Mahathir Strikes Back! (2)

Some says he will just fade away from the political scene, but recent developments seemed to contradict that view. But I guess it is true, it is difficult to just fade away when you’ve spent your whole life in it (politics). So, I guess we have to accept that Tun is here to stay. Well, he is currently holding the highest office in the country (literally speaking since he’s occupying the 86th floor office at the Petronas Twin Towers).

Let us start with Tun’s extravagant spending for the country. I have been saying that Tun Dr. Mahathir is a classic Keynesian. When asked about privatisation in Malaysia, this is what he said.

“What I did was, of course, to enhance, for example, growth of the country. How do you achieve growth? Some people say, ‘Well, you stimulate growth’. But it’s all easy to say. The thing is, if the government cannot do it, you have to get somebody else to do it. That is why we decided on privatisation, for example, because the government just doesn’t have the money to do everything that the public wants you to do. So privatisation was also the answer. Privatisation also afforded us the opportunity to bring in Malays, the bumiputeras, at that level of business. So it’s not diverting from the original policy. Grow the economy, distribute the wealth, and develop the country and to be fair to all communities, things like that. The basic policies remain the same. The implementation, of course, if you have ideas on how to improve implementation, you do (it).”

It is actually interesting to see that both Tun and former British PM, Lady Margaret Thatcher who also believed in privatisation. I think for the first half of his (Tun) administration, his spending policy did stimulate Malaysian economy but an economy cannot be built solely on government spending. The multiplier effects of government spending will only work up to a certain limit, beyond that limit, an economy needs to be supported by private investment and consumer spending. And the most important ingredient for a sustainable growth is human capital - something in which the Tun’s administration seems to ignore for the past 22 years.

Tun doesn’t seem to like the idea of having family members being involved with the government. He said this.

“As a matter of principle, when I was prime minister, I did not allow my children, or my wife, to be involved in business with the government. This is a matter of principle for me. The children can do business, but not with the government. This is a general principle. This is not only here. I mean, every country does this. If you allow your children to get business from the government, then people will not take kindly to that.”

I think Tun had forgotten the time when Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) acquired shipping company owned by his son, which suffered from heavy losses. I mean, technically speaking, Tun is correct because Petronas is not the government, it is just a government-linked company. But still, it doesn’t take a genius to establish the connection does it? And of course, he said this to remind us about a certain son-in-law of the you-know-who. GOSH, I could get into trouble because of this.

And I still like this old man’s sense of humour. We all know that Tun never played golf before and this is what he said about golf.

“Four hours hitting a small ball? I don’t know how many years I have, or how many more months I have.”

That is SO funny. Haha. And of course, when asked how does he want Malaysians to remember him, this is his reply.

“I think they should forget me.”

Let me tell you this Tun, Malaysians will never forget you in both ways – good and bad. So, how long will Tun continue to play a role in Malaysian politics? I leave that question for you to make your own speculation. Ciao.

SOURCE: Malaysiakini.