' time
S('I/lI< hd, lV/lilt S'III1'/
169
Dr. Mahat hir focused on the negati ve side. In o ne of man y critici sms of the Plaza Accord, he bra nded it "a poli tical dl'd sio n m! Ba nk Negara revelled in il\ anomalou s rep utation as a "maverick, yet co n se rvative institution" 89 Under Gover nor Jaffa r Hussei n, it won respect for nursing Malays ia's shaky fin ancia l syst em back to health after a recession in 1985-86. 90 Cen tral bank in spectors becam e adept at detecti ng bad loa ns, mi smanagE'tnen t and fraud , swoopin g on erran t ba nks, fin a nce and in~ura nce compan ies, and savi ngs a nd crt!dit societl es. Wh ere necessary, Ban k Negara did no\ Ile5itate to ta ke them o ver temporaril y. But hy engaging in unbridled currency trading, Ba n k Negara was not o nly ass umi ng inatiollil l risk but also indulgil!g in monu mental h ypocrisy. Part of its mandate was to cu rb speculation, and it periodically re primanded o r punished foreign banks for wha t it ca lled cu rre rKY manipu lation and rigging. 91 Finding itself on the los ing e nd of George Soms's bet against sterl ing on th at fateful day in September 1992, Bank Negara was helplbsl y e xposed. Rather thim ad mi t Illat it behaved irresponsib ly and grossly misread th e ma rket, the ba nk tr ied to concea l t he disast er. Bank Negara buried a br ief refere nce to a charge o f RM9 .3 billion agaillSt special rese rve fun ds deep in its balance sheet at t he end of it~ 1992 calenda r year annua l report , which ran to ne;lrly :-100 pages. The de pth of the hok simply was not im mediately aPP;l rent among discre pancies and accounting changes noted in the bal ancE' sheet. On ly in res ponse to written queslions from t he foreign press did the bank issu e a th ree- page statement, attempting to explain the 93 lX'f cent pl unge in special reserve (I nd contingency funds \0 RM752.6 million at the end of 1992 fro m more than RMlO b illion a year t' a r lier."~ Ban k Negara att ributed the charge almost solely to the app reciation of the Ma laysian ringgit agaiflst the bank's foreign -e xchange holdings. It d ld not mel! tion going for hroke on the Brit is h po url([ and othe r lllTrencies that tluct uated wildly a nd fell befo re and after the crisi s in t h e Eu ropean Exchange Rate Me("]la nism . To meet its low-intlation target , the bank sa id it soaked up the heavy tlo w of foreign fun ds into t he booming Ma laysian e(onom y. It diversified t he intlow, mostly de nomi nated in U.S. dollars, into olher currencies in an attempt to protect the val ue of its ex ter nal reserves, it sakl.~J
The trouble with th is explan ation was that the doll ar depreciated far less tha n some of the curre nCies of },·t alaysia's other trading p:l rt ners . In fa ct, the ringgit appreciated against the currencies of all Malilysia's major tradin g pa rt ners, bu t o n ly ma rgina lly aga inst thme of the United States, Japan and Singapore, the largest of its partners. This indicated that Ban k Negara's foreign-exchange portfolio was heavily weighted in favo ur of currenci es less
rcl('vam to Malaysia. Chief SUSpffl: tile pound, againsl which Ihc ringgit apprC'Clated 29. 1 per cen l d uring tbe year and as much as 33.6 per ccnt al its peak.~4 nan!.: Ncga r,l advanc(.'(1 anot he r reason for the Cha rge aga inst reserveS. It sa id a portion of the :lInounl cou ld tx> att ributed to .. dlOlllge in its cuslom· ary accoun ting policy to va lue its gold and foreign reserve~ at prevaili ng market Icve ls. In tile past , the bani; had valued it s rescrws a t the lower of hiSlorh.:al cost or mari;et rates. The adjustme nt took the bool.: va lue of Ma laysia's rese rves to a whopping RM46 billion at t he elld of 1992 from RM29.2 billion a year ea rl ier. The IlM9 .3 billion Charge nearly wiped Ollt all of the speCial reservcS ~t't lip by Ba ni; Nt'ga ra. They compriSl'(1 the Exchange Rate r:iuct uation n('servc, the lnvestrtlelu Fluctuation Reserve, the Insu rance Reserve and the COllt!n· gency lk'scrVl'. Tile hank S-c-.ld in its statement that "such ~ rve acrounts W{'re creatt'd prl'<.:lsely for th ls purvo~, I.e. , tu act as cushion (or undue and unpre· dictallle ch:lrIgt's, ttnana ting In most part from inte rna tio nal d('vC'lopllIcnts compktcly Ix'yond till' control of the bank, and to e nabl e- the bank to meet its obJ~'Ctlvl'S of po lky without unleashing destabil izi ng cffens on its Ilormal orl(' ra t lons". ~\
Al though liglltlng Inflation was bound to have cost Ma laysia, fl'w cron· omlsts or money mark('t prof('Ss ionals ,1(n:pted that it could account for [he en ti re loss, while the reval uat ion of the r("S('rves s.eemed like no more than an a ttempt 10 drf;'SS up t ill' balance sheet. The sensitivity of the mail er was refloocd In thE' ca ul Ion of the local media, which did nOI report the bad news for two wCI.'ks after Ihe :1O March release of Bani; Negara's report. Even Ihe n it took the form of a com ment by the new Minister of Finance, Anwar Ibrahim, that he had asked Hank Ncgara for additional infonnation about its l os~. Anwar said later he had is-'lued "strong advice" to Ihe central bani; in March to cease spt'\""Ulatlng...... It emerged that the bani; might lose considerably more on foreign-<:urrency tradrs anyway. A figure of RM2. 7 bill ion in contingent liabil· itit'S Tllentiotloo in the b.lni;'s report represented foreign-exchange contracts carried forwa rd Into t he following year. Whether that su m translatt'(i into profit or loss would (Il'pcnd on exchange·rate fluctuati ons in 1993. In Par!l,lInent, LIm Ki t Slang (all('(1 for a royal commi ssion to inquire into tht· losses, whic h he a ttributed to i!ank Negara pouring "tens of billions o f ringgit " Into t he pound a nd hoping ~ t() make a kill ing" by hu yi ng long, expecting the poun d to rc("ove r with the suppo rt o f the 13r itish govem· rnen t."7 Although critici sm was grow ing ill the absence of a pl ausible expl
which improved the ooni;'s year· em! fi nan(lall)Qsition by raising the value of its foreign currency and gold reservc~ In ringgit terms. For months, the bank used a variety of tactics, some of them unusual, to try a nd dissuade specula tors fro m thinking tha i they could ma ke quick profi ts on a risi ng ringgit. By dum ping la rge amountS of ringgit into the market to buy dollars towards the end of Dece mber, the ba nk pushed the loca l currency duwn to a two-year low of a round RM2.7:I to thl~ dollar from nM 2.SS fo r most of the yea r.<W The govern ment also rushc<.1 by a govcrnment with ,III unassai lable majority. Ill' accused Bank Negam of "dishonest and lIm1 hil:al a t"coll nti ng~ to cover lip losSl's amounting to billions of dollars in "a conspirary of di.si llformation and misi nformation ". Rat her than the almost RMI6 billion in losses reported for 199211 lld 1993, he S-cl id tht> actual figure could be as high as RM30 billion . L '~ Former fi nance min· ister Tengku Ra7..a1('igh II,LlfLZ:th, who had formed the opposition Semangat '46, pu t the two.year lusses at RM31 billion .l06 nani; Negilra took ten years to full y a mort ize the loss, fina lly closing the Ix>oks Oil it in 2003. 1I}7 Jaffa r Hussein, the Uank Negara governor, took the rap ,md quiI, along wit h Nor Moham('(1 Vai;cop, the third in command at the bani; and the official In charge of fo reign·cxchange ope rat ions. "Itai;c fu ll responsibility," Ja ffa r to ld the press. "In the absence of JX'rfec1 hindSight, mistakes will be made; indced ,
.v u lldal , WII(I/ Sca m/a l?
mista kes were mil lie." li e li sted "errors of ludgmen t " ill an ti cip;lt ing global currency gyr,ltiolls ami in nO l installing trad ing safeguards to limit the cent ral ban k's 10sses. IUK Nagging q uest ions fc m,lined , however. Wit h his commit me nt to "profit optimization and marke t ex pertise" in managing the coullt ry's reserves,IO" Jaffar undoubtedly allowed the bank to specula te. But it was out of c ha r
Th e Pcrwaja pe ril s In one of th ose mom('nts tlt,lt ret urn to haunt pOlitil'i,l ll S, Dr. Mahathir visited steellll ilkc r I'erwaja Trenggan u Sd n. IIIJd. in 199 1 and declared, "Per. waja is one of the most successful govern men t-uwned ~'om panies in the country, anel it has made all of uS proud."112 He was 1I0t merel y prematu re, bu t IgnollliJ liolisly incorrect. l'erwaia was Mala ysia 's biggest in dustriai ])ash't CilSl' then, ami it went downhil l afterwards. /\s a showcase element in Dr. Mahatbir's state·led industrialization drive in the 1980s, Pcrwaj a looked like no more than a .~ h ini ng example of'l
tn
pol itically conceived, commercia lly q llCSti011
Snmr/fli, WiI(rl SClm d1l1?
rCprCSl'nl a ti ve o n Perwa ja 's boa rd t ried 10 tighten in lerna l fi na ncial p roced ures. C hia tol d h i m 10 get 1051: H e was reporling to Dr. Mahill hi r a nd had ap p roval to d o as he pleased. Wil h characteristic gusto, Chia plunged inlo the task of rtovam ping !'erwaja and building an integrated sll'el industry a rou nd it. The com pa ny pourl'(l in a furt her RM2 billio n, build ing a new direct-red uctio n facility in Trcnggan u, ill1d a rolli ng mill and a beam-.md-sectiun plant in Kl'(lah. ·' lle fu nd ing included a fres h governmen t equity illjl'<"tlon of It M 6S0 million. I'erwala illso borrowed heavily frolll local and overseas ban b, a mong them B.a n k lIu mi putra, wlloS(' loans to the steelmaker to tak'd RM 860 million. The El1l ploYl,(,S Provident Fu nd, the national pellsion vlan that was uSrtJ as a condu it for bu miputra share allocations in the tin caper, extended a loan of RM UO million, gua rantl--ed by a g roup of Malaysian banks. Chia's hustle and confidence seemed to work. lie announcL'(1 Perwaja's !lrsl pro fit in the early 1990s, winning p raiS(' from Dr. Ma h.ullir, who ",boiled the Ttengga nu site a nd bask('(1 in the glow o f ap parellt succcss. Ch in 's boast tha t thl' government would re<:oup itS inve.stmcnt quickly by privatizi ng Ihe main o perating u n it, Perwaja Steel Sdn. Shd., a nd lboting it on thl' stock e.xchallgl', apveared cloSt~ to rea lily.ll\ Then everything fell a part. Actually, it was a n iIl usio li all along. discovered after Chia reSigned abruptly in /\ ug ust 1995 with scarcci)' ,1 word o f explanation for his seven years as managing director. An war Ibrahim, the finance min ister, toid the Malaysian Pa rlia ment that Perwa;a lost RM376.5 million in thl' yea r ended 31 Ma rch 1995. 11 1> It sw('lIed total losS('s since I'erwaja wa.) form{'(1 to RM2.49 billion, t\\'o and a hnlf tim~ th.;> company\ paid-up capital and r('Sl'rvt's, and u p from RM 1 billio n in accurnulah.'li Ill:!ses when Chia took control. Long-term debt was th reatening 10 o bli terate the com p'l n y.ll7 Anwar, whose fi nancc minist ry'~ hold ing unit ownl'li 1:11 per {'cnl of Pel"\\lilja, announced that t he gov('rnnll'nt would honour all P('rw'lla's commitments and r('paymen ts. Tilt.' piedge was considl'red vit al, as a dt'f.:wlt on o nc 10;:111 could trigger cross-ul'fa ult Ci;IUSL'S in loa n agreements with othe r creditors, expo~i ng Malaysia to ,I POIl'll1 i;11 b.1nking crisis.llR Anwar o rdered a comprel'1{'llsive external audit of the company's fma n CL'S and manag(·mcnt by accounting finn Price Waterho use &. Company. J\ confidential re port p repared by I\'rwaja's II(,W manageme nt team, u nder Managing Director Wan Ahdu l Ghan i Wan Ah mad, was l'V~1I mo re stu n ning. It S('11\ shockwav~s throug lt Malaysia'S polit ica l and bus iness ('~tab l ishmen t after It was submitted to Anwa r a t the l'nd o f 1995 and lea ked to tile p Tl'~s. I'erwaja's si tuatio n was perilo us, r\:'quiri ng at Icast I{M 400 million in cash immed iately to kee p goi ng. Una ble to pay S0111e creditors, it was seeki ng .1 moratorium on re pilynlCnt o f Interest and p rinci pal o n part of its RM5.7 billion in bank bo rrowi ngs. "In the current global sled scenario, where compet it io n is oVl'rwhclm ing and ma rgins arc thi n, l'erwaj.l's strategy o f over-gearing is suicidal," the [('llOr! Solid. It added, "!'erwala is over-borrowL'(I, oV('r-geared and i nsol ve n t. "ll~
175
II was the re port's fi ndi ngs o f alleged misma nageme nt u nd er Eric Chia, however, that were the most explosive. Amo ng ot her things, it alleged tha t t he com pany's finances were d a maged b y inaccu ra te ,Iccou n ti ng re<:ords and by hundred s o f m ill io ns of ringgit in apparen tly unauthoriz:ed and o ll e-sid ed cont racls wit h Ma laysian an d foreign com panies. [t al so listed .. a nd attempted a lleged mi sappropriatio n of Perwa ja InstallC('S of sU{"Ccssful fun ds, incl ud ing th e overseven tua il y charged -
$((11101,,1. W/w/ x'lI/dol? 177
Large contracb were awarded wit hout a ny call fo r tenders or allY COIIII'('tit i\!(' bidd ing. III Among the cases mentioned by Anwar was Ihe award of cont racts valued at KM9S7 millio n to the Man Shooll Grou p and com panies affil iated wi th businessme n Kok Mew 5hoon and Ng Kim Lin . Price Waterhouse could not find dQCulll{'ntation fo r RM 103 million o f the contracts. Unstated was tha t Kok, who controlled Man 5hoon , was a long-time associate of Eric Ch la. Legwork by re porters at the Registrar of Compan ies o ffice unearthed t he fa ct that the Man 5hoon companie·s had done 1ittll~ business before they bega n to land the l'eTwa ja ( ont ral·ls. For example, reve nue a t Man 5hoon Enterprise 5dn . Khd. jumped to RM234 m illl o n in 1994 from less than RM 2 million In 1991. Another afflliatc, 51nar Sd n. Bhd ., did no t do a ny businc5S at all in 199 1 and had paid-up capital of RM3 . Bu t by 1995, the company had annua l revcn ue o f morc than RM80 m illion . I II W it h thc govern menl destined 10 be Ihe big loser if I'erwa ja dcfaulaxl , Anwar said the immed ia te goal was 10 rescue the com pan y. After l:o nsld erillg off('(s fr o m fou r com pa n ies, Ihe governme nt opted fo r;1 Join t Vl.'lll ure with a private investor, surprising ly selecting a small steel and p ro perly group, Ma ju lIo ldings Stln . Bhd., ahead o f much stronger cand idal l'); to lea d the sal vage e ffort. Ma ju' s o wn steel busin ess had been u n profitabl(', and it was hard to sec how the private ly held g rollp would be able 10 r,lise the finance necessary to resuscitate Perwa i a . l ~ Ma iu, con trolled hy businessman Abu Sahid Moha med , kno wn best fO f d riving a Shock ing pink Vo lvo stretch limousi ne, was given 5 1 per cent o f the "enlurt'. r-.qual COllcept Sdn. Ilhd ., and the government retained the rest . Perwaja's steel assets were transferred to Equal e OUrep! free of debt, which was assumed by the government . In echoes of Eric Cilia 's boosterism, Abu Sahid told reporte~ Ihe compa ny would show "significan l changes" within three yea~ and be profitable with in six years. 1lj Four yea rs later, however, Equal Concept -managed Perwaja was mi red dee pe r Ihan ever In a fmandal swamp. The compa n y had amassed a nother nM800 million in accumula led lo sses and was continuing to bleed rro ink. Perwaja 's nI.'l liablli lies cl imbed 10 mo re tha n nM9. 1 billio n al t he e nd of 1998 from RM6.94 bil lion t h ree years ea rlie r, while state-g ua ranteed borro wings rose to I{MS. I billion fro m RM3.19 billi on . Th e Asian econom ic cri !>is had knoc:ked :34 pl'r ce nt off the va lue of the ringgit, making im po rt ed irOI1 ore and scrap iro n much more expensi ve a nd de p ressi ng d emand for slee i. Maju, il S cxpet"ted, lar ked the fwan cial mea ns to spearhClId any turnaro und In I'erwaja's fo rtunes,, 26 " repo rler wh o vi sited the si t(' a long th e coast of norlheaslern Tre nggal1u In 1999 found the sprawling compl ex 'llmost deserted, its rust ing ('h imncys smokeless In the blazing Su n. To ~,IV(' money, the plant was working only olle dall y sh ift, overnight, bu t was still lo~ in g abou l RM35 m ill ion a mon th on its o pe rations alone. 111
Reviewing PCfwaja , Dr. Ma h,lI h ir desrrlbcd il a~ a "good p roject", b ul sa id hl' "cou ld n' l he lp It if t he managem l'!lI did not know how to run i1 ""Zd lie was r('laxed aboul Ihe losses, which he sa id totaled Nmaybe RM I billion o r RM2 bl11lon", not " RM IS billion or anything like that.. .It's not !>ometh ing we couldn' t ovetcome H .ll'1 In fact, b.lsed on incom plete public informatio n, RM I 5 billion was a conservarivt' estimate of Pcrwaja's losses. Similarly, I~an k Bu m ipu tra dropped at least RM 10 billion . Ba nk Negara 's foreign exchange forays d rllillL,,<1 per ha ps nM23 billion fro m Mala ysl:t 's reserves. The cost o f trying 10 p ush up Ihe prict' of tin seemed pa lt ry by co mpariso n, maybe RM I bi llion . The total, RMSO billio n or so, could have easily doub led if a p roft'Ssiona l at·cou nt ing had been made, fa cto ring in alilhe invisibles, fr om unrt'1:0rdlxl write-offs to blatant emW.2lemCllt and oppo rtunity costs.
Notes V. Kanapalhy, ~· nl~ Mahath ir Era : A Brief OVl' rvi ew", In T·II,· MU/lIIlllir E,(/: COIl/rilm/iom tv Nationa l Em f/v/I/;c l)(o v(!/()pm('111 (l'claliliH Jaya: In ternatio nal
12
hIVl'S tlll('nt Consultants, undat oo). p. 2 1. ItS. Milne a nd Diane K. Ma \l ~y, M,,/uysiolll PII/ilin Ullda M"/UlIIIi, (Lo n don : Ro utll.'dge, 19<)9). p. 162. Ibid .. p. 68. Ra phac\I'ura, ~ Ma lay5ia Pla n 10 Cont ro[ Ti n I.c."d 10 1)l sas l (' r~. Ib itm Wall Sr,t'f'/ / Ollnll1 / (h('reafler "WS/ ), 22 Sep tembel 1986. e xtensive d .. taj[ ~ o f Malaysia 's sccn~t plan ar{" drawn from this article. Dr. Mahathlr madt' h i~ anitud{" 10 till producen crystal clear: ·On the (lltC hand . they o perale slOckpill'S. wh ich is a monopol bl ic activity. On Ill(' (llhel, they receml y rese nt ed thl' rise in the price of tin. llC'CU~l ng Malaysia of manipula ting the market. If placing tin (HI to Ihe markel is nOl ma nipulating prices. loon', Io:now what is. I can', undenund Ihis double slandard in which onc can talo:{" action to depn 'SS ,h{" price bUI nobody can do anything 10 raise thl' price. 'nl b b wmething that I just cilnnot unrstand." ~l n ter\"ll'W/Mdhal hlr Moh,l1 nad: Probltms and Po wer", Fl" EI1 ~'('f1l &UIIQlllic Rt~'kw (Ill'reafler H':ER), 30 October5 Nowmbcr 1981 , p. 3 1 (acct's.w d 25 JanuMY 20( 6). Interview wil h Mahathlr ~·Ioh amad , J I March 2orn!. Raph ae l "ura, "Tin Council Ap[)lOVl'S ['rlcl.' ItlcreJw, I\ul Rise Still Shorl o f Prod ucer Goal'", A WSI, 19 October 19tH. Raphad Pura. - Mal aysiil ['ro tests U.S. Mo ve un '1'111 Sail'S", "WS/. 24 INcember 1981. Raphaell'u ra, - MiI[,lysia Plan 10 C.ontrol Till 1.1.' \1 10 Disaster'". Raphacll' ura, ~ Malaysia Tin M l nc ~ I'ac lng l1ar~1 Tim t·s
13
In terview wlt h Mahathir Mohal1lad. JI March 2orn!.
2 3 4
S
6 7 I)
9 10
II
1986.
14 15 It, 17
18
19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26
Raph ael !>Ora, ~MySlt'ry Stall' Firm ruuJcs Ma llly,lam-, ,.nVSI, IOJul y 1986. Ra phacll'um, " Malaysia rtan to C0l11rol 11n 1.C'C1 to Disaster· , Ihid. Nick s...'award, ~ Malay'ia TI n H,ml p Cost MS660.S million", FEEH., 20 Novem lll.'r \986, p, 12 (aCCl.'SSt.'Il26 Ju nt' 2006). Vaudine En t: land , "Th{' Crt'dibllllY Ga p: Ma la),sla Facl'~ Diurusl .13 II T rk$ to Ra ll y lin: AT I'C ', FEr-H, Jj Novemlx'r 1986, p. 115 (acl~ssed 25 Jan uM)' 20(6). Rapha el I'ura. "Tin I'HxhK('T\ Il il t.=-;port$ by Singapor{' ~ . ,\IVSI. 16 JanuilTY 1984. Ra phacll'ma and Matt Miller, " Uan l. Uurniputra'3 Ills II{'gin Iu Shah· M;l lay~l a", AWSI, 17 March IWU. In terv1o:w with Mahathir Mohamad, 3 I March 200ft Raphael l'urJ, " lIali l. Ilurnipu tra Chang{' was EXIX.'Cll-d ·, A W ,W, 22 MaIch 1982. Rapha el Pura, - Ban k lIullli plitra h ct'S Bad Dl'I>ts frolll I'feavy Ixnding in 1I0llg Kong"", A UlSI, 10 Nove-m b(or 1982. Raph ae-II'ur.J d od Ma tt Miller, ~ I"'-nk 8umiputra'~ Ills lk'gin 10 Shak... Mara}'~liI ". Malt Mille r and Ra phad I' ura, - Chec k RaiS('s QUl'~ I iom o n Ilank Bllln ipul ra 11t'S to '''-Ia ''', A W-"I, 11:1 Mard l I'J8.i. Rap hael Pura, "1l;1I"I!cigh S,lYS Probe Continu{'5 11110 !lad l.oans", A WSI. 17 Milrl'h I 'JIB.
27 28
29 30 JI
32 33
]4
35 3(1
37 :IS j9 -1O 41
Ilap had I'ura, - Bank Bumiput ro.l '~ Lend ing in Col on~' Ch kkd by /\id ... · , I1W's/, 4 April 198J. Raphad "lira and Mall Mlttl'r. "' For Hank 8umiputra, Some Tmubling Qtll":'lliom R('ma in "'," WSI, [ July 1983. Ra phael 1'L1ra, -!lank lIumlpu tra Un ll'~ I-iollg Ko ng l.o;ms Soa r", AWSI, 28 Junl' 191B. lIap hat'll'ura ami Matt Milkr. "For Balik ilumip"lra, SOllle Trouhling QUo.'stlons lIemain ". Ibid. R.l phat:ll'ulOl, "'Mahathir SJys Loa n~ to Colony a 'MistJl.e'", ,\ WSJ. 10 J uly 1983. R.lphat'l I'1.lIa, · Malaysia IJue to Dd>atc 1.0011 Scandal Tuliay"'. A W 51, 11 March 1986. Dr, Mahalhir', (,OI1l Il1CIII$ we-r(' cont ainC'C1 in t'C(·rnlx.'r 1984.
Raph:lel l>Om, ~Malaysla n Banker'S Murder ~:SC" lah."> Scrutin y on Loa ns~, A WSf, 2.') July 1983. '13 Raphael I'u ra. "Prime Min i s t('r'~ I' ress Couft'r('lln' ShNls Ught 0 11 Bumlputra FIII('Inc(''',A WS/, 12 J (ac~"eSS('(.\ 25J3IIuary 2(06). 48 Ra phael I'ula, "BulI1il'utra I:ina n tl.' Officials Resign Over J.oa n$~, AWSJ. J NO~'('mbe r 1983. <19 Ita p hacl I'll fa , · B;mk's Writs Rea wel ron1ls I0 lIe lp 1I;lI1k numiplltra Again-, AWSI, 16 October 1989. 67 Stephell Duthie, - nank !\lIllliplllra's Troubh-s I!lam('d 011 I'f()Pt~ rt )' Loans~, MVSI, 18 October 1989. 68 A confiden ti;,\ re" \cw ('Oinmiss\onoo by UMNO showoo Ihal the party acwally borrowed RM 199.5 mi llion from Bank Bumiputra and RM64 .9 m illion from Malayan Banking for the protect . "Khld illal Ikr~atu SUn. Bhd.: A\'counta n ts' 42
69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76
77 78 79
80 81 82 8.! 84
85 86
87 KM 89
90 ')1 92 9:t 94 95
Report for the Period from ht JUII(, 1981 to list March 1986-, Ilananah I(aslan & Mohamad, Kuala Lumpur, St('phen Duthie, - Ban k Humlput ra x'Cks New !((~S(;lH,~ I'lao·. Int('"fvil'w with Dailll 7...1lnuddln, 18 Oclob<:r 2007, Dairn ~aid UMNO ·sub· St."(lu('ntly· repaid thl' lo'lll, but -Th ... /'P was a haircut on illI<'rCSt,Stephl'n Duthie, - RanI.. lIum11}Utra ~'Cks New Rescu e I'lan-, Stt'phen Duthie, "!lank lIurnlputra I~ Sold to Gon :rnmt'nt -, II WSI, 17 January 199 1 L.;slk LoPl'7., ~ Fi1 t1c:ned Up by nl~ I'rofi t.:;., Mal;lysi;m ilank 1:lcld s Offt'r~~, II IVSJ, 8 Nov{'m\x' r 1996, I..('sik Lt~I)('z, "[\anl.: lIumlput ra M:IY Need Ballollt as I'rohlern ~ Mount", Il WSf, 2 Jllly 1998, l.c~lie Lopez, wGovcrnrm:nt to Takt:' Ov('r lIallk lIu m iputra lIad Loruary 1999. Ibid. ;\Ian Fril'dmall, -SOlOS C.' I I~ Mahathlr a 'Mcllact" to Malaysla-, 11If1'flUlliolU!I IIrmld Tribrm.·, 22 Scpterlll)l,'r 1997 (124 March 20(9). Mahat h ir Mo hamad, RI'I/I~·tiorl~ (III A~i(l (S uba ng Jaya: I'da ndu l.: I'u blicat iom (M ) Sdn.llhd " 20(2), p . 87 , Cynth ia OW('I1', Stcph('n Dut h ie and David Wessel, ~ Ma!aysla Is SaId to Slow Adiv ily 1Il CUrrl'nliL"S-, AWSI, 5 IMl'mi>cr 1989. Interview with Daim l..a!lIuddln, 18 October 2007. Cyn th Ia Owem, St(' I)I1('1I Iluthk and lJavid Wesscl. -\1alaysla Is Solid to Slow i\ ctivi ty In Curr('nclt.'S-. Ibid, Ibid, Nick S{'award, - Mala pia') ("".ontrover$ial Finance Mlnhtt't Proves an Able f.conomic Marldger: Thl' I)alill Stewardship", PEER, I ~ptem i>cr 1988, p. 52 {;KCL'$~'CI 25 Jalluary 20061. Cynthia OW('IlS, Skphl'll Dulhie aud DJ" id W('ssci, "Mal;lyslill~ S,lld to Slow I\l'livlty ill Currt'uch.'s". in(('rvkw willi M~lla(hlr Moharnad, 31 March 2008. Elst'whcre, Dr. Mahathlr "'lid Ha nk Nt'gara's CUrfCllcy tradinl-: room Ihilt h(' vlSlt('d W;IS In Londo n : I'aulinc NJ.:, "Maha thir IAmles Involvell1cnt in MAS Dcal", /Jlollws~ 'I71111'~ (S hlgaIXJTe), 26 July 2006. Stcphcli Duthic, ~Han k !'I('/pra Ch ief Find" Grati tud{' [)oesn ' t Last", AIV'SI, 4 1\p rill 994, Mahal hi r Moh1lmad, RI'/let·tilms OIII1~ia, p. 140. J)O IlSt Tsuru oh, " Mala ~ la : Testing limes-, ,.·EER, 17 OCtol){'r 1991, p. 78 (acl'~ssed 23 Ja n uary 2006). Stcph t' n Duth ie, - Bank N('gara Chi{'f Finds Gratitude Dt,x ;s n ' t Last-, John Benhl'l~e n . - Millaysla 1-111$ Ilong l.:o ng Ba n I.: for SI>cculatioll -, i\ WS}, 21 August 19M6. St~ ph en Duthic, - llugl' Charge a' lIani; Nl,'ga r,1 St~ rtll'S Anal y,; ts", IIWS/, 2 April 1993. [bid. Ibid. Ib[d.
96 Stl'phen Du th ic, -Bani; NL'g (Clmbrl dg(': Cambridge University Pr('s5, 1999 editiou), pp.94-95. 101 Doug TsurIlol.:a, ~C hangc [n the Ai r: !lank Negar::a M nvc.~ to 5<'11 Malaysian Airlinl-:; Stakc-, PEER, 23 I)l...·Cill!JI..·r 1993, p. 52 (acces\t'(1 23 January 2006). 102 In responsc to Tajtldin'~ su it, Ur. Mahllthir to ld «'por tcrs he dgre('(1 to til{' privallza tion after Dall11 appr(lol(-hl'(l h im a nd said Taj\ldin wanted to buy till' airline. Dr. Mah at hir Solid I\l' did not know who ~ t the price for th(' shares, ~ I only decide on )lrlnrl l' l('~," he ~ald , Pauline Ng, "Mahathir \)cnlcs Involve· mcnt in MAS D~'al ". 103 Stephen Du l h l~, - !Iank Nt.'~ara I'OS I ~ ,\uotilcr HlIg~ Loss", ,\ WV [ AI>T iI \ 984 . 104 Ibid. 105 Steph("n Duthie, - M ~IOly.da'J I.llll S<"('l.:s Cl'!1 tral·iI~ n k I'robe", ,\WSI, J] April 1994. 106 -rengku Ra~ldgh Re~ponds to I)r Mahathir's ,\\Icgatiom Against lI[m - , Atinm M(IIltllly. 1994: II , p. 36. 107 f,flIail corrrspond e!1(:c with !\ank Nt.'Sara, 22 August 2008. 108 Stephen [)uthi(', ~ I~nk N~ara I'osts Anoth("l Hug(" l.oss" . 109 Stcph en Duthie, -11"ll1k N~ara Chid Finds Gratitude I.)oc)n't Last", 110 Intcrview with Dahn l..Jlnuddln, 18 {ktobct" 2007. III ,\rfa'(,1.a A. '\]:i7., ~ FOf('x t,osSl."S: Anwar Nallll':5 Th()S{' R('Spons lhlc~, 19 July 2006 {aa:t.SSCd 10 August 2&)8). Jaffar IIUSSl'iu pass\"(1 away In 1998, 112 J~;jpha<.'l Punl, "Ma l,lysian St('l'Irnak~' r Spouts ]lcd Ink and I{l'n im i nilti()m~, It W51, 9 Fehruary 11)96, II J Intcrvlew with Ma!tathlr Mo hamad , 31 Ma rch 2ooS. 114 F. ric C h ia pas~('(1 away in ZOO!!. I IS Raphac l I'ura, ~ Mald y$lan St('('ilnakc r Spouts Rl"l.l In l.: an d Jtecrlm lnations". 116 Raphacl Puta, " Mala ysia Discloses ildty toss at I'e rwaja", AWSI, 19 Ot:wber 1995. \17 ltaphat..'l l'ura, " Malaysian Stl'Clrnal..ef Spouts Red Inl.: and Rl'Crillli1m tiolls". 118 leslie LoIX'z, - Malaysia Sa y~ It Will Bail Ollt Ailing I'erwaja", AI\lSI, 1'\ Ma rch 1996, 119 1J.'sli", I.opel. and Raphaell'ura, ~Stl't!ll'ia,;<:o May Ra tt iI.' Malayslal\ Gov('rnm~nt", AIVSI, IGI;('bruary 1996. 120 Ibid , 121 Ihld, 122 Leslie l.opez and Rapha el I'ura, " Malaysia Says l'(:rwaja f,.c('S rtlUlIlclal Crisis~, AWSJ, 22 May 1996, 12:1 l.eslie ulf)l,'Z and Raphael Pora, ~Steel FI~o May Rattle Malay'\lan Ciun'flIrncnt". 124 I.t':5l1(' l.op('z and Raphael l'ura, ~Ma laysia Picks Fi rms for R~ue of SIt.>clmaker'", J\\\ISI, 19June 1996.
182 Ma/afshm M averick
125
Rapha ell'ura a nd Lcsti (' l opez, " M " iu is Con fi dent Th at It Ca n Tu rn I'crwa ja Arou nd", ,1 W$ f, 26 Jun e ]996. 126 l<'slil' LoJX-'z, "Malaysia's "erwa ja x"Cs losses M OUJll~, A WSI, 12 June 2000. ]27 Ibid . 128 Sleven Ga n, "Interview ing Dr M", 2] Ma y 2006 (ac(('S5('(I30 ,\ ugust ZOOS). ]29 Int(·rvic.... wit h Mahath ir M oh amad, 3 1 March 20011.
7 Big, Bigger, Bu st
Of all the slogan s associated with Dr. Mahalh ir's ru le, the most reso na nt was Hot ( reated by, o r for, him . 1\5 far as a nyone knows, MalaYSia bo/ell was the tagli ne used in a marl.;eting campaign for a hea lth beverage in the 19805 . It translates as "Malaysia ca n", or more gra mmatica ll y, "M alaysia ca n do it ", and with Dr. Mahathir al t he helm it became the ba ttle cry of the natio n. It echoed from the stadium as Malaysian spo rtsmen upheld natio nal ho nour on t he fiel d, and it rang out in rl's po nse to an y news that could be construed as a Malaysian trium ph_ The sent iment e mhexlied in Ma laysia bOWl fit Dr. Mah ath ir's ca n-do personality perfec tly. He wanted h is fellow Mala ysians, especially thc Malays, to be proud, capable and confident. While Dr. Mahalhir pursued in itiatives mea nt to elim inate vest iges of colon ial thinking a t home and show that Malaysia was taken seriously a broad, he bu ilt for the ages on a SCille thill impressed Malaysians a nd foreigners ali ke. The north-sout h highway stret ched fr om the lip of sout hern Thailand to the outskirts o f northe rn Singa pore. Con necti ng renang island to t he mainla nd was thl.' longl.'sl bridge in Asia. An int ernational airport for the capilal matched Ihe region's biggest an d best. A proposed dam in Sarawak sta te would flood
Drive n by a nationalislic vision and payin g due regard to aeslhetics, Dr. Mahath ir's build in g fre nzy created a mlzz a mong Ma laysia ns. The doct orpoli t kian d iagnosed that they we re suffer ing from a dire case of in fer iority complex, and they respo nded with pu ffed ( hests to th e treatment he presc ribed and ad min iste red . As Dr. Ma hath ir explai ned, Il ls monumental projects were "good fo r Ihe ego" of it (kve1oping coun try. ~To be nollccd whcn YO li a rc small, so metim es you have to stand o n a box, ~ Ill' sa l(!. ! Ignoring critics, Dr. Mahathi r kept on building in ever mo re spectacular style: a Form ula One racing circuit, it gove rnment-guided version of California's
llig,
Silicon Val ley a nd a brand ne w lldrni n istrative capit al for til(' future Malaysia . Aft er th e Malaysian governmen t made it into VUill lll:SS World R('("of(I.~ wit h the worl d's highest fl agpo le, individual Malaysian s wen l scra mbling up Mou nt Everest, crossed the Antarctic and sailed t he oceans in search o f more renmls. If the y did not qual ify for ttll' real thing, they found recognition in the Ma/ay.0 a !look ()"R('(()rd~, a home-g rown version that le t t hem cr{'ate thei r own categories of accompliSh ment s. Dr. Ma hath ir championed the reco rd making an d break ing, someti mes appearing at events to participatc, or commend t he performer.\, reinforci ng the belief t hat the y we re dOing their bit to turn Malaysia into a m ighty country. l ie embraced corporate executives who del ivered, ~lI(:h as Ti ng PC'k Kbiing, a brash e ntre preneur fro m Sarawak who made his fo rtu ne in construction and timher. Ting left a n enduring impressio n on Dr. Mahathir by hurried ly buih.l ing resort facili ties on the island of La ngkawl ill time for Ma laysia's firs t interna tional ai r show in 1991. l I)r. Mahath ir later boasted that "we" desi gn ed, built and equipped a 1 70~room , five -star ho tel on La ngkawi in four months, \'\'hile deciding ha lf way through to make up fo r a proje<:ted short fa ll in accommodation by addi ng a 300-room, th ree-star hotel; it was fini shed in 53 days. Both were records and deserved a place in G llillll('SS, he declared .J ,\1 it s best, the Ma/ay:l ia holdr fl'rvour engendered patriotism a nd ellcouraged Malays, Chi nese, Indian s a nd o tl1('r mi nori ties to forget t heir ethnic differences a nd ta ke pride in bei ng Malaysian . While it re mained a noblecause for sottle, however, it degene rated into farce for oth ers. As pollt ical oppon ents attacked Dr. Maha th ir's ~mega- pro je ('ts" fo r thei r e xt ra· vagance, hi~ Malaysia sct the unofficial wo rl d record for sett ing records, many of ttl ern harwl, biza rre or plai n wacky. Th{'y included the IllrMest gathering of old people at a circus, the most nu m ber o f heads shampooed in one day at a ,~h()pping mall and the high est backwllrd cl imb lip a stai rcase . III co njunct ion wit h a World Youth Games in Moscow organi zed by the International O lympic COJJuT)itt{'e in 1998, Malaysia dIs patChed a 16-rn ember team to parti Cipate in a mass jump on the North Po le. 4 Th e t hink-big wrinkl e: With t he help o f the Russian milita ry, the MalilysiaTl s fio ated a Proton Wira down to the- icy waste, pro mpting SOIl1(' of their countrymen to "mock the inanity" o f see king to ha v(' t heir flilt ional (',IT become the flTst j\ sian auto to arrive in the Arctic hy parachute.s Fiv(' Malaysia n skydivers took aim at the Sout h Po le ill iI trumpe ted NMillen ni umJ urnp" at the turn of the centu ry, o nl y to miss t ht'ir target by a thousa nd kilometres or so. They landed at Pat riot "Hils in the C h i ' ('an~ clai med western Antarctic, disappo int ing Malaysia'S youth and slXlrtS ministry, wh ich had advanced tl1(' organizers RM780,OOO to help make t he po lar bid. Staiely, Ong Tee Kia t, a deputy ministe r, IXlin tl.' d out t hat a jum p
11i.~~C'r.
Ihnl
I/iS
had occurred and the team "should bl' praised for a("cornplishing the feat under difficult circumstances"." Oet ractors derided "Bok-hland" and 11 local sllliriCal trouP(', Instant Cafe Theatre, staged a slXlof "Bolehwood" awards cer{'mony/ In ,mo ther p IOduction, Instant Cafe offered a politician vyi ng for t he post of "deputy mi nister of misin format io n" declaimi ng, "Y('S, we know tha t w(' do not have a very good human right s r{'cord. That is why W I: are tryi ng to hawaII t he other records ... ". ~ Even when hl' st uck to basic infwstructu re, Dr. Mahath ir courtl'd co nt roversy with the sheer dime nsions and ~ W ct'p of his plans. " I think ve ry far ahead, not ten years, twenty ye,lrs, [butl one hundred >,l'MS", Il l' sa id .o) The 966-kiIOITH't rc nort h-south hi ghw;ly system, wh ic h took 13 years to com p1l't{' , cut t ravel timl' fr(Hl I one end of pt!ninsular Malaysia to tht~ othe r by two-thirds. Begun by t he govcrn mcn t, t he proje("( bl'(anl(' ("Oil· tentlous when a company cont ro lled uy Dr. M ahath ir' ~ UMNO was givc.n i\ RM 3.42 billi on contract to compl ete the network, which was then privatized under a comorl ium It'd by the salll l' comp,L ny, wi t h tile right to operate il and collect to lls . If a nyone had any doubts, the re place ment Kuala Lumpur Internationa l Airport provided a n insight into the l'xte nt of Or. Mahathir's ambitio ns. While some argued that the existi ng Subang airport could be expa nded , he chose a remote si te 70 kilometres from the capilal. o n which Kisho Kurokawa, the lIoted Japanese ,rrchitl'cl, designed a n airport to ha ndle eventually up to 100 million passengers a year. An ent ire ..ection of rain forest was transplanted rrom the ju ngk', roots and all, to decorate t he satel ~ lite building lit which airer,lft docked. AI no metres, the control tower was t hen the world 's tallest. The RM9 billioll llirport signalled that Malaysia aspired to ('ompet e with Si ngaporc, Ba ngkok and "lo ng Kong as a regio nal transpo rtation and logistics hub. Whe n it came to the Pena ng bridge, Dr. Mahathi r solidified his reputation by making il a reali ty. Others had tal ked about it , studied the feasibility ami promised 10 do so meth ing fo r 11 decade or more, esped.:tll y at election time . Le~s than (\ wt'ek ;I ftcr bccomi ng prl'lTlier, Dr. Mahath ir di sclosed tha t a "non ·Cauca sian" ;:orn pany - Soutll KorearL, it transpired - had been ch oseTl to do t he bulk of the wor k. 10 Costi ng RM740 million, the toll bridge was the fin,l llink in an caSI-Wl'st highway ne twork. and at 13.5 kilometres - 8.4 kil oml't res of it over water - it WJS t he thi rd -Iongl'st bridge in the world . 11 Drivi ng a Proto n Stlga, t il e ne w nationa l car, over th e l'cnang bridge to ('('Jebratc its complctiorl il l 1985, IJr. Maha t h ir "brought togeth e.r two po tent symbols of modernit y, Malaysian -style".12 Wit h an a ud,Kious init iati ve to include Malaysia in Formula O ne, Ule world 's most e.x pe.usive Spo rt, Dr. Mahathir successfully grabbed in ternational at te nt iOIl , I lis government sponsored the const ruc tion of a RM270 million r;I{"(·t ra(·k, wh ich was sited at Sepa ng near the new airport.
/lig, Bi,'(S,'r, BIiSI
Dr , Mahat ll ir envisioned" gla morous grand prix, wi th a world wl(k telev ision <J ud icllcc of ten s o f mill ion s and a loyal fo llo win g amo n g tr,wclling slx'ctato rs, as a magnetic tO ur ist attrac ti o n. [n additio n , he saw it as a platform for th e promotio n o f Ma laysi,l's event-managemcnt in d ustry and a showcase for t he Pro tflrl. 11 A ca r-racing fan , Dr. !....Iahat ll ir fl ew to £uropt.' to lobby Uerni(' E(TIl'stonc's Formula One Adm inistratio n p<'rsona lly to e l l.~llfC that the prestig ious race was lH.' ld in Malaysi a by 1999. En:tcslone sa id Dr. Mah at hir's en t h usiasm "more than con .... inced" thl' organizers. 14 The Petronas Ma lllys i,1Il Grand Prix took its place in the Form ula One series, along wit h trad it iona l venues in Brita ill, France, Germany, Italy, the Un ited States an d Monaco. Just how far Dr. Mahat h ir was ahead of t he game becaml:' c lear much later. Only Australia a nd Japan in the Asian region were o n the li mited-race Circu it whe n h e seized th e o pportunity. C h ina suhsl'q ueotly !iign l'd up Shang hai, Si ngapore secured the fi rst n ight race in 2008 and Ind ia rcat.: h ~d agreement to jOi n i n 2010, leaving Russia and oth ers clamouring to gct in. With aspirations to be a glo bal city in the twent y-first centu ry, Si ngapore reg retted that it d id n o t s('('"k adm ission to the exclusive Formula 0 11(.' club much earlier. The repub liC'S found ing father, Lee Kuan Yew, publicly chas. tl sed hi msel f fo r havin g re jt;.'Ctcll the Id ea in the 1990s, which he cai lt'd a "stu pid d('Cis ion ".' ~ The massive Bakun dam that Dr. Mahath ir ap proved in Saraw.. k i n 199], aft er 14 years of studi('s and de lays, In corporat ed Il early cv('rything abou t his lead ersh ip t h ,lt su p porters adm ired a nd d etrilclors despised. To ge nerate 2,40() mega walls of e!('ctricity, it was p lanned to bloc k the u pper reaches o f the I{eja n g Hivl'r deep in Sara wak's inte rior to crea te a g iant island-studd ed lake. Abou t ~O,OO() hectares o f tro p ica l fo rest wcre to lw cleared an d 10,000 rural dwe llers relof ated. At least two 670 -kllo l11elre submarine transmission lincs, tIl(' wo rld' s lo ngest, would carry power il CroS S t he Sou th Chi na Sea to the n;ltlona l grid in pe n insu lar Ma laysia. To lame the Bo rneo juo gle, [)r. Ma hat h ir t urned to Ting Pe k Khiing, th e Iycoo n who enjoyed clost, and cordia l re lations wit h t he pre m ier after esta l)li shing his t"rel1en tials on I..lngkaw i. Tlng's flng sh ip wmpnny, FJ.: ran Bh d .. aSSll med the lead ro [(' in tht:' RM 15 bi lli on privat ized wnt ure, wh ich wns the higgest Ma lays ia had illlcmpted , the costl iest infraqru("lure undertaking in Sou th east I\si
Al:IS, no t only th e timing
W
J87
o ff . While- Tillg br;lggcd about en ha nring
hh repu tation for fa st work - "maybe we can do th is in six or seven yea rs",
lmtcad of the tell -year timelab le sugges ted in studies - hc encoun ter('(i obstacles atl'wry SIsign ed to he the nation's c(' n tre o f go v('rnme nl. I\lmost a ll th e fede ra l mi ni stries, courts an(\ 3g<,'[ I c ies lVould migrat e t he re - though nOI t he Pa rli ame nt - along with a bo u t 76,000 sla te e mp loyees and an .mtidpa ted population o f 2.'iO,OOO . Reflecting hi s en th usiasm fo r Putra jaY
/lis. Named after Maldysiil's fir~1 prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rah man Putra, I'ut raiaya ,Ippeared to have b('('n p ut on the slow track wtl('n the governmeTl t announced gene ral spe nding c uts wi th the ollSe t of t he crisis. Only tll(' in itial stage, b<.>gull two y<.'ars earlie r, would be illlplemented, while the other~ would IX' staggered over II "very long period ", the gov<.'rnnu'nt 5ilicP· Bu t out of public view, an ,HillY of co nstruction workers toiled at a fr('netic 1';11':(, on that RM5 l)illIon Ilrst pha~t'. Although extensiv<.', the wor k avoided ~crutiny bec<wse It was fin anced largely by the intNnal r('sourct's of sta teowned 011 and gas cOIllI><1ny ['ctronas, the city's main deVl'lopcr, and 1K.'cauS(' dNa lis werc deli berately withhl' ld from the nwdia. 2.\ Thc' opposit ion Parti Islam Se-Ma laysia created a sensation ill late 1998 by publishing a rare photo of thc prime minister's partially (ompl('l('(1 residence. Serl Perdana, on the frOTH page o f its newsl'''per. It labelled the sprawling compkx "Malul thir's m(ll/Iig(l;", an othe rworldly, or ccl(,5l1al, palace. Iio urs befofe he was arrested in 1998, 5al-ketl deputy prime min ister Au wa r Ibra him fann ed gossip about lavish spending on the pa latial abode. li e lold an international television audience thai Dr. Mahath ir wanled "10 live i n a world of fantasy" , and t hat t he housl' would COSt taxpayers RM 200 mill io n, nOI RM 17 iTlillio n as Parliament had bet'll ill for med. 2<> From h is cd l in Sung .. i lIuloh ja il, An .....ar latl'f wrote thai ill' knl'''''' how the offi cial figu re had been manipulated. "The building .....111 be the biggest and most sophisticated palace in the coun try," he said. "It is designed personally by Dr. Mahalhir. Everyt hi ng about it is French ."Z) 1'1I1ralaya's promoters opcOl'(1 the city to reporters for the first time in 1999, just before Dr. Mahathir and his staff were due to move In. Government officials leading Ihe tour were happy to show off gelleral activity - roaring dump tmcks and bulldozers, crane~ hoisting st('C1 girders, a le,lIll of engineers putling the finishing touches on II (l usky-pi nk mosquc with a 116-metrc minaret. But they sccnwd emba rrassed to di scuss till' prlml' minister's new ho me, on a bluff across a huge ma/l-rllil(!l' lake from his grccn.clol1ll'(! office complex. One official was asked If tht:' press cOll ld visit til(' r<.'S ldenn'. "You mean that bu ilding?" he re plil'i.I, gl'Slu ring (KTO.\S thc wa ter. "That's iust a III j mge. "211 Actually. it ~,'a s the cost of Serl I'erdana, not the b ricks a nd mortar, that proved illusory. J\s sperulilliotl atld criticism mou nted in 1998, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Deparlmcnt told Parliamen t that the f(-si(\ence was divided in lO " public allleni ti('S" lind "private q Uilrt{'rs", and th<.' private areas would cost "only" llM 17 million . In rcspomc to A•• wilr' ... rcvcliltion s, the d epu ty minister adiu~ ted till' ('ost of thc' private quartt'rs to I{M 17.S mill ion and disclosed that the ot hcr faciliti es, such as a Ililnqu<.'t hall ilml state rooms for visiting dignitaries, would amount to RMS7.5 IIllllion .m In 1999, fhe dep uty minister adelE'
Ili:<,,(f(, /11151 189
I'rhnc Min ister's Department with a fresh tally. The !lnlll mst: RM201 million, l'xcl'Cdlng Anwar's shocking figurc. J' Inc redibly, Dr. Mallathir argU('(i Ihat he d esignL-d Seri l'erdana so big specilH;,llly to accommodate /\n wilr, who has a large f.1m l1y. lIad he resigned in 1998 ,md Anwar taken over as pla nned, Dr. Mahathir would IIOt h(lve moved to [lutrajaya ilt all, he said. 1/ And the house for the prlllle min ister, t>e-l:ausc the incoming prillle mi nister, I Ihought, was go ing to have six child ren, so I built ~I~ Ibedlrooms, not for rile. This is for the future. We would like to have, for the residents thell', li k(' a White ll ou~ ... .N(Jt, whenever you changl' p rime minister, you change rl'Sidcnce 1x.' GIUSC it's 1I0t big t' lio llgh ~.!.I. In fact. it .....as Dr. Mahath ir who mad e a habit of c ha nging o Uidal homes, :Wrl !'erdana being Ihe s<:<:ond prime ministerial residencc he built for himself. I lis inllll<.'(!ial e predecessors, Ra7.ak Ilussein and Hussein Onn, occu pi<.'(j ..... hat was supposed to be the pe rmanent quarters for Malaysian prerll iers, Sri Tamlln In Kuala Lumpur's Lake Ga rdc lIs. Dr. Mahathir turned Sri Taman into The Multimedia Super Corridor generated just USS2 billion in econom ic activity in a decade. missing the tech outsourcing boom that wen t main ly to India. 17 Even as Dr. Mal1i1thlr prepared to move out of Kuala Lum pur, he. sougllt to upgrade it int o a mOTe cosmo politan commercial cilpital befitting t he Malavslil of h is dreams. Founded as a Ix'draggled ti n-m in ing town in 185 7. Kual~ Lu mpur was still largely all mhan hndgepodgc more th an a century later. Officiall y l11ade the (· .. pita l of Sclangor state in 1880, rc plilcing till' port o f Klang, it became tht' capital of M,ilaya/Malaysia , but was grilnted city sta tus only in 1972 and declared a fl'de ra l territo ry two yeilrs later. Uy sepa ra ting Kuala l.umpur from surrounding Sclangor, the governml'nt ensured that the capital could nOI be cont rolled by ,Ill o pposition party, a t
190 M alaysial/ Muwrick
the same lime weaken ing Ch inese infl uence in the state. The first Ilme Or. Mahath ir caught sight of Kuala Lumpur, hl' though t it very bleak. " I sa id, 'wh y d on't you pla nt trees?' I ke pt on saying this h ut it nl'Ver happened ... until you have the authority to say, ' 1'Ia nt!"' lII Armed with p rime minis!'eria l aut hority, Dr. Mahathir did a gTeil! deal to create a greener capita l immediau': ly a fter he came to power in 1981. In 1997, he o rdered Malaysians to start planting serio usly, with the target of adding three millio n trees thro ugho u t the country by 2000 - Kuala Lumpur's quota was 220,000 - and 20 million by 2020. An interim goal was to create a garden nation by 2005. The camlk"lign got a boost o n I S October 2000, World lIabitat Day, when Dr. Mahathir joined many other Malaysians in planting 110,461 trees in just one minute, Sure eno ugh, it was sufficient to claim a world record, dwarfing the previous best effort, 2 4, 199 tf(."CS planted in a week, sct in Sao Paolo, Brazil,ln 1976. Acti ng as the d e facto lord mayor, Dr. Mahathir took a perso na l interest in Kua la Lumpur's t ran sformation , nothing being too small to overlook. According to Cha nd ran Jesh urun, a n academic who resea rched a book on the capital,J9 Dr. Ma ha th ir paid c lose attent ion to heritage conserva tion and directly con trib uted to Ihe prcscrvation o f soml..' treaSllfes. O nc was an old railway station with Moorish-style m inare ts a nd d o mes. It was renovated a nd exte nded, "With a very sensit ive touch fo r histo rical and arc hi1I..'Ctural detail ",-+O In 1984, Dr. Mahath lr offended Ihe local construction Industry by Insisting thaI the contract for the Dayabumi complex, a showcase commercial building and then the d ty' s talie-st, go to two JapanCS(' co rnpanl ~ that were o utbid by a Malaysia n o ne. li e was less interestl'{l in cutting costs than ensuring the realil-3Uon of the Japanese deSign, which was visually stunnin g. " It was a re markable com bina tio n of Islamic motifs and !'>tcel SlnlClure, and it markt!d a turning poin t in Kua la Lumpur's mode rn he ritage," wrote C handran Jeshuru n. \I There fo llowed a successio n of noteworthy h i g h - ri~s, incl uding the Putra World Trade Centre, wh ich housed UMNO's head<j uarters, the "curvaceous" head office of t he Pilgrims f und Board, and next to it the "uniq uely Ma laysia n design" o f thl' Natio nal Equit y Corporation headqua rters. 42 The Kuala Lumpur Tower, uscd for commun ications a nd ('o ntaining a revolvIng resta urant, featu red an a n tenna that soared 42 1 metr('s into the t ropica l Sky. On the strength of visit s to " nea rly every country in the world ", Dr. Mahathir expressed th e vlt'w that It was th e illost bcallli fullower eve r bu ilt. II They were heady days fo r Ma lflys la 's leading architel'U, it rare chance to le t their Imaginatlons SO
1Ji.\;, fJi,'{.'
191
T h(; crowning glo ry wa~ the Sa-storey l'etwn.ls Twin TO\WTS, d eSigned by the latc C('sa r Pelli, the celebrated Argentinian-born American who ('{eated New York.'s World Fi n uncial Cent re a nd Ca nary Wha rf in Lo ndon . With a 'iteel a nd gl,IS5 fa(ad e evoking trad it io nal Islamic art ami arc hi tecture ~ the Ooor l)attl'rn W,l S b ridge a t tht' fo rt y - fir~1 a nd forty -sKond noms. They were anchored in a six· level, crescent-shaped shopping mall, part o f a fully-int egrated tow n ca lled the Kua la Lumpur City Cl'n t re, with hotels. condomi niums Jnd a public p.1Tk. Pelli did not set o ut to collect the "world's ta llest" tag with t he twin lowers, u n til Dr. Mahathir casuall y raised it \.,.'it h h im over tea one a fter noon in 1994.4" It wo uld take an addit io nal 16 mel res to match the 443-mctre Sca rs Tower in C hicago. Wit h co nstruclio n well underway, Pe lli fr ant ically re-d id thc mat he mati cal calculatio ns and dee med it d o able, not by increasing tile numbe r of noo rs, bu l by ra ising the heig ht of the " pin llades"Y From t ip to toe. the completl..'d building was almost 452 metres, a nd it gave Malaysia the e xcuse to claim anot her world n,."cord - for t he contin uous pouring o f concrctc ...a Alt hough t he twin towcrs ran in to a definit io nal dis pute OVl'r Ix'ing till.' tallest building, they were u ndoubtedly t he higheSt twin tow er~, a nd t hc)' beca me identified with Kuala Lumpur as m uch as the Opera lIou\{' is ·y ith Sydney o r the Etffel Tower wit h Paris. Sean Conncry and cat he rine Zct aJones swung benea th the sky b ridge in the Ho llywood movie ElllrtlPIIICII I. Certainly 110 regional City could boast such a landma rk, most definitely not serious and successful Singa pore, wllich preferrC'd safe and sensihle StnlChues. "We lack a daring, pio neeri ng spirit, lame nted a Singa pOfeali architect as his government tu mcd d own a phan tasmagorica l wave-l ike design fo r an in tegrated resort a nd casino proposed by acdalmed unadlan· American arc hitect Frank Gchry.~'1 Or. Maha t hir back.ed the twi n to W(' r~ precisely to convey that spirit . ~ Ind eed, tlley stand out prominen tly against the skyl ine of Kuala LUlllpu r to s}'mbol ize cou rage, ingenuity, lIlit iative and determination, energy. confidence, o ptimism , adva ncemen t and zest of a natio n t hat wi ll bri ng worldwide recogn it ion and re~l)(>Ct to all Mala ysia ns," he :r..lid a t tile ope ning. It was ]1 August 1999, the last national d:ly of tile cen tu ry. the last of ttl(.' mitlen nium, As if to pre-empt th e inevitabl e (-omTll{'n ts about nn ed lflct' co mplex. Or. Mahathh cons plcuollsly fo rbid Il is naTlle to Ix: attached to any physical feature, man-made or natural. The onl y trace while he he ld o ffi ce was his o ld M;\I-IA Cli ni c in Alor Sta r, wh ich re tained Ihe name lo ng a ft e r he had ab.lndo ned medica l practice perm(lllently. " ll would be an act of arrogance if I were to allow h u l1di n g~ and 'icl on to he n.lTll('d a fr er 1lH"," he sa id on Q
I <)2 Malaysia/! Ma l'nick
lIIore tha n one occaslOll. !oI) Asked bl untly by the foreign press if "all the daOl s, 1:111 huildings and 11I:1Y clt l es~ appeari ng in Malaysia were · mere ly mOIl UOl('nts to Mahat hlr," h e replied, " I really d o n't 1lC'ed any monuments. These arl' nenssities, and they are nl'C~ ss iti cs we can afford," ~ ' Dr, Mahath ir wou ld have bee n mo re persuasive if h(' had not ('ncouraged , o r at least permi tt ed, the !lrowth of a perso na lity rult Y In 20tH , his politic'al secreta ry urgl'd In~tl tll tlons o f higher learni ng to offer II course on till' thoughts of the p rime m in iste r, II comment co n ~l(k re d ~o noteworthy it W ,t~ di~sellli n itted by Rernama, the natio nal news agen c y . ~·' Other su pport{'rS mack at leilst two a tt l'mpts to obtai n a Nobel Prize for hi m . At till' in stigation of Minister of Science, Technology and En vironme n t Lin" I'ling Dieng, a fa irly high-po w{'red comm it tel' in 1999 prepa red a formal nominat ion d ocument t hat was subm itted to t he Nobel Foundation in Oslo. And in 2006, Dr. Mithath ir's son Mukh riz ('alled a mcetlng of pro mi n(,lIt Ma laysia ns with the idea o f building a case for hi~ fa ther to be awarded th e Nobcl l'eace Prlze.' 4 Wh ile IlOt hing came of these e fforts, ot her initiatives also sought to accord Dr. Milhat h ir exceptional, personal sta tus. In 1999, a c n cnt ltled "C EO Malaysia I nc. " , WilS made of hb ma jor speec hes, he fC;lI url' c schCn1('S as long OIS the l-'('onomy .'> teamt.od along, and while the coun try kept pumping oil and gas. ;\t It s peak, the surge of new-fou nd ('on f, dcn((' was so p('rvdsi vc tilat Chandra n Jeshurun, the academ ic resl'archcr, concl uded that Malays ;ll huldl sho uld be translated as "\l n ything you can do I Cllll do bcttcr".~" Am id slgm or hubris, Dr. Mahathir increased the lem lX> of Nt'S(I((Ikll , the national anthem , to g ive it a more marti,!1 beat - in keeping wit h lofty econom ic goals, as an o fficial put it. l ie also had the natio n's ('0<11 of arms tOllched up to make its two tigers look more rampa nt. Until the economic crisis fo rced a halt, dcvelopers s('('III('d bent on o utdOing each other with the e"pense and cKpanse of thdr p rojects. When t hc governme nt temporarily slispe nded the priva tizat ion programme in
Ili.~.
ili."-""I, IJml 193
\t'IHelllbcr 1997, proposals to talling alx>ut RM90 billion were awaiting .lpproval. s7 It was not jusl the staggering cost, but thl' type of ven ture being w ntc mplated that thrilled or appalle-d Malaysia ns, de pending on t heir politi cal and social outlook. Dr. Ma hathi r had already endorsed Linear ( lI y, the world's longest buildi ng, a ten-storey, two·I..ilometre, tunne l-like \ tructllfC to be built for RMlO bill ion along a nd above a river flOWing th ro ugh (·t'nt r.l l Kuala Lumpur. Anoth er plan, cost ing RM30 billion, Invol ved build illg a string o f artific ial isl'lIlds along the coast of KedOlh , on II hkh would be deve loped a RM2.S billio n airport fO I' !'enang and a ,>capo rl, as weI! as ind ustrial, commcrcia l a nd resid enti;11 propert ies. Also I!roposed was a "mount Olin highway" to open the ruggl'
perm itted h im .1 c{'rta in c redi bili t y to descr ibe his lon g· l ime m e ntor ' s allt'Aed de sce nl inlo del us ional g lory: Or ive n by a st'lf-ind u ccd fre n zy to pursue hi s meg a loman ia ca l fan ta s ie s, he b<.'cam e i ncrea s ingly divo rced frOm th e re al wo r ili . I-Ie co u ld n o t d if· fe re n tiate the wan ts a nd n ee d s o f th e peo ple fro m h is own ego tistica l d('sires. [n the last fe w years, he has be come increa si n gl y isol at ed as he go t im p a t ie nt to get th i n g.~ don e SO that t hey would serve as m Oll u m e n ts to h is majest ic rult>. Surrounded by syco phan tic co urtiers, he failed to rea lize that h is id eas we re ge lt ing o bsole t e an d irre le v a nt. lie has d e lusians of g ra nd e u r an d c annot h ut associate h is rule with Ilwga- p roj ect s and supe rlatives - the longest brid g e, the ta llest build ing, t he gra ndest a irp ort, t h e m os t aweso me da m .... s'l
7 jonatlw n K~ nt. "M (accessed 22 Jallu ary 2(07 ). H An I! N('t\ o, "1.111Llolhi ng Out of Co n tro l", in /1/imll M(!I!l hl,v, 2()():{: 6, p. 22. 9 Hannah Ik.-"<.'Ch, "Not th e Iktlrln~ Ty p\.· ", Tillie, Z9 OctQtX'r Z006 d lltp:/lww ..... tillH.'. com/ tiflle/ m'lgazJtle/ar\lcklO,9 171 .1S520'JO,OO.ht ml> (accessed 4 Scptc,n ix'r 2001:1). I() K. D,.s, "Tin.' Grl'at Di vide ", FeU? . 2 7 NOVl'1l11x.-r 198] , p. 53 . 11 " l'(' flOlIL g: Th~ Goldl' ll Um hiliC lI \ 1:1.4 Mit ~s Over th l' 5,:a" , rT FR. 2i'l August 19H I ,
p.6-l. 12 Ha tinah Tudd, "Thl· ProtOIl Saga 5:lga" . Ncw Jj
14 15
Abd u lla h Bad awi was awa re of the changing mood on lhe ground w(' 11 before hl' moved into Se ri I't· rda na. It W'lS i n lin e with h is personal ph ilo sophy, wh ic h w as alw'IYS restra i ned. " I'm no t into !Jig projects," he to ld a Illeeting o f sen io r government offici als early in ZOOJ .fIU Atxlu llah cancell(.'(i, pos t pOlled o r downgmdcd several of Dr. Maha thir's h uge com m itments, innmi ng h is u nyielding en mity. Altho ug h Alx lullah accepted il n invi tatio tl in 2006 to lallllCh the ten t h eclition o f the Mllitlysia nook ur RI'(()f(I.~, th e privatesector bible o f the t hink·b ig movement, h e SQIlIl(kd a d iffe rl.' nI t u nc. While " it is ad mi rab le to achicve the higg('S t, the tallest and the largest of cveryt h ing.. it m'ly not a lways be m eaningful or benefici.II" to Malays ia's 1x.'Com ing a fu lly develolwd country, Abdullah s
j
6
17
18 19 2U
,
22 23 24
2S 26
2 :I
-I
:.
6
afte r FI;'ERj, 6 Novem ber, 2003, 1'. 15 . R (lIc("t'sse:/1 ..... WW.lIl ma II.co 1n .m y/For_o ne_IJT ieC' no me n t_ ·d- d - d· .dSp X> ( ilcn' ~s~d S April 2Ot.l'»). S. Ja r,,,ankarilll ami Simon Elegant. " Do wn to E.arth ", Fr:I:'II. 23 M:lrd l Z(lO(') (ih'·l,."('S,>;('(1 23 Ja ll uary 20(6).
No. ] 95 (M ay 1989),
Leslie Lopcz, "'M a lays l ~ !l Gra nd Pri x Stalls Ou t as 1'.111 5 Pass Up Rare Tid ~ t s~, AWSJ, ]4 M (a cn's~i'([ 6 Apr il 200':11. Uel\' won the a uki t Ue nder .. parJi,llllclltary constitU t'l KY fo r th t' I)t' mocm tic ActiOll I'~ rt y in the 2001'1 gcnt ral (']ect loll. H
21
Notes S. J il Y
11I1t'ma li()II(/li ~l,
pp. 14- 15.
27 2l;1 29
30 31 32 33 34
196 MlI/lIpi, m Maverick
35 M,uika Via/any and Marti" I'ul('h. ~ Vislon 2020, the Multi med ia SlIlX'rCorrldor ;tnd Malaysiau Unlversitil's~, prr>C(,l'd ing) of 15th Bi(' llllia l Con fcrl'fK\' of the Asian Studies Association of J\ustral1a. Ca nherra. 29 JWll'- 2 j uly 2004 . .16 Ibid. ] 7 Eri c 1:',llis, ~I'rutonomin" , FOr/ flllt', 10j uly 2006, p_20 _ 38 iLS , 1"lil fW and i)iane K. Mauzy. '''III I/W~iilli Politin Undn M a l lotlii ,. (Lo ndon: It\'u tlcd g(', 1~99), p. 174. 39 Chandra fl j<'shurun, Ktwla 1,111111"11 : C(IIPoru /c Capi tal , Cll lt ll T, l1 L{J/'II llfilllhl (K uala Lu mpur: M us Intelc k Sdu. IIhd., 2 0()4). 40 Chandran ksh u rU Il, ~ K uala Lu m p ur: The Cit y th at M il hathi r lIuilt", i ll Ilrid j.WI Welsh. ed., ReflectIUl!): TIl(' MiI/ w llli r Yl'll f ,\ (Wa sh ingto n : So uth east ASia Stud ie_ I'rogralll, The I'a ll l II. Nit)'..' Srhool of Adv ,IIlCN In tl'.n"lI ion
4 7 Ibid. 48 R.S. Milne :lOd m,me K. Mauzy, Mtll{/J'.~i{/II Pol;tics U",I<-, U tI/fIIlliir, p. 67. -19 Ong Soh Chin, "Dar,;: We Build a TruC' IcOIl ?~, Stmil~ '/'illlt'S, 3 1 Octolx'r 201)6. 50 i'~illudd i n M:lidin, Till' ()111~'r Shk u(" ",,lmtll;r (Kuala Lumpur: Utusan l'u blic;llions EI
[)Ist rihutors Sd n . Bhd.,
\<)94), p. 279.
Donald MOrrison . Sa ndra lIur lon alld Jo lm COIIllCY, "Mahathir o n nace, th e West a nf1 l lls .~ucc(·~so r" , Time ,Is;", 9 Oecemhcr 1996, p. 31. 52 In reti rement, Dr. Mahathir bo'l ~tnl. "Today there Is nothing naml'tl "fler mc 5\
except 1111 orc hid tlower", adding, "Incvl'r li ked personali ty cults." ])r. Mah:lIhl r Mo h:unad, " n t ll,lh ~, 15 I'e bruary 20U9 (accl,:,;st:d 20 March 200')). 53 Pa tricia Marti rwz, ~ Mdh athir, Islam . and t h~' New Mdl,,>, Dil l'mma", In 11 0 i<: hai I ,('O llg and J;urw s Chin. ed ~, M /j ha /hi, 's Aolm i";~ l ral ioll: I'..,(MII/tllla Wid Crisi5 ;/1 Gm'er/!mlC(' (Singapo re: Times II.-li.. dla I'tl'. Uti ., 20(1), p. 216. 5" Emai l (orrespolldenl'l' with ;0 Malays ian f'lI n ili'IT with both NON'I Pri?e initinllves, 9-10 Dt'Cem rn' r 2008. 5S john FUIlSWIl, "Mala ysi a'S Tent h Electiuns: Status (~u o, RI'{immlsi or I ~hllll lw !!(m '! ", COII/,'m{x.mry SOlltflcast Asia 22, no, t (,\ prli 20(0): 54.
56 Chandra n ksh urull, ,. Ku ala LUmpllr: The City th;tt M (al~e:;.~'(1 U "U~\lst 2(108). S9 Anwar Ibrahim, 'Trom the '-lalls of POwer 10 thl' I.ahyrint h of lnl'lHCt:r:l tion~, p. 5.
60 S. Ja yasan ka ran,
~The
New Way; Thin k SmaW.
6 1 Atxlul1ah Ah mad Dada"'i, spc{'ch, HMalaysia Hook of Ikco rds Award s Nigh lH, 6 J Ulle 2006 (.KCCSM.d Z2Ja m mry Z(07 ).
8 An Uncrowned King
Uei'ore Dr. Mahath ir became prime mlnis\t'r an d consolidated his po wer, Ma laysia's ro yal fami li es cou ld get (Il'lay w ith murde r. Const ituti ona lly, the sultan s. or rule rs of the n ine Mil la y sta tes, were above till' law an d could not be su bj("Cted to a n y legal proceedi n g... Ign oring cOllve nt io n, they someti mes played poli t ics, k veragcd Iheir posit io n s fo r fll1 antia l gain and indulged in fa iry talc-like cxtrm in private. The two sides would reach an accom modatio n, usually o n royalty's te rms, itS it sil ited the po liticians to prolect a system that was S(>efl as essen tial to pe rpetuate Malily politica l dominance. Dr. Maha lh ir, who WilS n itkal o f relld alism, d id not o bject to t he exi Ste nce o f a purely cl'remonia lillollarc h y.l A s it co m mon£'r and polilic ia n, though, he IV"S less to leran t of in terreretKe and excess by me mbers of royal fil m iJies th an his hl \le-bloo(kd p redecessors. ,\ft er a con fr ontatio n with the roy.1ls early in h is prime mi n istership, he cam e to vi ew the mona rchy as a rival centre of power that had to be permanen tly restra ined. His s uccess ill taming the monarc h y in a b ru iS ing, episoc!ic batik' that e,xten dcd ove r m ore t h an a deca(\t:' gave him th e cha nce lO d isplay hi$ formidab le poli tical skills and grit, The fail ure of so me o f the su lt a ns to Slay witilin u nw ritten limits invit ed Dr. Ma h at h ir to cut the m dow n to size, wh ich he d id by redUCin g tl wir sta nd ing in the eyes of Ihe Malaysi
198 MU/(Iysim l M"''('rick
dieh ard roya liS15 a nd poli tica l o pponen ts testifi('d to how st rongly he felt about his development agenda , a nd how ready h(' was to crush anyone or anything that got in his way. Dr. Mah a thi r's per~o n al trium ph, howev('r, C.1111(' at a cost to both constitutiorw l devt'lop l11 en l lmd mi ssed opport unit y to ge nui nely reform th(' feudalistic monarchy. Malaysia's separa tion of po wc-rs doct rine, with power divided Hlltong diffe Tt' nt orga ns o f gove rn ment - legislat ive, judic ial and execlltivl' - prov id t'S for" syste m of c hecks where nOIlMalays for med a majority of the population, Ih itain kept t il e fa,ade of Toya l legit im acy to simulat(' Ma lay polit ical sovereignty. In real ity, t he ~ll lta ll S were Obl iged to acce pt t he advice of a British offi cial statiOI1(;'d in euch Slate in all matt ers except Malay custom anci the Mus lim religion , Br itish intervent ion strengthened thl' royul houses by celltrallzing pOW(-f within each State a nd regularizing sllccess ion in a sIng le lille. Chiefs, who headed major regio ns an d lower div isio ns down to village level , lost out. Provided wit h funds to (;aTTY ou t t heir royal duties as wcll as substantia l personal allowan ces, t he sul tans saw their prestige rise ~l lolIg wit lt their lifestyle. I.Iriti<;h recognition of the sovereignty of the sulw ns, amidst massiv(' Chinese and India n imm igra tion , tUTIled thelll into livi ng sym bOlS of t he sta tus of all Malays as the true sons of the 5Oil. 2 After World War II and the Japllnese occu pat io n, the rct urn ing I.Iritish introduced a r.ldical plan that stripped t he sulta ns of t lwir sover<-ignt y and combined the nine states with Mal acca and Pell
.411 U" cmw"('I/ KillS 199
of the monarchy had begun . ) Malay-language n('wspapeTs charged the rllle rs with bet ra ying t he Malays and com mi tting treason. UMNO 's firs t leader, On n Jaafa r, coi ned the cry " HidllfJ M/'fIlYII", 10 llg live the Malays, ada pted (rom t he fami liar " H id/lp Raja-mjll M('/(/Y/I ", lo ng live the mjas, kings. The rule rs heeded a n UM NO warn ing not to att eud t he ina ugurat io n of t l1 e Malayan Unio n in 19<1 6, marking tile poi nt at which the will of the people preva il ed over t radi tional powe r. ~ Th(;' Federation of Ma taya , negotiiltCt.1 with the Brillsh by ,I join t com mittee of UMNO and the rulers and formed in 1948 to replace t he Mala yan Un ion , recove red th e th rones for th e sultans. Til('Y became constitut ional monarchs, remain ing the he,ld of TeJi Kion in their own stll tes, to safeguard Malay ri ght s an d pri vileg('s a nd be sym bols of Malay ide ll t it y a nd paramoun tcy. Umk r the federat ion of Mala ya Agreement, tile su ltans had special veto powers on immigrat ion, which cou ld be em ploy('d to prevent a rurther in flu x fr om Ch ina and Ind ia , Laeh stale gOI its own (on ~ t it u ti o n , and the su ltans gove rned in accord ance with British advice ,IS Iwfore. Nonhereditary governors were appo inted In Malaccil and I'ellang. Alth oug h each sulta n exerci sed the au thorit y of t he state, it was a pure fo rmali ty as he was reqUired to give assent to bills passed hy Ih<.' .~ t 'He legislat ure. At independence in 1957, the federal U )lHtit UtiOIl stipulated that a king woult! replaC(' the Uritisl1 High Conuni'i.')io ller as Ilt'ad of sta le. Thl' unique con<:cpt of the m Ien regularly electing o ne among themselves to b€ Vans IliPerfi/{I/I AS-VIIS, king, was adopted at the su).tgt'Sfi(Hl of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the firSt prime min ister and head o f UMNO. MaillYsupremacy was thus symbolically extended to the \\' 110 1(' of Mal'.ya, including Malacca a nd Penang. ami to Sabah 31 ld Sa rawak as well on the formation of Malaysia in 1963. The king was to give effe<:t to provisions sa feguarding "the special poSit ion of the M lIla ys~ , such as fixing quotas in the ('ivil service, schools and universities, ami alkKating scholarships and com mercial licence'>, it duty he excrci.scd in practice On the advice of the prime min ister. lllC! Conference of Hulers, which (or SOIll(' specific purposes consists of on I)' the ni lle sultans, \\'as given a veto over any laVolS diret'tly a£fe<:tlng thelr "privileges, posit ion, honollr.; or dignititos". Having stayed above Ihe tllr!Jlllellt polit ical fray in the 1960s, the rulers had their collective rol e strengt he ned wlwllthe Malaysian Parl iament was rest(Jrl,<1 in 197 1, fo llowin g It~ suspcnsi01I at the ti me o f till' racial riots il] 1969. Controversiully, ttll' ConSllt ution was illllcndtd to require Conference of Ruler~' conse nt in the pa ssIng o f a nurn l)(,f of impOrtant kinds of legislation, iud udillg sonle constitutionai llmendmellts. Principall y, the laws entr('nciu:d iu t his way relut(' to mat te rs po pu larl y known as t he "sensit ivc b \ lIes ": citizenshi p, the special positio n of t il(, Malays and natives of Saba h anls of o thers, t he nation al language anti the ru lers thel1lsclves.~ Mor('over, both the Consti tution and the St.'< lit ion Act wert' lImen ded to make it Illegal 10 questio ll theS(' mattNs, evcn in Parliamcnt . Th('sc severe r('Strict ions were imposed on frt't'{iom of spl.'cch and expr('ssioll to li mit publiC
dIscussion of topics that mIght ag.lin uj>5C't rada l harmo ny. Rei nforci ng til(' ruler$' position by add ing "reassurance to assurance", as ol\e analyst termed ii, WilS part of a rllultl 'p ro ngt'd dfort to make Ma lays ft.'{'1 1110 re secure aboutlheir place in multi ·ethn lc Ma laysia .6 While Ihe arrangements worked fairly well In thl' t'ar ly years. tho(' werc signs th at some of thc rulers had not fully subscribed to the concept of constitutiona l mona rc hy. Ila sed on the Wes tlllin ~te r modd, Mala ysia 's Constitut ion is one In whI ch ('o rwention ra ther than law is ilmajor source of rule$.J Th e sultans had a different nolion of their prerogiltivl'S frorn thilt whIch is scrupulo usly ohserved hy th eir British coulltt'rparts.1I for e:~ample, they fou nd it hard 10 grasp t hat while t hey held "dl.scn:tio na ry pa WNS" to appoint the state politkal leader - the chief minIster, known as "'elltri best" in the sultanatt"S - it Wil~ no longer their prerogativt" to do so. According to the principlcs of constitutional monarchy, they were expectt>d to accept the nomi nation of t he ruling part y, which lI~ua ll y meant the prime minister's choice. Similarly, giving royal assent to laws passt'd by (' it'fted stil\(.' legislatures was supposed to be a formality . Bill so mt' rulers sti ll interfered in t he appointment of rl def min isters and mcmbers of CXCt'Utivl' councils, whic h fu nctioned a~ state Cabin ets. Th e}' a lso lobbied hard and e mbar· rassi ngly fo r increased p<.'rson a l allOwances and hillldo uts, while spending conspicuously and often fri volously. In 1963, Prime Minister -I unku Alxlul Rah man rell1indt.'d to elccli..'(1 politicians. Yet thi5 sulta n and others were able to exert conside rable influe nce bec:l II'ie th(' mo me ntum of thei r t raditional role CilH it'd over into what was ostt'llslbly a fully reprcscntative and delllocr;lIic systelll.'t' Thc Constit ution notwi thstiln di ng, it was simply hard to say " no" to a rul er. In Kelantan in the 1970s, the sultan de manded and rcceiVl'(\ a IlCW palac(' "for his indulge llct' to \,,'ards certain questi o nable dealings ill timbe r a nd other co ncessio ns", hy which Chief Minister Mohamed Asrl tUlia illlemrHed In ril is(' fund~ simul lant.-ously for thl:' statC.' bud~t' t , his Parti Islam Sc- Malaysia and private pockets. II As t he New Eco nomic Policy opelll'd business o pportu ni ties for bumiput ras, a Similar "econom ic nexus in ru ler-l-:xecutive rl'iations" slHedul Kalunan was uniq udy placed to offer gentle advice to e rring sultan) a nd their ever
more numerous - a nd sometimes a rrogant, waywa rd a nd ava ric ious - relatives. For the most part. tho ugh, tile subjcct remained taboo. with pote ntial critics deterred by t he co nstitutional prohibitio n o n q ll{'~ti O lling t he sovereignty of the rule rs, t he widened Sedition Act , and a genera l be lief tha t they were courting tro ubll' if they spoke up. Chandra MUlaffar, a promInent in tcl l('(lual. made a cau tious casC' in 1979 for critically exam in Ing the behaviour of rulers. li e said some aspects of the imtilution could - a nd shou ld - be d i!iLussed ill pu blic: "Th l' alleged util ilation of public fun ds fo r private pu rposes, the apparent ex travaganCf_' in lifestyles, i nvolve m ~nl In bus Inesses, Interfere nce in :.trlctl y political mattl'rs, the Inahili ty to uphold hig h ethical sta ndards and most of all , the absence o f an image of excellence which can inspire em ulation ...... U Alt hough his study wa:. a persuasive argument fo r a responsible public debate, it was not forthcoming. Or. Mahathir's te nure as d('puty prime minister cOinci and drum· bcating celebration for family membcrs, civil servants and com rmmity leaden. A similar ~ilUa tio n occurred inJoilore, where the su lta n preva il ed on the fL'de ral governmt.' nt to remove ChId Min ister Ot hman Saat. In the case of P
lin UII( WII'II".! KillS 203
Othe r instances of royal recaldtrantt also l·mb.urassed and disturlx'cJ Dr. Mah;lIhir. His governmen t had to ba il o ut one rule r who lost heavily at gaming tables abroad. l l The sulta ns of Perak and Johore, assert ing themselves as head o f religion in their states, clashed with t he fede ral govern ment over t he date for thi.· end of Ilamadan. By detl'rmi Jl ing t he t imi ng locally and using a di fferen t method, they ended li p with a fasti ng mon th o nl' day lo nger or s hortN t han t hl' fl'st of t he country, l..,usin!-: confusion alliong Malays and d isrupti ng holiday arrangenH'll ts. That Dr. Mahathir would reslxlIld forc('fully to royal abuses was a matter of how and when, not if. He had n(· ...cr had Il11Kh sympathy for the rulers. Wh ile wri ting as e l l. t:.. Det In his studen t days, Dr. M,lhat hlr had warned the m that too often they were on the wrong )ide of history. In 1949. h(' crit icized the Conference of Rulers fo r rejl"Cting UMNO's r("Commendation t hat a Malay commoner he appointed deputy high commissioner of the Fede ration of Ma laya. The rulers' objeclion all the grollnd) that U would lower their d ign it y, he said, pilled them against ~thc p('op l e ~. The h ithe rto unquestioned devotion of Mil lays to their rulers was at stake: Unless till' rul ers changed thei r minds, " the re is no do u bt t hat they will lose, perhaps forever. the con fl denc(> and loya lt y of t heir subjects .... H Elsewhere, Dr. Maha lhir also wrote of the " new forcc" of Ma layan dl.'tnocracy that was likely to eclipse feudalism. 19 In The Malay Dikmma in 1970, Dr. Mahalhir insin llatt.'d that Ihe rulers in earlie r cl' nturies were more COI1Cl'rned about feat hering their OWI1 neslS than helping the Mala ys obtai n a filir deal from visi ting Indian, Arab and Chi nese Iraders. He said the rulers appropriated ~ a (('rlaln portion of goods be longing 10 Iheir sll bj~-'(H" and excha ngL'
as all till' ot hl'r states had o cclipied the thronl' once. lloth had sultans who were usually r('fl'rred to as slrong-wil lt."d, a euphemism for bei ng prepared to ignore politic.. 1 advice when It suited them . Sultan I{iri s Shah of Perak had sen iorit y, ha vinR assumed the th rone earli er than his southe rn counterpan , but ind icated he migh t decline the post boding. It was not just that he W(l " from a fam ily with il history of defy ing the centra l government. his grandfather having ridicul('d the idea of inde· lX'nde-nce for Ihl' Mil la)'s in \955. li e also had a long record of criminal behaviour, ex uded an aura of violence and inSpired fear. z~ W hen a lawyer overtook the ~ lI ltan's car 011 the road in 1972, he had the man stopped a nd bealen:!-\ O n s(>parate occa:.io ns, he ph ysically assaulted members of till' Pa hang and Trellgga n u ro ya l fa milies, a pparentl y in the IJellef they Weft· imperSOnating memi>crs of his fam il y.U. He onc(' ord('fed a policeman who had offe nded him fo nfined to a dog ke nnel. 17 In the most con troversial (ilse. t hl' sultan was convictl.'d in 197 7 of culpable homicide for the shootIn~ of a man hl' said he thought was a smuggler. lie was sentenced to six months imp rison ment, but pardoned by his fa the r and IlC"'N spent a day In jilil.2>< Alt hough he was the eldest son, he was re moved as successor by his fatber in 196 1. In myste riOUS circumstances, h is father restored him to t he line of suCcession on his deathbed at the age of 86. As if the p rospt"Ct o f a wilfu l and politicized king we re not enough, the govern ment receivell re ports that Sultan Mailmoodlska ndar had boasted that he would, in effect , stage a coup d 'etat after he was en throned. I ll' told a gathering that o nce elected king, he wou ld dec!;ue a state of emergency un ilaterally, take over with the help of the arm y a nd th row o ut a ll the politicialls. 'N According to an associate, Dr. Mahathi r " had long nursed an a mbitio n to sett le this problem Ol1ce and for all ", after watching ('aeh of his predecessors " put tip with t he antics" of the rulers. Ha ...lng to plal'ate th (' Sulta n of l'aha ng h imself and payoff a ruler's gambling debt s "slreng thened his resol ...e to act q ui ckly to put an end to it all" ..IO'I'h(' prospect tha t a rebellio us king mi ght frus tra te Dr. Maha thir's legislative programme devated a priority to ~alm os t .111 o bsession ". II Dr. Mahathir's pre-cmptlve st rike, wh ich was designed to do more th an close cO llstittltionalloopholcs before the insta ll'llion of the next kins.. WilS tit led the Const Itlltio n (Amendme nt) Act 1983. Intr()(luct'll o n I August, it con tai ned th ree sens itiVl' measures. The crucial o ne (/('Clarcd t hat if the king d id no t give royal assent to a bill passed by I'a rlia men t wUhin IS days, it would become law anyway. Similarly, stille constit utions wOli ld be ait('(('(1
20'1 Ma/iI}'.lilUI ... 'm w ici;
so that legislatio n p;lssed by a slate would becom e law aft ef 15 day~ even if a rul('r (lid not give his assen t. Anoth er a mend ment would t ransfer t Il(' right to declare a sla te of e mcrgl..'ncy from the king - aCli ng on govern men t advice, which implied consultation with the Cabi nl't - to the prime min ister p(,rsonally. The lI ouse of Heprcsen taUvcs, by a 136-9 vote, adopted the p.u:.kagc with min imal de baw and delay. As he had obtai ned King Ah mad Shah's approval in adva nce, Dr. Mahathir hoped to wrap up t he whole exerciS<" beforl' a ny serious opposition developed around t he country.l! But the king had second thoughts whe n he saw thl' cont en t of the bill. and COIl)ulh:,lI hh (dlow sultans. They were o ffcndl'd by being bypassed and objected to the substance as wel l. Th('y persuaded him nOI to grant as:.ell t. The king made t heir collect ive displ easure known by with hold ing assent fro m a couple of ot her bills passed hv Parliament as well. The ver ... situat ion t hat t he amend ments were designed in part to preven t h a~1 become a reality, and the govern ment faced a crisis. Dr. Mahathir's secretive strategy. wh ich led d irectl y to the confront.l t10n, contrasted sharply with his rhetoric about the im porta nce o f tran:.panmcy duri ng his first twO years on the job. " I believe in open discussioll and solving problems open ly", he declared on o ne occasion. "lI id ing th jllgs... dOt'~ not take us v{'ry far."·H Setti ng out to define striCl ly the powers of the rull'rs. however. Or. Maha thir opt('(1 for a stealt h seldom pr{'viously S('('n in nallona l lifl' . The tlm ..'e con t{'ntious c hanges we re burled among 22 constitutiona l amendmcllIs contained In the bill that was presented to I'arlla rnenl. umtrary to an undertaking Dr. Mahathir had given to consult lawyer; 011 al l proposed laws, Ihe bill was not made available befort.' hand to th {' Ma l ay~lan Ua r Council, \~ The editors of local news organizations wert' summoned and instructed not to report the changes affecting the rulers. Government legis· la tors played their part by also ignoring those amendments d uring two days of debate in the I louse, with the result tha t the public had almost no idea what was at stilke. Lim Ki t Siang, the leader of t he opposition De mocratic Actton PiHty, called it a IVI/y(m,\; kll lil , a trildil ional shadow puppet play: ~We 5('(' the shadows Im t not the substa rKe ... ". I~ Dr. Mahathir had severa l reasons for try ing to sneak the d Mngcs through Parliament without pu blicity, and unknown to lhe sultans. The first reilson was Article 38(4) of the Const itution, wllir h stated fl at ly 111:lt "no law dlrl.>Ctly affectin g the privileges, position, honours o r digniti es of the ru lers ~ h a ll lx' passed without t ile conSl'nt of tlte ConferelK(' of Ih Licrs." Wit hout their prior approval, thi.' amendments mOTe than Hk('l y wert' unconstit ut ional. As Ii.'ader of the exduslv<:!y-M ill ay UM NO, Dr. Mahath ir al so wan ted to avoid ala rming hi s core const itue nts. li e co uld not afford to appl'
powers of the rulers were be ing cu rlx'd. lie argued im plausibly t hat it was the execut ive which was surrende ring some of its authori ty. [n a l'onstitutiona I monarchy. he said, fOTlllillities requirt.'<1e veryth ing to lx' done in the name of the king. who acted o n the ad vice of the prime mi n ister a nd Cabi net. With a IS-day limit for the king to :.ign bills, "the right of the Ca bl nl..'t to advise the king is also gOlle afte r IS days. It will mean it's t he Cabine t that loses, not tile king." I(, FOT Um Kit Slang, a trainl'd liLwyer representi ng a multiracial but predominantly Chinese party. Ihe amendmcru s werl, the most important si nce Independe nce. wit h grave a nd filr- reac h i n ~ ronseq uenl"es. Eliminat ing the need for royal asse nt might be ('onstrm'd as a step towa rds a re publican ph ilosophy, he sa id. i\ S for transferring the right to o nkr a stal e of e me r· gency to the prime mi n iste r, any such proclamation would bl' above the law, regard less of whether th e premier itCled in bad faith or wrongfully. Lim raised the din:, posSibility that t hos(' pa rtidpating in the parliamen tary debate mighl be guilty of sl' apl)(ovl.,(\ soon or the governmellt would shut down . 'fhe publit', which had no knowled ge of the sta lemate for a couple of mont hs, learnl:'d of it through ,Il l Opl..' l1 k tter by Semi i\lxlul Rahman, an UMNO veh:ril ll il nd fo rm er t'ablnN min Ister, who wrot(' to Dr. Mah athir o ppo sing the ;UL1 l' nc!ml' nts. MHlay and English ve rsions of his leHer were widely distributed, spa rking the sort of W
1111 UII(toWI/(11 Killg 207
of Rulers consenl for any law affecti ng the sultans. t3 Ilaving rejected a person.ll appeal by Dr. Mahathi r, the lIefian t rulers convened on 20 November a t the court of the Sulta n of Sela ngor, named Heavenl y Ili ll 11alace, in an ostentatious show of tradit ion and modern ity to consider a compromise proposal delivered by an UMNO delegation: It was a uniq uely Malaysia n gat hering of the da ns. Th e sultan of Perak packed a pistol o n hi s h ip and wore green com hat fatigucs a nd a red beret. The man who could be Malaysia's next king ~aVl' a ja unty dencll('d-first salute as he poppcored their own rallies, which wert' much lx' lter lIttended than the controlled press reported. Thl' di ffer(' nces showed up within UMNO's senior ranks, with ;1 party vice president and at least two cahinet mi nisters siding sllenU y with til{' sult an s . ~1 Alt hough hl' revell('d In th e rallies, Dr. Ma hath ir had UlH"omfortabl e moment s. Crit ici zl't.i by wel lon s of UMNO for bei ng aut orratic lind Igno ring tta SIgns o f stress in liN husband, it rl't.ll1l'n ing in the eye, and feared for his safl'ly a~ large and enth usiast ic crowds slITg('d aroun d him at meeti ngs throughou t the country. For t he fus t ;ttld only time in h is political career, she Silid, ~bo th eyes wert.' red".~2
A sett lement reached in ea rly December W;tS a compromise t hat pleased nobody beyond the relief it brough t that the fi ve-month confrontatio n had em1l'd. In a n embar rassi ng re treat, the government allowed the king to retain t he formal right to declare an e mergency, while t he sultans' oblig. ;t tlons to assent to sta te legIslation were left unchanged, though they undertook orally 110t 10 block bills without reason able cause. In his attempt 10 re moVl' roya l assent 10 legislation passed by Par liament, Dr. Mahathir aC1Ually gave th e king an exp li cit legislat ive role for the (ust tiJlle. H Under the co mpromise, Ihe king could no longer block legisl;t tion by refusing to sign it into law, thoug h he wo uld be able to dela y It for at leas t two mont h~. Once legislation was passed by Parliame nt , Ihe ki ng would have .m days to sign it. If ht' Objffted to t he bill wit hin that pe riod, he could return it to Pa rliament with a statement of his reasons for furt her consiocra\ion . If Pa rliamenl the n reaffirmed support for t he measure, it would be resubmitted to the king a nd automatically would become law after anot her 30 days. MOlley bills, a n exception, would become law automaticall y after the in itial 30-day period . Govern ment leaders t'ouJd call the agreeme nt a "triumph of rat iona li ty" and political maturity that d id not favour eithe r side, but it fell far short in Dr. Mahathi r's tl'CIII S. H Wh ile he gai ned a crucial lega l poi n t - depriving the king of t he power to thwart t he ele
20g
MilliI.I'~;'1II
Mmwick
Fo r his part, the king viSibl y acq uiC'scl>d the follo wi ng year in Dr. Ma hat hir's siege o f the jud iciary tha t left its independence in talters. In t he states, however, some of the fa mi liar frictions were at work. Keda h Ch ief Minister Syed Nah ar Shahabud din resigrll'd , a pparen tly a victi m o f the fa llou t fro m t he constit utional crisis that ll'ft hi m uncomfortably o pposed to his uncle, Tunku Abd ul Ra h ma n, awJ the rulers.45 The Sultan of Sc1a ngor had a p ublic row w ith t he sta te's ch ief m ini ste r, Mu hammad Mu hammad Taib, over land d eve lopmen t, complicated by the terms of Muha mm ad 's d ivorce sett le lTl ent with th e sultan 's d augh tcr. 46 In Kela nta n, the Silu'lli o n was muc h m ore s('rlous, wit h the sulta n accllsing the UMNO chief min ister o f bei ng corrupt. The sulta n was targeted by UMNO after hi s u ncle, Tengku Raza leigh Ilamza h, bro ke wil h UMNO and formed his o wn pa rty, wh ich con tested the 1990 gene ral elect ion in a llian ces with Parti Isla m $e-Malaysia and wit h anothe r o pposit ion party. Dr. Maha thir and his su ppo rters blamed 111(' sul ta n's " politica l in te rfe rence fo r the loss of all of Kela lltan's 13 parliam e ntary seats and 39 Leg isla ti ve ,\SSemllly sea ts, a body blow to UMNO's pride . A mo re general a nd widespread complai nt ca me from the grow ing ranks of Malay businessmen, newly e nfran('h ised by affir mative act ion po licies, who found themselves sh ut out of some o f the most lucrative in vestment fidd:; h y the web of in terests associat('(i with the royal houses. Youn& self-confiden t a nd usually members of UMNO, t hese Mil lays saw li ttle need to rely o n till' sultanates fo r symbolic p rotection. On the co n trary, they reselllcd the bu siness competit io n, bl'ing part icul.1 rly inccllSt.'ti by the allia nces thitt some sult ans had fo rmt.>d with estahlished Chinese companies. i\(:cording to Filllillce Min ister Daim Zain udd in, Ih(· rulers had no compunction a bout writ ing di r<.'Ctly to him St."('king govt'tnment contracts.· 7 Ma lay concerns abo llt the ru k es' ventures in to bo th politics and business spilled into the o pe n a l UMNO's Ge ne ral Asscmbly in 1990 , resulti ng in a unan imous reso lut ion urging the roya l fa m ilies to uphold the fede ral an d state constit utio ns, Embolde n t.' d, the d elegates at t he party's ga thering il year la te r advocated a roya l code o f (·onduct. Negotiat ed by UMN O re p rt'senta tives a nd th e rui NS, the seve n-page Proclamatio n of Co nstitutional Princi ples issued b y til e- king on d the free ride it had long given the
sultans ;u)(1 tllE'ir offs pring. pou nCi ng Instead o n an y roya l Indi scretio n. In one Ca se, thl:' o ut-o r-favo ur Su ltan Ismail Petra of Ke lil n ta n a ttra cted a torre nt of publicit y when he wal ked in to tilE' customs cargo ct.'llIre at Kuala I,mu p ur's airport and drove o ff in a Lam borgh ini Dia blo, wit lwut paying the RM2.1 million import d uty o n t he spo rts ca r. The sulta n had ext'eeded his d uty-fr(,(, q uota of seven ca rs, t il t.' government tax au thorities m led, and he must pily u p, Several loca l b usi m'ssmen e nded the inciden t by ta king up a collectio n and settli ng t he bill fo r him .w It was Su lw n Is kanda r's revl' rsion to viok'nt form, ho wever, that ~ ena b l ed shadow box ing to give way to
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Malay proverb with .111 Implldt warn ing to the monarchy: A ju.. t king is ad ula ted, but an unjust one Is to be shunn ed.5~ The government's ta rget wa.~ the monarchy's constitutional shield: t\rticie 181(2) s,11d "no pr<X.'e'eding.~ whatsoever shall be brought in allY court aga inst Ihe ruler o f a state in his Ix'rso nal capacity" On government insuuctions, Abdul Majid Idris, S('("ond In line to succeed his rat her as Sultan of Johore, was charged with a~ sau1t. Al though he W,IS subseq uently ,lCquitit'd whe n the vict im acccpwd r~M 1,00:) In COlll [X'm ,ltion, an arrangcment permitted under Malay~la ' ~ crlmin<1 1 cadI..', his prosecution was highly sig niflcallt, Royal pe rsoilages below the level of sultan rardy had been ch;l rged previously, evetl though tlH'y were 110t protected from proSL-'Cutio n. Indeed, tlw I>rince was only tile second lead ing member of Malaysia's royalty to face a criminal offt'nce, the first being hl.. fa ther back in the t970s. '111e Constitution (Amendment) Act 199J, introduced on 18 Janu;uy, f{'1Il0Vl.'(1 JudiCIa l il1llllunity fro m rulers irl their private capac ity, though they ~till would be prOlectt'tl in the exercise of their offidal fu nction s. As the bill was not made retroactive, it ruled out prosecllt ion for Pilst offenc('S, In the fut ure, though, the long ann o f the law would real'll inside royal 1).1Iaccs, breaching thei r customary lega l sanctit y. A late compromise nu.'aStue ~tiplilatcd that 'iultam accused of url',lking lhe la ..... would be brought before a uspcclal court ~ r'dther than the courts for commoners. Sultans r o f 1'arliamen t or a state Legislative Assembly ~s hall he liable to any proc{'('(lings in an }' court" for anyth ing they So1y aoout !tIl' ki ng or thl' ~lIltans, th o ugh they would still not be permitted to advocatl' "the abolition of the constitutio nal position " of the king l.H s u1tans.s~ In pushin g th e amend ments through Pa rl iament, Dr. Ma hathir ig nored tht'ir fo rmal rejection by tilc sultans, moving Mal aysia c l O~e to tht' brink of anotl lcr rons til utional crisis , l Ie ~ ilic.\ the sul tan s "m ust heed the advict' o f the gOVf.'fTI men t-", and if they fai led to endorse the a mend ments, the court s would settl£' the matter.~" Opposit ion members who earlier condemn ed SuhaH Iskandar's beating of Douglas Gomez d id no t SUPI)()rt the 1cgi"lation, eWI! though they agreed that rio ruler should be above the law. Thei r reservations were pa rt of a backlash that qucstiont'd Dr. Mahat hir's moti ves in wan ting to subdue the monarchy so fo rcefu lly. The ~ u spicio n was that Dr. Ma hath ir, haVing greatly expanded lhe prime minister's executive power over the years, was USing royal misdeeds as a prt'text to dim inale yet anot her check and balance in h is domineering stewardship of the govcrnmeTl IY "O ne question that is forefront in the mi nch of M alaysian~ is whet he r the removal of the rulers' illl munity will only te~ u lt In t he greater immunity of the politi cal leadership in go vernment ,~ said Urn Kit Sia ng, the opposition leader.SB Declared an editorial in the !Jar Council's journa l, "far from protf"'tting th e institution, the amendments will, in fact, arm the
.1
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e xt'Cutivt' with Ihe power to sub jugate the rulers t hrough threats of prosecut ion fo r a ny offences, however minor. The rul ers will be at the lII ercy of the execulive,,,~q Dr. Mahath ir had calculated shrewdl y and waited for tile right time to strikc , havi ng disced mill io ns of dollars in profits frolll secret allotments of shares in publicly listed CO llll)!ln ll's. They bo rrowed millions from banks alld often did not repay. Illegally Importing lUXury ca rs and selling them to frie!lds and fami ly wa~ a common cash-raising eKcrcise. SOl11e of the sultans gambled and t'clebrated CI1rlstiail holidays, despitc Islamic prohihitions. M On top of the privy purse - salaries, allowances and expenses to maintai n the sulta ns' primary dwell ings - which tota led about RM200 million annual ly, "they've always asked for more, like land and ti mber concessions", said Dr. Mahath lr,t04 The rulers were each e ntitled to reside in more than
212
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scven pill aces, dnd ]1,1(1 bl'l'n granted more land and logging co ncess i (J n ~ than could be travers('d in w('cks of hiking. Pahang's Sultan Ahm ad Shah , one of the cOuntry's richest rulers, had at least a dOLen palaces, h is OW II Hocing 727 and 200 polo I>onics kepi in ai r·cond itioned stables. Acco rding to sl.II(' otficlals, Ih(' prime timbel concessions allocated to him in the previous five' years werl' CSlinllllOO tc) be \'\;o rlil RM270 million .'" As If Ihe dbciosur(' of the St-:andalolls waste of public fund~ W,IS not e nough, Dr. Mahathir an nou nced that the royal households would be sqll(''ezed finan· cia lly. I k ncerorth, they .....ould receive only what was specirll,(\ in th ... federal a nd state consll til lions, As the extras were withd rawn, to curb what Dr. Mah;u hir callcd their "lavish lifestyle" ...... the sult ans would find themselves without government-I"' id air transport, outriders and slX'Cial hospital wards, Frl't' po stage facilities were being r('strine sort of heavy a rti llery ilrraycd ,Igai nsl them, the rul ers capitulated , Thei r surrender was prcsc'nted as iI f,Ke-sav iu s agreement after negotia tions, bu t the minor modifications to be made 10 tht.' bill cou ld not hide thc truth. 'I'll(' alterations d l~alt prima rily with the proced ures to be fol lowoo hy the s]>ecial court, though one also specified that no sultan could be charged without the personal consent of Malaysia's attorney generaL'" Not content with this success, Dr. Mahathir u~ the introduction of the modificat ions in Parlla rllt'nt to tormCIlI thc: only one of the rule~ still prepared to stand and Mgue. Already u npopular with UMNO for po liti cking for the PilTty'S opporH.' n ts in Kcla ll tan, Sultan Ismail Pctr(l conti nuN.! to c\(>noull ce the arnl'lHirn en ts as Ulu·onstitutional. Dr. Maha thir said the sultan's remark~ ci c-arcd the way for ("ornO lOners to qucstion t hl' validit y of his appointmcnt and installatio n as head of the state's royal hOUSl'hold. The press dutifully followed up Dr. Mah:l1hir's attack with s t oric~ suggesting that Sultan Ismail, born of a COIll IIIOI'I ('r mother, was nOI t he right ful !>UCt-esstlr ,111(\ that his cousin, a husincssman, should have b(.'Come ruler. Ilardly had that "':Ol1t rovcrsy faded than Dr. Mahillh ir illOVl'd wllh .nl preme confidencc to cit'monstratc tile total subj ugation of the monarchy. The Con~ ti lution (ArncrlllllH'n t) Act 1994, introdu("('d without warni ng in M
All UllaulIIlII.'II Killg 213
of reasons, which was the compromise ten years ca rliN, The ki ng m ust now give asse nt wit hin 30 days, or the bill would beco me law automat icd Dr. Mahat hi r as "Irresponsible" and added, " li e carl'S nothing for class, for law, for order, for til(' Comlitut io n. Wha t suUs hi m, he just dOC'i il. "/oil Th N~ was considerable trut h a nd a hin t of rc.-vl' nge In thc Tu nku's tre nchant observations. From th(' pOli tica l wilderness in 1970, Dr. Mahath ir had condem m'd the Tunku's ad min istra tion, not least fo r Its willingness to rewrite th l' indepe nde nCl' C(l n ~ tit ut i o n : "TIll' Illalllll'r, till' freq uency ancl t he triv ial reasuns fo r alte ring t he Const itutio n n:dul'cd th is sup TI.'me law of t he nation to a use less scrap of I)(lPt:r."('~ ¥t,t lmdt.: r Dr. Mahathir Ihe pace of const it utio nal cha nge did not slac ken , hi s govern meot pushing 25 amendments through Pa rlia ment in 22 y('ars. 11J Tht' ret'ord showed tit' d id not a«'Cpt the opinion of constitut ional expt'rlS, much less h is own (\(Ocia ration ,71 tha t Malaysia'S ('.austitl/lion should ind('('(i be supreme, above all the institutions of governme nt. Bu t wh ik' Dr. Ma hat hir had li ttle ti me for thl: roya lly where it represented a feudal order, he !lever seriously contemplated reforming the monarchy or eli mi nat ing it altogether. I-lis basic requirement was t hat the monarchy should not obstruct him a nd his n;uion·buildlng goals. A I>owcr· ful prime minister wit h a reformist bent might have taken steps to pe rsuade the sultans to behave a ~ rea l and ad mi red cOlIStitlitional monarchs. Ill" could have issued instructions through Ihe chief minis ters o f the Ma lay sta tes to en ~ure t he sultans stayed o ut of buslnl'Ss and t he appointment of local o ffi ci als , t;'st' he wed gambling a nd other socia l vices and generally com po rted themselves In (I n l'xe rnpla ry manner, Dr. Maha thir's (ai lm(' to pro ject a model in stitut io n worth y of emulation, as Chandra Muz,lffar te rm('d it,n meant the problem would inevItably recur. And, indeed, so me royal house holds began fleXin g their politica l m uscles agai n, intNwn ing to gcl t hei r nomin{'Cs ,lpPoin ll'd as chief ministers of Trc ngga nll ,md Peri is In 2008, as Malaysia ':ian\.: into despair under Prirn(' Min ister Abdulla h Hadawi's weak and i nd('cl~ i vc leadC'rship.71 Hy ex posi ng the sulta ns' all 100 huma n fr ailties and treating thelll with ... uch u is
All U,,(rowl/,'1I KillS 2 15
21
overawed ", commented academic sp('ciaHsl ~ oger Kershaw?· The erosion of the rulers' stature and influence "diminished their constraining role in tempering Ihe exercise of cx{'C1.ltive powers"/s which Dr. Mahathir pr<x:et..-ded to wield with unpreceden led la titude. In a remade constitut io nal la ndscape, he had no need to cont'emplate a republic. I-Ie was the uncrownt'
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Notes :12 I Email rorrespo udellce wil h Ma hath ir Mo haillad, 17 Jun e 2008. 2 ROgN Ke rshaw, MOlll/ felly 1/' SOlltll· f(l5t A $i,,: Til.. Pllas II(Trmli tiol! i l' Tr(/ lI ~ ilillll (Lond on : I{o utl ed ge, 200!), p. 28. :I Cllt'ah lloon Khen g, Mal (accessed 25 Jan uary 2006), 11 Roger Kershaw, MOllarchy ill Sol' tll-ElIS/ Asia, p. 62. 12 Ibid., p, 102. 13 Chandra ~hl 1.3 ffar, I'mlff/ol ?: JI ll Allalysi.~ or t hl' COlln'pt ",,,I Pmclict' o( l.uytdlY ill 1-l'll ricI ·led Rf'iali u/lships willrill M(liay Yx:i.,ty (I'e nang : A/iriln , 19 79), I'. 74, 14 Ittlgn Kersh aw, M UlWf Clty i ll .')(IlI I1I-E(I.~ 1 A~ irl, p . 101. [S Ibid., p. 102. 16 David Jenkins, A Focus for I d~," t j ty, TrlllJit ir.)I1al Ru ll'l5 ,\d just to Ch allge: Sultan) 35 Symbols", 17 Zai nu ddln Ma[ d in, Tilt' Otl Wf .~ irfl' o( Mah /ll llir . p. 7';1 . 18 Dr. Mahat hlr Mo ha mad, "The It u krs art· Losing Lo ya lty", in TI,,' Early I't'an: 1947- 1972 (Kua la Lum pu r: lI€'rit ,l l' ubli ~ hil1g ~1 11 . Bhd., 1995.1 , pp. landuk !'ullikat ions (M ) Sdn . Bhd. , 1986), p. 155. 22 Ib id., p. 158. 23 K. Das, · W.... arc Not ,\musl' (acc('S5{'(! 25 Janua ry 2006). 24 John lIerthdsen, ~ M alaysia n King Sails through Firs t Month s o n theJob~, A.";(III Waif Sllecl Ul/lm
3]
34
35
36 37 1R
39
40 41 42 43 4<1
45 '16
47 48 '19 SO 51 52 53 54
55
Ibid. Ibid. Ibid . Ibid. I{.S. Milne and 1)1,1il(' 1<. M.tuzy, Mrll,'y~it......IZS 1:lIIu:lry 2(06), Ihid. Barry Wa in, "Trying to Limi . the Roll' of Mal,lY IIcrt:'(!irary llukrs", A WSI, 5 Sc ph.'II1 O€'r 1983. K. Das, "LbS ,\ do Abou t An yt hing: Ma hat h ir Moves Quieti), to K..... luo.., the Con· sti tutional Role tl\e Suitilns ['lilY in the Nation's LcglslatiVl" I'rocl'ss". Ka phael l'ula, " Malay)]" [)cadlockoo by Royalty Crls i)~. Ra phad Pura, ~G u n .Tot ing Sultans Arrive in Style at Royal Palace in $clangor Statc",AWSI, 21 No ve m t>cr 1983. Rapha('1 Pura, -Milhat hlr Wh ips Up Support at Ra lli('~", AW .'i/ , 12 Uel-cmtx.'r 1983. Raphael l'IHa, "M6). Cheong Mel Sui ilnd I\ di ha h ,\m in, V ailll: Till' M,m Ill'ilil1(/ tl 1(' /:' 11('<11111 H'l'IaUng Jaya . l'cI ~nduk l' uiJli cat ions (M) Soln. IIher 1992, 1111' Ot/wr Sid" /JrM a/lUth i r, Append ix 2, p. 294. Step hen Duthie, ~ M a l a )'si an ROY.llly Fac€'s Lillii t 10 row~· rs·, A WSI, 13 Ja nuar y 1993 .
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56 Step hen Duthie, "MalJysia Nea rs Cri ~is as Su ltam t(ejed Curhs" , AW.'iJ, 19 Jan uary 199:'1. S7 Ihld . SH St('p h('Tl Duthi<" "Malaysian Go ve rnmen t is Unlikely to Put Em! to (1,ISh w ith Royalty", AWS/. 10 March 199:1. S9 Stcphen DuthIe, ~ MaliiysiaTl Roya lty I'aces Li m it to Powers" 60 Stcl)hcn Duthie, "Ma laysia Su ltan is Censured by Par lia me nt". 6 1 Stl'phell Du th ie, "Mahathir is likely Vict or in 2nd Roun d with Royalty", AWS1, 14 Den'mlX'r 1992. 62 Ihid . 6] Stcphen Duthie, " Royalty 's I'am~red History Returns to lIall n t Miilaysia", AWSI, 5 february 1993. 64 Sleph e-TI Duthlc, ~M a laysi a 10 C ut OUllays (or Royal l y'.~ b pen s('s", A WSI, 27 January 1993. 6S Stephen Duthie, " Royalty's I'amp(' red History Re tu rn.~ to Haunt Malaysia". 66 Stephen Duthie, MMalaysia to Cut Outlay.'! for Royalty's E.1(pcn~". 67 Stephen Duthie, "Royal Righ ts Compromisc IlaCkN by Ma laYSia's King", 1\ WS/, 19 Februa ry 1993. 68 Kua Kia Soong, L't\., K. {Jus & tilt' "fuIlk" Tflpt.'S (l/etaling Jaya: Stratl'gic Info Rl~arch Development, 2002), pp. 128, 131 , 132. 69 Mahathir bill Moharnad, Tllr M(li(IY Uil..mma, p. I I. 70 I'.mail corRosponilellce with Param Cumara~wa my, 14 May 2008. 7 1 Mahat h ir Mohamad, ~peech at the AS('ali Law Associa tIon Ge ne ra l Asse mb ly, University of Mala ya, Kua la \.um pur, 26 Octobe r 1982. 72 In tl'rview with Chand rd Muzaffar, 16 Augm l 2007. 73 Chow Kum HOT, "'Rule rs Get Their Way In C hoice of MlSs~, Slff/ US Timrs, 28 March 2008. Malaysia's king, Sultan Mizan lainai Abidin o f Trc nggan u, nol only a'fused to appoin t Abdullah 's ca nd idat !.." as ch id minister of th(' state, b ut a lso led a campaign by t he COllfr rCllcc of Rul (' rs to refuse to acce pt the gov('fllfllent's nomin L'e~ for two lOp judicial appoinlme-nlS. Ll's lic l..opc7.. ~ Malays ian Royals Start to Flex Their Mu S( les ~, Siwi/s Tilil/'S, 28July 2008. 74 Roger Ker~ l l
9 The Perils of a Pragmatic Islam
For Dr. Maha t hir, Islam was more than a perso nal cfecd. It was a tool to hel p uplift the Ma lays and purSlle his dreams of a ftl lly developed Malaysia.' The proble m, as he saw it, wa~ t hat islam -dom inated Malay culture was ao obstacle to their advan ce ment. It wa s oot so much th e religion itself, he believed, but the local interpretation of Islamic cI ()ct rine ~ that caused the trouble. So he defmed for Malaysian Muslims an interpret..tioo of Islam that was meant no t only to take care of th eir spiritua l Wt']] being, bul to secure malNial benefits for them as well. Quick to recognize the sign ifi cance of a glob.. l Isl.. mi c resurge nce, Or. Maha thir ha rnessed it to legitimize his administration ilnd make Islam integral element of his com m itmen t to a n increased Ma la y stake in the economy. Establishing Islamic institutions, such as a un iversity, a bank and various business bodies, he promoted e(:onomic development and prosperity as compat ible with the ethicS, thrology lind philosophy of Is l a !ll . ~ l ie went further, asserting t hat it was incumbent upon Muslims to embrace modernity and l"Conom ic progress to overcome their backward ness and recover Isla m' s past glory. Dr. Mahathir's pragmatic stra tegy won h im a glowing reputation throughout the islamic world, but he stumbled b.l d ly as he succumhed to political exped iency in the final yea rs of his leade rship of Malaysia . By eq uating Isla m with ethn icity in pursu it of h is grand deSign, Dr. Mahath ir ensured that religion became an even more vital part of Malay identity, which led to significant numbers of Malay Muslfms questioning many as pects of Mala ysian society. Holdi ng th eir leaders to Islam 's strict eth ica l standa rds, t hese Malays were alic n;)ted by tile- rampant corrupt ion and cronyism spa wned by Dr. Mahath ir's eco llomit' vision, centred 011 the governmen t's affirmative action programme. Dr. Mah at h ir's abrupt dismiss,,1 and vilifl("at ion of hIs dep ut y, An war Ibrahim, In 1998 stripped the administra tio n of much of its remaining moral authority in the eyes of Ma lays, leaVi ng the prime min ister exposed an d v ul nerable to electo ral pun ishment and heavlly depe ndent on non. Ma lays to remain in offlce .
,Ill
217
21M
M(/llIy~illll M(I\~"kk
The ma lor ix' neflclary of Dr. Maha thi r's perce ivt'd ethi ca l l'o ll a p s~ was the oppos itio n I'arti Isla m Se-Malaysia (PAS), t ILe di rect I'thni(' riva l of h is UMNO. Iron ically, it \Vas PAS, which always wanted Mal ,lys la turned in to an Islamic state, th at Dr. Mahathir had t ried to undNcut by adopting mod· era te Islamization policies back in Ihe ("arly 1980s. With disillUSio ned, d isenchanted and disgusted Ma lays deserting UMNO in droves III the 1999 general election, ho wever, PAS vaulted from its provincial bllse 10 become the for mal leader of Ihe o pposition ill the na tional Parliament. The measure of PAS') )uccess was the ex tent of Dr. Ma hathir's fail ure. Recast overnight by his cri tics as a n "anti-M uslim villai n " and contempluously la bellC'd Malmwiim, Mlllwkeja/ll and M(llw[ir(///II" - the Great Oppre!.sOT, the Cruel One and the Great Pharaoh: in su mmary, the cruclest of the m all - Dr. Mahathir chose not to add ress the mallY sou rces of Malay discontenl. Instead , he tried to recover Ma lay affection by further o utbidding PAS o n religion, offering wmc o f the lIem.s o n the fundamentalist agend,l he had al ways o p poscd.~ EncouragC'd and em boldencd, rellglou!> bure,luer;lb ne:O.:l..><1 their m uscles and tried to impose a grim fur m of Islam ic o rt hudoxy. The whole sorry saga culminatl..>d in a dI.'Claralion by Dr. Mahalhlr in late 2001 tha t Mlliaysia was, in fact, a lrcad)' an Islamic state - a day t hat in local terms is likl'l y to live in infamy. II "vas possible fo r Dr. Mahath ir to make such ;t controversial claim bcc;IUSC tl1<: Federatio n of Malaysia's Constitut io n is ambiguous o n this c ru<.:ial poi nt . An Islam ic state is com monly und erstood to mean a coun lry where Islamic law, known as sharia, is the !>u preme law o f lilt' la nd . The a lternative is secu· larism, where the state professes no religion and docs not sid(' ..... ith any reli· gion. The Malaysian Constitution states that Islam is " the " religion o f the nation, though freedom of wONh ip is gua ranteed for all. Despite that consti· tutional guarantee, in practice fTl'Cdolll of religion is quali fn.'d. Muslim .. - a ll ethn ic Malays an.' a uto matically regblt'rcd ;IS Muslims - are answerable to sharia courts, which usually d eny them t he right to leavc Islam or convert to another faith. Indeed, apostasy or conversion is a punishabk off<'nce in most states, eit her wit h a fine o r a jail sentence, or both. In a memorandum to til(' Itl-id Co m titutional C..ommissiol1 , which d rafted the Constitution before independence In 1957, th e governing Allian ce said the .:alln try should lx' ~l'Cu l ar, with Islam mack till' officia l rellgio n .~ An Islil1n lr st;Hl' wa~ no t one of the commission's terrn~ of refere nce. A Whitl' I'ap<'r d eali ng wit h till' constitutional proposa ls speC ified thilt Islam's status would "in no way afkc t th(' present pos itlon of the Fcderatlon as a secula r Sld wa~ thought suffi cit'llt to WIIVl'y that notion without aClUally melltionlng the word "seclllar" .7 At the same tlnte by deSignating, In Cffloct, an official rdigion , Malaysia 'S Constitution '1llowl..'(l the government 10 fund Cl..' rlain Islamic activit ies - building mOS
Till' I't'ri /:;
fir ,/ P"'SlIIflli.l.drllll
219
liad: in those mort.' relaxed days it was ex pected thai Islam would playa decli ning role in natio na l affairs. The de parting British handed over to an UMNO-Ied democratic govern ment wit h a Western-educated leadership Ihal was focused on l'conomic develo pment . Mala ysia's Sunni Mw;:li ms were easy-going, coexisting peacefully e nough with Ihe Chinese and Indian minori ties - predomi nant ly liuddhlsts, Christians and Ilindus - who made 11\) half the population .1I rew Malay women wore hcad J four fornwr oppositio n parti{'s, among them PAS. As the worldwide tid~' of Islami c reviv,lll sm lapped Malil ysia n shores in til(' early 19705, Ihc gov('rn nll' nt of(l'rer! ot hl'r gc\tures to show its commitmen t 10 the re ligi on -I nlrodul'i ng Ihe {lUlU, the ca li to praye r, over staterun radio and TV, publishing Islamlr IitcrlltUfl' and establishing an ISlamic RCSCilrc h Centre and an Isl'lIll ic Miss Ionary Founda tion. With its q uest to
"/'III'
re-establish Islamic values, practiees and laws, the resurgence took the form of numerous (/akwall, missionary, groups. They found ferti le ground especia lly ~Im ong Malaysia's young. educated, urban middle class. Ma lay women took to c()vering the ir heaels with various versions of the veil, some adding an anklelength. long-slccVl'd robe that left on ly the face and hands visible, Many men grew beards and some also wore robes, to enllllate the Propl1l't MuhamUlad and his compan ions. They sprinkled th eir conversation with Arabic terms, rega rded as authentically Islam ic, Muslims not only avoidecllxlrk, spt.'Cilic1.' strict ly IIll/al, prepMed in accordance with Islam ic prescriptions. The dakwall groups concen tratl'd not on converting non-Muslims but on creati ng cond ltiom that allowed Islam a larger role in the pe rsonal lives of adherents an d in t he conduct of public affai rs. Rural-born Malays who migrated to the cities under rapid industrialization were prosp('ct ive members of organizations that could give thcm a sense of belonging, and where they would renew their com mitment to an IslamiC way of lif('. Th e groups - tolerant and liberal at first, though some beca me more mil ilanI later - looked to Islam for wha t its teachings could offe r as solutions for Ma lay problems, such as poverty, lack of ed ucation and corrupllon. The Hi ntellect ual powerhouse" of the resurgence was the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement, known by its Malay acronym as ARIM, co-founded by Anwar Ibra him in 197 1 arrer he graduated with honours in Malay studies from Ihe Un iversity of Ma laya. 13 A forme r student leader and ficry polH ical orator, Anwar 1<'<1 non-partisan ABIM through a period of sIX'Ctacu lar growth, fin ishing the decade with a me mbership of 35,000 in 86 branches, AIliM published its own mon thly journal, produced and marketed Islamic books, mainta im.xI a library, ran an economic coopera tive and organized leadership traini ng courses and Islamic stud y groups. Ever-ready to hac k its demand s with cl irt.'C1 action, A61M argued that the Malaysian economy bcnefitt.-d o nly a small group of local and fo reign capitalists and was in need of reform , AlUM also spearheaded com plaints against Harun Idris, the chid mi nister of Sela ngor. 1~ which eventually led to his conviction on several <."orruption charges. As a fresh gradualt.'. Anwar declined an invitat ion to jOin UMNO as well as offers of plum iobs in order to continue addressing questiOns of Malay back· wardness. I If' olX'IlNI oard chairman, for tile next ten years. Arre~ted in Dece mber 1974 after backing mass student demonstrations in support of Malay peasants who were suffering acute economic hardship in K~dah, Anwar spen t almosllwo years in prison. Accused of anti-government
I'nil,~
or II PIUXIIW/iC 1.1'1(1111
221
aCtivI ties going back fiVl' years, he was never charg('d with a ("rime and COIItin ued to guide AB1 M fro m detetlt ion. On his re lease, hc picked up fro m wilere he had left off, somet imes working with th(' governmcnt, more often it thorn in its sideY' A number of olher AlUM leaders left ill the late 1970s 10 join PAS, which after four years had broken with UMNO and clepartt'd from the National Front, and many expcctt.'"tl Anwar to follow. A visi t to Iran soon after Ayatollah KhomeLn i's Islamic revolution in 19 79 sharpe nl'd r\nwar's radical Image. In 1981, he linked up with non-Malay groups to head a broad public campaign against government amendments 10 the Societies Act, which were designed to li mit the political activities of non-governmen tal organizat ions. Then, in March 19HZ, in the middle of this campaign, Anwar stunned the country by accepting Dr. Mahathir's invitation to join UMNO and contest a (Jarliamentary scat in a general election two w("('ks later. 16 Dr. Mahathir had long held st rong views on Islalll, the practice of which he bcJieved should be drastically refor med in Malaysia, and he saw in lhe cha rismat ic anLi popu la[ Anwar an agen t of cha nge. Islam of the Shafi'i school, introduced to Ma laysia by Arab a nd Ind ian t raders and schola rs around the beginn ing of t he fourteenth cen tury, migh t be moderate and enl ightened, but Dr. Maha t.h ir identified it as a cause of Malay failure and a ba rrier to national developmen t. He touched on the subject in Tile Malay Dikmma 17 in 1970 and elaborated on it in Metlglra(/api Ctl barall, HI published in 1976, which appeared late r in English as 1he ellul/eliSe. III Dr. Mahathir wrote that the Malays' value system and «xle of ethiCS, on which Islam was the single grea test infl uence, were "impedimen ts to their progrcss". l() He blamed "Malay-style n Islam fo r fatalistic tendencies, a disinclination to co mpete and a prefe re nce (or spiritual over material pursuits,2 1 But he said the re was no reason why tht· 1.~ la mi c fa ith, "properly inte rpreted", could not achieve spiritual well-being as well as material success for tlw Malays.22 Although Dr. Mahathir had no claim to religious expertise - he was not educated In the Islam ic school system or in ArabicH - with the help of ex pert assistants and advisers he described in some detail the way Islam should be rcc1efin('(!,24 Drawing 0 11 Islamic texts, with verses quoted in ArabiC, he took issue with Musli ms who saw their religion as either opposed to modernity, or as the equivalent of socialism, He said, "Islam accepts the reality that in any society there will be rich a nd poor, king and commoner, leader and followe r,"2.S Despite the way the Qur'an reverberates with the ethos of social jllstice, as one ana lyst noted, Dr. Mahathir dedared the teachings and spiritua l va lues uf Islam to be entirely com patible with the pursuit of 1l1a tcrialism. Z6 He said the ownership of property did not mean loss of spiritua lity, and Muslims "nee<.l not rejecl wealth or endeavours which lead to wca lth ... ". 27 Indeed, Muslims must be eqUipped with knowledge and other "tools and skills of the modern world" to uphOld spiritual values, for "without wealth and efficien cy, the Muslims will he oppressed and fina lly spiri tual
Tile I','';/;<' IIf II 1"lIgmlllic 1.\ lmll 223
222 Ma/(fYS/(1/i Mmwick
va lues too will be lost " _~ Bo ttom line: Ma lays had a lmost a religious obligation to change t heir character ami part icipate wholeheart('(lly in Ma laysia's devciop ment . With acute polHical lnsti llcts. Dr. Ma hathir spOilti'd the d o mestic <'ffeelS of the intcrnalional ls\am ic awakening bcfor('" most others, lHld planned to e ngagt.' and reshape it with Anwar's hdp. Nevcnlwless, he signi fi cant ly underesti mated till' ex te n t 10 which Malaysian Islam would be AraLJized" and come under Sala l" infl uences from the Middk EasL !~ As a mem ber o f UM NO's Supreme Council in the early 1970s, Dr. Mahath lr had tahled a IJaI)Cr wa rn ing of a growing Islamization amo ng Malays, but l>tlrty scnlors d h m issed his concern because he was not a religious expert ..-;! UMNO and the governmen t wen? content to keep responding pie«'meal to the pro life rating and d iverse tit/kIVa" groups, whose aspirations varil'<.l from commu nal li ving and producing their own products, to forming a religiolls party and establishing an Islamic sta te. State government s set up educational foundations in rural a reas to compe te with AlUM, while the federal aut horitIes launched a " daklVall month" in 19 78 ,md o pe lH..'d Pusat Islam, ill d feclthc go\-wn menrs own (11Ik1VIIII gro up. in 1980. 11 Thesl' oHieial t'ffo rt"s were wid ely derided by UMNO's opponents as liule more tha n token concessIons meant to m nlrol and manipulate th(' growing Islamic ro nsdo usness. I.l Dr. Mahathir's co-option of Anwar soon after becoming prlnw minister was a masterstroke, because It not only took much o f the stearn out of AIllM but also dcpriVl'"(1 ";\5 of a va luable ally. regardless of whethl'r he would have joined the opposit ion party. Most o f all, it gave the government the services o f arguably the mosl intl ue ntla l thinker on religion and politiCS outside the political panies. H It a lso strengt hened Dr. Mahathir's " b lam ic" image and enabled him to ma ke a coordlnlHed a nd m mprehe nslve response to tilt' d(/kWIlII phenome non. He t'ntert'd d ir('("tly int o Islam ic COIll IX'titio l"1 with PAS, chOOSing consciously to fight Islam with more Islam. which had the predicta ble eff('("t of intenSifying Islamization in Malaysla .M At the 1 9~Z UMNO Genera l J\sse mbly. Dr. Mah athir dC"(:lared that "the biggest struggie ... [isllO cha nge Ihe attitude of the Mala ys In line with t he req uir(' men ts of Isla m in th is modern age .... UMNO·s task now is to e nhance the Isla m ic practiCl'S a nd ensure t hat the Malay commu nity t ruly ad here!) 10 hlamic teach ings",J.S T h (' governme lll bllOned the import o f n o n-lUI/a/ beef, pro hibited Muslims fro m en teri ng the COUll try's o nly casino a t Genli ng High lands amllntrodllc('(i co mpulsory ("{)urses o n Isla mic civiliza ti on a t universities. UndN ,1 sloga n o f ~ \ncu 1ca tion o f Islamic Values", the govern me nl a lso pro l11o ted in the civil servIn' sudl virtu es as justice, ho nesty, d ed ication, diligenc(' and se lf-diSci pline. wh ich had the added lHtractlo n of /)(,ing universal human values. Systematlcally, th(' gov(:rnm('n t set up a series o f Islam ic institutions. An Islamic bank, which lreated earn ings as p rofits a nd not inter('St \0 conform to Islam ic p rinciples, Of}Cllcd in 198:\. Catering mostly to rura l Ma lays. it H
o ffered as an addition 10 Ma laysia's comme rci Dr. \1a ha thir had no pat ience with ikhlilcl/; the trad ition ofscho lariy d isagrccmen ts and va ri('ties of opin ion in interpreting Islam Y He com plai ned that wh ile Musli ms endlessly debated "the minutiae o f ou r re ligionn. Islamic ("ountrib wt.'re u nable to cope with c llange and were dom inated by others. UI /\ nyway, he argu('d, all those option s confusl.'
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Bold and driwn as ever. Dr. Mahathir deplo},ed an abidi ng pragm .. tism to accom pally his deep convict ion of wha t was necessary to develop Ma la y~ia. As political scientist Khoo Iloo Te ik put it, Dr. Mahath ir was not concerned witl l o ffering startling prem ises on Islam. o r in Sl'Cklng a systematic e ngagement with t he principal d ebates sweeping Islam ic com lllunlti('S worldwide. He was a Muslim politician " who, in surveyi ng the world o f IsI'UIl . t hought Ilt' had importan t inSigh ts in to the contem porary Muslim co ndition . its fa il ings. a nd what is more, its much-l1cl.'(\e<1 corrt'cti v~s " . ~ 1 The Mahath ir admi nist rillion's "correct" Islam was a clost.' renection of t he prime minis ter's pe rsonal and politica l p hilosophy outlined years earlier. Essentiall y an interpretation of an Islamic value system, It sp<'cifil.'(l what the religion did o r did no t enmurage, what it prohi bited and what il allowed. Islam was intimately linked to the go vernml'nt's dt-velopmem goals, spc.>cifica lly t he NEP and Dr. Maha thir's declared ob j(>("ti\ e o f making Malaysia a fully d eveloped nation b y 2020. It was a modern Islam. progreso sive and o pen to foreign investment and tech nology, a nd prt-parcel to learn from the Wesl. ~2 The core message, tha t t here is no contliet hetwl'Cll Islamic va lues and MalaYSia n-style capita lis m, d evdo pllle ll l a nd p ro~!>erity, was con veyed in 51X.-eclH.'s LJy cabinet minisll'rS and leadi ng government o fficl als. H IKIM, ttll' imtitu te res ponsible for promoting an und('rstamling o f Islam as deflll('{1 hy the Mahathir admini~tflttion , chllrned ou t books and artic il's making the paint. One suc h article. directed at piOUS Musli ms conce rned about usury or interest, said that the basic aim in imsilH'ss " is to make profits, and making profi ts is nothing negiltive reli gio us l y ",~4 In ano ther pu blication, a
221 MalaY5ia/l Maverick.
writ er claimC'l1 Islam it' endorse lll ent fa r t he r:overnmcllt'~ rTI Cf,la -pro jects, such as the I'et ronas Twin Towers, the new Putraj aya adlllinistrati w capital and the Kuala Lu mpur Internationa l Airpart. ~ \ Wagi ng war against narrow-mi nded Islal11, Dr. Mahathi r l('l·tured Malays wit h logic and comm onsense . I-I e ~ aid ,I Muslim who blamed fa t(' when it was wit hi n his capacity to (:hange his lot laded faith in the jUSlil'Cof Allah. 'Th ose wit h m out h~ but do not eat or drink will die, " h{' said. "Death, wil e n it comes, will be fat e, but if the pe rson had food and drink and had the ellerf.lY to [[ve, the n that too would have been fa t('(I.H~(' In a celebrated case, Dr. Mailat h ir ('hastised a Musli m WO!ll{'n doctor wh o, loath to touch a male patien t during diagnosis, prod ded h im with a penCil. In a letter to a local newspaper, Dr. Ma hathi r wrote, "The purpose of treatment is to restore the patient' S healt h, not to protect t he doctor fro m si n. This failurt, to give him sincere and proper examinat ion is an at-t of cruel ty, and cruelty is not part of the teac hings of Islam ... ". If a doctor's f who claimed WomeH with covered lll'ads w('re more virt uous and Islamic t han others_ At the N.ltion;11 University of Malaysia, he inlervelled to prevent the ("ancellalion of a concert by a popular male singer afte r Muslim undergraduatt's opposed it, keen to avoid the appearan ce of "a victory fo r the exte rnal groups that were orchestrating t he o p position".~~ Qu ite ap,m from th e fact tha t Dr. Ma hath ir appropriated Islam for political purposes a nd to confer legitimacy on his adm in istration,49 his validation of a Singular approach to the rdigion was bound to be controversial. For a sta rt, as Patricia Mart inez, a non-MusUm Malaysian expert in Islam, pOint('(i out, Dr. Maha thir did not follow traditional Islamk schOlarly practice of in voking sources from III(S;" the formal d iSCipline of Qur'anic interpretation, sn Ill' and his adm inistration, "even the regular colum ns by governnwn t insti tll fion s~, defined Islam la rgely th rough literal interpretations, the approach usually adopted by fu nda mentalists. BUI just as he had litt le lise for th(!ologk-al interpre tations o f Islam,sl Dr. M,lhat hi r coru:ed('d no t an inch to the theologians a nd oth er intell('cluals trained in Islam who ob jected to his pronounceme nts. Indeed, he willingly confronted the 11 /(//11(/, specialists high ly educated about Islam, upon whom usually rested the task o f interpretin g the Q ur'an and the lIadith, the a<:<:Ollllt of the words and d~'('(l s of the Prophet. S2 Criticized by some II/all/II fo r venturing into their territory without tile ll('ceSSilry academic credent ials,
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(Jra /'wSllltllic 151(1111 225
Dr. Mahath ir called them arrogan t and ignoran t, e ven if they had ya rds of paper qualifications. " I~ e l igio n should bring success to its people, but wlJat is being co nstantly hammered home to Muslims is happi ness in th e hereafter," ht' saId. "A nd these interprete rs of religion a rc the cause of backwa rdness a nd igno rance in Muslim society."H Dr, Mahath ir linked his disdain for "Iml/(I critics to one of his favourite refra ins, that what ,Iiled Isla m a(TOSS the ages was bad leadership that abused the power to define the religion for followers.H An exam ple he cited was a small grou p in Egypt, claiming to tx- following the on ly true teachings of [slam, who incit{'(i rebellion agai nst the government when it was faci ng threat s from Israel, knowing that if they were Sllcces-<;ful it would result in victory for the Israelis, "Thus someth ing manifeslly bad can be Interpreted as bei ng good by Musli ms when they have a leader who deviates from the norm," he sa id. \~ In assuming the power to define, to impose J,is norm, Dr. Maha thlr d rew a li ne Iha t was as m ud l polili<'al as religiOUS. Wit h UMNO positioning itself as moder,lte an d responSi ble, the ruli ng party frecly assigned the label of extremism to its polit icoll opponents, including PAS a nd a ny rdigious movements ('xpressi ng a dissen ting Islamic interpretat io n.s!> The government ban ned dOZ('ns of books and Icallets judged cont rary to Isl am, a nd refused to allow Shi'a Muslims to pr,lctise ojX'nly, r('gMding t heir teac hings as deviant,S1 lt abo allocated ~M 40 million to build two Islam ic fait h rehabilitation cenlres, whidl were " urgently needed " by the m id- 1 99(ls. ~~ Whi le Or. Mahathir preferrt.'sitate to threaten or use coercion when deemed n(ocessa ry. Some leading UMNO politicians were even more heavy-handcd.s9 A deputy minister said til(' [mernal Security Act, which provides for indefinite detention without trial, would be used ag,linst persons promoting religious fa natiCism among Muslims_ lit: iclefltilied several PAS chiefs alleged ly guilty of it , among them Kelantan Chief Minister Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat , who served as the party's spiritual adviser.w For its part, PAS proved mOTe than a willing part icipant in what turned out to lx' one of the nastiest fe,lttireS of Dr. Mahath lr's te nure, a contlict with UMNO Qv{'r Islam that tore a p.lrt tl te Ma lay heartland, Known as kafirII!clIgkafi r, accusations of apostasy, it describes the fury of m utua l condem nation. Mter ,In internal upheaval in which the so-called IIlama f,lCtion took over in 1982 ,Hid established a supre me cou ncil of 12 religiou s scilo lCITS, I'AS present{.od itself as the only true Islamic political party in the cou ntry, Leaders resortlod to lakflr, "the ult imate polemic in Musl.irn polit lcs ~ , by calling UMNO polit icians not only infldels but apostates, ",,'rsons who have abandoned the.ir faith !'] A journalist who visited rural ("Olll lll unities in Trengga nu , Kl'lant an and Kt'
involved que:.tlom o f rel igious authority a nd the toleration of diverg('f1 t views, the Iwo ~I d c$ engaged ill r("Current cyc1C$ of alms(>, slillldcr a nd hatemongering, all In t he name of godlilH.'ss. 'Ill(' government oullawl..'d scveral Islam ic groups ,tfter bra nding th('1ll deviant , though tlw <:irnJlllSlanccs servl..'(l as a rem inder that IX)1itks informed the defin ition of deviancy. In 1985, IS people died, includi llg four ml..' m bt'rs of a police raiding p.uty, as Ihey attempted to arrest a PAS Islamic preache r named Ibra him Libya, who had cst:thlished a fo llowing in the femote village of Memali, Keda/l . Tough aCllon was also taken aga insl the AI-Ma'unah cuh, tS of whose members attackl..'(l two army ca mps in Perak ill 20Cl0, seizing weapons and taking hostages, two of whom wcr(> later murdered. Governmen t offic ials Iinkt..'d PAS 10 both groups, though many Malays believ(.,j olherwise, ronvinc('(1 t ha t S!..'(·urity forces mishandled Ihe incidents or \,'ere implicatlxi in them." ! Even more SllSpeCI was liIl' crushing of the passive Oarul /\rqalll in 1994, a full 26 yl'ars 'Ifter It was fOllnd ed b}' a c harismatic religiOUS teadll' r, Ashaa rl Muhanun('(1. Tilt.' movement followed a tradilionallst apprOilch 10 Islam, with mcmbers eating Amh-st yre, the men wearing green robes ;lIl d t urban s and the women in pu rdah most of till: time. Fol101...·crs cstilbllsh('(j self-contilined COnlllllH1CS with hOllses, mosques, schools, clinic:. a nd vegetable plOIS, their fac tories prod UCing items for sale: in their own shops. Nation-wide, DaTU I Arqill1l ran 250 kindergartens and grade schools, and operated enterprises :.p;mning food processing and property to tCJ(tile~ and heallh services, with assets of about RMJOO million.hoI In the years before II was banned, Ihe government quietly cleared the way for the group 10 expand to cou nter i'A5.M When the National "'alwa Council, a govern men I body, declared Darul Mqam a deviant Isla mic sect ils lead('rs WNe dctai nt'
a') Nurcholish Majid, might haw t'n joyt'd good personal relation s with figures as St'nior as Anwar Ibrahi m, bUI their innovative ideas werc regiudcrl as too con troversia l fo r Ma la ysla f,1I In regul ar visits and speeches abroad, Dr. Mahathir said that If histo rically blam had reS(:ued the world from the Dark Ages and sct it on course for modern ci vilization, Muslim society curfen tty faced an ailll l ~s future. Ami while it was possible to set' the hand of Islam's foe$ at work, the fault lay pri marily with Muslims thelllselvl'S. It was the sa me old problem of Musli ms in terpre ting Islamic tcachi ngs ~so thai the boun ties o f Allah fall beyond our reach~. Identifyi ng with the major 1$lamic issues of the time, I)r. Mahathir used t he m as ca:'l' studies to drive home his IXlints. The plight of the Pal~ti ll ia ns a nd Soviel-occlipied Afghan istan showed "how frequen tly Muslim roun trie:. fa ll into the hands of non-Muslim enemies because of the wea kness o r incompetence of Muslims"_ As for the Iran-Iraq war, it was Hagic proof tha t In the Middle l:.asl more Musl ims were killed by Muslims than by thei r infidel e nl'lllies, Dr. Ma hathir said violencl' had achieved no th ing for Muslims, an d t heir go\'ernments should be funding l'(l ucation ral lu: r than buying arms. n9 lie urged them to embrace science and t('Chnulogy and build dyllillll ic societics equal to t he best in Ihe West. Thl' way for Musli ms to regain r('spect \ViiS to ~we k knowledge, work hard, be t h rifty, ,n:quire wealth drill achieve ('('onomie progress. From Ul(' peri phery of Isla m in Southeast Asia, Dr. M,tllitt hir expressl.."<1 an unpalatable crilique Ihat ncverthdcs:. resonated in the Middle East, the Ira· dltiOlla l hearlland of Islamic teaching and politlcalthought. Itepre$('llting a SUlcessful ami independent-minded Muslim country that sparkled in conItast with most econom ically and Intelleclll,ll1y Siagnani Arab stall'S, he was hea rd with respt.."C't, garncring Immense prestige for MalaYSia. On Ihe grou nd, he had na me recognit ion, Abdul Kahman Aziz, an academ ic In M('('ca fo r the ha ji in 2005, was stopped al the Great Mosque's King Fahd Gate by a fellow pilgrim, .1 provi ncial COurl judge from Pakistan. who wan ted to know if he wa:. a Malaysia n . Whell Abdul Rahman co nfirlJ1l..'d it, tlH' judge gushed, " Please send my regards to Dr. Mahathl r. Tell hilJ1 he is il grea t Mus lim Icader and will go slraight 10 jall/w l l," hCil"'cn ,i° No other Mus lim with pretensions to leadership had the courage and cred ibility to "tell it like it is~. As Patricia Ma rtinez refTlilTked , " In his pragmat iC understanding of - and agenda fo r- Islam 11ncl its IlIIlflla . Mahatllir was tile best contemporary le!lc\cf In the Musli m worlcl." 71 At tIll' same l ime, Dr . Mahalhir's inteTll!ltiona l acclaim had an imponan t d01llestic dim c'nsion. lIy foc uslllg on ISIt1lllic trouble spots, Ite was abl e to contraSt th eir problems with tll c ~ u c('('ss of hi s own gove rnme nt 's Islami c policies. The implied wa rn ing, whic h he sO nlc t i l1le~ made expl icit , was t hat if local Muslims did not unite and instl'ad ft' l1 prey to differen t doc· trines, they might end up like Musli ms in Pa lcstlne, Afghanistan or Azer, lJa ijan, su lJjugatcd by Iheir cl\('l1lies, Translal('tl, that meant support the
228 MfI!,IYS;WI Milwrick
governmen t and reject I'AS, AboVl' ali, "Mahal hir's acquired status of an Islamic statesma n ~ contributed significanlly 10 "the propalo;ation of his version of ' modern ' Islam at home ",12 Sti li, tile risks involv("(l In Dr. Maha th ir's Islamization programme in Malaysia were consicierabl(', Wl1ill' he hoped to blu nt PAS's 'Ippeal for the (,stabilslune nt of an blililli c sllI te, whi ch to all non- Muslims and ~ reasonable number of Musli ms co llided witlt the notion of a Ill odern (h~ mocra cy, till' <.-o nflict with PAS pushed Malaysia in a more conse rvative direction. In trying to matc h PAS, Or. Mahathir made one concessio n after another, not just inflating and prolonging th e Islamic resurgence but allowing it to move in dangerously illiberal directions, in ways t hat ultimately were cornpletely al odds wit h tlw process o f modernization and intell('('tual growth t hat Dr. Mahathlr was seeking to promote. 1J III 1988, he amend("(l the Consti t ut ion to ra ise t he sharia courts to ~co-l'(lual ~ status with the civil law courts, wh ich was to prove his Umost fat eful , yel Il I-adviSl'(I, jnno, vation" .H Henceforth, shari a court decisions, in their o wn ar('a of ju ris, diction, could not Ix: appea led - a nd thu s revcrsed - by any action In a civil court. The Incessant UMNO, PAS co ntest raised exp<.>ctations alTl ong SOTlle Muslims that til<.' government would soon eradicate "a lilhose valurs which were regarded as un-bl'llll ic", leading to a more religlolls and puritanical order. Conserva tives demanded t he closure of nightcl ubs and discos, and attacked state-owned Radio Television Ma laysia a nd UMNO-owned TV3 over their Western -orie nted programmes and commcrcials. 75 The da nger was that Dr. Mahath lr would take one step too far and be unable 10 5tOp. Ur. Ma h"t hi r's high -wire act was m'ver more obvious t han in 1992, whell the Pi\S-da, Committl..'d to esta blishing an Islamic calipha te in Southeast Asia, Jcrn,lah ISlamyiah latcr carried out a series of bombings in IndoneSia ilnd the Philippines in which hundreds of people
Till'
f'l'ri'-~
of III'mS/I/(/li( IS/rull 229
died. Abu Saka r lla'asyir, who fl ed 10 Ma laysia In 1985, remained in the COllntry until aft!.'r Su harto fell in 1998. Accordi ng to Leslie Lopez, a Malaysian journalist whose reporlS did much to expose the shadowy network, MalaYSia n aut horiti<.-s mon itorl'(lthe group for years, but had no idea it was plotting violence. Dr. Mahath ir vet()('(\ poliC(> plans to deta in the radiCil ls beca use he had li ttle time for Suharto and did not wa nt to play into PAS's hands, LOIX'l. Swermcnt of Ihe religiolls bureaucracil's at sta tl' a nd f<.'dera l level, all fi lled with graduates of conservative Middle Enstern instit utions whose understand ing of Islam was a good deal more reactiona ry and narrow than that o f till'" priml' rni nister.1SO Staw Islamic departrtl('nts reached lx-yond supl' rvising mosques and Islam ic schools, collecting zakat, the wealt h tax, and certifying those authori zed to preach. Tlll'y l'nforccd Islamic law mudl mon.' strictly with t he ir own moral police, whose job it was to ensure Muslim s obse rved regulations relat ing to fasting, dece nt attire and klwlwa /, close proximity bl'twet>n unrelated members o f the 0PIK>Sl te sex. TI1l' muft i, an official appointed by eac h "ate administration who lI sually sat as a n ('X officio member of the state t:.xl'<"utive Council, emerged as a p.a rticularly powerfu l individual. As a jurist, he had the aut hority to issue a !C!twa, a legal opinion with the force of law."1 l or severa l reasons, including historical tension lX'twl'l'n the center and state", the jostling for aut hority and wntrol did not always follow party linl.."S. Many of the /llalllil had st udi ed In t ht: Middle E;rst togl.'thl·r and shar('{\ the sa me deeply conservat ive opinions, whetiler employeel by UMNO or PAS.u As Dr. Mahat hir dasl1ed wit h II/111m' In N;rtional Front-mnt rolk'd states as well as PAS strongholds, 11](.' ranks o f religiOUS officialdom s wdl ~'(1 inexorably, with functionaries devising new l a~ a nd rest rictions that invaded tht> most private spaces of Musli m Ilvc ~ . Rather than contributing to the opening of the Muslim mind in Malaysia, the Islamization race actuall y restricted it even fu rthcr,8J Ob jecting to "the steady encroachment of a part icularly rigid" form of Islam, Farish Noor, a Malay in({'\1{'(1.ual, complaim>d that Muslims were forced 10 negotiate "a gamu l of bureaucratic hurd les" to do t he most hasic t h in g~ Ilk<: I-\etting married . Fari~h, .. political scientist slx>t-Ia lll.ing In lslantbt politics. d e.~cribed as "pathetlc" his own th ree-day marriage clas\. 1'111 tw learned wa s "th<.' i><.'nefi t of str,)wlX'rry-flavoured condoms", while the r('ligious teach er com pared making love to playing football "in such a ridiculous way tha t I now understand how the MalaYSian footba ll team cou ld lose to Laos nil ·6~.~ Farish and a numb<.'r of Iike-Illim\l'd liberal Muslims paid dearly for having the temerity to challenge Isla mic derics and scholars. Accused by the Malay-
sian Ula rnn Ass()(;ia tion of "insulti ng [slam", they were Vt'rbally ('rship anel bra nch net work with .. lim ited budget and sheer hard work. Attr,l("t ing little puhl il"ity or praise in the mai nstream press, the party built a grassroots organization with ind ividual donations and mass support on the back of volullIt't'rs will ing to con t ribu te without monetary reward :H1 In stark contrast wilh {]MNO luminaries, 1);\5's 1I/01l1r/ leadcrs fOr thi:' mo,,' part led exemplary livt's, fR,(' of ostentation and tht.· hin t of corruption.?1
Nik Ahdull'ziz, the Kclilntan P!\S boss accus('(\ by ti lt.' govern ment of spreading religiOUS fanaticism, set tht.· ton(·. Afte r beillg elected chid mi niste r in 1990, he eschewed tilt' grand offlci,ll residence and continued 10 live in the humble wO\Xlen hOllse ill which he was born, ten ki lometres outsl,k' the. state capit
Tilt' (',,'iI~
Supreme Council meeting that expelled Anwar, and Mala ysia's forl'll1os t novelist, Shalm o n Ahmad, d l re~: t ed a politiGl1 sat ire al the pri me mi nister. It was simpl y Utled Slli l, and It b("C;utle a best seller. /\nwar's Ircalmenl dominated the dirtiest elect ion <:alllpil ign in Malaysian history, held in late 1999 aftef another year of high d rama and confrontalional pol ilks. Dr. Mahathir prepared for the poll o n 29 Novemocr by r('11I1quishing the rlTl(lnce and home affairs portfolios, appointing Abdullah R.ld,lWl deput y prime minister and resh uftll ng his Cahin('l. The ruling National Front fac<.'d a coali tio n of major opposition parties thaI fo r the firslli me was pledged to a common reform platform. Fo ur part ies - PAS, the De.tnocratle Action Party, tiH.' Natlonal JusHce Party and the small soclallst People's Part y of Malaysia - formed the Alternative Front. They naml.'d Anwar, who at tha t time had lJccn sen tenced to six years imprisonment for corruption and fac<.-d further charges In a legally disputed trial, as their leadt'r. "pan fro m the governmen t 's alleged cruelty, symboli zed by lIbiquitou~ posters of Anwar and his hlack eye, issues that figured prominently werc tlwse highlig hted by til e Ikf(lImasi movement that c rllt'rgt'{\ with the AsIa n economic crisis in 199 7 - corrup ti on, eco nomic nlisln anagcmefll , il l jll stin' and lad, of transparency and al'cou ntability. Islam was also a factor, th e prime ministe r having defin ed his deputy's d ism issal wit h the statement, "I am a better Muslim than Anwar is... .'lj A.s If to underline the point, Dr. Mahat hir and sever.l.1dose associates went on the halj to MecGl early In the year. PAS's goal of an Islamic state was not included in the manl fe~ to o f th e Alternative Front, whi ch campaigned gem'rally for vastly im proved democrati( governance. Alt hough th~ governmellt reta ined a two-thi rds ma jority in the 1'loliSe of Representatives, regarded as a necessary mini mum , UMNO suffered the worst e l('"('toral setback since t he first post -in dependence elect ion in 1959. It s parliamentary represcntatlon collapsC"d fro m 94 seal.s to 72, with four min isters and (Ive deputy minbteu bei ng defeated. In h is constituency, Dr. Mahathlr'S ma jori ty fell from 17,226 to lO,nS. OVCTilll, more thiln half t ile MalHY vote went to the o ppmitioll. PAS retained pow('r in Kclantan .md took con trol o fT rengga nu for tht' ti rst ti me Si nce 1959. Holding 27 of the 45 non-government se-ats in Parlia ment, PAS assumed the leadersh ip of th(' opposition from the [)cmocratic Action I)a rty.~' It SC('moo obvious that UMNO needed to change its policies a nd address demands fo r reform In order to rl'SCU(, the party's clai m to majorily MalilY support . Anl."Cdotal evidence, sUPl>orted by sul>Setlucnt in terviews, confi rmed that UMNO was ili('n ll ft('(\ with gros:. abuS(' of power. For exa mple, the rna lority of Muslims inH'rvlewed In TTe n ~anu who votcel for PAS sa id they cast thei r ballots in anger and frustration : Like thei r nOli-Muslim counterpa rts, they rega rded the Na lio nal Front state gowmnlent as thoroughly corru pt. They did no t vote for PAS bt..'CauS€" they wa ntoo to live in a n Islamic slil le. Q1 Dr. Ma hath ir claimed othcr\\' i ~. lie in"isted UMNO's r(,versa l was due 10
ur" l'fIISIIIUti( blmll
233
Anwar and allk'!> spr('adi ng Iil'S, Malay ingratitude and PAS's bribery in promi sing a passage to heaven for its foll()wers.~ Rather than ad mit to Ii deficient performance that might warr'lIIt a 1/1('(1 (II/P{I OW T Anwa r anc! a wiele policy frOllt, Dr. Mahalh lr embark<.'(j on what Ilt:' portfayed as a renewed mission to thoroughly Islamlzc tht' party, the government and the nation."" Alt hough popular sen ti ment dearly favourt'd good governance, PAS sometimes actl.'d as if it had received an endorsement of its Islamic state agenda. After IJart>' leaders continued to restate their intentio n to create a juridical islamiC state if they obtailllxl power at the federal level, the Democratic Action Party withdrew from the opposition coa lition, cffectlvt'ly d isma ntlin g the Alterna tive Front. At the state levl.'!, PAS demonstrat ed its (ommlt me nt by tryIng to im pose the klram;, land tax, on non·Muslims in Trenggan u, the scene of its latest elCClOral t riumph . lOo Following Kclantil n's ea rlier example, Trengganu's I'AS government forced th rough unconstitutional legis· lation adopting IlUriud, but went further by providing for the execution of apostates.IO)1 Th~ laws were "i nspired by the most conservative, narrow a nd cha uvInistic inte rpretation of the Qur'an " .102 Prodded by the Dr. Maha th irdirected federal govcrmm:.-nt, UMNO-ru\('d stat es bega n passing Isla mic Jaws th at wNe almost as harsh.10J 'I'hus was Nmodcrate" Malilysia subjected 10 an ever-escalating "IslamiC policy auction", with mounting im pIIGlt lons. 1(H From I\pril 2000, various Na tional Front-controlled state legislatures b('gil n considering their own laws to sto p Muslims from straying religiously. Periis adopted legislation, prepared in the Prime Minister's l)el>3rtmen t, which allowed the sta te's religious au thorities to liIke crimi na l proceedings aga illst Mus l im~ aCt"Used of heresy, dl.'viatioll or otlier "crimes" rdated to thei r bclieh. The bi ll provided for an accusl.'(i to be confined to il "fai th rehilbilitation ("entre N for up to a year, to a llow him o r her to be "brought back" to the proper fold of Islam. '11105(' judged unredeemable would be declared a\>osta tes and lose their rights as MusH msYl5 A 1I10re extreme version of the law, which would have allowed for the prosecutio n of a Musli m accused of m isleading fellow Muslims to vOle for an 0 PIXlsitiOn party, was considered during thc dcba tc. 106 Johore provld('d fo r caning and ja il sent ences fo r le~bians, prostitutes a nd pimps, and fo r those found gu ilt y of sodomy, pre-marita l st'x and Incest. 1U7 At a spe<"ial m<''(.'ling, UM NO agrCl..'<1 to int T{x luce fu ll Islamic lilw, incl uding IIl11lwl. in t he state at an appro prlatt' ti rne. ,,'" In Pahang, all Muslim businesSt.'s were required to dose during evening prayers, and in Malacca lhe ~ t a te government issued an <.'(!ict d irecti ng aI/ female employees, no n-Musli ms Incl uded, nott"O rev(,'al thei r elbows and knl'Cs.I(fI) The federa l government bega n monitOring mosqucs to cmure thaI the standard sermon was delivered, and to k('Cp tabs on o ther acth'H it's. In 200 1, IS Muslims were chargl'\l in the sharia court (or contrawll ing an order by the h'deral Territory Islam ic Council reRardlng I riday praycrs. It was a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years In lail or a hefty fine, to pray scparatd y fro m the main congr('g
"/1.e I'('(ib or II i'fct;lIIalic blt",r 235
Ihe pray~rs - a PAS laclic, Ahhough then' was no ba!'is in Islam for nimi nalizing such dera l government rC(]uest to ban Islam from the naul(.'S of po litka l parties. The governmellt kept the heat 0 11 PAS in thr~aten i ng to criminalize the party's "religious extr~misrn" by uSillg til{' P{'nal Code, which prohibits uttering words to dclilx'riltely wound religious f('(' lings or cause dishannony. In linotht'r move to check "extl'€'mism" - and PAS - Dr, Mahalhir ill latl' 2002 halted state fu nding for private Islamk schools, hoping to strangle them rlilancially and encourage thdr student body of up to IOU,OOO to at lend "natio nal" :.chooh instead. III I laving abandoned its historically moderate position in the course of the ~truggle with I'I\S for Islamic k'gitimacy, UMNO teetered o n tl\(' brink of radicalism. On 29 Septe-mlx:r 2001. two wel'ks afll'r Islam ic t('noris!s moun tl'(i devastating suidde attacks on N{'w York and Washington, Dr, Mahathir "le[>I'I('(1on Ihe- diff by dl'Claring Mlilaysia an "Islamic SI'1l1("'. Although he had Ohl'll saId Ih(' Silm(' Ihing l>efor(', and he no doubt sought 10 oUlflank PAS tactlca lly aher de-daring ail-oul support for the UnIH.'d Stiltes in \1l(' ~wilr on tcrror" that follow('{1 "Scptcmbl'r I I", Dr. Mahllthir was serious this ti me, l ie made the an nouncclllent at a m('t'ting of Parti Gerakan RakY,lt Malay"i il, :11\ UMNO coalition partner, and call1'd a gathering of all National Front members to endorse the move, lie latef told P:uliament that Malaysia ""'
the party's hardllne image. Until then, PAS had Ix.'t'n ahlc to tiptOC around the subject by pointing to liS{'onstitution, which identifi('(j the pa rty's objcclive as a vague and more benign "' Islamic society". Any dlallce of persuading the public that P'\S's Islamic state would be modeTiltl' was lost when Fadz.ll Mohamacl Noor, th e party's a('commodative pr{'sidellt, di('(l in 2002 a nd was replaced by the conscrvaUVl' Abdu l Hadi Awang, d llcf minlSIN of Tn'ngganll. While the PAS plan did not slR'ciflcally mentiOll a th('OCralic state. the press portrayed it other.....lse,lI l and !lalli's advocacy of Iw rflld and dea th for apostasy in Trengganu gave thc party an uncompromising facc, Although I'AS condem ned the "Scptembcr II" attacks, a party Init iative to declar!:' non-violent jihad against the United States after it!> Invasion of Mghanistan, toget her with its support for al-Qaeda's Qs.lma bin l.o1den ancl the Mullah Omar-led Taliban regime, further lJ.luered Ihe p.lrty's reputation as a respons, ible, democratic Illov{'nl{~nt d<.'
2]6 Ma/u phlll Maverick
Yet n either Abdullah's huge ma jorit y no r Islam lIadhari's stress on univerSil1 values would arrest th(" advanCl' of a strict Islatllist ideology, which h ad built up m o m e ntum over a couple o f decades and taken o n a life o f its OWII . Rig h teous o ffic ia ls in b loated fed era l Mid state re ligio us bu rea ucracies raided h omes in the \lam e o f moral polici n g, spli tting fam· ilies where spouses were of diffe rent fai ths and sepa rating children from th eir pa re nts. III No n · Musli m s who soug ht legal red ress were stymied by Dr. Mah ath ir's 1988 con stit ut ional ame ndme n t giving shari a and civil courts m utua lly exclusive jurisdictio n . Civil courts generally refused to hea r cases in volving fam ily and Islam ic m a tte rs, even where non·Muslims were Irying to free th eir wives from reh abilita tion ce nters or recover the ir chil· dre n . In w h at amounted 10 a rebuke to th e Mahath i r ad m inislration, Judge Abdu l lIa m id Mohamad said in a ru ling in the Fed era l Court, Ma laysia's highest cou rt , that Parliament sho uld act to define jurisdictions clearly, rather tha n ex pect ttle coutlS to resolve the issue. I 1M In a closely-fo l.l owcd case, a Malay convert to Ch ri stiani ty was denied th e right to Swi tch religio ns. Afte r converti ng at 26 and bei ng ba ptized in 199B, Azl ina jaila ni applied to have her conversio n legally rerognizt'd . Altho ugh her n ame Change to Lina Joy was accepted in 1999 and noted on her id entity card, her change of religion was no t. Hop ing to Jlve open ly as a Christian, !lhe fi led sui l in the Fed e ral c.ourt, bu t in 2007 it (e jected I\(.'r appeal to h ave t he word " Isla m" deleted fro m th e document. Two judges sa id in thdr ma jo rity d i?Cision that "a person cannot, at one's wh ims and fan cies, renounce or em b race a religion". " 9 Un able to reJllove the legal ba rrier to marryi ng her Christian fla IH:(: - he wo uld have h ad to conv('rt to Isla m - Lilla Joy is bciieved to have gone abroad to sta rt d down those extre m ists hc conside red a th rea t to h is in terests, Abdullah gov· erned paSSively ami II..'I religious zealots m ock h is claim to be h eadi ng a mod· cra te Musli m administratio n. He seemed u mtblc to resist pressures to increase lll(' pace and ranse of Islamization . All policewomen, regardless of race and religion, wcrc rcqu ired to wear the trad itional tmillll.'( he,u.l-<.IIVt'ring for o fficia l func tions. Mainstrea m books were bannl'd, ilmong them three by lIritish rell· gious writer Karen Armstrong descrii:x.'(\ by Chandra Muzaffar, a public in tel · kallal, as "intellectually illuminating and fai r in their treatment of Isl'II11 ". 120 Whcn Islamk militan ts dem onstrat ed against a ttem p ts to h o ld an inler·faith dialogue organi zed by "Article 1 1", a coalit ion of 13 religious a nd huma n righls grou ps named after the constitutiona l ilrticle that guarantees religious fret.'(\om, Alxlu llall b
Tilt' " ..dls
u{
1/
I'WSllllll ic Islmll 237
the firestorm ignited by Deput y Pr im c Minlstl'r Najib Razak's CO I111Ill'nt on 17 Ju ly 2007. III.' silid Ma laysia was an Is lami c state and had lIeVCr been s('cular.1!l It co ntradicted the historical rl'(·ord a nd ~p lit t h e Ca binet and the commun ity. In Alxlullah e.'( pressed h is opin ion, that Malaysia was neither a lheo c rat ic nor a secular state but a pa rUame nlary d emocracy, imp liCi tly repudiat ing both h is predecessor a nd successor. llJ After SO years o f indept'ndence tha t included 22 yea rs of Dr. Mahathi r trying to reinvent Islam and out· p ra y PAS, Millaysia's record o f religious and radill tol('rance was under scriOlls threat.
Notes Patricia Marli n!.''!:, ~]>erhap" He [kscrv('() Bctu·r: The Disjunctu re bctlo'."{'c n Vision and Reality in Mahathir'$ bla m ~ . in Bridget Welsh. ed., Rrlit-cli/J/Is: n,,' MII/mllli, Yo:ars (Washi ngton: $outhcalt Asia Studics Progr.lln, I'a ul I I. N i tze School of Adv
:I
Ihid" p, 30. F.. ri ~ h /\, Nuur, "I-low Mahalhi T Became
· M ' (Kuala Lumpu r: SIIIIl"rfIShbooks, 20(2),
pp. 142- 144 4
5
PatriC ia Mar tin!'z, "Pt'rhilps Ht, l1('s!.'r\'l'd llrtt(-r", p. J6. Jo hn Funston, NMalaysiil ", in Greg fealy and Vir~ i n l a Hooker, N S, V O;C('S /If bl/lm ill Soll//I("ust A sia : II O Ill/t"lIIpUntf)' SfIIlrtd'(I(lk (Sillgal>Otl·: InstllUt(' of
Sout heast Asian Studies, 20( 6), p. 54. M . Suiiall l-1 ashim, - The Rclatiom hi p l>C'tw('(' n
1 ~l am and th e State in Mal
6
BakU Sdn . Bhd., 1987), p. 3. R.S. Mllnt' amI Dia n(· K. Maul Y, M'I /aysidll {'lIlilio Ulli/a Md/Wflri r (Lon(lon : Routledge, 1999), p, 83, 1-1 Joh n Fu nSto n , ~ [>o1i l ical Carl'('rs of Mahalhi r Mohamad and Anwal Ibrahi m: PMa tlel, I ntcrs~'i.· lins and Con lli<;ting U w s", IKMAS Working Papers (1n stltu tl' of M;] layslan olnd I n ternati o nal StUU il'S, Univcrsi ti Kcb;]lllo;saan M;llay si a), I 'J
no. IS (july \ 99!-\): i- ill, 1- ]2 , 15 Ibld _ 16 Ibid, 17 Mahathir bin Moh:Hllild, Till' -"'IalilY Oilt'lllI/1eI (Sillgapon:: Timc ~ 1Iooks Int('rn
(976).
t9 Ma hilth ir Mo ham.ul, TI,.. C/IIII/("11.'.:" (Petall ngl;,ya: Pc\anduk I'uillicut iuns (M) S<.ln Ilhd., 1986). 20 Mahat hir bill Mohalllad, Til(" ,'>Ia/ay Vifl'IWIIII, p. 173. 2 1 Ibid., pp. 1S7_1n .
238 MlIl"piul/ ,\ f(/\wi(k
22 23
2-1 25 26 27 28 29 .iO
]I .12
33 3-1 35 :\(. .17 3H 39 -10 41 42 4:1. 44
45 46 47 4f! 49 SO 51 52 5J 54 5.'i
56 57 51:1
Ibid .. p. In. 1'11t rl("10I Martlne/., "Mahathir, Islam, ,md tlu.' Nl' ..... Milla y Dilemma", in 1-10 Khal 1.L·Hng ,1ml Ja nw~ Chin, ed~. Mulwril il'~ IIlilllilli.>!mlioll: 1'(",fu rt/wl/n' al/(l e risl, hI C;UI~'f ll(/II(C' (Sln~arml.': Tl111l'" MC'dla I' tl'. Ltd., 2(101), p. 22 J. Em'l1l currC\j:Mu\lklln' with Grel: [b rion, lIerb Fl.'ilh R\':>('iH("h I'rofl.'ssor lor Ih(' Stud y of Intlolll:·sla. Mo nas h U f\l\'('r~lly, -I Ju nl.' 200K. Ma halh lr Mo ha mad, l1tr (;/wllerlgl', p 64. !'atrlcla \-lilfll nez. - ••-I:Ihal hl r, Islam, and th e New Malay Oilelllllll ~, p. 22]. MOI hat hir Mohamad, 11u- C/wlll'11:':<'. fl. 74. [bid., p. 8Z. Email corrl" IJOndenn' with Grl.'g Jlart o n , 4 Jmlt' 2008. Musa 1Il1,1t11, oWl' W eR' l'ollo\\'l.'rs", 1:", f(.s/crt/ i:cWl!llIIic R....'i.'w (Iwreafl er j·fER), 9 October 2C)OJ <: h t Ip:ll\\'wIV. fl'C r.com/a rl lde~/ZOITS/031 0_09/p02-1 region.ht 1111> «Icn~Sl"d 19 j.m uary 2006). K.S. Mil ne OInd m OIne 1\. Mauzy, Mlllllpltllll'fJlilio Umk, Malmll,i,. p. 85 . Kh oo Boo "["e lk, I'm aao;tt'.\ of ~·ltlll"thirhlll: 1111/1111'1/1'("/1101 /lifJ.l:fupll)' 01 ,\ llIluull/l Mv/mll/illi {KUilla Lum pur: Oxford Unl \'~'r' i ty I're~s, 1995), p. 161 . ItS. Mll nt' .md Diane K. Ma uzy. ,\/ul"J'~/(I/I /'l)liIk\ U,I.le( ,\-tallo /iJir, p. R5. 1';ltricla M~ rt lnez, " Mahathlr, Islam, il nd the N<:w M .. lay Dilem ma" , p. 21S. Mah"lhir Mo lldmad. sJX"l'Ch at UMNO G('ncral t\~~(' m b ly, \0 S('p lemh.:r 1!,l82. R.S. Miln t IIllwllllflllll, p. 162. Shant1 Nair, 1,1<1111 ill MIII"),,,",, I:/lfl'lpl l'v/i0' (loll/ldOll: Ho ulkdge, 1997), p. 91 . l'atr h::lll Marlillo:, "M«hathlr, Isltl/(\, lind tIl(' !\l'W M;llay Dill·mllla", I'. 2] 2. Ihid., p. 2.n . Ibid., p. 235. Mah.lt h ir Mo ha mad, Spl"t''C h ill UM"O G(" neral Assem bl y, 8 Novemh("1 1991. Zai nudd in \ l aid in, 111(' 01/1('" ~h1r u{ ....,,,11l11l1i, (Kuala Lumpur: UUllKtI1 I'uhlk,ulons « D lst ribu l or~ Sdn. 11M., 1990\), I'p. 1 1 9~ 120. IblC of an Imt1'Hl, Ikvalhi \"a~sal, 29, Ihe Ilaugh wr o f Muslim (O!\wrt \ who w a~ ra bl'
'nll' "rnls of " 1'/"II.(lIIdlk Id lml 239
59 (,0 61 62 63 M 65 66 67 68 69
70 71 72 73 74 75 7(.
77 71:\ 79
IW 81 82
8J
84 85 K6 87 88 89
takl.'n from Reva lh l '~ II lndu h\L~bal1d and gl wn to her Mu\lhn l)3 rl.'ll lS-. Reva thi said th'lt d urin~ her ticll'!!lio n il1 lall·lilo.e conditions, ~he was denk'll visi tors ilnd religio us offid nh tried 10 force her 10 pray, l-'I't' lr a hcad:r 180 Da» ill De tcl1t.oll for '\I)()sl asy ~, Kyodv Nt'lvS, 6 Ju ly 2007 f harx lie lk served lkH er ~, p. 37 . l3lnah l\ nlViH, HDon 't I.e! MOl!.:ra lC' Islam Ge t 1I1I<1 cl;e lacc~5t.'(1 24 NuVt'J ubt."r 20(5) . Zaill udd in M Unwin, 1996), p, I72. Ibid., p. 172, In 62. Ema il rorrcspo ndclln" wit h '-<,-slie 1.( 1)1.'i'., :I May 200K. ~hanll Nair, 1.1111111 i/l MI.llly~ illll Fur{'i.~/I /,ol/cy, p. 4:1. t::m all Cortt.'l> IJOndcllc(' wilh Grcg Barton, 4 Junc 2008. Jo hn ~'un ston, - Ml laySia M, V"icl"I of /dlllli ill !wtlllIC'lI5/ Asi,/. p. 55. Patricia A. Ma rt inez, "'Tilt· IslamiC Stall' or t he Stalt' o f Isla m In Malaysia ", Cmllemll(}l"llrySvIl/l/j'aSI Asia 2.1 , no. :t (rx.'C('mix-'r ZOOlJ: 478. I'arish A. No or, - I'AS l'ost· Fat17jl Nom: Futu re Directions and \'rospects '". in '('('lilts ill S(lIl1hMSI I\~ifl, no. 8 (August 2OOZ), Institule of Southeast A.\ian Stud it'S, p. IS. F:lrls h 1\. Noor, " PharisC"l's 'It My DOOl~ , ln '/lIt'Ollla M llfursi,I, pp. 250-25 1. I'arlsh A. Noor, "'Th ..'rt· Was Once a I( l'Ilgl~," Called Science: 1\ Fah l ~' for Qur TroUbled l lmcs", in Tilt' OOwr MIII"y~ill, p. ] 19. Hlrold ClOueh , Gov('fIlmrlll & 5Qckty III MIII"y-du. pp. 169-170. f.mai\ corresponde nce wilh Greg Balloll, .. June 2008. I';ltrlda Ma rlinez, "Mahllthir, h ilull, and the New Ma lay l)il ~mll1 a H , Jl. 247. I)at rlda Marlil1 Cl~ "P('rllaps He lX'S<'TV('d HeUer", p. 32.
240
90
91 92 93 94 9S 96 ~7
91:1
99 100
10 I 102
103 104 lOS
106
107 1<»1 109
110
I II 1/ 2 113 11 4 115 116 117 118 119
MII/(/y,~hm M(/~wi(k
1111! /'rrils o{ II /'IIISlIlIIli. h/lim 241
Fa ris h A, Nom, '''Malaysia 1I01 eh)' - I',\S and Ih(' Malay~ian Success Story", in Tlw Oliter MfllllYS;II, pp, 127- 12.'1. Patricia 1\. Martinez, "The Islamic State or tho.: Stat l: of Islam in Malaysia", p. 480. Stcph~n Duthie, "Kd antan Chid 1'S(.: hew.~ Sh owy Trappings", AWSI, 11:\ FebruiHY 199 1. john Funston, ~ Ma l aysi a's Tenth Electio ns: Stat us Quo, H.efom",si or islamIzation?·, COlllempomry SOl/theast Asit! 22, no. I (April2O(X): 26. 38. I:arish 1\. Nom, " H ow Mahathir I\ecame 'Maha7.ali m'·, in n/(, Ollu~r MU/flys/(I. pp. 14~ 1 45. UIII.WIIl M'I/I'y~ia, 2:\ Scpternlx',r 1998, cih -d in John Funston, "Malaysia's Tenth Eh:cti()ns", p. 37. John Fu nsto n, - Malaysia '5 Tenth Elections", p. 51. Patricia /\ . MattilHn, "The Islarnk' Sta te or th e Statl' of Islam In Malays ia p.480, John I'unslo n, " Malaysia's Tenth Ell'Ctions", pp. 56-57 , I'atricia Martinez, "Maha tillr, [slam, and the Nt,,,,, Malay Dill'lIlma", p, 245. Ahmad Fa uzi Abdu l Hamid, "The Islam ic OppOSitiOn in Mala ysia: New Trajcc. tolil'S and Dir('(:tionsr, p, 4, paper prcwntC'd at a S('mina r on "Islam in Malays ia" at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang T('(: hnological Univcrslty, Singapore, I I September 2007. Farish A. Noor. HI'AS I'ost-I'adzll Noor: I:u turc Dircctio ns a nd l'IOSP('C ts U, p. I:t Shad Sa1t:em I'a ruq i, uRemov lng th e Confusion Between Rad ical and Toleran t u Islam , in " Perspectives on I)octrlnal and Strategic Implicatio ns o f Global Islam ·, Trmds in .')(mlllt'llsl Ash" no. I I (2003), Instit ute of Sou th east ASian Studl~, p. 19. Yukiko Ohashi, "Malays ia : The Elusive Islamic State
ff
,
,
ff
,
W
,
Case", The Malay~iaH I~r dmp:llwww.mala).5ian bar.org.my/ indcl( .php?optlon ... l'Om _dOCmanN tas k-cllt_vll'w&gid:c38015:I te mid", 120:> (accesed 9 April 2009). 120 Inte rview with Chandra Muz<1frar, 22 ~plernlx'r 2007. Til\' three books: '/111' H
and MlllwlI1l11m/; A
/lio.~Tl If'hy 0,-
Ih" I'rol,lle/.
Hazlin Hassan, "Malaysia an Islamic Stale, and Never has h('(:n Sl.'"l·ular: Najlb Till/t':;, 18 Ju ly 2007. 122 Carolyn Hong, "1.cadl'r.5 M ust Speak Up on I{\' li gi ou~ Is.~u(>s: Minister" , Stuli/oS Timr?s. 18 ,' uguS t 2007. 12:5 UMalays\a Ncltll(' r S('c ular no r Theocratic State, says Alxlullahu. SlIlIJtlY Times, 5 August 2007. 12 1
N
Straits
,
II
10 A Strident Voice for the Third World
Gnl' in dication that Malaysia'S place in the wo rld would change (Ir<1stica ll y under Dr. MalHlthlr came early, as the U.s. ambassador in Kuala Lum pur
made a courtesy call on the newly installed prime min iste r. The ambassad o r chf..'c rfu l1y i nforrt1 ("(1 him that, though it was not easy, h(' was m aking arrangl'men l ~ for Dr. Mah:l thlr to !lweI with President Ronald Reagan in Washington. Alt hough an aud lt: nce with tile leader of the Fr(:c World was t he Imprimat ur
so ught by the head of almost ('very nOIl-('''OIlHn unist gove rnmen t, "[ didn't wa n t to hay!' anything to d o with Am('rica ,~ Dr. Mahathir said la ter. lie told hl~
Foreign Ministry to IC'II the ambass., dor Iw would not visit I he United
State!> anytime soon . I It was no t ~o much that I)r. Mahat hir was anti-American, though a n'n!ra l st rand In his internationa l outlOOk - '" was deliberately against people who w it'lli a bIg sllck"2 - ensured he would clash often with the United States. It was more a case of Dr. Mahathir bei ng sceptica l o f Ihe W(."St In general, and more than a little miffed by Ihe am bassador's :lJiSlllllption Ihal Mal aysia would do what was cxpcrted o f it. The fai lu re 10 a<:knowledge Malaysia's indelX'ndellt stat us was a cardinal sin in Dr. M a hath lr'~ book, an a ffront 10 him, th(' Malays aTld tIl(' entire nation. "'The big count rics take you for granted, so llwtimes look u pon you with disdai n", whilf' small cou nt rl('S ~ap prc-ciat(' the fri(,l\d s h i p ~ mOT(', he said.' With an instinct of sympathy for the unde rclog, wh ilt' sc(' king respect and retaliating agaInst clllyonc perceived to have givcn offence, nr . Mahilthlr r{'posl tiuned MalaYSia, forging il more inc!epenclen t and activist foreign policy. A SllIall country in a di stimt corner of the wo rld, MalaYSia IHIII(; lIcd ilhove ih wl' lght, acqui ring 1llilny of th(' attributes of " rnidd le power.~ It was drlwn hard a ud ,I Imost solo by Dr. M:lh(l th ir, who rdused to mOdify his abrasive and outspoken ~t yl e for the sakl' of diploma tic etiq uette . More than any other 1I01I-Western polilic.11leadcr of his time, wrote politica l sc:ie ntistJohan Saravanamultu, Dr. Maha\hi r prov('d to be ~ tlw quintessential iconoclast of world politi cs".~ 242
.~lrir"'"1
"(liet' fvr 1111: "l"l!ird IVm"ld 24J
In essence, Or. Ma hathi r was continuing a nationalist ic line in Malaysian fore ig n po licy, wh ich he aggressi ve ly irn provi"ed and pugnaciously deliv ered, that could be traced to the 1969 racia l riots, when pro-llritish Prime Ministe r Tu nku Abdul Rah m an effectively lost power. The Tunku's rivals who took over set about ca rvi ng out ,I distinctive role for the country in internat io na l affairs.6 Conrlde n t that Malaysia 's political mat urit y and !>t.mdiug justified a more independent ex pre .... ion in t he international :Irena, Ihe post- 1970 leadership sought recognit ion and acceptance as an equaL ' Ur. Mahathir, neyer one to d o ;rnytll ing by halvt.'s, came close to dt'ma nding it. The cou ntries that found it hardest to ad just to t h(.' c hange were thoS<' Inclined 10 look bilCk no~talgically to the Tunku y(.'ars, especially IJritain and }\ ustraliil." Often cOlTe
21'1 MII/lly.siml M(lvt'rick
Or, Mahathir S<.'(·mt'd lO suggest, gett ing rid of a massive inferiority complex, a colon ia l legacy he appeared to share with the rest of the count ry, rC'tlectcd in his references to the peoples of the West as "whites" . While indulging in such "protest diplomacy", t hough, Dr. Mahathir rarely l{'Qpardizt-'d Malaysia'S oore inte rests. li e a rtfu lly operated on a double track, maintain ing :.ollnoIlcy goals.1J Ghaza li, who served as permanen t secretary of t he Foreign Ministry hefore entering politics and had ex tensiVe regional contacts ,md friends in Wll~h in g t on a nd London, com plained priva tely a bout whal " lIIounted to a Change in diplomatic culture. 14 Dr. Ma hathir bypassed not only the Foreign Mi nist ry but also his Cabinet in launching some of his most spectact ll:lr foreign initiatives. Before Or. Ma h:uh lr took over, little was known of his views on foreign affalr5 a nd defe nce. As a backbenche r, he had shown an avers ion for militarism - Indeed, paCifist tendencies. t ~ I-Ie was among the nat io nali sts who criticized Tunku Abdul Ra hma n for ma intaining dose (-'conomie and security tics wit h iJri tain after 1957. Dr. Ma halh ir accuscd the Tunku o f having an "a pron ·string com pie ... " that betrayed a lack of confidence in independen l Malaysia .11> li e W il S on record describi ng the consu itat iVl' Five
A Strir/t'lJt V(};((' {ur til(' Third World 245
Power Oefence Arrangements - linking Britain, Australia and New Zea land to proH.·ct Singapore and Malaysia - as writ ten on a ~ worthleS!i scrap of paper", because th ey offered 110 protection against ~ th e very real threat" of co mmu nist iosurgency. 17 But on assuming the Malaysian leadership in strategically uncertain times - the Co ld war and Sino·Soviet rivalry stil l gri pped East Asia - Dr. Mahathir made himself defence minister and took a caut ious line. Ht' made no move to abandon the flve-powN pact - in fact, he later strengt hened it - or to remove Australian and New Zealand forces from Malaysian soil. Dr. Mahathir also o rdered the occupation of the first o f several a to lls and islets to stake Ma laysia's claim to part o f the hot ly disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea . Six yt:'ars after the American defeat In Viet nam, the As~ocj;lti on of So\ltheast Asia n Nations (ASEAN) was coope rating with China and Ihe Un ited States in tryi ng to force Viet namese troops to withdraw from Cam bodia. Dr. Mahathir, however, looked aska nce at China, which had attackL"(l Vietnam in retaliation, merely to teach HanOi "a lesson". Beijing was known to be hel ping Malaysian Chinese visit China clandestinely in breach of Malaysian law. Beij ing was also giving moral suplX>rt to the spu ttering, pn."(!ominantly-Chinesc commun ist rebellion in Malaysia, despite Kuala Lu mpur's fo rmal recognition yea rs earl ier of the People's Republic as the sole govern ment o f China. Or. Mahalh ir declared the Chinese not only a threat to Soulheast ASia, but a greate r da nge r than Vietnam. ls li is was not only a minority view, but was also expressed without the customary consultation with ASEAN. With Foreign Min ister Gha7..ali scra mbling to explain to his startled regional counterpa rts the new prime minister's comments, the episode was a sha rp reminder that as leader Dr. Mahat hir would sometimcs play the diplomatiC game by his ow n rules. Two years earlier, at the height of the "bOat people" eXodus frOIll Vietnam, he had shocked the international community by declaring that Malaysia would arm itself wit h the power to "shoot on sight" refugees attem pting to land on its shores. Although Dr. Mahathir claimed privately that he had been "misunderstood", he dt"Clined to retract or clarify his outburst. saying it had served a purpost> by drawing attention to the severity of the refugee problem. 19 Malaysia announced a fresh sct of fo reign-policy priorities that were supposal to rellect, in order of Im portance, Dr. Mahathi r's global view: /\sfA N, then a five-member group that was struggling to represent a Southeast Asian region split ideologically after recent communist revolutions in Vietnam, Cambodia alld Laos; the Orga nization of the Isla mic Conference (Ole), an Intergovernmental outfit seeki ng, fairly unsuccessfull y, to promote and protect Muslim interests; the Non-Aligned Movement , a collection of developing COUll tries t rying to survive in a bipolar unlvene; ;u)d the downgraded ComH101lwealth of Nations, usually known
246 MlIlllr;it", Mmwic/i.
A scant t hree mont hs after ta king office, Dr. Mahathir snapped Malaysia ou t of its pro-West default position LlY institu ti ng a I~u y lIritish I.ast policy, '\ny governmen t purchase frolll Britain 11(Id to be referred to his oflict' fo r clea rance, togethe r wit h an altern ative, non -Brit ish tendN . FOUT months lat er, Dr. Mahathir dro pped t he other shoe by unVl'il ing the Loo k Ea st po li cy, nOlllinati ng Japan as till' country from which MalaYSia cou ld learn and benefit most as it indu strialized. So whi le Malaysia looked East with fre sh eyes, it also symbolically turned its back on the West as represented by Ihe forrnl'T colonial power, tC'mpor,nil y al least. I\s Malaysia 's major t rad ing partner a nd biggest investor at the timc, Brita in was a risky target for punit ive action. Malaysia had bt"t..'n a member of the Commonwea lt h Since independe nce, and Britain was t he coulltry of choice fo r most Malaysiilrls st udying abroad. The Brit ish had ddcnded Malaysia during Con frontat ion with ImlOllesla and throughout the CO I11 munist insurgency. and Kuala I.umpur still had joint defence arrangl'nl (,l1 ts with l.Q Jldon.'w Dr. Mahath ir, however, rt'garded lIritain as a nati on in precipitate decli ne, a long way fro m its glory days :~ \ Wh ile Japan in ma ny ways was a logil"al developmen t model , it did not fig ure ,II all in the prior ity llst. From the ashes of World War II, Japan had riSC'1l to become the world's st'cond -[a rgest economy, turning out prod ucts from cars to computers and l-aSsettt.'s t hat were conquerin g all Illarkets. Singapore, ever ready to seizt' a competit ive erlgt', launched a "Learn From Ja pan " c;u np,lign in 1978, and even some Americans werl' suggesting they should im itate selected Japanese production and managerial methods. Fur Dr. Mahathir, Japan also had some less obvious attractions that he had not ed on trips to the country as trade and industry minisu'T. The capitalist system that Japan practiced was strongly d irect ed by the state, while still allowing the private sector to flo urish, ill l·ontra st with the laissez· fa ire approach inherited from Tlritail1 and gellerally favoured by the West. Critically, Dr. Mah,l\hir beliewd 1l0l juSt Britain but tht' West itse lf wa s no lo nger worthy of auto mat ic emulati on . lie t heorized that the postWorld War II loss of colonies and th(:' wealth th at we nt with them deeply affcrtt'd the Wes\cfIl psyche. Moreover, the U.s. clt'bade in Vietna m undermi ned self-confidencc and further "<:.-n feeblcd " Wes tern spi rits. Over time, Dr. Mahathi r o bserved, despondent Western powers had abandoned t he values, systems and qualltics tha t made them grl'at - for one th in& opting fo r unli mit ed freedo m over disci pline. Their decline was re.l1ccted in a new gene ration "sport ing sh irts and jeans that are unseeml y, torn, patched, d irt y and o ld ", and young men with long hair a nd in worn slippers or ba refoo t. What disturbed I)r. Mahath ir was that ASians, Malays included, were mi ndlessly aping t hese "bad" h'lbits.22 "The East is now going through a phase in which independence in the physical sense has bee n achieved bu t the infl uence of Western impe ria lism is still pervas ive," he wrote in tbe 1970s.lJ
A Suidcr/l Vv in' /OII/'" IMrd IVQII(/ 2 '17
Loosen ing the stralHhtjacket of colon Ial thinking wa s an ll llst,tlcd aim of Look East and lilly Briti sh la st. As an e ndo rSing editoria l in the New Straits Ti '/I(~s comme llt ed , "Only Anglophi les are likely to be ll a bbt: r~as t ed ... Tllt'ir bias ha!i bee n in hc rited frOIll ano t!wr era under I'ax ijritann ica". ~~ The twi ll moves had the desircd effect. shocking the Ma laysian est ablishment to the core..l5 Or. Ma hat hir le t it be know n that Buy Brit ish l.ast was the result of negative British a ltitudes towards Malaysia built u p over a lo ng period . One sort' point was the start of a London-Singapore supc honi<: Concorde service on a temporary ro ute through Malaysian air space in 19 77: Thc llriti slt " neve r askl'd us, neve r even in form ed liS" . he said. 2b Tlw prime m inister was also irked by the imposition of hig her tuit ion fees fo r fore ign . non European [con omlc Community studen ts in lIritain, among thcm thousands of govcrnment-sponsored Ma laysians. He was unhappy, 1'00, a]xlut the treatment of MalaYSian offki llis vi siti ng the UK, .111([ the way two promlm'nt Bri t ish ra mpa ni(·s had restructured under thc NelV Economic I'ol icy ( N EP) wit ho ut giving preference to bumiputras. Britain's refUs.l i to gram Ma laysia addit ional landing rights at I kuthrow airport was also rC'SCnt<.·d. The last straw was the London Stock Exchange's revision of its takeover cod(> "hartly after ;t Malaysian stalc-owned corpo ration ilcquired vCllerabk British pla ntation com pany Guth rie Corporatio n in a fo ur-hour share-buying blitz in 1981. dubbed a "dawn raid" by crit ics. To Dr. Mahalhi r, the int roduction of it sevenday waiting period suggested the Mitlil}'Sians had acted improperl)·, and that the British wanted to block sim ilar actions in future. It was l's ptcia ll y galling to Dr. Mahat hir that Guthrie management, Ihe British governTllent ,Lnd sollle newspapers ca lled till' purchase back-door, Or subtle, national iZ.1tiOIl. lie considered nationalization unethical , and ,lilY hint of it likely to deter investors, Reg ardles~ of those irritations, Dr. 1I.·1,l l1athir was bound 10 adjust what was often called a special rel atio nship, whic h It e regarded as unequal. Il l' !lad no l'ompuncUon about seve ring the sen timental attachment s 10 Britain held hy Tunku Abdul Rahma n and h is two successors, all of whom w\:'re liritish-educaled and from tht' traditional Ma lay ruling class. Far from sharing their unquestioning a ttiludt' to Brit ish intentions towards Malaysia, Or. Mahathir, the outsider, always suspectt'd the worst. until it was proven o therwise. Not tha t his fiercely anti~colon la l outlook was the result of personal experiencc. Uy h is own telli ng, he en joyed a hap py childhood under the British an d "yearned" fo r t heir return a fter Japan 's defeat in World War Il.u Dr. Mahat h ir'~ expla nation fo r the dept h of his rescntment - he realized l\ri!ish weakness during the swift Japanese co nquest oi Malaya, and "I lx'<.:arnt' very agitated" after the war when Ihey Irit'd to im pose the Malaya n {Jnlon"l8 _ was true enough but illsurt'tclcnl to expla in h is cOJlversion . Aft(>r all, when the Ma la yan Union proposal di ed within two yea rs, most of hh (on tempora ries moved o n.
II Srri.i(,tU "via (lJI' til(' T/tit,1 Worlol 249
What really bothered Dr. Mahathi r was hi s Ix'rception tha t colon iza tion had left Malaysia wit h a " psychological burden" that weighed heavily long aft er the colo nia lists had rl'trC'ated: " the belief that only Europeans could govern our coun try effC'Ctivdy". What was need ed. he said, was "dccoloni7.alio n of the mind". Dr. Mahathir said, "Most Asians fe lt in ferior to t he Europt'an colonisers ... Asia was a region without pride and self-confidence, .. ",1:'> Changing that m indsct - the nearest Dr. Mahathir came 10 explaining what he saw as a na tional inferiority com plex - and restoring pride and confiden<.:c, infused much of h is policy making. Th is expla ined Dr. Mahathir's willingnes.'i, even eagerness, to forgive the Japanese for the suffering they inmct(~ on Millayil from 1941 to 1945. Whilc they awa kened national consciousness illld exp<.'d ited the struggle for independence, Japanese troops co mm itted a number of mil$sacrcs and atrocities during their occupation.JO In addition to transferring the four northe rn Malay states toThailand, leavi ng the Malays in a m ino rity in both cOlInt ries,JI the Japanese exacerba ted in ter-et hn ic tensio ns and conflicts,JZ Their use of Ma lay policemen against t he guerrillete with the Eu ropeans on an C
Ever ready to make ame nds for Ma laysians who had felt "Ihe bille rness and pain of life as a coloni7.OO people\J7 Dr. Mahathir ta rgeted a symbol tha i had long offended his nationalistic sensibi lit i<.'S: "Carcosa", a magnificent colon ial house on a hill above Kuala Lumpur's Lake Ga rdens. 8uilt in 1904, it was tradit ionally home 10 Britain's most senior representative. Tunku Abdul Rah man had presented the deeds 10 the mansion and surround ing acr('s to the Hritish government in 1956, a goodwill gesture that was anathema to those who fel t Malilysia was extending to Britain "t he ultimate in privilege and status" t hat was denied to o ti1l'f govern ments. '1Il They also believoo that the gift of the highest po int in the capital "had a nt'galive psychologka l (,(fen on the Ma laysian peoplc",J9 As soon as he got the ch
in 19H2 by .. woma l! de l egnce In the fashio nable Ampa ng a rea. Downgrading thl.' Commonwealt h to the bottom of Ma laysia's foreign policy agenda was anoth('r way of pu tt ing Britain in its place. Dr. Mahath ir decll l\(--d to allend the bienn Ial Heads of (;ov('rn n)l'll \ Meeting ill Melbourne in 1981 and aga in in New De lhi in 1983. His view was that he cou ld achieVl.' more by staying home than going ilbrOilci to just "talk wi th no tangible results". Staying home o n special OCcasions ix-came a Mahathir tril il. It was the lough-mindl..'<1 nritish Prime Minister Margaret 1113lcher, h('rself a mold-breaking politician il nd outsider, who worked out how 10 repair relil ' lions with Malaysia. Afler her fo reign sel:retary and defense m iniste r returned e mpty handed from a trip to Kuala Lumpur early in 1982, Thatcher took it upon herself to end the estrangement. In hosti ng Dr. Milhathir in Londo n in early 19S:~, she showed the defere nce that milde the d ifference. Thatcher entertained Dr. Ma hatiIir al nd of Buy British Last. He attended the 1985 Com monwealth Heads of Governmen t meeting, and at the nl'x t gathering two yea rs later offl'red to host the 1989 meeti ng and the Com monwealth Games in 1998. It was quite a turnaround for the mall who had described the Commonwealth as a "crC'
II Srri,lmr Vule.' (fir tilt' Third Wnr{d 251
While Or. l'o'lahat h ir had lIIade his poi nt, hiS und~rlyillg !Hilgmatism was undiminished, as indica t("rn('nt was crit ical. It ('onfir1l1ed that the su pcr~cnsltiv(' Dr. Mahathlr !lought con Slcll' rati on, a ppreCiatiOn alld hom>lg(' from the West, particula rl y from the country that had 10rde(1ovcr Malaysia for morc lhan a cen tury. It aho reinforced Dr. Mahathir's belief thai it d id not necessarily pay to he nice to everyone. As it \Vas, Thatcher foun d ill Dr. Mahathir a kindred spirit, "almOSI a man to envy" .~~ lIer feelings were fully reciprocated, with Thatcher being awardl'd an honorary degrec [rom a uni\'ersity in Dr. Mahathlr'.) constituency. While the bilateral relationship remain('d warm until Tll atchl'r was (\cPOl>OO by her party In 1990, I)r. Mahathir was prepared to slap down the British again if thl'y overstepped some invisible mark, or Malay confid~nce I,lltered hefore what one analY$t called "t he British aUTa of superiority" . ~' London'li SlIllday Til1/e.~ obl iged in 1994, when John Major was prime minIster, hy reporting "h igh- level corruption" around a tendering process in Malaysia. It came a<, the Uritish Parliament and press prolx'd poSSible ill('gallinks bet .....een a I ..i billion pounds arms sale to Malaysia, <;Igned by Dr. \lahathir and Thatcher in 1988, and aid for the rergau hydroelectric dam In Kelantan. Anger{'d hy the British gO\'crnment's failure 10 defend both the deal and his integrity, Dr. Mahathir launched another boycott of Uritish commerce, including the cam.'cllation of wme major projects on the ev~ of c I O~llTt!. Tht! dcd~ion was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, wll() edHlecl Mahathir's "obsession with w1111(' raci~m~ by trying 10 portray the SIIIIC/(/yTil1ll.'.\ report as a stigh t un all Malayslans.lf' In CI lengthy ll,tter to the Fimmdol TiIlU'S, Dr. Mallathir said, "Of course Ihe natives arc corrupt. They must be because thcy art"' not British lind not white."H While Dr. Mah athir's reaction s{"Crned to cxpo\e hi\ lm(~cuTltlcs, Maior's condesccnding com ment, immediately after the pro hi bltioll was impo~ed, betrayed traces of the colonia l mentality Dr. Mahalhir detested. ~I aior sug· gested that t he reason Malaysia was prosperous was due to British tralle and Illvestmcnt.'1f He had lea rned nothing from his predcce~!>or wher(' Dr. Mahathir was concerned. Just Ihe :.ame, Dr. Maha thlr lHoved quickly to lim it the scop~ and shorten the duration of lhe boycolt this time - sewn months - mi ndful tha t London might retali:l\e wit h the hack ing of its European part ners. All hough Or. Ma hat hlr in it ially deflected American ovcrtures and spen t the next couple of yea rs cri ticizi ng the West, especia lly the lJ uited Stll tes, for failing to understand or support the lXonomic aspirations uf dcveloping countries, he soon made amends. The United States WllS o lle o f Malaysia'S
most important {'("onomic p..1rlners, and Am('rican capita l and appeti te for Malaysian goods wert' an {'S.'>Cn tial part of Dr. Mahat hir's pla ns to develop the country. On h is first offl('lal visit to Washington in 19tN , Ur. Mahathir travrtled wit h some of Malaysia's most innuenlial businessmen and bankers, their way smooth('(j by Daim Zainuddin, dispatched hy Dr. Mahathir nine months earli('t, again as a lX'rsonal envoy. Daim had pcrsllilded the Americans to limit sales of stod,piled tin in view of weak world dellland for a key Malaysian export, and th(' success of his representations prompted Kuala Lumpur to Intensify its lobbying efforh in Washington.~~ Dr. Mahathir got to mett what diplomats calk"I' Without informing hb countrymen and women, Dr. Mahath ir thr(:'w in his lot with thl' Americans, agr('Cing to naval ship v i ~ i t S, Silip anci lIi rcraft repairs, 10il11 Il1ilitilry cxercises In Malaysia and clost"' COopNltion betwecn the two militaries. Thereaftl'r, Dr. Mahathir could laullt:;h regular rhetorical broadsides al the United States, winning a name in Malaysia and the rest of the dl'veloping world for his courage in standing up to Washington, knowing hh relatiolb with the Americans rested 01\ a S('("ure bedrock. When the Umu..'tI Stdtes lost the use of major military bases In the Philippines in 1991-92, lhe \.falayslans criticized Singapore for offerinK to a{'ccpt a smail number of military personnel and provide facilities to enable the U.S. $cventh Fleet to retain a lom'ard presence in Southea<;t Asia . Yet Malaysia covertly was providing similar !ac\lities, which aUowed lh(' Americans 10 implement a "places not I>a~s~ strati.'gy. Dr. Mahathir publicly disputed the need for the U.S. Navy to patrol the region, but privately helpcd make It possible. And while h(' noisily disagreed, from the early 1990s, with Wcstern officiab who worrl(>d that a powerful China might become a neighbourhood bully, in practice he Indulged in classic hedging: lie contributed to a balance of power arrangemelll and effectively paid InsurallC(' premiums 10 the Uniled States In case anything went wrong. '111e innocuous sounding Ililatemi Trdining and Consultation (81 rAe) :Ig(('('· men! entcred into by Malaysia and the United States in 1984 established a $('ries of working groups for exercises, intclligence sha ring, loglstil'~ suppor!
A $l rill,'Iu l'uiu {ur 1111' Third WurM 253
Ncv('rtheless, IlITAC was the basis for vastly expanded milltary (oop' eriltlon Ix-tweefl the two countries. The U.S. Air Force and navy made usc of its provisions to t.'Stablish ai r-to-air and air-to-ground training, while the U.S. army got access to the excelle nt jungle warfare t raining school at Pulada in Jo hore. Wit h M;llaysia n assistance, the U.S. Navy develo ped a small·sh ip rep.lir facility at Lumut on t he West Coast, and the U.S. Ai r Force 1,IIe r estab.. lishcd a facility in Kuala Lumpur to repair C-UO Hercules tr,mspo rt aircraft . As t he Philippine bases closed, particularly Crow Valley, tht' ma in bombi ng range of U.S. forces in the western Pacific, the Malaysian train ing grounds beca me even mo re importan t. ror the MalaYSian a ir force and navy, the majo r benefit Wa) the o pporltmity to train with American fOrces. For exam ple, Cope Taufan, a n annua l air fo rce exercise, in 1996 provided the fi rst cha nce for the Malaysian Air I;orce to use its Russian MiG-29s with Ame rican F- 15s. Internally, both sides expressed "great satisfaction" with the wOlr games.$~ In 1994, Ma laysia and the United States signed an Acq uisitio n and Cros.,· Servic ing Agreemelll, wh ich allo wed America n naval vessels and aircraft to transit Malaysia for re-supply a nd maintenance. This agreeme nt, toO, remained se("Tet until 200S, wilen it was publicly renewed for ano t her ten years. E.ven aner some Malaysians heard about period ic American SIl lp visits and exercises in Millaysla, the government was reluctant to Identify IUTAC and disclose details to Pa rlJa m en t.~5 Fina lly, in 2002, 18 years after Dr. Mahal hir and the Reaga n adm inistration had sealed the o riginal deal, Defence Minister Na jib Ita7.<1k partially liftC"d the curtain on what he called a " well-kept secret": More than 75 U.S. mili tary ships had docked at Malaysian ports in the past two and-a-half years.s.. In additio n, the two countries were holding jOint exercises ann ually o n la nd a nd sea, Malaysians were train ing in the United Sta tes and an extensive two-way student excha nge programme was in place. In retire ment, Or. Mahathir acknowledged a nd defended IIITAC, which he said was suggested by Caspar Weinberger, Reagan's defence s('Cretary, and involved no mo re tha n " normal arrangeme nts t hat th e United Stales has with milll Y, many co unlries". Malaysia 's military brass fa vo ured the agreemen t for [he bene fi ts It broug ht, a nd " I t hin k it is good for them. They should get to know new tact ics, new strategies and thi ngs like t hat . Tha t's why I a g reed~ Y The U.S. pe rspective, however, was quit e d iffe rent, seeing BllAC as an origina l te mpla te for wide r app licati on. By 1996, it had become "the lIlex.Je l for the establishment of mil itary lics with ot ho co untries with which the Un ited States is associatcd" .5X Or. Milhathlr ad:now. ledged the secrecy surrounding t lw 19H4 ilnd 1994 agree men ts. "Maybe they werc not broadcast widely, but I didn't sec anyth ing wrong with tha t," he said. And he contin ued 10 insi st, contrary 10 the end resu lt, that "I didn' t like the idea of the Seventh Fleet hovering arou nd hcre . "~9 Australia was another developed country with which Ma lays ia had lo ng and friendly ties, including s('Curity link.~, wh ich were periodically troubled
after Dr. Mahat hlr appea red on the scene. '\lIstral ia's closest regio na l a lly in the 1950s and 1960s, Ma laYSia beca me the neigh hour tha t Canberra fou nd the most challengi ng in the fo llowi ng decades. Given Its past as an aid d o nor, ,\ustralia was slow to jettison its paternal atti tude a nd rl'Cognize the Im po rta nce tha t the !l0st- 1970 Ma la ysian le,ldersh ip attached to issucs o f national pride. For their part, Ma laysian leaders somet imes used ext ra· vagant rhetoric in l·rit icislllS of Australia, and too ofte n assumed Ihat views expressed by the med ii! re presen ted those of the govern ment.60 The crucia l d ement, however, was Dr. Maha thir's prickly pe rso nality. Where h is pre· decessors might have overlooked a n Au)tralian barb o r g
Dr.
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Or. Mahathir had acquired a jaundiced view of I\mualia early In his polit ical CMeer as a resu lt of a n Australian di plo matic fau x pas. In Ihe lale 19605, Canbe rra invited him, as a fi rst-term parliamentarian and risi ng st,1f, to visit the country o n an all-expenses paid program me as a gUl'St of the foreign mi nist ry. After he lost his .sea t in t he 1969 election and a few days before he was d ue to depart, the Australians asked him to pmtpone till' trip, with ofliclals reporting variously that the visitor programme was over1001lk"CI or short of funds . Susl)C{'"ting he was dropped tx'('nusc of his polit ica l .\etback, wh ich Included expulsion from UMNO. I)r. Mil hathir admlttl'(it o bei IIg "hurt .',1 Two years later he acceph.'ll a n Austral ian goverll ment uHl' r to visit Ca nh<'rril after atte nd ing a seminar a t hi s own eXJX' ll se at Monash Uni v(-rsi ty, onl y 10 find the official hospitality in the capHal ill bleak as tll(' winter we'Hher. An em barrassed junior official tril'd iL~M In government, Dr. Maha thi r did not try to hide his dislike of Aust ralia. Host ing a Slal(' din ner in Kuala Lumpur for Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser in 1982, Dr. Mahathir delivcr('(1 ca ustic com ml'nts that were " unn('Cessa ril y provoca ti ve and in extremely poor taste accord ing to a Mala)'slan account _60S On his only official visit 10 Australia in 1984 he was immensely sym pathetic to Prime Minister Ihlwke, who broke down and wept dur l n~ their meet ing, 11<1 vlng just learn('(1 or h is daughter'S potentially fatal lh ug addiction. Respondi ng bot h as a fellow parent and doctor, Dr. Mahath lr went to considerable personal [l'ngths to get information that he thought might help thl' Ha wk{' family.!'" Uu! IXllitlcs was something elsc_ Dr. Mailathir's failure to makE' another official visit to Australia in 18 years was an expression of d[sapproval by o ne of A.\la 's most travelled leaders_ His general gripe was that Australians, in or o ul of government, were too fond of criticizing - "that we afl' IIOt lip 10 thei r mark and we don't know how to run our country; we don't practl(:e human rights; ou r democracy is defl'C\i vt'_._"_6i An ('xchange in 198811howcd just how deeply Dr. Mahathir resented such Ullsolicit('f:1advlce_ Rcspo nding to ns\ons were cOlltalnt'd in a mu lti-radal country, he told the parliamentarians to '·please concen trate on fair treatment for the aborigincs and the Asians in yOur midst and leave us alone"_68 While Dr. Mahath ir was pri me minister, bilatera l relations would remain in what Malaysia n aca(iemic Shamsul Amrl Baharuddin ca lled a state of "stabll' tension" - trouble could Hare a t any ti me. ttI H
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Dr. ~·I ahath ir's regular skirmishes with Western governments, 10gl'lher witil his use of crude language and rcfercnn.'s to rae(' and religion, iJlvl h.'d the judgment that he was blindly anti -Cauca~lan - and anti-Semitic, since the religion hl' targeted was usua lly Judaism. Yet he fotrlll'd l'lOSl' pcr~nal friendsh ips 110t only with M a r}~ar('t Thatcher, but nther promitH.'lIt Wl'stcrn officials such as Henry KiSSinger, the Jewish forOll'r U.S. secretary of ~ liItl' . lie also courted leading internatio nal corporate figurl'S, pcr.;ust maimtrcam critics - Malaysia did nol recogni7..l' Tel Aviv - Dr. Mahathir was irked that Musli ms could so l'asily be labelled t{'Crorists, while any condem nation of Isr,wl - a "terrorist state", as 11(' ("a lied it - brought an outcry alleging anti-Semitism. J\n other problem W,lS thaI Dr. Mahathir had long presented his views of race in terms of st('reotypes, distinguished not only by ethnic origin but abo other characteristk:s. As all illustration, Ire said in Til" MlI/"Y l)iI('f1111wlhat Jews "are not llll'rely hoo k - n osc~l, hut understand money inStinctively". H I Ie also wrote: "jewish st ing i nes~ and fHl!lncial wi7.a rdry gained them t ilt' commercial (ontrol of hnopt' and provoked an an li-Scrnltlsm ... " . H Dr. Mahat hir dea lt si milarly,
A SIr/tll'lII Voict' t"f /11(' 111ifd World 257
2003. 71 Dr. Mahathir l"Ountl't('(i t ha t he personally invited 14 Isrileli high school students to visit Malaysia In 1997, followed soon after by an braeli cricket team. "I have frie nds who a re jews," he said, without a tracC' of irony or embarraSSll1elll. 76 Dr. Mahatilir, the politician and Islamic stiltesman, used extreme la nguage ilgainst the lX'rceived enemies of Islam as a device to get his ml'Ss.l~e acrruiS III liI<.' Muslhn world. The message was as pragmatic as it was u n com pro rll i sl n~, Il Ia! If 1.3 bil lion Muslims wt're opprl'Sscd and humiliated it was largely their own fau lt, ilnd only they cou ld rt.'scue themselves. Dr. Mahath ir couc hed his problema tic statements in the "dichotomies of the world·wrsus-Islam", familiar to his M u~ l i m audience, to open their minds for the unpa lal:tblc advice that inevitably fo llowed .n The spe('ch he gave 10 the open ing of the OIC summit In Kuala Lum pur two weeks before he retired in 2003 was typical, if more acerhlc th an usual. lIis comment , that "the jews ru le t llis world by proxy" ilnd "g<"t othe rs to fight and die for th l'!Tl ~ , milde headlines around the world alld WilS widely condemned. ]11 Thl' S6 ot her Isla mic I('ackrs in Dr. Mahat hlr's audi(! Il(:(' also hea rd 111 m urge Musli ms to summon thl' poU tica l wil l 10 bulkl ste trilclefS of convenience" in t he West, who resorted to protectionism in the form of quotas, lariffs, high imerest rates and exorbitant freight charge~, once dcwloping coun tries became COl1lrclitive.1Il Observing that the big powers fo rmed exdusive "economic clu bs" to guard their own interests, 'iuch as the Group of St'vcn industrializ<.ocl !Jilt ions, hl' chargL'(l tilc1ll wilh bullying, hypocrisy a nd deceit. The uncaring North, as he collcL·tively called them, (!n fo rcC'd a "cydt' of low income, lack of capita l and know· how and continuing low inCOrl\(''' t llilt en tra pped most dcw loping nutioTlS, the South,/!J il was a withNing critique, one Dr . Mahathir cou ld deliver beca use Ma laysia was kss dep<'ndelll on foreign aid and assistOH1CC thiln ot her potentia l critics
and less susceptible to retribution by the malor powe fS .M~ Truc, he somet imes went oVl'rboard a nd claim<.>{1 to fear "a 11('1'1 form of colonialism"."5 lie al so indulged in his own deceit, not o nly ignoring Japan 's protectionist poliCies but pretending j apa n was not part of the industri
2511 Malaysia" Mm'('I'iclc.
Mindful of the worldwide Islamic resurgence and its impaci OIl Mudi 1l1ma jority Malaysia , where t he opposition Islamic part y was pushing for a n Islamic state, Dr. Mahalh ir (:rafll!d a foreign IX'llicy to serv(' that speci fic nl'<."d . By winning inte rnati onal r('cogni tion as a champion of hlam lc CaUS("i, he made it illmost imposs ible for t he oppositi on to cl ai m he was negle<:tl ng Islam , It is douht fu l. t hough, that Dr. Ma hat hir's co mmit me nt went Ix'yond posturing, as whe n the crunch came - for inslance, ov<.'r Iraq 's 1 ~)O invasion of Kuwait - Malaysia ignored public opinion and vot(-d with lhe United Statrs in the U.N. 10 u.sc force to evict the Iraqis. In heritmg a con ~rn for the liberation of Palesti ne, Dr. Mahath lr pur) u('(1 the issue with added fervour, ex.coriating Israel a nd its Western :,uPIX'lrtNS, exposing what he called Ziollist intluenCl.' in internat iona l news o rgan · izations and strain ing reJa ti o n ~ with Singapore by objecting to Isra(' ll i'n'sident Chaim Herzog's visil to the city-state in 19f16, Th ro ugh th(' Ole , Dr, Mahat h lr also got irwolve.- d in trying to settle the eight-yea r Iran-Iraq war, and ilctiwl y s uppo rt('d the IIIl1ia/riC/ill in th('\r resistancc to Ihc Sovie t Un ion's occupation of Mg:hani~tall, Hut It was the defcnn~ of MlI ~ ll ms In Hosn iu· J It'rz('govillil, as WilT bro ke oul in the form{' r YugOSlavia, whi ch p rOVl'd to be Dr. Mah a thl l"' ~ islam ic preoccupati on. He senetl y provided the Bosni ans wlth heavy wca pom :~2 It wa s a n ideal tragedy on whic-h to unleash hh pol<.'tnical skills and nay thl' West fo r prac-lisi ng doubl e standards over Its rC'iu(tallc-c to stop Serhian ethnic deansing. Dr. Maha th ir')\ effO rts to r('acti vatl' Ih(' No n-Aligned Movemen t in t he jX'lst·Cold Wa r e ra .md galvani7e il to adopt a rl'so lulion railing for the expulsion of the nnllp state of Yugo"lavla fro m the U.N. ca ught the movement's imagi na tion a t a conference in Jaka rta in 1992. Dr. Maha th ir emergC'd as the "New Voice for t he Third World ", as a cover of the weekly for EtI$II'fII Eco/lomic R(,\lit-IV proclahned."l Unde r fire by Western en viron mentalist s over its fo restry p ra c ll ((~s, Mala ysia also ra llh.'d developin g countries 10 e nsu re their views were heard at ,. la ndmark U. N. SIX'lnSorcd Earth Su mm it in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 . Dr. Mallathir tOld rII inhti.'rlal representat ives o f more than SO developi ng cronomles, who g
II Sir/dr ill V"icl' Ii" lilt' T/lird Wor/d 2.W
t he ('arly 1990 s, Triumphant after th(' dem ise of Co m m unism, Preside nt Bi ll Cli nton 's fi rst administration aggressivel y sough t to spread its vi ctor· ious version of de mocracy and human rights ;Imo ng t ht' unconvi.nced an d uncon vertoo, Ur. Mahatl lir joined govern ment-employt.-d SingalX'lrean in tellectuals in counter-attacking by c-ontending that Asian val ues, in co ntra:.t with Western val ues, put great('r strl'SS on commun ity t han individuals, and em phasized economic and :;oclal, rather than ci vil and polit ical, righ ts. Or. Mahat hir had longed ra iled against the ihitlsh for ruling Malaya in authoritarian fashion , only 10 insist tha t the In ex.perlenced cou ntry prac· tice democracy the instanl it bc<:ame indepe ndent. In the narne of Asian va lues, which cOllve ni('ntly deflected atten tion from his 01'0'1\ blemished record, Dr. Ma hathir listed societal defects - cri me, violl' nee, (hug addic· tion, hornosl'xuality, c-h ron lc va nda li sm, JlJcgi timllte llirl hs - to suggest the Amer ican po litical syst('m did no l suit Asia, Is tl!c rl' on ly one form of democ r;Jcy or on ly one hig h pr iest to Inte rpret It, h(' asked rheto rically. Atte mpts by the West lO impose democracy and huma n rights were dis· gu ised efforls to weah'n i\Siil ll countries a nd unde rmi ne \lwir l'ompetitivcness, he said, and a U.s. move, backed by labour unions, to increase wages In Asia had tile same objl.'cli vc. li e was I>a nies in some of the [Joore'lnia, to Ilower farming in U7bckistan , gold exploration in Ka7.akhstan, road building in India and bridge construction in Uruguay.'" Dr. Mahathir's a n t i · W c~ t Slan({' trll nSlated into commercial benefit~ in sl'vcrall~ou n tri es th ai wen' hostik' to the Un ited St ates, among th em Ira n, Somal ia and Liberi a. Pctrtma ~ , MalaysIa's nat io nal oil and gas co mpiln y, took a 30 per cent st,lke in an Irania n 011 ven ture, despit e.- a n ArtleriGu I law that penalized foreign compan ies do i n~ bUSiness Wil lI the Isla mi c republic. "We will not submit to what th e Unitcd States dictates to us," Dr. Mahat hir d ec1 a re d ."~ Dr. Mah a thir'~ staunch oppOSitio n to apartheid ;rnd friendship with Nelson Mandcla paid off in the fo rm of la rge housing, township .lIld !larho m development I.."()!l tracts aftl~r hi:. Afri can National Congress came to
260 MCI/CI)'sillll Mal't'rick
power in 1994. They were awarded to Malaysian comllanles, despite substantially lower b ids b y international develo pers."" In some of the remote markets, the Malaysians were treated like roya \ty.!I.M! " When I go to Argenti na, all doo rs arc o pcn, " comml'llted businessman Salehuddin llashi m . "ThaI 's the Imp,lt'l of what Or. Mahllthir has do ne with hi s pu shing of South·So ut h coope ration. "101 Uut lHuch o f t he activity WllS h,lsty and ill-con ceived li nd d id not pay div. Idends to Ma laysia Inc. Many projcCh, annou nced with much fanfare a nd little research, were prima rily po[itical i1nd did n ot get beyond the memorandu m o f understa nding stage. ~It 's weJl kn own in Malaysia that onc o f our biggest exports is MOUs," q uipped AnandiJ Krishnan , on(' o f th(' country's most successfu l entrepreneurs. UIZ Somt' in vestments p roved emba rrassi ng, as whe n evide nce surfa(.-ed o f unofficial associated payments. 111e ~tea mon ey" for a larg(', private Malaysian port ·city red evt'lopmeni In Cambod ia induded the gift of an aircraft fo r o m.' of the country's two p remier:;. Ull In post-apart heid Sou th Africa, wilere Ma[a ysla sllrpri~ing[y emerged as th e second b iggest sourn' o f foreign investmen t. the "MalaysliLIl Sla le o r state-li nked corpOrate st.'Ctor" do nated about six mill ion rand to the Africa n Nationa [ Congress just be fort' the 1994 ek ctlOIlS,u).l M a l ays l a' ~ reputation was also tarnished by environmental st udies c riticizing Malaysian logging practiC<'s in Guya na, C.1.mbodia, Papua New Guinea and ot her South Pa(.ific countries, O n e n o torious d ea l placed Dr. Mahathir in an in timate embrace with Zim bahwe's dk·tatoria l and increasingly erratic presid e nt, Robert Mugab('. Afte r a Malaysian company bought a con trolling stal.e in Zi mbabwe's b ig.g('st thermal power plant , beat in g o ul si x W('stcrn compan ies, th(' Un ited Stal es crit icized the t ransaction, wh i.le the I(>ca[ trade un ion move· men t co ndem ned iI as "asset strippi ng", a nd th e ent ire hoard of the e il'ctrldty authorit y joi ned the chorus of p rotest. The Zimhabwean govern ment ,S.1cke(1 tl l(, board a nd wen t .thead anyway.lIJ5 The main aim of so·called reverse Investme n t was to re patriate prorlt.S to Malaysia to o ffset a worrying defiCit In the count ry's services account, itself ca used by fore ign inVl'stors takin g o ut their pro rlts.!ot. It was always going lO be a long-term gamble, with MalaYSian compan ies prepared to ignore red tape, corruptIon a nd political volatility to IX' first into new markl'ts, counti ng o n I)r. Mahathir to sort out any difficulties they l'ncount('red. With thl' consp icuous exception o f Petrona s, few of these overseas operations survived the 1997-98 Asiilll economiC c riSiS. Tile saving gTare for Mala ysia was that Dr. Ma!lat hi r, for all his Th ird World and Islamic bo mbast, did everyth ing necessary to ensurt' that economic rt' lat ion.~ wit h the West prospered whlie he ()Ost un.'(I.1U7 Ma laysia's search for pros pective markets c\ost' r to home prompted Dr. Mahathi r to seize the enormous o pportu nities offered by China's opening. o n ce he w,l S persuaded th at t h e dange r of subversio n h ad passed with the
A S'r;!iml VuiCt'
lur /I" , '/1,;,,1 W urld
26 1
fo rmal end of the communist insurn.'ction in 1989. On fo ur triltS to Ch ina in the 1990s wi th sen io r ('Xecut iVl'S in low as usua l, he pushed a n e-conomic agenda that was open 10 ail Mala~'sia n s, incl uding ethnic Chinese. Malaysia n cOI1l [>anies invested US$3 .1 bil lion in C hina between 1996 ami 200J, while two-way trade ha lloom'd to USS 14. 11 billion from US$3.76 billion in thl' same period. In purSuit of comrn(' rci,1 1 returns. as well as regional solida ri ty, Dr. Mahath ir also \x."Caml' an eager ad voca te o f further expanding ASEAN. [t had Ix>en enlarged to six countrk'S wit h Bru nei's membcl':'i hip in 19R4, ami Dr. Mahath ir wanwd to incl ude the rest of the then tell Southeast Asian natio ns. i{{'('ognizing the econom ic pot(,lltial of a utho ritarian sta tes Vietnam, Cambodia , I.aos and Myan mar a ~ they swilCh(.'(\ from cen tral planning to marke t l'COllo m ies, he correctly ('alcula ted they would appreciate h is efforts to g('l the m In lO ASEAN, by oUering trade a nd investmen t op[)C)rtun itles. Malaysia duly Ix"Ca me the b igg{'St fo reign investor in Camlxxlia and Sl,('u red significant con tracts in Vietnam ,111(\ Myanmar, The withdrawal o f Vietnamese fo rces from Cambod ia In 1989 opened the doo r fu r Cam bodica nn.' memlx·rs and fulfilled t he AS I~N foundi ng fat hers' drea m o f One South east Asia. Amid t he preparations, Malaysia unv{'iJed a !l('W ASI:J\ N logo o f ten fice shears, Hit! Unexpected ly, howeVl'r, Cambod ia ra ln('(i on Dr. Maha thir's parade. After b l{Xxly, a fmed c\asht's between the ru ling coa lition partners, Phnom Penh was forced to wa it unt il 1999 to joi n ASF.J\ N. Despite his success in resisting Western pressure OVl'! Myanmar, Dr, Mahat h ir often stu mbled in h is As ian diplomacy as h e soug ht to play o n the world stage and neglected {'ven ts in h is o wn backya rd . And des p ite h is invocation of Asian valut'S, his own fail ure to ohserve !>Dille of Sout heast Asia 's rituals and fo unc-sl{'s sometimes put h im a t loggerheads with neigh. bo urs. "l it' wo uld make sCTLsillle suggestiom al the AS F.AN leade rs meetin gs, b ut there was, In many cases, no fOll Ow-up," said i{odo[fo C. Sev('rino, " former secretary-general of AS£AN. Contradi cting th e M,tlaysian foreign pol icy p riority list, Dr. MalHlthir was more acll vt' in tht' O[C, the Non, Aligned ~'l ove m {' n t and OIlier Third World forums than in ASEAN, Severi no sa id. 10'1
,\ StriJmt \'0/' (' IUf rl't' 'n,ltd W Olld 263
Dr, Mahal hir miscaku lated as he (allowed up My,u ullar's adm ission to ASEA N with an attempt to help bring about rcronci liation ~ t ween Aun g Sa n Suu Kyl and tht' country's xenop ho bic leadership, A close Ma laysian associate, Razali Ismai l, it retired l1iplomat who was appointoo the U. N. ~rt', ta ry·ge!leral's specia l envoy for MY'Ullllar, managed to get thl' two sides in to Sl'Cret, confidence-buil ding talks In 2000, 110 Frustra ted OVl'T t hl'lr fai lure to movl' on to suhstantive issucs, Dr. Mah ath ir wro te m orc than o n ce 10 Than Shwl', the five-star general who was he,l(l of state, and vlsitl'd Mya n mar in 2002,111 "Very interested In fmding a solu tion to support Myanmar." as a senior Malaysia n official put It. and presumed to be carrying a bagful o f good· will, Dr. Mahalhir encou nlcn:."d a cl iq ue of hidebound generals Impervious to ,1 sal(>S pitch, whether from th(' East or West. Denied a meeti ng wit h Au ng San Suu Kyl,m h e alJando noo h is mission and began vilifyi ng tl u,' jun ta for being an "cmbarrassmcnt 10 ASEAN", f.ngagi llg in the sort of snip ing he onc{' rejet'tt-d as in terference, Dr. Ma hathir (' VCIl rai~ the pUlIsibllity lhal lhe group might expel Myanmar. Wh lle nr. M:thathi r wa') om' o f th e strongest prOponent' of a n ,\SE,\ N Free lrad(' /\rca (ATTA) thaI was formed o n Thailand's inltilltlvc in 1992, he did AFTA 110 favo ur$ when II cam e- to ~elf-in t('r es t. W ith hi s nationa l GIt pru jl'ct l'lIda n gered by t h e Asian economic crisis, M alay~la MJug ht exemptio n from the requirc me lll to rOO IlC(' tariffs on imported fOT('ign vehicles and t hose assembled locally fro m Imponed k its. After h eated de bate and with grcat reluctance, AI'TA ch anged Its rulc.-s to accomrllodau,' Malaysia, III allowing it a fu rt her si:l: yea rs of protC<'lion. Whilt' the move had little practical effect, il encouraged t he Ph ilippines to foll o w sull with some petrochemica l products and rei n forcl'ci the wi desp read impr('ssion that I\ SEA N was not s('rious about ('('onomie illlt'gralion. Mala Yllla took a d eep intc rl'$t in nl'''' institu tions th:ll wcre fa shio n('d for l\sl" after the Cold WelT, gett ing involved in the shape a nd cOlilpusition of thc ASEI\N Reg ional Foru m (I\R F) on se(LJTity th at was forllll:!d in 1994, While govern ment rhetork conveyed the rn essage that Ma laysia was qu it e at case wit h Beijing's rising military profi le, Kuala Lumpur sought to US<.' ARF to both engage China and encourage it to play by ilHe rnaliona l cull-s. Wit h a mem bership that inciud('(l C hina's rivals - lil(' Un ited States, Ja lJan, Russia and I ndia - ARt- lVould , ill Malaysi .. 's ca lcula t ion .. , bala nce China if II tri('(1 10 be more as~e r ti vc, I H Wlwn It ca me to form ing a ('o unt('Tpa rt economic organl7.lll ion , however, Dr. Ma h athl r got In to a d iplom atic dogfig ht thilt con trib uted to Ills Icg~ nd. AII~t ralia in 1989 prupo sed th(' Asi a·Pacl fic Econom ic Cooperation (APEe) forum, wit h a core mem b<'Tship of Australia and New Zealand, the Uni ted St;ttcs, Japa n, Sou t h Korea an d the six ASEAN states. The following year Dr. Ma hathi r launched his ri val East Asia Economk Caucus ( EAEC), wiloS(" proposed me m ix'rshi p was limited to ASEAN ,md the rapid ly Int egrating t'Conomics of Norlhea ~t Asia: Japa n, Chi na and South Kore.. . Bo th Il
origin In the worryi n g stale o f Ihe global economic s y~ tcrn , sp reading pro· tec liunism and a decli ning U.S, commitment to Uw vahl('s o f multilatera l, non-discriminatory trad('. Bu t they re presented vCllllly diffe relll visio ns: Aus tralia was driven by fear of bd n g shut out if the world fractured into thrt.'C competi ng econom ic blocs, wh ile Malaysia wa~ In'i pired by a panA ~lan na tionalism h) create an E.1St I\sian identity. Ironicall y, /\ ust r" li;1 out lll ,\I1()l'llv rl:'d Malaysia wit h tlte sort of cul t urally Sl'llsitive, ddt diplllrnacy tha t Dr. Ma hell hi r ins isted WilS a lien to the Australians ancl which made them umuilabh: partiCilJ.1ll ts In Asian affai rs, Knowing that AS EAN held the key, the '\lI'itralian s addr(~~d th(' group's primary concern , that AJ)EC ~ho li id not undl'rmine ASEAN'lI strength and cohesion . Th ey agreed that the annua l APFC ministerial m('(.'llng would be held in a n J\ SEAN coun try every SCi.:ond year, and that the sccretMiat would be lex'awd in Southeast Asia - Si ngarx'lTe, as it h appened. Cruclillly, Ca nbe rra d ispatched one or Its most sea'S(lI1ed diplolllfl b, Rich ard Woo i<:ott, :.s the prime minister's {'lIIlssa ry to Sl'1I the concept in each ASF.AN cou ntry. lIaving scrved in the key ASEAN capitals, W OO/COli headed ti rst fo r Jakarta, w here Ill' respectfu lly soug h t '; aclvice and g uida nCi:" fro m PTesid l'u t Suharto, a{'kllowkuged as ASEJ\N's uno ffic ial leeldl'r. Tlll~ rl'",ard for t h is UprOpt'l' show of T('SI){'('t " was an l'XllTl>ssio n of Su harto'S willingn l'S~ to think a[xJlIt Ihe idea, which was enough for Wookott to pa rlay in to ASt'j\ N emlorsemenl by thc e lld o f his s l1l1t tIC. ll~ By contrast, Dr. Maha thir had not consulted an}' of his fellow I\SF.AN members when he floatoo the Idea of an East Asia economic Group, as it was first called, He also made the miStake of suggestin ~ th ,lt it sho u ld I)(:come "an ('Cono mi<' bl(K:" to "collntervail the other econ omic bloc~'" which h e IdentifK'd as lhl' North }\merican Free '!'rack' Agre Austral ia sided with the Un itl-d States In opposing an Asl(lIl\·o n ly ~ roup i n g, fearing it would draw a line down the 11acific. and WashiTlgton prl'Ssllrl'(l Tokyo not 10 join , The proposal was watered down to the EAEC - a caucus rather titan a group, which detractors dcrld(-d as it "caucus witho ut Cl u cas laTls~ - (lml effecti vely buril'd wit h in APEe. Eve n aft l'r t he flTst APEe III lnistl' rial meeting had l:H."C'n held In Canberra, the MalaYSians made a serious effort to kill till' fledgling pron'ss, Thl'~' arrived at an ;\SEA N gath~' ring in tile East Ma laysian cilY of KlIchlng ill c
264
Millflydm/ Mllvrrjck
him "r(-caicitrant" over his no-show, Dr. Mahalhir misjudged where APEe was heading. Whe n Suharto, ell(:ourage(l by Amtralia, offc roo to host a second su m mit the fo llowing year, tuming It into an annual ('Vent, Dr. Mahathir had li ttle choice but to atll'lId. In wha t amounted to a Javanese command, Suharto said, "I will invite him and I expect that he will come".1IH Long of memory a nd reluctant to ret reat, Dr. Mahathlr found a way over the next decade to both revive hb EAEC and take revcngt' o n Australia for his loss of fa c~. lie di rected Malaysian diplomacy to the goal of excl uding Australia as m uch as possible frolll rt!gional political li fe . liy dl'nying Canberra a scat at the firs t biennial Asia-Europe summit in 1996, Dr. Mahalhir was also able to rl'Strict the Asian side to the po tential melllbt'rs of his EAEC: ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea. While hosting the annual ASEAN summit in 1997, Malaysia invited the h,'aders of China, Japan and South Korea to meet with thoS(' of ASEAN together and ind ivid ually. They continued to mc<'t annually in a forum known as ASEAN + 3, which dUfers only in name frOIll EAEC. ASEAN + 3 ilctlvlties proliferated, forming tile basis of an East Asian comm unity along the li nes Dr. Mahilthi r ellvisilgcd. So keen was Dr. Mahil lhlr 10 pursue his vendetta ,Igainst Australia that he actually har1lll'(i ASFAN. In 2000, agai n using the ASI:.AN consensus rul e that aUowt.'(1 just Ollt' COllntry to \·.'l("rl-i)(' the right of veto, Malaysia blud:l,<j a plan to link SOlliheast Asia with Austral ia-New Zealand ill a frt'('-tratic area. Mala)'sia did this against the recommendation of an ASEAN task fo rce, whlrh said such a union was ~ not o nly feasible but also a dvisa l)l e~ . 119 As one Independent study noted, Aust rali a, in parti cular, ~ wa s rn
President Su ha rto felt the same way about Dr. Mahathir, that he should acknowll'(lge the culture o f the "Ma lay world " and be more re:.pectfulto a neighbour, namely Indonesia. Historicall y, Indonesia ;lIId Mal aysia have a sjX'Cial relationship rooted in ~erWI1I"I11 , similar st(X'k, and the Idea of blood brotherhood . After Confrontation. in which Indo nesia tried to crush the new-boflt Malaysia mil itarily, reconciliation was effl.."Cted gradually in t he 1970s through Jakarta's pragmallc policies and Kua la Lumpur's willingness to concede primllCY to the Indonesians and t heir new leader, Suharto. who had replaced the bellicose Suka rno.' Z4 Ma la ysia was preparl.'d lo play adik, li tt le brotiler, to (1 /)(1118, big brother, Indonesia. Dr. Ma\)athir, t he nationalist , put a sw ift end to thaI. His initia tives on South-South cooperation, Isla mic policies, pcacek('e ping, resuscitating th~ N{)rt-Alignl>d Movement an d active politick ing at the U.N. clas hed with Indonesia's own ambitions to return to international affairs after a period of dormant diplomacy.12S fluent in English, articu latc and famili a r with global Institutio ns, Dr. Mahathir pressed his advan lagl' at ImJoJlesla's expl'nse. Hi s pe rformance at t ile No n-Aligned Su mm it in Jakarta in 1992 In upst
A Stri,/clll Vvk,' fur till' "I1liril World 267
266 M,!/aysiall Mmw'kk
bilateral problems in ninc yea rs witll Dr. Mahalhlr than in 12 years with his two predecessors.1.I 1 Yet relations were souring e vt' ll (1 that the !lew prime rninistl'r kept him waiting. The Singaporeans d enied it, ami said Dr. Maha thir's real beef was that Goh d id no t go dowll sta irs to greet him bUI walled in his o ffice, \..'hich was his normal practice. Rega rd less, it was e nough to Ill'll' p ut Malaysia-Singapore relations in the cooler for til{' rest o f the d ('Cade. Or. Mahathir delegated Foreign Minister SYl>d Ilamid Alb.l r to receive and fa rewell Got. o n Subseq uen t official visits. I n As Senior Min ister in Goh's cabinet, Ll'e Kuan Yew travelled t wice to Kuala Lumpur in just over a year in an attem pt to break the sta lcmate. But wh ile lie was able 10 sign a "skc.letal" agreemen t in 2001 , none of the main issue!> was resolved . IH Si ngapof(' concluded that progress was u nlikely while Dr. Mahathir WilS in powl'r .lI~ His all llouncement in 2002 t hat Malaysia would unilaterally build half a bridge to connect at the m id-poin t of the cauS(>wilY captured the csS('nce o f the tro ubled hilateral f(·latio nsh ip.l:k>
Some of t he Southeast Asian resen tmen t again st Dr. Ma hath ir surfa ced a ft('r he sacked a n(1 jailed hi s depu ty, Anwar Ibra him, in 1998 . Joini ng p redit·tal>le Wc~tern out rage, the leaders o f Indonesia and t he Philip pines criticized Dr. Mahathir, and Thai la nd ('xl>TesS(>d concern . Cory '\q ui no, a for m{'r Phili ppim.' p residen t who ca rried n m siderable mora l aut hority, also reb u ked llilll, while regional newspa llCrs, nOIl-govcrnmen tal organizations a nd commenta to rs denounced h is conduct il l unprecedented fashion. In the Un ited States, where Dr. Mahat hir was already no torious for blaming "rogue spl"Culalors" ted by Georg(' SUros for thl' Asian economic crisis, President Bill Cl inton's aliministrJ lio n tre.. tcd him as a virtual pariah. Deputising for Clinto n al ;111 APEC su mmit ill Kuala Lumpur in November 1998, Vice Presiden t Al Gore infuriated his hosts by publicly backing Anwa r's R('(om",si movemenl. Dr. Mahathir continued to att ract adverse publicity over currency (ont ro ls, J\nwar's trials and a crackdown o n political 0 PIXlnenls. "September I I rcscu('d him. M tN terrorists cr,lshed hijacked aircraft into the World Tmde Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington o n II September 2001, I'rl'siden t George W. Bush, who had Ix'{'n reluctant to meet D r. Mahathir, embral-cd Malilysia ilS a partncr in his "war on tcrro r". What nush d id not know was that Dr. Mahat hir, at the heigh t of his un popula rity over An wa r, had d ecided it was ti me to mend fe n('cs wil h Washington. Mahalhir associa tes secrctl y p,,'rous Muslim state", an d "an im portant exam ple to the region and t he rest of the world " . I.1~ Bu sh obviously hoped Dr. Mahath ir, who wa s to ch air bolh t he Non-Al igned Move rnen t and t he OIC, begilllling in 2003, woul cl ht'lp .~ willg moderate Muslims beh ind Washi ngton's anti-terrorist campa ign. It did [lot work o u t like th at. As the Un ited Statl's-ll'd forces attack{'d Iraq in early 20U3, Dr. Mah at h lr slipped back into h is anti -Amt'rican rhetoric, dcsnibing the superpower as a "cowardly ,lnd imperialist" bully lW that W,IS lIsi ng "September 11" as an l! XCUS(! to attack Muslim natio ns. H O I·k dccply U
A SIIMf."lI' l'o;(( (tIl II", TIII,,/ World 269
268 Malay,iall M(lYt'rid
angered the Americans by referring to victims of the Se ptember II attacks and Ihe llal i bombing in October 2002 as collatl:"ral damagc. 141 The vitriolic denunciations persisted, becomi n g ever morc shrill and ~going beyon d normal CX PK'Ssions of opposition", as a sen ior American offi cial put ii, un til Or. Mahalllif re tired la ter in the year.I~2 With Dr. Ma bathi r's d eparture and tilt' in stallation of Abdu ll a h 13adawl in 2003, the to ne of Ma laysia's relation s with the United States, Austra lia and Si ngapore c hanged overnight. Abdullah made arra ngements to visit th e three countries, signalli ng an e nd to t he op<'11 hostility and giving Dr. Maha lhi r anothe r reaso n to feel belrayed by his successor. Dr. Mahath ir compillined 10 a frien d Ihal Abdullllh hlld ucom p letely" rl'v(.'rsl'
I]
14 IS
16
17 18 19 20 21 22
2J 24
25 26 27
Notes I
2 3
4
5
6
7 S 9
to 1\
12
Inter\'iew with Mahathir Moham lld, 14 Aug ust 2007. Ihl,l. Ihld. Kim Richard Nossal amI Richard Stubbs, ~ Mahatlm's Miliilysla: ,\ n Emt'rging Mlddlt' Powerr, in Andrew Coop... r, l'd~wC U T7,(ln, 2005), p. l :i4. Uajrud ln Sumun. Th" 5<'C1<'/ 01 lilt, MIIIIl,~illll 511(CI'.<;.' (SulJang Jaya: i'e illmlllk Publications (M) Stln. Uhd., 2003), p . 176.
ttl""",
28 29 .10
JI
,12 :~3
34 35 36
Email corrt.S l)()mi(. nn .. 2SJuly 2008, with Marvin C. On, I'rokssor, Nat ional Sl.-curilYStral<1."Y, National War Colleg(', Washington, D.C., who is r('S('"archl ng a boo" on Malar.>ian foreign pol icy. Ibid. Chand ran Jeshurun, " Malaysian J)efellc(' rolicy Un dN MahOilhir: Whal has C ha ng\..-d?~, in RI'/kctioll), p. 3JS. MllllTe: NUS Press, 2tX)lJ), p. 16 1. Ibid ., PI'. 163- 164. Mah'llh lr Mohamad, HWt'S t and 1'..1St~, in '/7K" CI",II(,",~t (I\·taUng Jaya: I'danduk \'ublicalion5 ( M ) Sdn, Blld., 1986), pp. 46-17. Ibid., p. 54, Nl'W SlruilS Tillle~, 16 July 19M2. K. Das, " ~'I alay s la 's 'lksl!lwtIOI I''', fm £"51"", Enm(lmk Rt'vi;-w (he r~'aftcr 1'"fJ:"R), II Jun(' 1982, p. :18. In tl"fview wi th Mah'llhir Moha matJ, t-l .'\uguSt 2007. Maha t hir Mohamad, 1\ Nrw [kill flIT A~;u (SubangJaya: I'tlanduk Publication s (MI Sdn. Rhd., 1999), p. t6. tnler... lew with M,.hathlr \1ohamad, 14 AUgU5t 2007. Mahathir Moha mad,;\ Nt'W /XII/lUI ,lsio, pp. 14-\ S . Cheah Boon Kh('ng. ·'Tht· 'Blacko()ut' Syndrome and t l1(' Cihosts of World War II: 'Ill(' War ;IS a 'Dlvisi\"(~ J..,s u\." In M.l1:Iy:;j .. ~, in David Koh Wl'\' I lock, t'(l .. t.t'S,u:k:s of World Wilt /I ill .)(1(11/1 1111<1 £(111 ;\.,itt (Singapore: Institute of S()utht'a~t Asi,. n Stud ies, 2(07), pp. 47, 48. I'aul ,\ . KralOska, TIll' l(/fl/lIIl'~" Occ"I>(llio" of .\1(1/(/YI/: 1\ Sdfill/ /III/I I;"COII/)III;C / listot}" (London: IlurSI & Cu., t 998), p. 86. Ch('ah Boon 1I:11('ng, ~TI I\' ' Jllm:k,oul' SyndrollW and till" Ghosts o f World War W , p.-I8. Ibid., p. 5' . Ibid., p. 47. Mahathir Mohamad, A Nt'W 1)ml for Asi(l, PI'. 1()-17. Ml'orget the Pasl, I'M le lls Muruyama-, SI,/f, 2H Augu\1 199-1 , ci ted In Chcil h Boon Kheng. MThc ' 1IIac ...-out ' Syndrome- and IlIl' Ghosts of World War U-,
p. 49 . Mahathir Mohilmad. -Quo Vallis Malay,ia"!", In 'n/(' Clwlll'lI,~I', p. 163. Zainuddin Maitiin, TII(' Olllc" Sid.. (If Malmtilil (Kuala l.umpur: Utusan I'u\)licatlom and Dbtrlbu tors Sti n. Bhd ., 1(94), p. 97. 39 Ibid., p. 97. 40 Ibid., p. 97. 41 lntcrvi('w wi l li i)ai m 7..alnuddln, 1M Oclot)('r 2007. 42 Rogcr Ker~haw, "Brown Ilmna ni ty Strikcs Rack: Confronting llritain In a Good Cauwr, in Rt'{1t'CtilJII), p.3 47. H Ibid., pp. 347-]48. 44 Ibid., p. :1'17.
.17 .VI
A Slritlt.,,1 Voiu (or lilt' ""Iinl WvrM 27 1
4S 46 47
·HI 41) SO 51
SZ 5:i
So!
Ibid., p. :iH . IbId., p. :141). \1ahath lr Mohmlad. ArpcndilC 5, In n'f Otl,..,. Silk of M,ill(ltlrir, I)P' 303-:«>6. Karmindt, Singh Dhillon, MI""}"(ilml'orrig" f'viK)' i/l Ilk' MII/II.,lri, Ere, (198 1- 2003J, p. 170. R,' phacl I'urd, ~M ;III :lI h1r 's U.S. rrl p Showcas('\ Bl'ltd I il" ". A,irlll IVI.1l 511('1'1 Irmrlllll (hercarter it WS/), 10 january 1984 . JOIl\() K.S., M Way: M,'/lIl/illr\ Enmvmir tt'.~,/C), (Kua13 I.umpur: f orum, 200j), 1)· 40. W illiam~.. ik'fT)" Jr., ~Thrt'ilt I'l'H:epliolls In \ 111' I'hllipphll'S, Malaysl:, a m i Slng~[MJrt.' ~, INSS OccasIo nal PaIK'T 16, Sq1tcmht.' r 11)1)7, USAI: imlilult.' fur Nat io n31 $('Curlty Studk!lo. I mail eorrc-spondl'n re, 28 \'I1o"'('mlx!r 2007, with William F_lkrry,]r., U.S. aIr .Il1ach" In Kual.! Lum pur 1990-93. MJhathlr Moh:un ad, SlJoC\.'C h in co njunction w ith the n:'ll'br;Hion (If IIH' 4 Ht a nniVCIs.lry o f tl1\' Un ited Nat iOns, 25 (":lol>I.'r I98b, cited in Khoolk.K) Tell.., I'um.lv,v", 'If ,\/,'I"r l"',i~m: All /lIIdkrlll
7)
74 75. 76
77 78
79
80 SI
82
SlnSapore~.
55
56
57 5/i
5<) GO 6]
62 (d 64 6S 66 67 68 69 70 71 72
,\nll N~ tt o, "Fear, F.matlch m and an ,\ sl an TiglltrClp'- I\ct ", AIionlllt's O"lil/.' .:http:// ..... ww.a tlm{'''l.comfa tinwslprlntN.html>(i1(CCSk'd 18 Jul)' 2007), ' ''lib :\ lxiulltauk, ·U S .MaI3~~la Defenc(' CooI;ll.-rat lon: ,\ Solid SuCCCS) Story~, addlC'S~ to Ihe Hl' ritil!;C Foundation and Centre for ~tra t l'Sie and International Studl~. Washington, j ~ r ,ly 2002. I-Ierl la~,' u.'t.1ure no. 742. Inte.rview with Mahathir Moham ad, 1 4l\usu~1 2007. W illiam E He rry, Jr., "Threat rern'pllons In the Philip pil1{'~, Malay\la :11\\1 Singapore". Inter".h:w ..... ith Mahath lr Moha illati. '4 ,\ugusI 2007. John Fun~ t ol1, "i\u", nlllll. Malaysia Rdl'llons: 1\ M l1t urll1~ l'artnC'rshlp ", p. 9 \ David Cillllmux, "'I.(I()lll1 ~ EasL .. and l nw ard~ : Inlcrnall'actors In M al'Lysl~r) I'o relgn Relations During t ill.' Mah:uhlt Era, 1981· 1994", Australia-Asia l'alX'rs no. 72. OcIOOt'r 1994, Griffi lh UnIversity, p. 44. n,u ry \Valn, " M alily~ia') New !'rio rit k, In I'orclgnI'ullll'w, AWSI , 16 Nuv('mlwr 19151. John I"un ... to n , ~Th l' I.l'jo:aC)· o f Dr. Ma ha thlr·, AIIUm/i,m Pilltlll("hr/ Iit''';('"" j O July 2004 Int erview with Mahathlr Mohamad, 14 ;\ugusl Z007. Chandran Je,hurun , MII /rty.,i(l: Pitty y,'II/ \ of J)ip/oll/MY /95 7-2007 (1I:\,aI1l Lumpur: Ti lL' Ollwr Prl'SS Sdn . Bhd., 20(J7), p . 17U. Greg SherldDn, Ti,~,',, : t .. u'/"rs u{ 1/1.' Ncw "~iCl-I" lcifi( {Sydney: /\llen N Unwin, 1997), p. 169. Inlcrvil'\\ wi th \1ahalhh Mo hamad, H ,\ugust 2007. ~Th(' Fu ll "J"t'xt of Datuk Seri Dr. Mahat h lr's reply da l(-d J\ prtl2S w, Nt"\' S/",i(\' n mes. SO MiLY 1')88. Shamsul A II., ~ ,\ ustritlia In C.ontcmpoTary Ma laysia'S Wort
lU
84
85 86 K7 BS IJI) 90
91 9Z 9.i
Mal1:l th lr hln Mo ilamad, '1'11(' Mllhl}' !Jill'flllI/,' (Sin)(a porl': Tittll'S Hooks Inll'rnational, I'm \'(lil'OIl). p. R4. Ihld ., p. 84. 1.A.'slie Lopez. "Malaysia Sl r.,ln\ U.S, "J"olerarlCc·, AWSI, 27 June 2OOS, " M;llayslan Prime Mi n i ~t<-r M3hal hi r Mo ha lllad: On Ihe Jcws~, illt(> rv icw with 1J<1II,'i/wk I'O~I, 2 1 OClOhl' r 2003, d tl,<1 0 11 Ant i-l>da nHltion League website .: http://wwwadl .orgJAnll)(.mllhm / Malay~ian_l.asl.> (accl'S"'(] Z7 lanuar)' 2006). PatricIa M:lrtlnez, "I'l'r hap~ II I' Lk:ser"'l.,l Il-cttl'r : Till' Ilisiuncture bc twttn VISlt)1I alld !lealily in Mahathlr '~ 1~la m ~, in /.:I'(/('(/iVII), p, 35. " MahiL thlr Attack on j .- w~ C(mdemne(\", CNN.nJIII, 16 l)ct~r 200J (acn:sSt..-d 27 january 2<XJ6) Mahalhir Mohalllad, sJX't"l-h at the Tenlh IslamK Summ it O>nf(>T(-n('(', l'utralilY;', Milli1 ysi il, 16 O("toocr 2003 _ Ibid. Mail31hlr Mo hamad_spa'eh .. t Ihe 1'01(>i811 1'Olicy t\nodil llCln , 19 january 198"', Cltl-d In Io.:h CXl noo Teik, P,mr"ux(~ u{ .\f,III.rllrirism, p . 59. Mah3thlt Mohal1lad, slX"Cch at th e dI n n er hosll'(l by Jap .. ne:>c I' ri O)(' Minister Y,",lliliw N.Ll..llso n c, 24 JlLlluary 19R3, cl Io'd in Kho lacces \('(1 _J t March 2(K)6j, Klux) noo n ·,l;.. l'flmffu.Vfl of Malui /ilitis"" fl' 6-1. Ibid, p. 62. Mah" tl1ir MohamiKl, speech al Sth joml con ll'r(-ncc MAj F.CN)"MEC:\, g Fdmlary 191'12, ~'i l~'(\ In Kh oo BooT('l k, /" 'lIIdvx/'So( ,I,/u/lCltlliri.'I/I, p. 62. Josep h \.iow, "l'er~lI1ali t y , F.xl ge llcil'5 and Con tin);c lI<"i(o$u, p. 1'18, Ibid ., p. HR. Captalnjohari Ram?..an Ahmad, ~Mal a ysia'~ l'E'accl..Cl'pl ng EHort: " l'eNOnal I'I' f~[lCCtj\te. '/11(" /'/(1;50/1, 3, no. I (accCSSt..'(1 30 N'l\'~mocr 20(7). Ibid. Qlandran JcshuNn, Mil/II),:';" : H{t,l' t't'U~ of lJiplum,/C}' 1957-2007. PI'. 2SZ-lSJ. "M alay~ia '~ Mahathir: New Voice for the Third Worhr, FF-fR, 20 1\ugust 1992, COV{·T.
Ki m Ri chard Nossal and Rh:h'Lrd Stubbs, ~ Mah ath lr '~ Ma la ysia: 1'11\ Em(' rgillg Midlile Pa WN?", p . 155. 95 Ibid" PI'. 155- 156. 96 R.S. Milne and l)Iall(' K. Mauzy, MII/flrSiflll f'olilirs U"dcr Millul/flir (Lon do n : Ro utledge, 1999), p_ 139. 97 S_]
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s. Jaya.~ lIl kM;lIl and N;u {' Tha Y{,f, ~ Fro rn Logs to L.QtllS~, p. 66. Ibid., p. 66. Ibid., p. 69. Vishu r;tda yachee and I"Uaan Valodia. ~~"t'loping South -Sout h Units?: Malaysian hwcstment Inl'Ost-,\ parthdd Sout h AfriGl·, in Ugl.v MII/llysimu?, p. 36. S . Jay;asallk (acressed 2 5q>t{'mlx-r 2(X)8). Ch in Ki n Wa h and Michael Richardson. A IISlwlill-N~ a a/aml &. .WUtilfflSt A)il' Rrlmiotlj: All Agt-III/I' {Of C/O'M.'1 Cooprrmivll (Siogapore: InstitUle of Southea~t Asian Studies, 2004), PI>. 27- 28. Ibid., p. 28. Jt!rl~n y lIurcwl11~ " Inl('rvl('W", FiER, Ma rch 2006, p. 54. Greg Sheridan, "1lsm, p. 200. Joseph Chi nyong Uow, "1111' I'olitics o( lmiullrsill.Mlllllysil' Rrlm ;QIIs. p. 13Z. Ibid .. p. 136. Ibid., p. 167. Intervit!w with senior Southeast A~ian o fficial. 3 NO"'ember 2006. Interview with Mahathlr Mo h amad, 14 August ZOU7. KS. Nathan, "Malaysla-Slngaj1("lre Relation~: H('lrO"pt"C' and l)rOSIX'l' t", COIllmlpomryScml/ltmr AI11124, no. 2 (August 20(2): 404. Lt.,;.' Kuall Yew, PM/I Tl/ird Wurld /0 1-'irs': 'n lt SllIgU/,Qrr Story: 1965-2(00 (Slngapon:; 'I1m('S Ml'(iia I'te. Ltd., 2()(XJ), p. 280. Ibid., pp. Z75, 279-2IH, 289. Kaml nder Singh Dhil!on, M"/IIYJilll1 1-i)tl!i.~" {'vIlcy III tilt.' MII/llllhir Em ( J98J-20tHI, p. 136, fn 93, fit lng SlfIIll.~ Timl'S, 18 FdJTuary 19<)(). Suhalni Ama m, ~Nelghbou l ly Jntell.'St~, FEBR, 2 1 DlUl11lx'r 1989, p. 20. Chandran Jeshurun, ,\III/llysla: l-"ifty Y('I'/fS O(Vil'/{JIIIIIC}' /95 7-2007, p. 297. K.S. Natha n , ·Malays ia-Slngapo lc Rela tion s: Retrospt'<1 .lnd I'roslx'("t n , pp 391h:i99, K, K(!S.wal)llny, " Promisi n g Start to Mala ysia-5inga lxm.. Rc1a liom". in Saw Sw~ /l ock a nd K. Kcsaval),ln y, eds, Mt/laysill: Recrllt 'frf'lIIfs IIwl CliallellXrs (Singal'()/t": InslitUie of Southeast Asian Studies, 2006), pp. 275--286.
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Kamin(\er Singh Ohmon, MIl/llr.J(II1 Furl'i,,(11 I'v/iry 111/111' Mtl/ulllrjr F.m (19S1-2003}, p.132. Tom Hamburger and I'eter Wa tls tell, "Abramoff Il raggcd of 11('5 to Rove", "1I1111i':..(lIIII. IS FdlTuary 2006 (acn-sscd 13 March ZOO6J, Ji m l.olx', · Mah at h ir Ge ls White lIouw's ' Re hab ilitation''', A~ill"'illlr.~ Olllillt', 17 Ma y 2002 < hHp :Jlwww .a l i rnl.~.com/s.ca -asi a JOEI7 Ac03.h lmi> (accessed 27 Jan uary 20(6). Ahmro Rashi d, ~W hat Do You Th in k o f Am{'rica Nowr, H::t::R,:i April 2003, p. 12_ tesl ie Lopi.·z. " Mala ysia Straim U.S. Tolcranre . !larry Wai n, "Washington to Heward Its Frl~I1fIs ~, IlWSI, 281\ pri12003. ~ M
275
Glohal l:l(pOsurl': M.lhalhir with United Nalio n.\ x 'uctary lil:neral Koh Arlll.1n. Mahathlr uwd regular apJX'Jram:c~ al the U.N. Gene r.. 1 A\sernhl)' 10 lash Ihl' W{'~t ,1111..1 promotl' his pct causes.
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276
11 The Destruction of a Designated Heir
In the most se nsational 4R hours in Malaysian politics, Dr. Mahathir in 1998 sacked An war Ibrahim as deputy prime min ister rind flfla nce min ister and had him expelled frol11 UMNO. Not since the 1969 ra cial riot s, w hich weTe confined largely to Kua la Lumpur, had the COlllllry been gripped by
Wary ne igh bou rs: Mllhathir with Singal>ore I'ri me Minister te e Kuan Yew . ['olitie;)1 from the lime SingalX)TC wa5 part of Malaysia in 1963-65, Ih('Y ~dl ll-d SOIllC bilat eral issut'S, but proble ms u'mainl'{L
adversa r ic~
such d rama . And that was onl y the beginning. As Dr. Mah alhl r sough t to crush Anwar poli lically wit h the full weight of the Sla te, h(.' was pillorkJ by t he police an d press, arn.'sted under emergency laws and bashed in iai!. Marrit.'(l with six childrell and a reputation as a prinCipled and thoughtful Musli m leader, Anwar was accused of being both a womani 1':er and a homosexua l, financia lly corru pt and a threat to nat iona l security. Li ke t he 19B7 UMNO factiona l fight , the Maha thir-Anwar rupture split t he Malay commu n ity down to fa mil y level and reverberated beyond the poliliGtl system itself. It brought a sharp reaction from many regional and world Glpitals, wilere Anwar was known and respected. As hl.' was dism issed from th e govern men t the day after Malaysia imposed capital controls to deal with the Asian econo mic crisis, the international community t ook an even keener interest in hiS removaL Dr. Mahathir a nd Anwar had diverged in their responses to the crisis, and the deputy prem ie r'S depart ure was as unwelcome to foreign inVl'stors as the rest rictions on the outflow of fun ds. Protesting h is innocence and claiming to be the victim of a "conspiracy at the highest level of government Anwa r refu sed to go quiet/y.! He slipped back into the adv~ rsarial role he once played as a student and Islamic leader, rallying Malaysians to dem and widespread reform before being a rrested. Considered a polilkal prisoner by in te rnational human rights groups, Anwa r was jailed for I S yea rs after two trials that failed to meet min imum standards of justit'e. With Dr. Mailathir' s assistance, i'lnwa r's e ne mies in UMNO had achieved their ai m of denying him the top politica l prizC', though his own misca lculations cont ributed 10 his down fa ll . Or. Mahathir contin ued to insist that Anwa r was drop ped because he was mora lly unfi t, l1ut few believell it even after he had served a jail tcrlll . Rather, the evidence suggested that Dr. Mahathir had concluded that Anwar, the man H
,
Sm.rrr. I'",dana u>aul'r)h ip I'oundillion
277
he had brough t in to UMNO 16 yea rs earlle( a nd anointed as his SIlCl-csWr. was planning 10 usc th(' economic turmoil to di~lod g(' h im and takt' over tIll' party and the country. Dr. Mal mthir hOld ~ t ru(:k pre-emptively to sq uash any possihlc chilllc ngt'. Wh ile Dr. Milhathlr eosuTl,<1 th,1I An .....ar did not Slll'Cl"Cd him, it W'I~ M)mething or a J>yrrh k vIctory. The ephode eX1XlSl-'(1 tht' dL'Cply authorit,lrlan nature of Ur. Mahathir's administr.llion and the insti tutional rot that had 'let in during his long years at the helm . It also raised doubts about Or. Mahallllr'S vaunted political judgment and renewl'd sp('('ulatlol1 ,Ibollt when, If ever, he intended to (eli re. lArge lIl11 nbers of M alil ysl all~ , especially M;llays. remained ali enated and looked upon I)r. M" hat hlr as an ogre. No ma ttl'r how he tr i(~d, I)r. Mahathir could never bury tht· Anwar hSlIc. Like a bad odour, it hung a round as long as he stayed on. constantl y testing his patiencl' illld lX'rmancnt ly sullying his name. Dr. Ma hathlr'S dismissa l or Anwar ended a relatlon~hip that was long, complicatl'd and, in part, personal as well a ~ prof(.'s~lona1. Although bom l1Iore than two (kcades apa rt , U\l' men sharL'<1 similaritieS In thei r Idl'as and I>olilkai c;tn.'('fs. They Wl'H' l'O nllnor H~rs in contrast wI th formcr UM NO leaders who had aristocratic Ilackgrollnds, though Anwar's Ill i dd l ('-c la ~s upbringi ng was more cOlnfortabl<' than Dr. Mahathlr's. Thl' son of a hospital orderl y who became an lJMNO member of par liament, ..... ith a mother who also was a n active party m('mocr, Anwar cumpleted 5('('ondary school as a bomdcr al th(' el ite Ma lay Colkge in Kuala Ka ngsar, the country's most pr('stigious school. He e.'(c('ll cd 111 debating, Il'd Islamh.: st udy groups and eYl.'lltually wa~ ,Ippo inted school c,' ptain ,2 Whl' ll they first In('I in the late 1960s, Anwar wa .~ a st udent leader at t he Universit y of Malaya and Dr. Mahathir was a firs t-t("rm pa rlia mentarian, both making il name for theJllS('IVl's as Malay national isiS. A skilful political strategist with dear views o n whilt he wan ted to il('h ieve, Anwa r - Ii\..;(' Dr. Maha th lr - had I)OHlin in his blood, In 1968, 1\I1 Wa r took over t he two major Ma lay student organizat ions in the coulltry. unili ng the Malay nationa list and Islamic streams. I Under h is directiOIl. they addr(.'ssed Mil lay backwardne$.') In such a reas as hea lth. education and ('(:o llomics, wh ile pressuring politiCians to keep earl ier promises t'O make Ma lay th{' sole na tional language. Anwar and other stu{ien lS would visi l Dr. Mahath ir at his residence in Kuala Lum pu r.;1\ his invitation, to discuss shared co n cern s. ~ The venue was significant. It was the home of Dr. Mahathi r's d ose fr ielld il ntl fell ow UMNQ mem ber of parliament , Tun ku Alxlulla h Tuanku Abdul Rah man . wIth wholll Alor Star-based Dr. Mahath lroft CII st ayed wlll.'n ParLiament was in session . Tun ku Abdullah was Presid{'rlt of the Ma laysian Youth Cou nci l, an umbrella o rga nization for all yout h groups, which would later ind udl" Anwar's Malaysian Islam ic Youth Movelllcn t (A lUM). tn 1972, Anwa r would succeed Tunku Abdulla h as head of the llIult iracia l Ma laysian
Youth Council, a post u~ua li y res('rved for a S(.'nior UMNO memlx'r, providIng Anwa r wit h the oppo rtu nity 10 work beyond t he Malay com munity. /\nwa r and his fo llowrrs adm ired the outspoken Dr. Mahat h ir, and they supported h im when he lost his sca t in the 1969 elel'tion a nd bla med Pr inll' Min ist{'r Tu nku Abdul Ra hman's allegedly pro-Chinese policies fo r the -M ay 1 3~ tragl>dy lhat followed . A few of t hl' studen ts hel pL"OSl'
'1"'1' 1)('$I""lillll Of II
and fivr yrars In l'ly as finance min ister and acquired a cOlISiderable international reputation. Although Dr. Mahath ir ami Anwar both studied at local universlt lcs rather than overseas and cx~rienced a period of politica l ba nishment, Ihey were dlneren t In some obvious ways. Un like Dr. Mahathir, who gov(,rTled by the force of his wilt and professed no desire to be- popu lar, Anwar's polit. Ica l st yle was ~ a canny mI x of personal charm and cool pragmalism".11 While Dr. Mahathl r was practical , with little time for theory and rascinatC'd by technological gadgets, Anwar had a more philosophica l bent , I..'< lua ll y at east.' Cluotlng t hl' Qur'a n to con servative villagers or citing Shakcspeare to a mo re-Western i7.ecl audicnce. 12 Dr. Mahathir focused on economic growlh, pro mot ing hi s vision of a fu lly developed Malaysia by 2020 Ihat bristled with skyscrapers, superhighways, bullet t rains a nd o thcr conc re te symbols of mode rnity. Anwa r tarty con t ~st rather than be humiliated in a ballot, th~ prime minister would have preferred to keep them both in place and amide. As political scientist John Funston commented, relations between Dr. Mahathlr and Anwar could no longer be completely free of tension.
1.>r.~i.~ll(ltM
J-Ir;' zg I
Dr. Mahathir had to kC<"p on demonslrating that he rema ined in control, or party membe rs would conclude he 110 longe r was. Anwar, o n the other ha nd, had 10 show that he was r~ady to take over whenever required, or SOlllt'OlU' ~I S(' would emerge to Challenge his nt'wly acq uired position as the heir apparcnt. 14 The key q uestion: In the absence of a timetable, would Anwar patiently wail h is turn, or be pressured by sUPIXlrlers into risking his post by challenging Dr. Mahathir? Livi ng in ad joining orficial reside nces in the fancy Dama nsara Heights sl'Ction of Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Mahathir and Anwar and their fam ilies devel· oped a comfortable personal friendship. Anwa r had mCI his wife in 1980 when visiting Dr. Mahathir's s ister-In-la w in hospital, where she was bei ng carL'd for by a re<:ent Dublin rm'(llcal school gradua te Ilarned Wan Aziza Wan Ismail. Anwar and Wan Aziza ma rrIed In 1981. A~ neighbours, Dr. Mahathir anci I\nwar went horse-riding toget her on Slilldays, until Anwar broke his collarbone in a fall ami gave It up. Their daughtl'rs were good friends and studied together in Ass ullta Seconda ry SchC/ol in Peta ling )aya, sometiml'S ridi ng in each other's car if om' d river was l i.t e.l~ Anwar descrl lx'<1 Dr. Mahathir as his "mentor, leader and father In politiCS".'" After the governmen t increasoo its ma !orlty In a gelleral election in 1995, UMNO was riven by proxy battles bt.'tween t he I('.lder and his deputy, which had the overaU effect of 'Nl'akeni ng Dr. Mahathlr's grip on t he partyY As usual, the intense jockeying was conductt.-'ositions must Tl'gister with UMNO headqua rters five months in advance, a requirement tha t would not allow a challenger to hide his intentions as Anwar had In 1993 against Ghafar. FinalJy, the Supre me Coundl pushL't.Ilhrough an unprecedented rule that banned all campaigning ror the <Xtoher party el<'<:tions. While the restrictions were introduced in the
Till' n.'SIn/Clioll 0/ (I iJl'Sigl/
na me of lIoble caus~s - less po li ticking, more unity, il lcvel playing field and red uct'{1 vote LJUying - th ey cffl"ctl vely e ntrenched Dr. Mahllthir's presidency until 1999. At t he General Assembly, Anwa r's faction showed Its muscle early when Ah mad Zahid [Ialllidi ddeated ilKu mbe nt Rahim T:lmby Chi k for the leaders hip of UMNO Yout h and SI U Zaharah Sulai man too k contro l o f the wom en's wing fro lll Rafidah Azlz . But while Dr. Ma hath ir e ndorsed ca nd idates lost tha t round, th ey dominated the Supreme Council poll, and ,\n war's allies failed to make Inroads at vice preS idential level. If Anwa r's fo ll owers tr ied to create t he impressio n that tim e was runnIng out for Dr. Maha thir, he saw no reason to he rushed into rl'tirement. A buoyant Dr. Mahathlr subsequently decla red he would not set a date fo r his departure. "The mom ent YOli give a timetable, you arc a lame duck, " he said. He added, "I can go anytime now or te n Yl';lTS later or whatever. Depends on wha t the situation is like." As for nami ng a successor, "W hocver is in place as my deputy will succeed mt'." 1& With both men ma king light of speculation about their differences as Ihey e nICH..'d 1997, Anwar got a taste of Ill(> top job whell Dr. Mahathir took two mon ths kave in May. For the first time since the 1980s, Dr. Mahatbir made his dl'puty acting prime minister, all indication of his confidence in Anwar and something of a trial run. As Dr. Mahathir jok{.-'d when ash-d if it were to test whether Anwa r was capable of succeeding him, "Yes, he has to sit for ,HI examination . Wht'n [ come back, 1 will ma ke him sit down and answer questions. I wi ll then mark the Ihl per."19 On his return in July, Dr. Mahathir d{'("la red hi mselr satisf'K-d wit h r\nwar's management of the country. Hut Acting Prime Minister Anwar's actions, specifically his declared war all corruption, alarm{.'(1 sections of UMNO and the business community, and they joined Anwar's rivals in comm itt ing themselves to blocking his ascent.:.!I) The Anwar sponsored Anti-Corru ption 8i1l1997 increased penalties, enhanced the powers of the Anti-Corruption Agellcy and contained provisions allowing for the prosecution of a publiC official ewn after leaving office. J\nwar won Cabinet acceptance of the profX>sed legislation over the objC"Ctions of some ministeria l colleagues. It was clear not only to Anwar's poli tical advers.1ries, hut also to some of Malaysia's well-connected corporate players, that he could not be relied lIpon to protect their interests if he became prime minister.21 In August 1997, a mon th beforc the annual UMNO General Assembly, Anwar's enemies struck, circulating SlImt lay(wg aimed at his high moral ch,nacter. While a common way to denigratl' lofty aspirants in Malay politics, this onslaugh t of poison-pen letters came in Illore than hal f a dozen versions in what Anwar called the "most con<:ert{.'"li, well organized and well orch('Stratt'(I" effort to sabotage him politically. The letters alleged he had all affa ir with the wife of his private secretary and fathe red her chil d, and aLso had a home). sexual relationsh ip with his form er family chauffeur.
As sOllie of the lctt('rs were sent to the prime minister and signed by their authors, they could be easily investiga ted by police, who were answerable 10 Dr. Mahath ir as h0111(' affairs min ister. After Anwar lodged a com plai nt with the police and they cond ucted inquiries, Dr. Mahathir told a press confere nce the allcgation s Wl'rl' "abSllrd" and just Ihl' usual slander to prevent Anwar's succession. " It is total ly political. The re is no t ruth in it," he said . Dr. Mahathir gave an examplc of the way the campaign to blacken Anwar was organ ized, wit h one I)('rson sign ing a lette r dicta ted by anothe r. "The letter was written in a language beyond thl' capacity of one of the writers," he sald .a With such a categoricaL dismissal of the "]irs" by the person who malte red most \n the prime ministeria l stil kes, ttl(' perpetrators migh t have bee n expected to retrea t. But no aclion was IiIkcn aga inst them, and the "flow of anti-Anwar literatu re was not stel11ll1{''{\''.Z3 Calumnious books appeared, one of them til led Ttilkill Ulltuk AI/W(lf Ibmllim - nequiem for Anwa r Ibrahi m. Th e pol itical conspiracy agai nst Anwa r was well-funded and real. ("On fi rmed by for me r deput y prime mi nister Musa I·litam, a n UMNO elder who was 11('ut ral in the Maha thi r-A nwar fallout. "Definitely", he sa id la ter. The penple in volved in the planni ng had told him, MuSil said, "wha t will be done against Anwa r to ma k<: sure he wil! be t op pl ed".2~ The Asian economic crisis, whic h origi nilted in Thai land in J uly 1997, put addi tional st rain on the rdat ionship between leader a nd dcput y as the effecis spread to neighhouring coun tries. Dr. Mahalh ir's vilific,nioll of fore ign equit y and c urrency t raders as "manipu lators" and "criminals" accelerated the implosion of Malaysia's currency, stock and property markets. It fell to the more urbane Anwar, as finance min ister, to ("aIm growing domes-tic and fo reign alarm over Or, Mahathir's pronouncements ami IX)licics. Z.1 Wh ile playing good cop to Dr, Mahathir's bad cop boosted Anwar's reputation abroad as the voice of "reason ilnd moderation",1/, it was dt'Cpl)' [('senled by Dr. Mahathir. ,\nd he was even more annoyed when some international media suggested that he should step down in favour of Anwar.17 As t he recession bi t d eeper and governmen t spen ding was red uced, tension hetwl'cn the two al so increased over the co ntinued financing of Dr. Ma hathir's mega-projects and the resclle of favoured humip utra corporatiOIl5. Anwar had long gru mbl(:d about some of tlte big-t icket infrastructure items, and he took the fi.rst opportu ni ty to she lvl' a few. Despite Anwar's public opposit ion to bailouts, the government threw lifelines to sonw major companies aligned with factions or prominent fig ures in UMNO. Anwar and Dr. Mahathir argued privately ov('r payment to Ting Pel.: Khiing, the entrepreneur behind the postponed Bakun Dam, and to Mirz.1n Mahath ir, the prime minister's eldest son, for the purchase of the entire shipping bu~iness and assets of his Konsortiwn l'erkapalan Blld. by PetronilS. 2X Now, Dr. Mahathir had reawn to share the doubts aho ut Anwar's wil lin gness to protect certa in interests after Dr. Mahath lr's prelllicrship. ?9 As Musa Hltam,
28 4 /o.f(l/(lyd,,,, Me/verick
the forme r deputy prcmier, said, "To pu t it simply, this is all about the search for the nCKt leader who could ensure that thc past leacler anti his cronies wi ll not be in trouble, """ Although Anwa r sa id later he thought Dr. Ma halhir h ad mad<-' up his mi nd to remove him by Decem ber 1997, there was little sign of iI at the lime, t ho ugh differences betw('en them were beginni ng to show. The day after a pivotal cabinet meeti ng chaired by Dr. Ma hat hir on 3 Decemher, before An war could announce a second austerity package to cop<' with the spreading ('Conom ic malaise, Dr. Mahathir made a statement that SUggl>sted it was business as usual. lie d£'"Clared that a RMlO billion "land bridge", comprising a rood, railway and a gas pipeline, between Malaysia and Thailand wou ld go ahead. Anwa r's measures, announced on 5 December, Included more curbs on government spending and mega·projects, specifically reversing Dr. M;lhathir's stand o n Ihe land bridge,JI Soon ;lfter, Dr. Mahalhir took steps to dilute Anwar's voice in economic policy form ulmion. He created a Nationa l Econom ic Act io n Coun cil to oversee the COUl1 try's f(X'ov(' ry a nd brought bact.: Dahn Za illuddin, the fo rme r finance ministe r free to e nter the Malaysian market a nd scoop up bargains, amOunting to re-coloni7.ation of the country, he said. After their breach, Dr. Mahath ir blamed Anwar, aided by Bank Negara, the cent ral bank, for having made "a bad situation worse by slavishly following standa rd IMF prescriptions and adopti ng tight monetary and fi scal policies. Dr. Mahat hi r said they im plemented a "virt ua l lMf without the lMF loans", pushi ng a heady sllffering ba nks and businesses into "dire d lstrE'SS".12 " ut as prime mi nister, and a particularly powerful one, Dr. Mahathir always had the final say in policy making and 110 course could have heen pursued without his acquiC'SCenct' at least. In reality, Ma laysia's econom ic policies were worked Ollt in consu ltation with the IMF unt il about the m iddle of 1998. H Interna l d iscussions and di.s
stance. Along with othe rs, Anwar modifi ed his views, descri bi ng in l('re51 ra tl's a l the end of June as "prohibit ively hI8h ".14 A 200-page recovery pla n, prepared by t he National F..conom ir; Action Council lind released in July, rell('("ted the move towards looser monetary a nd fiscal lXllicies, " but within a framework tha t ('conom ic comme ntators acknowledg(- lie said, 'The pressure has been building up ill recent months in the region itself and we arc aware that un less we reform the system fro m with in, changes wi ll be illl pos('
TiI<'lJf!Slmrtioll
Dr. Mail,lthir, however, was cOrlvirll'ed tha t Anwar was inten t on unseating him im rnedi,ltely, Less than two W(-ek.~ hdore the 1998 assemblv Anwar told an UMNO meeting in johore that without rdorm Malaysia f~ced tll{' same filte as ImJoll esl a, Zah id and Other followers joined JII, pid .:ing lip thc Indonesi all battlc cry again.st corru ption, cronyism a nd nepotism, Anwar'~ Glmpaign was intended as it "mcssage" for Dr. Mahat hir, to get him to " u n dcr~t and the undercurrents in t he (ountry. _ .we should either make adj ustments HOW or [el a smooth tra mi tion ta ke pl ace event ually". N TruC', Dr. Mah alh ir had said in 1995 that he woulclnot stay on if UMNO mC1ll llers S{'nt hi m a 1Il{'sS
(If(/ I~~-;Il(u(," IIdr
287
A parallel development, played out in the shadows while the deit'ga t{'s deba ted, confirmed how seriollsly and qUickly the tide had turned against }\nwar. Among the items being peddled by til{' hawkers SCI up outside the asscmbly venue, the Pul ra World Trade Centre, was a hook titled 50 I){lfil M(,lIgap" ,I " w"r Ti dak Hoklljmli PM - SO Reasons Why Anwar Cannot he Pri me Minister. The poi son -peEl letters of a yea r earlier had been em bcll· isheu a nd pa("kaged in a more permanent format , aut hored by Khalid)a fr i, a form er newspape r :.ports edi to r. Repeating the earlier st'.-.:ual cha rgl's. the book ~I ccll sc d Anwar of complic ity in a murder, and t'a lled him the most corrupt ma n in the coun try a nd an agent of fo rd~n powe rs who wa nted to overthrow Malaysia's leadersh ip. As soon as he learned of the book, Anwar oblil incd an injunction through a law firm to ha lt its pubJic,1t1on ,l!ld dislriiJutionlx'fore the assembly opened. He cicsn ilJed the book as "iI cOTlSl'iraty to smear my image and topple 111(''' a nd called 011 the autiloriti('S to take harsh act ion against the author
TIl(: Ik~l rurtil1lJ
Act with un lawful possession o f live ammunlllon, an offence carrying a mandatory deat h selltenc(-. The sallie offence undl'f t he Arms /\ct. mur(appropriate in the circumstances, carried a maximum penalty of seven years imprison men t and a RM 10,000 tinl'. Attorney Genera l Mokhtar ,\bdu llah told (eporters there might be more a rrests. Anw.u was outraged to fi nd hi mseU being pressed to tak(' " DNA lest to IHovl' he had not fathered a n illegitimate child, a~ the book claimed. DNA tl'sling of his private Sl'(;retary and Sl'{'retary's wife, piUS the ch ild In qUl'Stion , confmned it was theirs, rel ievi ng Anwar of the n~d to submit to analysis. O n 12 August. Daim approached tll1war a nd infoTllu..'Cl him that Attorney Gelll'ral Mokht ar had told him t hat Anwar was to be chargl'(l that morn ing with sexual misconduct, Offtcial Secrets Act offences and possibl y treaso n. Anwar stormed in to Dr. Maha thir's oftic(' and de manded an explanati on. After listening to him fo r a while, Dr. M'lhathir calil'!l Mokhtar on the phone and told h im to delay the c harges. "Wait for my d~aranc\'. " the pri me mi niste.r saidY In public, howe'ver, Or. Mah athir and Anwar main · I,lin ed the pretence tha i nothing wa s amiSS betwcellihem, thoug h Anwar W,LS forced to deny rUIllOlHS t hat hl' wuuld resign. Dr. Ma hathi r sai d in an int(>rview , "Do I have to ki ss him on the stret'! before pt'oplc will stop saying there is a rlfl?,,~8 In one appeara nce together in Penang. Anwar professed his loyalty and love for Dr. Mahathir, whom he described as "a teac her ~ ancl himself
,I
or
(I
Iksl,'i""'C'tl lld r 289
produced four affidavits in court to SUPlxnt a decision to hold him at police headquarters instead of transferring hiln to a prison outside the city. for the m~t part, they were unrt'lated to Ihe offence with which he was cbarged, passes,\ion of 125 bullets. Rather, one police affi davit outlined statements by sewn unidentified witnesses, indud ing a man who c\aillH.'(1 he was wclol1l· iI~ed IS tlmes by Anwar and a woman who alleged she was pitid itM350 by Nallakaruppan after having sex with An war. The re were also references to it drive.r who had been asked to fetch Chi nese, Mexica n, Eurasian and women of other races for Illicit sexual activities, two women who rejected /\nwar's advances and a th ird who reportt-dly sa id she d i.scu.s.'iCd politics afler having sex with him. According to the affi davit, police had received a complaint that Anwar had tried to seduce the wift, of a busint'ssman, when the couple were In Anwar's delegation on a trip to Washington . The affidavit said Nallakaruppan, who was i.lelleved to have access to national secrets through Anwar, frequcntly accompanlOO Anwar abroad and "his act ivitie~ could be exploited by subversive elements in and ou t of Ihe country wh ich could jeopa rdize Ilil tiona l security~.SI In atlothE'r a(!idavit, Mokhta r, the allorney ge neral, rcaffi rnl t'd that thl' IX}lke inveStigations involved na tional Sl'Curity. If there was pri ma facie evidence, "Natlakaruppan a nd/or tlte national leader could be cha rg~ in court under the coun try's laws ~ .-'2 While the judg(·, AlxIul Wahab Patail, adjourned the hearing to conside r a (h.'fence submission t hat the affidavits were irrelevant 10 Ihe pr()('("cdlngs, he refused a defe nce request that the affida vits be em ba rgoed l.lending his ruling. He said they had been filed and were t iler('(ore publiC documents, a legall y defective decision that made a fa rce of hi s adjournment to consider the admissibil ity of t he affidavits. Affidavit s fil ed In wurt usuall y become public documl'n ts o ul y after they h,lve been ((.'ad In court or whl' n t he trial is over. The M(/I(/y Mllil, an afternoo n paper, packed them into a speci al edi tion that day, while the ma jor dailies splashed Ihem across t il('ir fron t pages the ncxt morn ing. Normally staid and squeamish, the Malaysian pr('ss rep{'ated every lurid detail of the alleged sexual misdemeanors, corrll ption , inti midation o f witnc s~e~ and possible sedit io n in what ,I "very concerned" Malaysian liar CO LJ ncil called "a brl'ac h o f the ru\(:s of na tural jusUc(' and fair play" . Nallak.Huppall's o\...·n statements - categorically denying the aL'CusatiollS, alleging police brutali ty in detention and attempts to get him to sign faiSt' confessions incriminating Anwar while being threate ned with a chd, newr to be m~ntioned again. Anwar subsequently w a~ prosecuted on charges of corruption and sodomy. While consensual sex betw{'('n males had bL~n decriminalized in many counlrles, il remained a S(-rious offence In Ma laysia, pu nishable by 20 years imprisonment and caning, though seldom en forc('{1.
'll,l' Dolfl/ctiull U(II f)rs(,{II(1 lrd IIl'ir 29 1
I lomoscxuallty was not defllll>d in the Malaysian Penal Code, instead bei ng dcscritx.'(1 by reference to " un natur,,1 offences" deemed to be "against the order of na ture". On the evening of 3 Septernlx.·r, a spl.'C ially convenl-d ses~ i ol\ of UMNO's Supreme Council voted (0 expel Anwar from the party. Uefore t he meeting, member!> rcceived faxl'd copi e~ of the polkX' affidavit aSiliml Na llaiwmppan.$j Not thilt any of them ('Ould have been unaware of the dctillls, for the country was t,lI king abOllt li ttl e else. In Dr. Mahathir's ve rSion, til(' muncl\'s decision was lUlil tllmOllS, but /\nwar ~Iid only five of the other 4U-odd members clearly supported his dismissal whlle the malority wanted to slIslx'nd him unt il any kgal proces5('S had laken their courSI,:', ~4 the party's customary practice. At that stage, he had not even been charged . It made no difference as Or. Mahathlr had ojX'ned Ihe proceedings with a dirt'ctive that Al1\vcu be kicked out fo r sexua l misconduct, and coundl m ... mlx>rs hild 110 doubt that i f th('y obiC<'ted they would ~ufh.. r t hc sallie fat~. ~' By elimi nating allll o~ t any cha rH:C o f Anwar making a ('ollll'bll{:k in UMNO, Dr. MalHll hir was able to ca rry (he seni or ra nks of t l1 e part y with him . Wit h in a few da ys uf Anwa r's c xpul5iQn , all UMNO me mbers of par· liamellt , chief mi ni sters, cabln('l ministers a nd deplltie~, parl iamentary scr:· reta rie'l and UMNO divisional chief.. camc out in su pport o f Dr. Maha thir's stall(l .~ Only a few UM NO official s defied. hi m, an ex trao rdinary sit uation co nllidering Anwa r was ix'liewd to comma nd aho ut hill( of t he party's support a few months earlier. Some UMNO heavyweigh ts fel l An wa r was wrong to pressure the party Icadcr when he was 1 K'~c t wit h problems a nd vulnNable, especiillly as Dr. Ma hat hir had s pon ~ored Anwilr's rise, A fl'w wer(' deligh ted that Anwar's downfall had thrown ope ll th e sm·cesslon. Ma ny others toro the Mahalhtr I1 n(', publidy and c nt huslastica ll y, bel',Illh Declaration, named ilftt:'T his parliamen ta ry constituency. which e mphaSized the rule of law. democracy, ('('ollomlc justice, ellmlnating corruption and a com mit ment to peaceful prot{'St.
In Kuala Lumpur, members of t he police Special Ihauch, a political· inte lligence un it, were no t encumbered by suc h loft y Ideills as they com· piled a case agai nst Anw;rr. O n 6 September, they arrestl'd Sukma Da rmawa n Sasmitaat Madia, '\nw;lr's adopted bro ther. Eight days late r Ihey detained Pa kistan· born Munawar Ahmad An ees, a microbiologist with a doctorate from the Un ited States and a maior intellectual fi gu re In the Islamic world, as author and social critic, who periodically wrott' ~peecll('s for Anwar. They wt:r(' held incommu nicado under the Internal Security Act and brutalized Into making fahe con feSSion s implicating Anwar in homosexuality . In a statutory decla ra tion, Munawa r, marrie{] with two young childrt'u. late r gaw a chill ing cll'scription o( his ordeal, wh ich r('ild in pil rt "li ke th ~ memoirs o f a Soviet-cra [ast Europea n poli tical prisoner".H "Kidnappt'd " (rom his home by about a dozen men ill plain clothes who produced no police identification or arresl warrant , he was confined to a windowll?Ss cell ilnd forced to a ll ~Wl'r not to a flame but to "Number 26"'. Drugged. a nd deprived. of sleep, 11(' was relent lessly interrogated by men often screaming ohsccniti('5 irl his face ami ~ lI bj('Cted to degrading trealnlt'nt, incl uding havi ng hi s he,ltt SIIil Ved, being slrlppt'd and forcftl to si mulate sex Oil tile Iloor with an lrnaglnMY t\nwar. ~~ On 19 Septl.'mber, Sukma, J7, and Munawar. 5 1, dazed and disoriented. appeared In separate courts, each pleading gUilty with the encouragl'ment of a polll'C-provided lawyer, to a c harg<' o( com rnitti n}!. an act of gross indecency by allowing Anwar to sodomize him . ,\ s vet('ran journalist Ian Stewart observed, two men plt'ading guilty to identica l chargt'S a nd receiving iden· tical jail scnteno..'S ill Ident ical brief court pron'ed ings on IIl(' sallie day was scarcely plausib l e. ~~ St ill, It did not stop t he government controli t'(l press gOing to lown again t he fo llowin g day. "We were sodomized ", screamed the N('w Stmits Ti"'('.~ O\ler its page O ll e re port.~ Shocking thei r rcatll'rs, some papers prinl cd all the deta ils of the cha rge, which mentioned thilt each defen · dant had allowed /\ nwar "'to introduce his lX'n is into you r a n u s~ .'" It was unpren .'d entt'd and undoubtedly dont' to dest roy /\nwar's aura uf religiolls res pectability, and it would not haw been contemplated without official approval. Thilt dilY, 20 September, Anwar was ilrrcsted after add rl'Sliing lhe biggl'St ra lly in the capitred as Anwar, wife Wan I\ Zi7..1 by his side, add ressed them o n a SUll ny SundilY from a balcony of the N;rt ional Mosque and later in FrcL'(lolll Squa re In the city cent re. They laughed at his jokes and roa red in approval as he lashl'(\ the prime minister, the governmen t, the establishment !llL't!ia and th(' police. Wit h banners In the background rl'ading "rOWN to the people", ll<1wke rs sold hadges bearing photos of Anwar and the word "/kf{m ll(Jsi", while pt'Qple chanted "Long liv ... Anwa r" and "'Ma hathir resign"'. They simply did no t belitve the caSt:.' againsl Anwar, a nd they sympat h ized
292 MI/faysi/III MIlI'C:r ick
wit h t he Iwrccived victim or a system they judged to be badly in need of repair. If Dr. Mahath ir's att empt to eliminiltC' Anwar politicaUy hild begun poorl y, it became a public rela ti ons disaster whe n hl' was taken into custody tha t eveni ng. Dozcm of po lice commandos, masked and bra ndishi ng automa tic weapo ns, slD,ts hed th eir way into Anwa r's double-storey house in an upmarket su burb of Kuala Lum pur whi le he We r, ninc days after his arrest, whcn Anwar appeared in <.-ourl sporting the black eye Ihat was to Ix'{"()l\w infamous. Alreacly shaky, tile gov("rn ment 's cred ibility all but evaporated. Dcspit t' repea ted den ia ls, Dr. Ma hath ir was never abl e to shakc t he pNcept ion that he was complicit in the attac k on Anwa r, If, indc-cd, he had not actually o rdered it . 1·le did not help h is ca lise by suggest ing init ial ly that Anwar's in juries migh t have been self-in fli cted 10 gai n sympathy. The a n nouncc me nt of all internal police inqu iry, wh ic h Dr. Mahathir called "i ndepe ndent". was greeted cynically, just ifi t'd whell it too k almost four mont hs to confirm Anwar had bt'en assaulted by police. Those responsible for the savagery remained unidelltified, even after a fo rmer Anwar staffer ill exile in Indonesia nallled Ra h im as the cul prit. Wh ile Rah im eve ntually cOllft'ssed to a royal com mission, bela tedly cstablished by the government
-nIl' {)('s l tll('Ii/JII (If II l .h'.\ iSl/al ecf
Heir
29]
as public pressurc mOli ll ted, his lenie nt sen te ncc of two months jail reinfo rt'cd t he widespread view t hat he had not a(-\ed alone. In Ma la ysia'S fe udal SOCiety - asJo hn FUllsto n, the poli tica l scil'nt iSI, no ted - 110 Malay could belie ve that the police l·h ief would act wit hout at It'ast the ex pectat ion that he was doing his boss's bidding.(:,j Or. Mahath ir, who had said eartier he fi red /\nwar fo r mo ral misconduct and not beca ll ~e he feared a po litica l cha lle nge, e xplained to the press on 22 Se ptember wh y he believed in An war's guil t whe n he had Tlot a yea r earlier . He said he had personally in terviewed six of /\ nwar' s al"ClISl'rS, W t he peo ple who were sodomizl'd, t he women whom hc had s('x with ", with no police offic ('fs present. They had provided "incont TOVE:'rt ible proof" that the allega t ions were true, he said. S(.'c king to persuade it SCept ical media, Dr. Mahath ir read fro m Mun
·/1w /J('SIIllCl iull
private secretary, and Azizan Abu nalGir, a former driver for Anwar's wife and child ren. Anwar was alleged to have directed ~l'ni()r Special Branch o ffi cers to get a written admi ssio n from both Uuunl ami A7lzan "to d{'ny s{'xua l misconduct and sodomy committed by you~ fo r Ihe purpose of protecllng himself against ,IllY criminal action. Mohamad Said AW(ia l lI rallch, testifwd tllill An war had asked h im and ()t I H~r ofriccrs to frighten the pillr. lie said,\l1 wa r had lIst'd til{' Mo1 lay word gCI/II'''I", whic h nl{'ans to th reatell or "put a little fear in Ihem". Anwar agr('t'd he had used the word, but said he inte nded 10 have his a ccuse r~ scolded llJ..e dli ldr{,ll . Sa id, howeVl'r. had given h is sub· ordinate!> just 24 hou rs to "turn ov<-r" Ummi and Aziza n, meaning to have them recant. The Special Bra nc h officers teslifit'd Ih(')' obtained retractions by sub jecting the IWO to night-long. non-stop interrogation and threats. Presidmg at the trial was)ustic(' S. Augustin{' Paul, the most junior ludge in the Criminal Division o f the High Court , havin g onl y months earlier been promoted from lh e position of judicial cOllll1li ss ionl'r in the state capital of Malacca. I lJs a ppointment allead of 1110rl' Sl'n lo r colleagues to contiuct such II poli ti cally sensitive trial was "al mOSI bound to give rise to concern", reported an intern atio nal legal mission th at inve~ t igat('d Ihe indepe ndence of thl.' Malaysia n jud iciary. And wh at happened duri ng the trial ~o lll y served to increase tha t concern". it said.'" Pa ul d{'nlcd Anwar bail. He announced. without {'xplanation, a break in proceedings between 14 and 23 November, intNpr{'t{'(\ as an attem pt to prevent the Anwar .1ffair from oversh;Ldowing an Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation sum mit in Kuala Lumpur, at which Dr. Mahathlr ho~tl,t 11[ld puni~h('(I. Dr. Mahat hi r, hO W('VN , felt free to ex press hi s vi('ws fr{'qm'l1l ly months for l'ontem pi, though anoth er court sUSI){'ndt'd th{' s{'n tencl' until his appt'a l was hCilfc1 .
uf (/ 1.k.I i.~lwl,'(111d1
Z95
The composition of the proscclll ing tea m, initially led by Abdul Gani Pata il and h is deputy, M.aha r ~-f ohamcd, was high ly controversial, though not just because Ga n; \Vas th{' brother of Wahah I'atail, t ht' judgl! who had allowed Anwar to he I)t'smircll{'d in t he Nalla karuppan case. In the course of the Anwar trial, Attoflwy G{' n{'ral Mokhtar Abdullah loined in a nd took over as leader, dc~pi t{' bei ng Implicated, both personally and t hrough his positiOLl in th c govc rnnH'nt, by the (\efenc(' :tllega tl ons o f it politic;lI and police ("(mspiracy.7H The defence wanted Galli lin d /\zahar rcplacl'd bcciluse of what the pr('Sligious Inter·Parliamentary Un ion later agret.'(1were "attempts made by the prosecution to fahriCiLtt' ('vidt'nc('~ aga inst Anwar.71 The allegaUOII, conw lnl-d In a statutory declaration by Nallakaruppan's lawyer, was that Gan i had offered to considt>r a lesser charge for Na llaJ..a ruPI>, supposc-dly stal nl'd with Sl.'lIIcrl and selz{'(! from an apa rt ment where Allw:tr allegedly had sex with his pri va te s{'crcfary's wif{' and allegedly had rodomlzed to Ix> ullsIX'akable in a Malay cultural context .... 7~ Appalled that local pap(~ rs had t,lken to runni ng headlines that would "curl Ihe whisl.:ers of a sewer rat", a promi nen t Malay writer asked on the IIL\('TII('t, "What nl'xt? Soiled underwear? Used condoms?"" Difticulties arose f(n tll(' pros('("utlon when Azizan , under cross-l'xaL11 ination, said he had not 1X'{' rl sodomlz.ed . When pushed In rl'-ex;lIn iTiat ion, lie ChilllgOO his mimi yet again and Solid he had i;x'CII. 11(' also changl..'{i t hc d"t('s on which Ih{' alleged offences had occurrl..'{l. The prosecution responded by applying. at the end of Its case, to amend the four c hargC"i in a way tha t removed the nCt.'
1711.' lkstructioll of"
ronviclio n o n the corruptio n issue. Altho ugh the defe nce com plai ned of an abuse of process that smeared An wiIr a nd his st'cretary's wIfe, Paul sa w no prej udice to th e accused a nd allowed the amend me nt. He also expun ged fro lll t he reco rd a ll ('vidence rc lallng to Anwar's a ll eged sexual misw nd llt t and s(x \omy, which Illeant the defe nce was powerless to try and resto re his re putiltion. Aft e r t he defence closed itS case, An war's lawyer .. filed an applicatio n seeki ng to disquali fy Aug ustine Pa ul fro m continuing to hear the Cilse. Anwar co ntended he had not received a fair trail ,lIld had "gr.w e a pprehensio n" that the iudg(' might not hring a n im partial a nd unprej ud iced mind in weigh ing the issues and reaching a ve rd lc\. On top of everyt hin g else, Jt was claimed, the judge kept "i nterfering" when defcnce Idwycrs wert' q uestioning willlt'sses "' 0 the extent of himself taki ng 011 t he mantle of the prosecution ". On 23 Ma rch 1999, when the pa rties we r~ Invi ted to sum up, the defence refused to do so umil Ih~ a ppUcalion had Ix'en dealt wit h by t he jud ge. lie insish.'d the cast' conti n ue. Whe n the e n tire nine-member defence tea m IllCli lllained its refusa l, Paul held its mem bers in contempt of COll rl. But 0 11 25 March , the defellt'e lawyers wE're Inforllled that Paul wOllld hear the application for h is remov,l l o n 27 March, a Saturday. After listen ing to argUlllents fro m both sides, he d ismissed the applicatio n .1~ The defence clashed again with the judge duri ng the summing up. After Christopher Fe rna ndo, another d €.'fence lawyer, bc(ame cmbroik>d in an eXChange, Itaja i\1Jz Add ruse, Anwar's respected leading counsel, agn.-'('(j tha t what Fe rna ndo had said was corrc-ct but t'xpn.'SS(.'(1 in the wro ng way. l ie sa id he Wil ... surc Fernando did not mean to be Im polite, addi ng, "That's his way of speaking." R('plied Paul: "If the way of speaking Is like an a nimal, we GlIl 't tolera te il. We shou ld shoot him." Later, wht'n Fernando sought to ti l(-' the judge fo r contempt of his o wn ('(JurI , Paul said he had not In tended 10 like n Fernando to a n ani ma l. 77 On 14 Aprl! 1999, II days after the trla l closed wit h t he defence refUSing to make a final subm ission, Paul fou nd An war guilty of a ll four cha rgt's ,lIld lalled him for si x years on e,lt' ll , t ile sen tences to he se rved concu rrently. Con trary to usu .. 1 practice in Ma laysIa, he dated tilt' scntc l'ces fr om tll(' day be fo re t'on vi(t ion a nd not from the ti me of arrest to la ke account of t il e a lmost seven mo nths An wa r had spent beh ind bil rs. li e il lso dism is)cd a defence ap plica lio n for a stay of exesution a nd b.. iJ pe nding a n a ppeal. The se nte nces were regarded as ha rsh , since t he "corrupt prilclice" wit h wh ic h Anwar was charged wa~, as one Kuala Lumpur-hased foreign jou rn alist wrote. u a mino r tran sgression compared with the wide ly ilcccptc
rk~iX/l(l/f(1
Hdr 297
court sySlt'm Si mply d id no t see, a s expert observers d id, violations o f due prot'css, mis-dirC<'tions ,lIId un fai r ruli ngs by th e judge a nd the admission of o bvIousl y it1adlll isslble t' videncl:' .7~ On 27 April, le~ tha n two wt'Cks after his conviction. An war was back in court cba rged with "carnal intercourse against t he order of nature". PrOS(.'Cutors procl'(.o([ed with o ne of the five sodomy charges, the o ne allegedly Involvi ng Azi7.3n, itttempllng to pro ve ..... hat had cludt>d them in the first tria\. They c hose not to go ahead wit h the counts allegedly involving fo ur o ther Ix.'ople, three of who m - includ ing Sukma [)aflnawan , ,\ n war's adopted brother - had publi cly dal mcd they were coerced hy po lIcc Illt O fal st'iy accusing Anwar o f rodom izing thclll . Thc government, how('ver, charged Sukma wJth sodom izing AUl.an and with aoctl ing Anwar to sodmniz(' Aziza n. Anwar and Sukma w~ re tried jointly in the High Court. W hen Anwar's sodom y charge was fns t ment ioned in a lower cou rt, the date of the a llegl>d offe nce was May 1994. At the prelim in ary hearing it had bet'n changed to Ma y 1992. As the t rial got unde rway, the prosecutio n moved to have t he charge a mended to st ipulate t hat the offence had lJeen commit ted one night between January and March 1993. The reason fo r th e latc)t switch was o bvio us: Anwar a nd Sukma had fi led a n adva nce no ti c~ of a li bi, whic h showed that the apartmell t in whic h thei r o ffe nce) were alleged to have lX't'.n committed had not ~n completed for occu pancy in May 1992. Anwa r's lawyers accused t he prosecution of acti ng In bad fa ith and sought to have t he c harges thrown o ut, but t he jud ge, Arifflll Jilka, OI lIowed the amendment. Still, the prosecution had to rely heavil y o n the unco rroborated testimo ny of Azizan, who 11t-n sodomi7.cd in Anwar's house since 1992. !\fter .o\zlza n admitted under cross-exam ination thil t he had changl'd the dates at the req uest of poli((', the defe ncc att empted to gct his evidence struck out o n the grounds Ihat he had w ntradictcd himself and lied to tht' court. Ari ffi n re jected the defe nce request ag.. in, eve n t hough he himself had rema rked at o lle pOint Ihat " th is wit nt'ss says one thing tod.. y and ano the r thing tomorrow". As in the firs t t rial , one of Anwar's eight lawyers found him self in legal t ro uble o ver h is co nduct in court. Kar pa l Singh, a veteran advocate and o ppositio n politicia n, suggested Anwar had been poiso ned . lie said a urine sample sent under a false name fo r Mlill ysls in AustraJi;1 showed Anwar hild a (Iange rous Icvl'l o f arsen ic, 77 li mes a hove !lorma!. and that someone might be tryi ng 10 kill him . Calli ng for 'In Inquiry, Karp.11 said he suspected some peo ple in high places were " in a ll li):ellhood responsible for the sHua tio n". After An war was sent to hospital and tests sho .....ed his arsen ic level wa~ normal, witho ul re fuling t'iUlil' r evidence that the level had bt'en
sig nifican t ly e!cvated, the govern menl Slapped Ka rpa l with a charge of seditio!!, wh ich carried a maximum penally of th ree years iml>risonment. Givell mo re k eway this li me to devdop Anwar's a rgument of a politica l conspi racy, t hl' defence was abl e to get su ppo rt from an UMNO Rl{,lIlbef, Raja Kamaruddin Wahld. He testified that Dr. Mahathir's I>oliticai S('crC'tary, Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin, had told him o n 26JlIne 1998 atXHlt pla ns to d{'siroy Anwa r's reputat io n so he could IleVer lx-cOlnc prime mi ni ster, li e said Abutoo to the book, $0 J)t/liI, which was sponsored by prominent UMMO me mbers. Umm i had :ing speculated in legal ci rcles that Gi ll had been promised a promotion to t he F('tieral Court ill ret urn for dismissing t he ap(K'al. 81 In any event, he was quickly promo ted to the Fl'(\eral Court. Similarly, August ine Paul and Ariffin Jaka were elevated to the Federa l Court. leap-froggi ng colleagues with lon~er and ' tronger r{'(.'ords. Paul '~ bright can.'Cr pros pecU s(....·m ('d ullcii mll1l'{l I)y a Fede ral Court dl'eisioll tl1 ,1{ overturned lawyer Zal nur Zakaria's OJ ll victioll fu r cont em pt and prom pted a jlld idal t'Ollllllelit that Paul had actl'{l mo re li ke II proS('('utor than a ludgc In Anwar's firs t trlal.1a In a statl'ment after the Court of Appeal ruled aga inst him on sodomy. Anwar atta{'ked Ariffin Jaka, Augustl ne Paul a nd the thret.' appl'a l court judgl"S for having ~wantonly sold their !>Ouls for worldly gains", fie 5.1 id the
publiC belit'ved t hese judge .. werl' · h a n d ~picked . servik a nd compliant", and had been " prompt ly and generOUSly rewarded wUh promotions, unfairly byp.assing independen t judgl'S of integrity",1U Inte rna tional and independent local legal experts ('{mcllrred that the two trials wer(' d('('ply flllwed a nd that t he lud~es were cul pabk . Param Cuma raswamy, a Malaysian who at the tlme was United Nations Special Rapporteur Oil thc Incle(X'ndellce of JlIdges and Lawyers, said t\wre was "no hope fo r jud i ~ d al Ill d e [lc nd~' IKl' and irn lwrtiallty" wh llc some jud).(cs wele preparl'd to comprom ise the values of thei r high office in pol itically sensitive <:as('S.1I4 In a report for the Australian 13m A~s()c1ati o n and the In ternational Commissio n of JuristS, Quccn's CounSl..'1 Mark Trowell said the Ma laysia n juo;ticc syste m "failed to act ind('IX'nd('n tly from the executive arm of gowrnlllent", which was largc.-ly idt'ntificd with Or, M'lhath ir's intc.rests. ll\ A joint report by a m is· sion represcuting fOUT intcrnationallcgal organizations agrt'(>(\ that ex('CutiV{' influence """erely compro m ised tile judiciary during Anwar's trI3Is,86 On Z Septem be r 20(H , precisely six yea rs aft er Anwar was fi red and a lmos1 a Yl'ar ,lfter Or. Ma hat hlr IHld rctir('d, t ile Fe(!(>ral Court o verturned tile fo rm('r deputy prime mi ni st('r's sodo my convi ct io n, In a majo rity deci · sio n, til e court fo und that Suk ma's confess io n was inadmissible I>eCiIllSC it wa~ "involunta ry", a nd Aziza n was all ul1reliable wit ncS5 whose testimony had IIOt been corroboratt'd whNl' he was obviously an accomplice. Two of the thrt.-t judges concl uded that the prosecut ion had nOt proved its cas{' beyond a reasonable doubt, and both Anwar and Sukma should have been acqu itted without having to ente r a defenc('. Subseq ut' ntly, a ft e r Sukma won a retrial for his origi nal convict io n, all c ha rg('~ against him wcre withd rawn, t\ simila r appeil l by Munawa r Anees, wh o had Ix'col1le an Am('rican citizl'll and was livi ng in France, was st lll pe nding in early 2009 , Most of the ('xperts ag rc{'d t hat Anwar WilS exone ratt'd o lll y beca use Dr. Mah athi r had left the scene and Ilis suo.:essor, Prime Minister Abdullah l3adawi. had milJe it dt·iIf he wo uld not try to impose his will 011 the court. ~ F inally, justice has bl'('n done," said Par:un Cumaraswa my, "Since 1988. under th(' Mahathi r regi me, the judicia ry did not have t he courage to dispense justice indl'pl'ndently, "67 Mark Trowell said t he judiCia ry ~ simpl )' failed to respond fairl y a nd impa rtially to Anwar's complain ts" until Dr. Ma hathir's innu('nc{' had 1X't'n lifted by his de pa rt ure from office, "Only t hell cou ld till' abuscs ilnd inj ustices of past legal proceedings be rectified," be said,1l8 An wa r also cr{'(iitlxl t\lx\ullilh with k('(' pi ng his ha nds off, "You've got to r('cogni 7..c tht' fact t hat hi s predeces!>or wouldn' t have made th is judgment possible," he said,lI? Ihll Anwar's vindica tio n was q ualified as well as be lated . The two Federal Court judges who clea red h im and 5ukma of sodom y said th('re was evide fl ce to confulll Ihey had been involved in homose,'
.mo
111('
M(IIII)'litm Mln't'Ti('#;;
was
b ut guilty",90 Anwar freed immediatl'iy as hc had already com pleted hi s sentence, redUCl.-d 10 four years for good behaviour, fo r the corruption o ffence. Onc fm al attempt to get t he Federal Court to reverse its own de<'ision allowing the corru ption conviction, based on new evidence and a con· stitutlonal point, failed . T Il\.' five outstandin g charges against Anwa r _ one of corruption, fo ur of sodomy - were dro p{X'd. He was barred from holdin g political office and Silting in Parlia ment u nti l Ap ril 2008, five yea rs afler completing his sentence. T h e au ly way for an earlier rcturn was to obtai n a pardon h om Malaysia's king, wh ich req u ired an adm ission of guilt, a nd that was out of the q ucstion for Anwar. He was adama nl he was innocent. Despite rcpeated efforts, Anw.. r was never able to co nfront Dr. Mahathir in a courtroom, where they would be sworn to tell the truth, Dr. Ma hathlr said he would have liked to have given evidence so he could explain "how be became co nvinced " by th e a llegations against Anwar, but he ducked every opportunity to do so. In the first trial, the defence said it intended to call thc prime min ister as a witIlCSS, but dropped the idea aftcr complaining Ihal Or. Mahath ir refused to mak(' a wrlttcn statclllent befo re his plal1nt'(l appearance, The judgc in the second trial, supporting Dr. Mahath ir's resist. ,I!lee to a s\lbpoen a, ru led thilt h(' would Ilot be a material wit n('ss. Although /\nwar's lawyers appt.'alec! to bol h the Court of Appeal ami the Ft.'(\eral COllCt, t hey declined to reverse that ruli ng. Mt('r he was cleared of sodomy, Anwar attempted to sue Dr. Mahath ir (or defamation for continuing to ca ll him a hOmOSC)(U,ll. Brand ing the action frivolous and an abuse of the legal pro· cess, Dr. Mahathir's lawyers pcrsuad('(1 the l !igh Court in 2007 \0 rej('Ct the RMIOO mlllion suit. Anwars appeal was still pending in early 2009. If thcfe was .l ny consola tion for An war in the ru ins of a politic.ll caret>r, it was that the collviction had little effect on hi s stand in g. After h is rele.lse frolll pri son alld spinill surge ry in Germa ny, h e WClS treated as a wronged politician rather thCln a crimina l who had served his lime, In kt'<'ping with Amnesty International 's adoption of him as a prisoner of consclclH:e and a statellle!ll by a I-hunan Rights Watr h official that Anwar was the victim o f a ~ political vendetta" by Dr. Mahathir , Anwa r accepted attach lllen ts at three prestigious universlli('s, Oxford in England a nd Gcorgt'town and Joh ns Hopkins in the United States, and was In demand on the in ternational lectuft, cirCUi t, before ret urning to fulltime poli tics in MalaYSia in 2006. I'll" was touted as a possihle hcad o f the United Nat ions In 2007, a nd though he was never a serious cand idate to replace Ko fi An n an, the spt.'(;u taHon renecte
fk~ltlt
u( I I /).'Si,,(/III/t'illldr 301
Court testimony a lso renccted on Dr. Maha thlr pe rsonally. suggl'sli ng had b locked a corruptio n Investigation only months before Anwa r W,lS arraignt.'(\ for allegedly doing Ihc 'kHue thing. Shafie Yahya, the forme r head of Malaysia'0nli-Corru ption Agency, said Dr. Mahathir had told hi m in June 1998 10 'itop investigating Ali Abul I lassan Sulairnan, I)irector General of tht.' Economic PI.mning Unit, the Jlowt'rful agency that awarded privali7..atlon projt'Cts. Ali Abul Has.~an WilS made governor of Hank Negara the day lx'forc Anwaf was dismissed. The Anti·Corruption Agency, like the Ewnomlc Pla nning Unit , was piiTt of the Prime Minister's L>epartrllen l. Shafl e told the court that aftt.'r he had rC.'>I)Qllcied to an official complaint and found large amounts of cash ill a drawer In !\\i Abul Hassan's oUiet', he was callL'
Notes ~ilphiLd Pura, ~AHw;u 1\1Il'!;~'\ 'Cousplraq"ln lIis t)l:sml s~al ~, A,jllli W"II.<)tfCt'/ IUIII'I/(I/ (herl'aftl'r AWSIl, " ScI'\('l11ix'r 1998. 2 Joh n fun ston, ~ 1 '()lilical Car('('rs of M;.hathi r Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim:
.1 4
5 6 7
8 9
10 11
12
!'arallel, Inl('rS('('ting ami Cont1l ('li n~ Uves~, IKM,\ S Working I'apcn (InsU\ull' of M31aysillll and Inlern3tion31 !'Ilulhes, Univer5iti K('bangsaan Malaysia) no. 15 Ouly 1998): i-Iv, 1-32. Ihid. Intervkw:. with 'I unku Abdullah 'I'u.anku Abdul Rahman, 22 MaJrh 2007; :\Iahathir Moil,lIIlad, 31 March 200s; and Anwar thrahim, 21 May 200S. Illtcrvi('w with Mahath[r Moharn:l\I..I1 March 2008. Stephen Duthie, ~ Malay)la Wonders If ,\ nwar, Mahathh Can Make a 'I'('am", , \ hI.V. I October 19')3. Oaim was tin,lIlce minister, while Sanusi was agricuthHl' mlnl)ler and U MNO 1><.'Cret
13 juh n Funs ton. ~ I 'o l itka l ('ar('Crs of Ma ha thi r Mo h ,'lIId r SiJ,,/liC'II\/ ,bhlll "1I"i" / 999, p. 169. 2 1 In-Weill IIwan g, flt'r.\U/l/l fin·r/ i>vliti(s, p.289 . 22 "Too i\b~llrd 10 lx' Bdh:Vl'(I ~, Ncw Slmil.\ n il/I" , 25 I\ Ugll~t 1997, died in Khoo Roo T("ik, lI<1'Ql/ff M(,/lal/,/r: '\(",UII/ 1'(Jllli,:~ " ",/1/) Oi.'>("
,
2]
Khou Boo Td i..,
Ik)~III"
A/ull(lfltir, p. 78.
24 In lervk w wl lh MUS.l 1I 1t:1I11, I ,\ pril200K, 25 IW p ha("1 ['w a, MAn .....:' f Ix-Itl y N a v[ g" h.' ~ Shoals o f M a l il y~I ,1! 1 Crisis". 26 Ibid. 27 JoitUI:UflSlOfI, -,\ Fatclu l St.:pu·lIllx'r", p. 168. 28 An war Ibrahi m , -from thl' lIalis of I'o wl' r 10 Ihl' l.abyrlll ih of Incarc("r;t tion -, a ICllc r from Sunga , lI uloh I'rison , 3 1'I . 3 1 In-Won I [\\'"og, 1" ")lIIwlil.t'(I I'vl;l ;es. p, 296. :12 1:1/1 Siewart, 1'11(' .\f(llw/hil LI'.~,j(y, p. 4 1. 3:1 John Fu ns ton, ~,\ ~a lcfli l S<>ptcmbo:r", p, 166. 3 -1 Slf'Iy w . b Il 5 I n l' \~ w~.... k.l'(I m/l 99S"'5/b36tl30:J2. h tm> 'accl'sscd 13 April 2(09). ] 7 In-Won II..... ang.. f"'IWlwl/l rdl'o/i/in, p. 298. :18 .. " n .....,' r Hac k~ 7"lhld 'S Call on Colllcsh for To p i'osl ' ~ , St"r, I] Ma y 199M, Cill-d in l'I'/'S(Jl Ill IiI..'!f "lIlitin, p. 300, fn 80. :II) " ' I Nev(' r Ttm'JtclIl-d t l1l' I'M ~ ' , A-, l aw' 1'k, IS St:pl\,mb.:t 19')8, p . 50 . 40 '\!!W
45 Ian Siewa rt, TI,!' M,'/III/llir I.exney, p. 6(,. 46 10hn Funs lo n. ~I\ Fateful Sc" t{'mlX'r ~, p. 170. 47 Anwa r Ib rahim . ~ I:rom t he Halls oi I'owel 10 th e 1.abyrint h o f h\Cila-('r,' tion ~ . pp.9- 1O. 4R "M" hat hlr lJi scu ...~~ Ma laysIa's EcO/ w llIie Crisis", Till /(' ,h i/l M{/s,uim~ M" /lIfs;a ",c/lIvn', o riginally pub l ls hl~ l 15 JUllt' I !/9H < ll tt p:llliml' . ru , !\/a~ ia/2otn/lI1 ahn thl rl mah nlhlr9806 15 Int vu.html> ( J('U!SSt.'([ I NOVl'mlJcr 20(6 ).
49 Illn Stew;trl, Ti,.' Mtl/",lf l;r 1.'·S,l(V, p . 77 . 50 An wa r Ihra h im, "From t he H"lI s of ['o w;.'r to till' l.<.Ibyrillt h of [nc ~ r<:c r a ti C) Il ",
p.
11.
5 1 - Afhdavit - I\ nwa r Sodom i-;ro Man 15 nlll('s~, ;W,dIlY Mll il. J 5cpt("lIllK'r 1998 (accC'SS4,.'t1 31 ~ a rch 20(8 ). 52 "Affidavits Ac{'cpted by High Cou rl-, M,,/,,1' M,/iI, 4 ~kp l embt.' 1 1998 (acCl."'<;t.'d 3 1 M" n::h 2OCl8). 5:1 An wa r Ih r"hi m , " I:ro m Ih ... Ha lh o f I'ow ~, to th e l ab yrmlh 01 I n \' arc\' ra tiQn ~, p. 14, 54 Ihld., p. 14.1\ ta pe rccordi nX an d Ir:m scripl o f Ih e Suprem e Co u nd] mt'l'l ing, wh ich we r(" wllll'l)' d rculated, showcd a sm:111 num he r sllea kln/o: In ~ U JlJlorl o f Anw.lt, f.ma il ('orrl'Spondence wll h lo hn f un~to l\ , 6 Al'nI 2009. S5 In -Wo n IIw;IfI~, 1','I'SOIIIIIiUd l'oIi1;O, p . J OS. 56 Ihld., 1'. ]07. 57 Ian SIc.-wart, 1'11(' /!.fullfll/lir I.fS(acct~1 19 h.-b rua ty 200M). S9 Ian StC WJft , Till' Millw r/lir l.f,~IKJ', II. I()(). 60 Sat wa n t Singh an d Su iara nl I'ompar a in h. oWl' IVl' r(' So(io m l'l·cl N,' w Slm i b T llllt ' , 20 Seplem ber 1998. 6 1 Ib]d. 62 ~h'C N(' ws Unve ils Wha t Ih(" Roy .. , Com mission U n ('oVl'rl'd ~ , 4 Ma rch 2002 (aCl1.'SScd t2 April 20(9)6.1 John fu nsto n , MTh (' Legacy of Dr Mah ;lI hj r ~. i ll'(/III1i(lll Pill(m(/uf RrvI<'w, 30 Jul)' ff
•
2004. 64 Reh man Rash id, "TIlt' l'olilio (If Conll'mpt ~, 17 LX'\.("mlx'r 1998 (attt'SSCd 3 Man:h 20(8). 65 Ian Siewart, Till! MIIIIII/ilir ~r"'y, p. 11 4. 66 ~t.1t llto ry r)cci ara tion by Dr. Muna war Ahmad I\nli!), ,,.1 rt 3. 67 ~J lI~ tkc in Jeo pard y: Ma l ay~ i a 2(IOW , a relXl rt on behal f of tIll' Interna tional llar A~~la t ion, th e ICJ Ce nlr(' for th l' Indepe nd en ce 01 Ju d ge~ nlld I..m' ye rs, lh\' Conlmon .....calt h t..1 wye rs Assoclatioll :l1Id the Unio n In tern a tl ona le dl'~ Advocats, pp. 60, 77. (08 Ian Stewarl , 'nlt' ,\ j!/llIJ/liir 1.t'X'K)', I). 132. 69 4Ju~tk(" in Jl'O p'lfdy: Malaysia 2000" , p. 59. 70 Ib id" p. 48. 7 1 Ik~l lIt lon ad optl'(l una ni mously by Ih(' IPU Govern Ing Council ;,t Its 174th Sa~i/ln (M('xlco City, 23 Apr il 20(4), cltl'([ III "An war Ibra him's Long Strugglr fo r Justic("", a H]k port o n I)atu k Scri ..\ I\ wa r bin Ibrahi m's Appeal against COllvictio n Qbs("rved on SchaH of the Austl;l!i;tn lia r I\ ssocl" lion and Int ernational COll u ni\5io n o f JuriSts", hy Mark Tn)lvell, Qe. INS,V : JQIln/lI' Ilf a l!' Mlll llysiu n/klf (200S ) XXX IV no. I , p. ]7. 72 HJusti cr tn J\'Opardy; Maillys ia 2000 ", pp. 44_45. 7.! i)a1i1ah Ibrah im a nd Ch ... lsea L. V, Ng, - 'I WAS A S~X SLAV E' '' , Star, :\ Ikn' m[)("r 1998. 74 Shamwl A. 8. and Wend)' 1\ . Smit h, ",S("riOlls Issul'S, ['op"la! l)("sir(': !)arru]o)t('!, of Mah.alh ir's Morality", In Bridgel Welsh, ed., Ik/UYI KHI.': -n,t' ioIlllul/llir Yn-Itl (Wash ington: Southeast ,'ula Siudies Progra m, The Paul H. Nit-ze School o f /\ d \'am:cd In t("rnallollal Studi("S, Johns Hopkins Un hwslty, ZOO·t), pp. 43--44. 7S Kel'!1lllll Rashid, "The l'o Ut irs of c o nt empt ". 76 "JuSlln' inj l'Op.1rdy: Mala ysi a 2000", pp. 45-46.
304 M"/"ysi
77 Ibid ., p. 46. 1,10 Stewa rt, 'n" , M (I/'r~ hi ll1 'S LongStruggll' for Justice, p. 30. 8 1 Letter 10 Ah mad Fa iru!: Sh l'l kh Ml<.lul Ha lim, Chid J usti ce, h om I'ara m Cum araswa my, da ted 20 j u ne 200.t 82 - ,\ n war Ibrah Im 's I.o ng Struggle for J ll st lce ~, p. 64, fn I 8:~ An war I brah i m '~ 2 1 August 21X)] p ress sta te ml' n t, clt('d in ~ ,\ "w a r Ibrah llll 'S l.o n~ Struggle for Just ice, pp. 29- 30. 84 -11ll' ,\ n wa r Appea'-, Ci ted In "Anwar Ibrah im 's Lollg Struggle for justice- , p. 31 85 "Anwar Ihrahlm 's Lo ng St n lgglt> for Just iO,''', I). 19. 86 "justke ill Jeo paTlly: Mill., ys la 2Q(X)" . p. 77. 87 I' aram Cum araswamy, Vl cc· I'resid cnt , in tl' rn atlonal Com miSSion of J urist). ' luoted in 3 Scp tc mtx' r 2004 p rt~SS rcicas(', " MalaysIa: ICj Wekoml'l'i !tullo g In Anwar Appe;,I" . 88 " "uwar Ibrahim's Lo ng Struggle for justin''', p. 20. 89 l..eslie Lope.. , ~M a l ay si an Cou rt Rever:><.'S Anw ar Sodom y Convic tIo n ", fl W !iI , :I Septemhl'r 2004 . 90 "Th in ki ng Allo wed: No Dl'a l lloe lwcen 1'ak Llh 1llld ,\ nwar W, Afirllll MUlllllly, 2004: 8 (accessed 26 January 7~
20(6)
9 1 Tra nscript of An war Ibrahim lrial befort' Judge Arlffi n Ja k
Part III Turmoil in Retirement
12 A Bare-Knuckle Brawl Over One Man's Legacy
Whcll he reti rcd o n 3 1 October 2003, Dr. Maha thir said he wa s fin is hed with polit it's. lie dec li ned a n offer to re ma in In the Ca bi net a ,~ a "se nior minister",l an arra ngem ent pio neered by Singapore's Lee KUdn Yew that enabled h im to kcep ta bs all h is sliccessors. Dr. Ma hathir had begu n writing h is mem Oi rs while h e served Oll t h is 16-mo nth n otice,! and looked fo rward t o fi nishing them aud accep ting i nvita tion s from abroad that w o r\.: co mm i tmen ts had hith ert o p reclu ded , He prom ised not to i n te rfcre in
Mala ysia n govern me nt affairs. ~No, [ have already made it very d ear t ha t when I leave, ] leave completely," he said. 1 Dr. Mahat hir h3d chosen carefully as his successor Abd ullah Badawi, an experienced, modest and affable veteran, over the younge r, better t>d uca tcd ami marl' vigorous Na iil) nazak. Abdullah, 63, was familiar wit h Dr. Mahathir's th inking.. having served in most of hi s cabinet s in such senior po rtfo lios as educatio n, defence and foreign affa irs. Najib, SO, a bi t on the young si de, Dr. Mahath ir reasoned, could step i n afte r Abdullah had served. a singl" tcrm .4 Abdullah 's o nly b lt'mish was that he had back("fl Tcngku na;.>l lleigh Ham7...,h in challenging Dr. Mahatili r for Ihl' leadershi p o f UM NO ill 1987. But Abdullah had not joined Teng ku I{a;'>"
;\ /lllr{'· KIII4(klc Brawl Over Ott" ,\f.m's L('gtICF 309
D
currellt leader, Abd ullah. Fina ll y, though, Abdu llah was undone largely by his o wn in competence and fading elector
3 10
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, I Bme-Kllut klr Hr,"~'
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sought to re;lsses:), renov;lt{' and, where Ileccs.<;ary, reform I>r. Mahath ir'S Malaysia. Whi l{' tal king continuity, Abdull'lh ·s ild m inistralio n embarked all ~l a he in herited was alVa.~ h with irrl'j.(I1lar payments, fro m Ix'tty britx'ry in til(' bureaucracy to out rageous CO llimbislons for dde nce contracts ami multi-million do llar abll~ in affirmatiVl' action po licies. At the alX'x of this mou IUain of black Oi)h was UMN(l, ,I "one-stop shop fo r handouts and favou rs", as a cri tic put it. ll Sh rnvdly oorrow ing fro m former deputy pr~'m k'r Anwar Ibra him's }?"(OfllW.\; (,lmpilign, Atx lullal l promised greater transparency and accoulitabi lity ,t lld it;,ss red tape at the head of a "ch:all, im-o rruptible" admin\!.tration that wa~ "'x->'ond suspicion ". Ill' pkdgcd open tendering fo r govcrn m('nt contracts, whh:h would mean an encilO on(' 0 1 tl1l' most notorious forms o f cronybill. An nouncing a national integrity ca m paign, he allocated RM 17 m illion to l...tablish a regional anlierS()fIal gain along th e lines o f Presi den t Ferd inand Marcos o f the Phili ppi n es, Dr. Maha thir ('ou ld no t escape r('spo nsibility for ,Ill e ntrl'nched ndturt? of greed
(h.t., (hrr Ma/l') iCS"CY
311
But OTlLe in the political fray, l)r_ Mahathir compromised. A~ dl.'.puly prime minister, h(' had triOO to persuade Prim\.' MlnlstE'f Hussein Onn not to prosecute for corruption Ilarun Idris, a former chief minister of Selangor, who helPl'd Dr. Mahathir return to UMNO. Ilu~Sl'in. with a reputation for rectitude, sent Dr. Mahathir packing - and ilarun to trial and jail.l ~ A~ priml' mlnisu:r, Dr. Mahathir had promised to instill the fear of God into the hearts of civil servants on th(' take,l" but again Ius aetlom belied his threat. He held nobody accountable for the half doz.en fmalleial Kandals that cost Malaysian taxl;ayer~ tens o f billions of rlnggH during his time In office. Even frh:nds noted his backsliding. Zailluddin Maidin, an associate from Kedah who was later appointl't'rforrned thei r ,Issigned tasks. lie rele(\l'1.1 dema nds by thl' opposition and non.govcrmnental activ l~ t'j that he give the Anti-Corruption Age ncy independent st "tu~, preferri ng Ie) keep it ans ......erable to him. I\t the UMNO Gelleral Assembly In 2000. 19 Yl'ars " fter he beca me Im'sidcn t, Or. Mahathir had broke n down and wept over " money polit ics", which put a price on almost every party post. 1·1(' c:\":plained later his ~o n e great fear was t hat a prime minister m ight COrl1l' to power through corn lptio n, and thCrefore "evNythlng possible" should lx' done to ensure that o nly "clea n lcaders" wcre elected. Re mintkd thilt some vice pre~id en lS and Supre me Council meml)l'r~ we re suspected to have boug ht votes to get cil'Ctcd, Dr. Ma hat hir protc~ted that ~I can not WOrk on the bas is of accusat ions. I must have clear evidence. ~21) In no time at a ll, Prim e Minister Abdullah managed to oblain so me of til e l'vidcllce that had c\U{I ~1 Dr. Mahathi r. Abd ullah was aware that his ant i-corruption ca mpaign had raist'd e:\":pe
A l /(m'·Kl/l/rklr lim"'/ UI'('t Our Mllt/ ·s " ,'gltcy 3 13
public d o u bted the a utho rities would net more than the usual ik(ll! bill.<. li ll ie fi sh, .m d rcel in sOl11e recognil ed sha rks. T he se para te arrt'st o f Eri~ Ch ia, a promin en t businessman, and Kasitah G'lddam . t he Minister o f Land a nd Cooperative Ue\'t'loprnem in Abdul/ah 's Cabi net, was lIleant to a nswer the sceptics. C hia was charged with c riminal breac h o f trust when he was ma naging d irecto r o f sta t('-owl1ed st('elmaker Pcrwaja Trenggan u Sdll . Bhd., while Kasit ah was accu sed of abusi ng his posit ion whe n he was ex~cutive c hai rman of S
Abd ull a h also had ano t ll('r r ('a ~o n to d ivl' rt att e n ti o n l'I sewhe f(' a t t his time: Sl'rio m U.s. a llegatio ns thin SWlll i Prl'( lslon Enginee ring Sd n . Bhd. , a co m pany part-o wned by Ka ma ludd in , had prod uc('d centri fuge com po ne nts su it-abl(' for deve loping n uclear weapo ns. Tht' Ma laysian pOlice and Abdullah wcre qu iek to deny t he a ccu ~1ti o n s, after they appeared in the interna lio nal med ia in February 2004. Thcy said Scom i Engincering d id no t have such capabil ities, and had fulfill ed a con trilct believing It to be lawful. Bul thei r claim s carried IHIlt' credi bilit y. The Pakistani bomb- ma ker who ran a n uclear blac k market net wo rk, Abd ul Q adccf Khan , had made stvera l visits to Mala ysia and logica ll y would have met tOp offi c i al ~ . Kamalud d in a lso had d ose relatio ns wit h t he Dubal·bascd Sri La n ka n, Bu hary Syed Abu Ta h ir, d escr ibed by !'rt'sid en t Geo rgc W. Bu sh as the netwo rk's "chief fi na ncia l oftire r and money latlll(i('rer ". Despi te a clear co nflict o f in te rest - given his position as home affai rs m inister in cha rge of th e po lin ' as wl'l l as primt' m in istl'r - Abd ullah Ignored \'al ls for an independent inquiry. Much more substa n t ive wt'r(' Abd ulla h's ('co nom ie-policy fo r:IYs, ve Hturi ng whe re .1l1gels had lo ng feared to t read : clOSl' to Dr. Mahat h ir's tocs. /\ bd ul la h ind efini tely post po ned Illc co nst ruct ion of a RM 14. 5 bi ll io n elect rifil'd, dou bil'-t rilck rail way line Iha t was to have stretd wd t he length o f pe n insula r Malaysia. On Ihe fa ce of it, the d ecisio n was stra igh tfo rward: Faci ng a nagging b udget d efi Cit, the governme n t chose to shelve the deal, which wo uld have ~n Ma laysia 's largest privalil'...1tion venture, as it Ind uded the sale of the coun try's u n p rofitable state rail way company. But this p
A &",'- Kllllckl(' IImw' ()vi'f {hI!' MIIII 'S L<,S"cy :lIS
Rut ba lancing the boo~ ~ wus also an excuse for Abdullah, who was bent on lettisoning the entire concept of mega-projc('u, which symboli7cd the excesses of the Mahathlr era. The railway pacl.;age had another strike against it, a fatal one, a~ fa r a~ ;\bdu llah was concerned, like most pri. vatization projects granted under Dr, M,lhath ir, it had been ncgotiatl'Iher In<;,tl!utlons and services t hat had deteriorated owr timc, Olher ~ecti o .... of the burl'aucracy, particularly the t:duca llo n, immigrat ion , cu~to lll S and transport departments, had 'ilippcd. The Election Commis!>io n, nominally independt'llt but located wit h in t h(> Prime Minister's Dep
Anti-Corruption Agency, functioned as an arm of the governmen t. Parliament, where till' National Front habitually held a two-th irds ma jority lhat enabled it to amend the Constitution at Will, apl>ca rt.'arty. tf he allendcd UMNO's Gener,,1Assembly wea kened or wou nded in any way, he might be challenged for t he party's Icade~ h lp, and there was no guarantl'<.' what might happen if facliona l fighting convulsed the pa rt y, With vo te buyi ng endemic ill UMNO, Abd ullah tacked an cstablishl."d fina nda l \).lSl..' if he were temptl'(l, uncharacteristically, to pl,ly thc money gam(', Al1d ulla h 's ele<:toml imperative was 1I 0t just to lead thc National Fron t to pula r pTl'(IiIt'Ctions, If not Dr. Maha,hir himself, In th e conlest fo r Malay ~uppOrt with the opposition Pa rti Islam Se- Malaysia (PAS) , i\l)d ullah he ld a slgnifiran t peTsona l ad v antag~' over Dr , Mahathl r, who had b('c n dem onized by the nwr('. rellgioll s e l e m~' n t s, From Oll e of t he most re~pccte d Muslim fa milIes in Mal aysia - his father, grandfat her and great grandfiuher were all prom inen t IslamIc lca de rs,l~ and he held a deg ree in Islam ic stud ies - AlKlulla h w a ~ all el usIve target for PAS's conservati vt.'S, /Ie was able to lead prayers, a Sign ificant symbolic act that Dr. Mahat h ir "'as unabl£' to do - in fact, he lead prayers for the dC<'eased PAS leader Fadzil Mohamad Noor in 2002 27 - and his tC!;S advers,u ial style was mo rc effective and harder to coun ter, 1\ (' did not brand PAS IC;l d(' r.~ " li ars~ and U h y p()cri teS~, as Ur, Mahath ir had, and Il or did he stage fronllll atta cks on the II /W Illi , In poli t ica l te rms, when the competi ti on was fle rcest fo r the hearts and minds of t h~' Malay l'onllmmit y, I'AS had lost the ideal opponen t in Dr. Mahath lr. Abd ull ah, with hi s Impc('('abl e relig iou s credentials and sen se of rest ra int , was worrying, Creat ively, Abdullah unveiled the co ncept of Isla m Hadharl , a progressive fOfm o f t he fa ith designed to undercut the appeal of I)AS's alleged ly more dogmatic and 1135 lolera nt Islam . Although vague In content - the religious
1\ na,,'- Klluckl., Brawl OWl 0111' MUll 'S Les
affllirs min ister described it simply as a ba lan cl-d approach to life - Islam Iladha ri orrered a set of principles for Muslims to partici pate successfu1iy in a globalized economy. Cl oSl'I~' associa ted with Alxlullah and his clean reputallon, Islam Hadhari was cri tica l beca use Or. Ma hathir'§ stra u:gy of tryi ng to outbid PAS on religion had culminated in h is declaration in 2001 that M,ll:lysia was alr~ady an Islamic SIa H.'. So it was a case of whIch h lam was the righ t Isla m: the version pu rsued hy UMNO, or that followed by PAS. Wilh Anwar Ibrahim, the person who had given substance to UMNO's Islamk commitment, still in ja il, Alxlullah had to Islamlze the party a new for ItS o llgoing war with PAS. The injustice sufferro hy Anw:u was a nothe r trou bl ing issue lx.'q uea thed by Or. Ma hat hir that required deft hand ling if Malay su pport were to be recouped . i\ bdu llah could have eased t he pressure and undercut PAS and its allies by granti ng Anwar's request fo r spt'clal parole to go abroad for IlIl'd ica l trealm('nt for a bad: il qury, aggravalt'd wht'n beaten in custudy in 1998. Uu t in Ihe process of consolldallng his own posit io n, Abdullah was reluclan llo do anything Ihal might r('vlw Anwa r's POli li(',11 fortum's, a ca lculation thai also re Hecled a d('gf('e o f personal animosity b('twt'('n them. Instead, Abdullah took Ihe opposile !;I('k to Dr. Mahillh ir and slopjX'd badmouthing the incarcerated An war, hoping his silt'nce a nd the passage of nnll' would allow the matter 10 fade away. After meeling secre tl y with Anwar's wife and learning tllat his co ndition was wOfSt'ui ng, Abdullah ordered that Anwar be transf('f r<'d from prison to a government hospital.2:lI Th{' Malaysian rt'deral Courl's
resl hostage. "We have to pluck some low-hanging fruits berore the ItIIIS"flS:' a noclurnal civet cat, "COIII('!i and takes them away," he said. For Singapore, It was Vindication of a decision take.n years earlier "to sit things out" until Dr. Mahathir had departed. II The Improvement In atmospherics opened the wily for two-way st rategic Illvestmen ts, with Tcm3sek Holdings, a Sl ngalX)fe staw-owned invest ment com pany, 1cadLng a surge of ( Ol pital northward. f our months after Abdullllh took over, his government approvt'<.! T('masek's purchase of a 5 per CClIt sta ke, valued at RM 1.6 billion, In national phone utillty Telekom Malaysia. Similarly, Abdullah transformed relalions with Au~tta lia by ending almost overnight what one Austral ian correspondent callt>d ~t wo decades of bilate ral rold war". The two countries agreed to annu al consultations between t heir forl'ign ministries and scnior ofrlclals, wit h Alxlullah making th e firs t official visit to Australia by a Mala ysian prime min ister in 20 years. In repairing contacts wit h th e Uni ted Slat('s, Malaysia 'S largest trading partner and forei gn Investor, all Abdullah had to do, a~ain, was substi tu te civil discourse fo r I)r. Mahathir's po int-sco ring on be half of the developing ilnd islamic wo rlds. The Malaysian s di sagreed with Washingto n ove r the in vasion of Iraq and some other issu(!5, and that w(Juld lIDt (hange regardless of who was in ofrlce in Kuala Lumpur. Bu t pragmati C and interested in tangible retu rns, Abdullah travelled to Amt'rica in mld-Zoo4, met President George W. Bush and declared their tics "very s tTOng ~. Concerned about competition from Thaila nd and Singapore, which were negotiating fre-e-trade agTC'Cme nts with the United States, Abdullah signed up for one himself. Or. Mahat hir had displayed considerable wariness about such pacts, arguing that In a n era of glohali7..1tion they main ly benefited the powerful industrial econom ics. He criticized Singapore for e ntering a fr('('-trade agr('ement with New Zea land becau~(', he ~dd, it weakem'1.1 the t\ssociation of Sout heast Asian Nations and might allow Amtr:Llllll1 and New Zealand products access to the ASEAN market hy the hack door. While Malaysia under Dr. Mahathir had Ix.'gun discussions with China and Ja pan on fr{'e-trad{' arra ngements, Abdullah accelerated the "roct-5s and tried 10 mak(' up for lost time. He widened the discussions to include Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and ChUe, as well as the United States. Keen 10 seck endorsement for his reformist program me before the end of Ihe honeymoon period customarily e xte nded 10 a new leader, AlxI ul lah called a general election for 21 March 2004, less than fi ve months after he beca me prime min ister. Some of the gloss had begun 10 wear o ff when he re-appolntt-d 111051 of Dr. Mah,lthir's ministers to his Cli>lnel, a clear m{'Ssage Ihat a nti-corruption would Hot be pushed 100 far. And when it came to nomInating UMNO I.:tmtl ldates ror the election, few of those commonly thought 10 be com lpl were excluded.J2 Still, bui lt around Abdullah's amiable and piouS pe rsonality, tht' Nationa l Front 's campaign st((.-ssed the by-now familiar themes of Islam and corruptio n.
318 /l.fa/llys i(1II Maverick
The government went dose 10 condemning the (l 1I(i(!1I regime by adm itting in olle full-page newspaper advertisement that Ma laysia had becomc "rotten to the very core with no single aspect of life untouched by corruption".JI The ads urged the electorale to give Abdullah a landslide so he could continue clean ing up the mess, Dr. Mahath ir, who did not sloek rc-ek-clion, was seen on balance as a liability and giV('Jl a lirn it('(l role. I-Ie C
tI /Jml'-KI1IH"klr Nfl/wi Ol't'r Olle Mom 's Legacy 319
In the ba llot for the party's three vice presidents, the likely future le,lc1ers, incumbent Muhyiddin Yassin, an Abdullah su ppo rter, narrowly ret,lined hi s position. Anot her incumbent favoured by Abdu lla h, Mu hammad Muhammad Tail>, lost. Two relative outsid('rs, Federal Ter r itorie~ Min ister Moha nH_x llsa Samad and Ma lacca Chief Minister Ali Rustam, finished first and second, respect ively. Abdullah retained a ma jority 011 the Supre me Council, though only because he was allowC'd by lhe rules to aplx)int up to t('n memhers himself. Four cabi!l('t mi nisters lost their seats on the council, while thre<.' old-li lle, pro-Macks ..J6 As deit'gatt's were giving Ah
('ompan y prod uci ng the car, and he used the post to go to the com pany 's defence, Proton was already under siege as trade barriers fell in Southeast /\'~ia and the compan y progressively lost t he protection that had long mad(' it profit able. It fa('('(1 a further threat if Abdullah was serious about clean ing up the po nderous, gov('rnmen t-linkt"
over pla ns for a second hridge to link Malaysia with Singapore. But o n th is issue, there was no fu dgi ng their differences. The Malaysians had argued with the Singaporecame entangled wit h all the others o n their bila lcr(>(j that certain thi ngs needed to be cornplell'en agrl'<'rl upon," said Dr. Mahaillir. "/\nd he never said he would not. f\nd then he reversed th ings t hat were d("(ided, sometirnl'S in the Cabi nel.~ ~~ Dr. Maha thir was too ang ry to con templa te the sweet ironies of pol itical life, that what goes around comes around . Thi rty years earli e r, leng kll Razakigh Hamzah's career had be(' n dcmiled hy a gen tlema n's agreement, an "un derstandi ng" wIth Dr. Maha th ir that became iI mi sunderstan ding. Now it was Dr. Mall atllir's turn . It was not so lTlu ch a case of te
