A white or black cat ?
As long as it catches the mouse
It is a good cat!
As long as it catches the mouse
It is a good cat!
Tun Mahathir Mohamad was chosen by the opposition alliance, Pakatan Harapan (PH), on 6 January 2018 to be the leader and prime minister in the event that they win the general election 14 (GE14) in Malaysia. GE14 is expected to be called by March this year, and not later than August 2018.
Mahathir is no stranger in Malaysian politics. He was the prime minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. He was a strongman in the ruling regime, Barisan Nasional (BN), which is dominated by United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Najib Razak is now the leader of UMNO and prime minister of Malaysia. The corruption and abuse of power in Malaysia is so bad today that Mahathir feels the need to remove and replace Najib. Mahathir is now effectively the main challenger to the very system he helped build during his more than 2 decades in power.
At the age of 92, Mahathir has come a long way to garner the recognition of Pakatan Harapan leaders. Many of them were victims of UMNO's dictatorial tactics in Malaysian politics when Mahathir was the prime minister. Mahathir apologised for the past wrong doings and he has gone further to regain the trust of Pakatan Harapan members. His once political enemy, Anwar Ibrahim, has accepted Mahathir's apology and supported him in Mahathir's candidacy as Pakatan Harapan leader. These are all done by them in the interest of the country.
Malaysia is now known as the worst kleptocracy (a country ruled by a thief or thieves) in the world. Its people are suffering high living cost and ongoing inflationary pressure. BN must not be in power if Malaysia wants to heal from the damages done by UMNO/BN's corruption and abuse of power. No election is clean or fair as long as they are in power. Hence, there is no proper democracy.
Mahathir has himself endured numerous harassment and humiliation by UMNO and BN component parties ever since he crossed over to the opposition front. Such unscrupulous acts are all indications of a dysfunctional democracy.
Mahathir may be too old to be a prime minister (for the 2nd time). He may not have a democratic track record, or even a good looking face. However, Mahathir can play a critical role to knock UMNO/BN out of power. Without pulling down the current authoritarian and kleptocratic regime, Malaysia will have no hope of recovering from the economic and political slump it is in now.
Whether it is a white or black cat, as long as it catches the mouse, it is a good cat!
Mahathir is a good choice for the people as long as he can help the people to remove UMNO/BN from power, and help to install a functional democracy, with clean and fair election. Mahathir is part of PH that makes decision on consensus. He can no longer act unilaterally on his own, unlike his days helming an 'undemocratic' UMNO/BN. Mahathir can provide the people a promising hope to return the country to the correct path.
