| By BARADAN KUPPUSAMY/KUALA LAMPUR | Tuesday, April 8, 2003 |
November 03, 2003—As Mahathir Mohamad ended his 22-year tenure as prime minister last week, Malaysians were caught in a flurry of last-minute tributes, both genuine and manufactured. But investors and business leaders are counting the cost of Mahathir’s recent anti-Jewish and anti-US remarks that have angered western capitals, but enhanced his standing in the Islamic world. The farewell euphoria ahead of his stepping down was overwhelming. But there is little critical evaluation of the man or his legacy—only staid repetition of his successes at managing the economy, preventing race riots and ensuring political stability. Critics say that such adulation is not surprising in a society where dissent is discouraged—in the cynical words of one prominent dissident, free speech exists, but only for Mahathir. Mahathir handed over power to his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 63, last Friday. Opposition politicians and rights activists say that an evaluation of Mahathir’s legacy is impossible without considering the plight of Anwar Ibrahim—the man Mahathir sacked and jailed in 1998 to forestall a political challenge. They say that detention without trial, muzzling the media and the judiciary, crony capitalism and wasteful spending are just as much part of Mahathir’s legacy as his economic achievements. In fact there are two legacies—one in the government-controlled media and the other in the opposition newsletters. An independent assessment of the man is sorely missing. Outside the country, Mahathir’s legacy is heavily colored by his recent remarks about Jews, harsh even by his own forthright standards. When opening the 10th session of the Islamic Summit Conference on Oct 18, Mahathir said, among other things, that Jews ruled the world "by proxy" and that they get others to fight and die for them. Although his loyalists say that such opinions are common currency in the Islamic world and that Mahathir was merely repeating what was widely known, this is probably the first time such opinion was expressed by a head of state and at a meeting of Islamic leaders. That the leaders gave him a standing ovation indicates the divide between the western and the Muslim world. Mahathir stood by his remarks, even repeating them several times and further infuriating western leaders. Influential Jewish organizations are now urging supporters not to visit Malaysia or invest in the country. The US Senate has always restricted US military training aid to Malaysia—just US $1.2 million worth. Still, its decision on Monday to tie religious freedom to this aid is a gesture of displeasure. The controversy has brought out, yet again, the complex personality of the retiring prime minister. He is anti-western, yet is an ardent fan of foreign direct investment. During his tenure he benefited from globalization, turning a backwater country into a top trading nation, but remains a trenchant critic of free trade. He is a hero in the Muslim world, despite his criticism of Muslims for their fundamentalism and lack of respect for science and technology, and also for failing to defend their faith against western aggression. The complex and contrasting nature of the man is evident in a widely published photograph of Mahathir with developing country leaders at the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement here this year. It shows why the man has to be taken seriously, however callous his remarks might be seen as. In the photograph, standing behind Mahathir is Gen Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan in a smart three-piece suit—a man who through a coup usurped his country’s democracy, however ineffective it might have been, and stays in power via military backing. Seated on Mahathir’s left is Cuba’s Fidel Castro and on his right is Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, a society on the brink of social and economic collapse. The photograph also catches Mahathir leaning back and exchanging a remark with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo Macapagal, whose demeanor is that of a student facing the master and happy that the veteran is paying attention to the political novice. The photograph says much about what Mahathir is and is not. He is not a tin pot, Third World dictator who could not feed and clothe and educate his people. Although he is full of the Third World rhetoric of leaders like Castro and Mugabe, he is unlike them and has social and economic success to show. While Arroyo worries about a military coup and Musharraf would fall without the support of his military, Mahathir keeps his invisible in the barracks. Unlike them, he faces the voters every five years and with mixed results. Elections are not entirely fair and free and voting is still secret, but his government both wins and loses. He is all—and none—of these other developing world leaders. Faced with the pressures of history, development and competition in a fast-changing post-colonial world, Mahathir could easily have turned into one like them. He was an autocrat, he did jail political opponents and muzzle the press, but unlike his autocratic colleagues, he is retiring. Best of all, he is handing over power in a smooth transition, without a shot fired in anger. These really are Mahathir’s lasting legacies—not the tall buildings or a new airport or a super modern six-lane highway. The challenge now is for his successor Abdullah Badawi—the ‘Mr Nice Guy’ of Malaysian politics—to build on the legacy, to humanize government policies and iron out the rough edges, and to democratize society and allow and encourage dissent and develop political maturity. But by most measures, it will be a hard task for Abdullah, who faces all the downsides of Mahathir’s rule—a large budget deficit, a drop in foreign investment, aging political leadership, resurgent political Islam, vocal demands for democratization and an impending general election. "We don’t expect Abdullah to make major changes in government and society. He will try to follow Mahathir but what we need is changes," said opposition politician Syed Husin Ali. Analysts expect Abdullah to march with the anti-western rhetoric of Mahathir and mainly for domestic consumption, but say that a confrontational style would not fit his image as a consensus seeker. "We expect him to drop the inflammatory rhetoric in favor of quiet diplomacy after he consolidates his political position," said one diplomat. "He has to get over the election first and form his own government." Abdullah will come under pressure to free Anwar, who is now serving a 15-year jail term for corruption and sodomy and whose incarceration still strikes a discordant note among Malay Muslims, who form about 65 percent of the country’s 9.7 million voters. While his style may be kinder and more fatherly, Abdullah is not expected to improve the country’s human rights record or promote democracy. "We don’t expect Abdullah to abolish detention without trial, allow greater press freedom or release persons detained without trial," said Tian Chua, vice president of the opposition National Justice Party. Inter Press Service (IPS)