It is difficult to see the back of Tun Mahathir. He has been striding on the Malaysian political stage for so long that most people cannot remember how long it has been. He has always been visible, in good light or poor light.
His political journey has not been plain and the road he travelled has not been well paved in recent years. He is not in a good wicket at the moment. His latest caper must be capped at the height of indiscretion or indecency - he has gone in bed with Tan Sri Hadi Awang and PAS.
It can be recalled how Tun Mahathir used to look down on PAS as a wayward fringe group. Dr Mahathir used to say many unfavourable and nasty things about PAS and Hadi Awang. It had been inconceivable to think that the two men would ever work together. But here they are, together to push through a “Malay Proclamation" whatever that really means. Ostensibly, this is another tired race and religion base slogan.
Tun Mahathir used to be in a truly unassailable position; he held immense power and he was even fondly referred to as a benevolent dictator. He could sway the wind and the tides. He ruled the country for 22 unbroken years, a feat beyond the reach of most politicians in a democratic country. After he had left his post, he never quite quit politics. He continued to criticise the government and he leaned very harshly on subsequent PMs, both of whom were his chosen or favoured successors. They were forced to resign, one after another. From then on, Tun Mahathir’s political journey began to take him down a path not well trodden - he went off course, off Main Street into some unfamiliar side lanes.
Along the way and by a stroke of old genius, he was able to find his way back, briefly though - he was able to convince his one-time protege turned bitter nemesis to work with him. They unexpectedly won the GE and Dr Mahathir was named the PM - for the second time. Then one side of his not-so-pleasant character came into the fore again; he reneged on the agreement to hand over the torch to Anwar after about two years. Shortly after, the government failed.
Unfortunately for Dr Mahathir, he was cast back into the little side lanes. Mahathir then embarked on an irrational path: he established one Malay-based Party only to leave it to form yet another Malay based Party which he duly left again.
Just now, in cahort with Hadi Awang and PAS, Dr Mahathir is calling out loudly for the Malays to unite so that they could regain power again. Lost power? Most know it is Dr Mahathir who has lost power. Do we need to ask why is Dr Mahathir working so hard but so haphazardly to gain power?
Dr Mahathir had a tremendous opportunity to be known in history as a revered elder statesman rather than be the outcast politician that he now is, adrift in a corner he once despised. During his second stint as PM, only Mahathir had let bygones be bygones and passed the baton on to Anwar after the agreed two years tenure, things might have turned out well for him and the nation. Anwar, with possibly some assistance from Dr Mahathir would have made Malaysia great again.
Now, the country is struggling, Anwar and his hastily constructed Cabinet are struggling while men on the streets and folks in the kampung are going through a very difficult period.
Dr Mahathir is seen to stoop too low - to seek the illusive power base he once held.
Oyang Sen is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.