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DECEMBER 10, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 49
The New Malay Dilemma
Why some Malaysians are uneasy with "the boss"
By AJAY SINGH
It's not easy to describe Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad without resorting to superlatives. In his country's official circles, he is widely - and appropriately - known as "the boss," a term that, in Malay, also means "big man." Lately, some Malaysians have been calling him maha firaun, or "great pharaoh." Outsiders would be forgiven for drawing parallels between the biblical pharaoh Nimrod, a builder of great cities, and Mahathir, the visionary creator of such architectural wonders as the Petronas Towers. Dr. M, however, is not the least amused.
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What is it about Mahathir that inspires talk of maha firaun and maha zalim ("most cruel") - words frequently sighted on Internet chat rooms about Malaysia? The answer lies in a "Mahathirian" paradox: While he has earned the respect of Malaysians for vastly improving the quality of their lives in his 18 years as PM, Mahathir is at the same time widely feared and sometimes reviled. But the mixed feelings that many Malaysians have toward their PM says a lot about them - and about Mahathir himself.
"He has been in power for so long that Malays have matured enough to become more democratic, educated and willing to express themselves," says former deputy PM Musa Hitam. Indeed, the biggest issue in Malaysia today is the political division among Malays as a result of the imprisonment last year of Mahathir's once-designated heir Anwar Ibrahim. For the first time in the nation's history, Malaysians took to the streets demanding reformasi (reforms). But paradoxically, the rallies only proved how successful Mahathir's track record has been. For, as Musa puts it, "unlike the old days, [the protests] are now non-racial and issue-based."
Those new issues show just how far Malaysians have come thanks to the principal objective of Mahathir's political life: special treatment for Malays. In 1969, he was temporarily expelled from the dominant United Malays National Organization for violating the party's policy against airing racial issues. The following year, Mahathir wrote The Malay Dilemma, a book denouncing Malays for their cultural shortcomings and demanding that the government pay urgent attention to their plight.
If race were once the most formidable problem for Malaysia, religious extremism is one of the challenges of today. And Mahathir, a long-time opponent of Muslims who portray Islam as anti-modern, is worried. He was asked in the TV3 interview if he thought that the young generation of Malaysians were capable of maintaining the directions in which he had set the nation moving. Mahathir replied that while he had faith in the ability of young people, they could fall victim to Islamic hardliners who stress that good Muslims should "put aside the hasanah [benefits] in this world" and think only of the world hereafter.
One reason why religious extremists thrive in parts of Malaysia is because there are still plenty of disappointments and unfulfilled expectations. Such as the lack of a transparent government. Mahathir may have rescued Malaysia from the Asian financial crisis but he has yet to implement the institutional reform necessary for the economy's long-term health. Over the years, he has steadily increased his authority by strengthening the power of the executive, which has also made it easier for him to extend state patronage to his favorites. It is no wonder many people feel what political scientist P. Ramasamy calls "reluctant admiration" for their PM.
None of this is to deny or belittle Mahathir's immense and wide-ranging contributions. Thanks to him, Malaysia has changed from an Asian backwater to a progressive and pluralistic nation that enjoys a high status in the developing world. But at the same time, it is impossible to ignore that politics, as symbolized by the Anwar Ibrahim case, has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. "Fear and tear gas," as one commentator put it, were not a normal part of Malaysian politics. "They are now." Malaysians got a hint of Mahathir's response to their disillusionment when he dissolved Parliament on Nov. 10 ahead of general elections. He told reporters with typical brusqueness:"I don't care whether I am popular or not, whether I go down in history as a bad guy or a good guy." His legacy will probably be neither one or the other, but a bit of both.
- Reported by Santha Oorjitham/Kuala Lumpur
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