Marhaen Dan Rakyat

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad just can’t let go of his favorite script: Malays are under threat, only he can save them, and everyone else is either irrelevant or an enemy. Now, at nearly a century old, he’s back with a new plot twist — an “informal Malay committee” he grandly calls a “big umbrella” to unite the Malays once again. Let’s be honest: anyone paying attention to Malaysian politics knows this is classic Mahathir. The man literally wrote the textbook on racial politics with The Malay Dilemma back in 1970, where he argued Malays needed protection from supposedly domineering non-Malays. The book was so incendiary it was banned by Tunku Abdul Rahman. But Mahathir, ever the master of self-promotion, unbanned it the moment he became prime minister in 1981. Since then, Mahathir has never missed a chance to harp on alleged threats to Malay rights. He has repeatedly called non-Malays pendatang — immigrants — despite most having families who have been here for generations. He’s insisted the ...

As Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad celebrates his 99th birthday, it has been a somewhat muted year for the elder statesman, with a quick look at posts celebrating his birthday often being a mixed bag of praise and chastisement. For most of his fans, the view of Mahathir's legacy is pretty simple – a tenure marked by rapid industrialization and ambitious infrastructure projects propelled Malaysia onto the global stage. However, these policies came at a significant cost. His heavy-handed approach to economic management led to crony capitalism, where government contracts and licenses were awarded to a select group of politically connected individuals. This fostered an environment of corruption and nepotism that stymied genuine competition and innovation, hindering Malaysia's potential for sustainable, equitable growth. The financial crisis of 1997-1998 exposed the vulnerabilities of Mahathir's economic model. Instead of implementing transparent reforms, Mahathir resorted to capital co...