THE TEMASEK REVIEW

The Malaysian Insider, 17 November 2009

This just in. Risda chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik today suggested Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad be given the post of Senior Minister in Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s cabinet.

The former Malacca chief minister said Dr Mahathir’s wide experience as prime minister for 22 years – the era of various development projects to strengthen the economy – should be harnessed to help the progress of Malaysia and other Islamic countries.

He wasn’t joking but said it would be a little status for the acerbic politician who has been invited by countries such as Japan and Egypt to share his views and experiences.

While we are unsure if Najib will take to the idea, it has to be said the country did prosper under Dr Mahathir but at the great expense of a failure in human capital development, justice, freedom of expression and basic human rights.

But the good doctor has had 22 years in power and what more can he do as senior minister, unless it is for status purposes?

The various physical and economic developments started off with promise but have languished over the years, which no doubt Dr Mahathir blames on his successor. National car project Proton still requires government help and Dr Mahathir has insisted it will not be sold, now that his advice is being taken seriously again.

The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and the associated bandwidth remains a promise on paper while neighbours like Singapore and Thailand zip ahead with bigger bandwidth at a fraction of the price offered in Malaysia.

The Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) stands out a a memorial to economic ambitions wasted by weak governance and a lack of respect for or fear of financial regulations – a standard anthem in many government projects over the years.

Then there are the ribbons of privatised highways that remain pricey for both motorists and the government if, for any reason, toll charges are not increased in what is seen as lopsided agreements.

The administrative capital Putrajaya was built on petro-ringgits and leased to the government by Petronas, which will in turn pay tax that will be used to repay the national oil firm for the broad avenue hemmed by buildings alive in the day but dead at night.

If anything, the annual Auditor-General’s report over so many years is the report card of years of extravagance and single-mindedness Dr Mahathir had taken to move the agrarian country into a industrialised and later developed nation.

He succeeded, to an extent.  After all, he always knew best what the country needed, if not wanted.

But Dr Mahathir failed in allowing us the freedom to think, despite giving us access to the vast knowledge of the world. He sought to control if he couldn’t cajole us to his Vision 2020.

And when all failed, he kept to a racial line of Malays being threatened by others jealous of their success – the punchline of many Instant Cafe comedy routines.

Like Rahim, we can look back fondly at Dr Mahathir’s contributions and reason out why he should be in Najib’s cabinet as a senior minister.

But unlike Rahim, it is better to keep Dr Mahathir in our past rather than let him chip away his own legacy and curb our nascent freedoms. After all, didn’t Najib himself say the days of “government knows best” are over?

Republished from The Malaysian Insider

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