In a touching gesture, the peerless Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had recently hailed his successor the late Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as an exemplary leader of the country; ironically, this was despite the fact that he was known to have been critical towards the latter.
For context, Abdullah, who passed away had served as Malaysia’s Prime Minister from October 31, 2003 to April 3, 2009, following the resignation of Dr Mahathir.
In a glowing tribute to the late ex-prime minister, Dr Mahathir recalled how upon taking over the leadership of the nation from him, Abdullah had spearheaded one of the most resounding victories in the history of the nation by securing 90 per cent of the votes for the ruling BN government in the 2004 general election.
However, Dr Mahathir pointed out that subsequently Abdullah had faced many challenges during his time in office; this eventually led to a poor showing by his coalition in the 12th general election in 2008.
Nevertheless, he praised Abdullah for willing to step aside and handing over the premiership to Najib Razak when the results became less impressive and the calls for his resignation grew louder.
Dr M: “That’s the Malaysian way; when we retire, we leave peacefully, without conflict, and pass the leadership to our successor.”
He then added that with the good example set by Abdullah, the country will always remain strong and stable; ironically, Abdullah had also (peacefully) paved the way for Najib to succeed him, only for the latter to end his reign unceremoniously after a shocking loss in the 2018 general election in the wake of the 1MDB financial scandal.
Interestingly, Dr Mahathir’s recent outpouring of praise for Abdullah would have reignited conversation in this country over the calamitous events that rocked the nation following his controversial “resignation” in February 2020.
Back then his designated “successor” Anwar Ibrahim had recalled how Dr Mahathir had promised handing over the PM “baton” to him after two years in office.
Sadly, according to Anwar, Dr Mahathir kept “changing” the dates, and then shockingly resigned as prime minister without even informing his coalition leaders!
Later the former statesman caused a stir after making a startling revelation that his earlier so-called "promise” to step down as the prime minister did not actually imply that Anwar was his “automatic” successor.
Passing the baton… or passing the blame?
In fact, Dr Mahathir went on to stress that whether Anwar became the prime minister or not would have been dependent on the latter’s own support among lawmakers, and that it was up to the members of Parliament to decide.
The truth is, the two-time prime minister's resignation in tandem with his Bersatu party’s withdrawal from the ruling PH coalition precipitated the collapse of his administration in February 2020; strangely, it was reported that he was also led to believe that Anwar was allegedly scheming to “manoeuvre” against him then!
In retrospect, it would appear that Dr Mahathir's so-called transition plan was meant to be neither real nor peaceful; and what followed was an unprecedented political turmoil in the country which unfortunately coincided with the disastrous Covid-19 pandemic.
However, it would have been seen by many as poetic justice when finally Anwar received the blessings of the then-king Al-Sultan Abdullah to lead the new PH-led unity government in the aftermath of GE15 in 2022 - barely two years after Dr Mahathir's resignation, his broken promises and all!
In conclusion, given past events, won't Dr Mahathir’s pompous and passionate proclamation that the late Abdullah Badawi personified the “Malaysian way” of handing over leadership of the country in a “peaceful way” actually ring hollow - and possibly even reek of hypocrisy to some? Or maybe it was just a case of selective mudah lupa (amnesia)?
Main information source: Malay Mail, CNN, The Straits Times and The Star.
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