The relationship between Mahathir and the Malaysian royalty can be described as tumultuous. Once again, the former statesman has launched another attack on the Johor royal family for allegedly failing to help the Malays. However, given his turbulent history with the royals, can we trust his accusations? 
Mahathir has constantly portrayed himself as a stabilizing force in Malaysian politics, with grand statements such as only he can take charge and lead the Malays into the future.
But it is crystal clear today that Mahathir is responsible for the political instability we see today. Pursuing his vision of Malaysia, he turned UMNO and the Barisan Nasional into a powerful patronage machine.
He crippled every institution supposed to check and balance an overreaching executive to push through his “reforms.” He often sacrificed integrity to secure loyalty and bypassed those not supporting him.
What about his Bumi first policy?
The effects of Mahathir’s policies on his “favoured” bumiputras have also been less than stellar. While they have a larger share of wealth at the top, they have also consistently recorded higher incidences of poverty than the Chinese and Indians, although the numbers have drastically decreased. Nonetheless, the gap between the Chinese and Indians remains significant.
His tendency to centralize power meant he had also dismantled the checks and balances established by our founding fathers, pursuing even more opportunities to bend the country to his will. Ironically, he’s trying to “reform” the system similarly, again claiming that he will “save” the Malays.
He is so consumed in whatever political agenda he has left that he is willing to crawl in the mud with ultra-nationalists such as Putra, abandoning his much-vaunted organizations in PPBM and GTA.
He has lost all his allies and is willing to cooperate with his former enemies in PAS.
Our only consolation is that this is the dying gasp for the elder statesman and would provide us with a clean slate to move forward as a country.
Anwar’s reform agenda will be long and includes correcting the national economy and finances, cleaning up the mess of various scandals, working towards a greater understanding and consensus with the royalty on the rule of law and system of constitutional monarchy as the foundation of our democracy.
As Sultan Ibrahim has repeatedly emphasized, every politician should work in the people’s interests.
There is no time for Anwar to focus on personal vendettas with Mahathir; the country has real problems, such as rising costs of goods, stagnant salaries, and a lack of jobs for the youth.
Mahathir has constantly portrayed himself as a stabilizing force in Malaysian politics, with grand statements such as only he can take charge and lead the Malays into the future.
But it is crystal clear today that Mahathir is responsible for the political instability we see today. Pursuing his vision of Malaysia, he turned UMNO and the Barisan Nasional into a powerful patronage machine.
He crippled every institution supposed to check and balance an overreaching executive to push through his “reforms.” He often sacrificed integrity to secure loyalty and bypassed those not supporting him.
What about his Bumi first policy?
The effects of Mahathir’s policies on his “favoured” bumiputras have also been less than stellar. While they have a larger share of wealth at the top, they have also consistently recorded higher incidences of poverty than the Chinese and Indians, although the numbers have drastically decreased. Nonetheless, the gap between the Chinese and Indians remains significant.
His tendency to centralize power meant he had also dismantled the checks and balances established by our founding fathers, pursuing even more opportunities to bend the country to his will. Ironically, he’s trying to “reform” the system similarly, again claiming that he will “save” the Malays.
He is so consumed in whatever political agenda he has left that he is willing to crawl in the mud with ultra-nationalists such as Putra, abandoning his much-vaunted organizations in PPBM and GTA.
He has lost all his allies and is willing to cooperate with his former enemies in PAS.
Our only consolation is that this is the dying gasp for the elder statesman and would provide us with a clean slate to move forward as a country.
Anwar’s reform agenda will be long and includes correcting the national economy and finances, cleaning up the mess of various scandals, working towards a greater understanding and consensus with the royalty on the rule of law and system of constitutional monarchy as the foundation of our democracy.
As Sultan Ibrahim has repeatedly emphasized, every politician should work in the people’s interests.
There is no time for Anwar to focus on personal vendettas with Mahathir; the country has real problems, such as rising costs of goods, stagnant salaries, and a lack of jobs for the youth.
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