The sample of the survey is submitted. Building or creating a great…

no prime minister has ever resigned because he wanted a younger man to take over. tunku was forced to resign. hussein was forced to step down because of poor health - and mahathir had to step down because he knew “it was time” and by so doing annointing his successor at the same time to preserve his “legacy” . this is a better way and he knew it.

perhaps it is time that they put a limit to the term the president of UMNO could serve as prime minister - by limiting the term of his tenure as president of UMNO to two terms.

Putting ylchong’s points aside, I think that the most important metric is not how much effort is put in or how much money is spent, but how beneficial the results are. I think that Tun Dr. Mahathir was — overall — detrimental to Malaysia. This is not to disparage his character or anything of the sort. Like Pak Lah, he probably meant well for the country. But exhortations and hard work do not necessarily mean good results.

To me, things would probably be better if Razaleigh or Musa Hitam had become PM in the 1980s. By the time of the 1987 crisis in UMNO, most of Dr. Mahathir’s ground-breaking policies were already in place. Even when he took over, a lot of the foundation had already been laid by the policies of Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn.

Much of Dr. Mahathir’s great legacy stems from his policies of the early 1980s, and not from the NDP, Wawasan 2020, or other such vague policies. The Multimedia Supercorridor has been a dismal failure. I hardly hear about Wawasan 2020 anymore these days, and its impact on Malaysian history is questionable. It laid out targets, but did not enunciate how these targets were to be achieved.

In my opinion, Dr. Mahathir and the country would both have been better off if he had retired in 1987, or after the NDP at the latest (although this would mean Anwar would be PM — and how trustworthy Anwar is, I cannot guess).

It is not good for one to be at the helm for too long. Even the most visionary of policies will grow stale. A crew once full of youth starts sprouting cobwebs. Dr. Mahathir should have retired much, much earlier than he did. 22 years is far too long to be PM. As Dr. Bakri himself pointed out in The Malay Dilemma Revisited (which I am now rereading for the second or third time), much of Dr. Mahathir’s criticisms of the Tunku in 1969 became applicable to Dr. Mahathir himself in the latter part of his regin.

Thanks for your response, esp giving insight into Dr Mahathir’s personality traits. I am not detracting he could be the m ost hard-working and whatever superlative personal characteristics accorded him — deserrving or not.

My conversation here concerns the legacy left behind by Dr Mahathir’s 22 years of flagrantly profligate spendings on mega projects which don’t give the commensurate returns on investments — why do you need a Taj Mahal like Putrajaya; why Petronas Twin Towers while Petronas’ billions of annual profits went unaccounted for — otrdinaryu citizens id not see much benefits with fuel prices rising, and rising (even during Dr Mahathir’s time, now continued under Pak Lah..).
My short overall summary of Dr Mahathir’s government is that the first decade saw him truly focused on nation’;s developemnt onwell thought out programmes; but the second decade saw much of the Politics-Business Nexus doing a lot of damage so much so the whole nation had to pay the price of his sons’ and cronies adventurism in mega business — imagine Tajuddin Ramli being bailed out with a RM7.80-RM8 buyback of his MAS shares when the market price was RM3.80-3.90!
Tun Dr Mahathir’s record/achievemnt, IMHO, in a nutshell:
* he made the Executive over-powering, with the PM so over-domineering that the rest of the Cabinet remained totally submissive;
* The Legislature became a mere rubber-stamp
* He emasculated the Judiciary — businessmen going for oversaes holdays with the judges connected with hearing their cases? Sacking of the Lord President and Five Senior Judges by junior panel members?
* You can rely on the 4th Esate to conduct discourses such as now ongoing at BakriMusa’s prvileged Internet platoform? — The Media is rendred completely propaganda sheets (some use a 4-letter word staring also with an ass…, but I refrain…).
It’’s too soon to call a Verdict on Pak Lah’s government — 2years plus with inheriting a lot of useless baggage, like MAS! — so I’ll wait out the next five years, ho[pinh he’d get a second term, with a reduced manadte lah!
But his declared war on Corruption for 2-1/2yaers does NOT seem to yield visible results — mere tokenism here and there.
Of course Dr Mahathir’s famous quote that the Big C had gone from below to above the table would give the impresssion it has gotten worse. He might by partially right — but the ROT STATED A FEW DECADES BACK, and then Pak Lah was merely a miniSter for the main, and in the wilderness for a hiatus, YES?

I encourage to participate with us on this website. We can learn from each other, and exchange views and information.

The protests could have been worse, if not for Najib’s appearance on TV. I can understand your feelings. There is so much spin since Badawi became the elected Prime Minister that we cannot separate fact from fiction. Because of that, you and I must be careful not to be easily taken in with the so-called official news. We need to be discriminating. It was less during Tun Dr. Mahathir’s time, although he himself, as a politician, was capable of using slogans.

The then Prime Minister was a man of substance who was focused on his agenda for our country, not about what people thought of him. He did not have to remind himself and others of how great he was. See the difference.

Tun Dr. Mahathir did not have to tell his fellow citizens, not “work for me, but work with me”. He just said “work”, as Dr. Bakri once said, for our country, our families, and ourselves. He became the hardest working Prime Minister with excellent time management skills (he would usually arrived at least 10-15 minutes before and completed his appointments on time) and work ethics. He could outpace men many years his junior in age.

I once accompanied him on his Official Visit to South Korea in the mid-1980s. One of my private sector counterparts told me that he was meeting our Prime Minister for breakfast at 6.00 a.m. in his Official suite at Hotel Shila, Seoul. When he came to the suite, my colleague found the Prime Minister ready for work and official engagements on that date.

During the 1997-1998 Economic Crisis, for example, he worked long hours in his capacity as Chairman of MTEN (Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Negara). He explained his economic policies and decisions directly to us.With Tun Dr. Mahathir, you knew exactly where you stood.

It was my privilege to have worked directly for him in the early 1970s when he was Deputy PM and also Chairman, Kumpulan FIMA Berhad, an integrated Government linked food company with interests in pineapple and cashew nut processing, sugar refining and tin can and cartoon manufacture. I was in awe of his mastery of details, and his intellect.

Thanks.

Thanks for your thoughts, I think this is my first engagement with thee, tho I have had several times conversed with suadra Bakri.

First, I refer to your pOint that:

“Brendan’s profile in courage (as it were) has a very low threshold. He extols Abdullah’s courage, but the man would not dare face the public on TV to explain his decision. He had to defer to his Deputy Prime Minister. Thanks to the persuasive powers of Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, we were spared massive street protests and civil unrest.”

I wonder if you’re aware the protest are continuing, though the IGP had threatned those involved and planners TO STOP IT! So does this not go against your premise that DPM’s “persuasive powers” had pre-empted such groundsweel prottests continuiing? OtherWISE, why the IGP’s threats? Using the ISA again?

I had last June/july written an essay following the Govt’s fuel price increase where I posited that the Govt had created a MYTH of this need to raise pump prices in tandem with world oil prices rising.

In gist, I reproduce the relevant portion of what I said in my own blog just days ago, here seeking Readers’ indulgence:

”
This is an article circulating on the net:

Harga minyak sepanjang zaman..
(dalam masa 16 tahun - sejak 1990)

sebelum 90 - RM 0.89
tahun 1990 - RM 1.10 (kenaikan RM 0.21)
01/10/2000 - RM 1.20 (kenaikan RM 0.10)
20/10/2001 - RM 1.30 (kenaikan RM 0.10)
01/05/2002 - RM 1.32 (kenaikan RM 0.02)
31/10/2002 - RM 1.33 (kenaikan RM 0.01)
01/03/2003 - RM 1.35 (kenaikan RM 0.02)
01/05/2004 - RM 1.37 (kenaikan RM 0.02)
01/10/2004 - RM 1.42 (kenaikan RM 0.05)
05/05/2005 - RM 1.52 (kenaikan RM 0.10)
31/07/2005 - RM 1..62 (kenaikan RM 0.10)
28/02/2006 - RM 1.92 (kenaikan RM 0.30)

:
:
:

Di Thailand tak ada rasuah AP. Harga kereta Honda Civic 1.5 di Thailand tak sampai RM40,000. Lebih murah daripada harga kereta Perodua Kelisa 1.0 di Malaysia. Inilah kelebihannya di Thailand - tak ada AP di sana.

Di Malaysia pula ada AP. Sebenarnya harga AP yang perlu di bayar kepada Kerajaan (MITI) tak sampai RM250 sahaja. Tapi AP boleh di jual sehingga RM40,000 sekeping kepada Dato Dato yang kaya yang di kenal sebagai “AP King”. Rasuah AP ini telah berlanjutan selama lebih 30 tahun. Akhir kata rakyat Malaysia yang terpaksa tanggung rasuah AP ini.

Oleh yang demikian kereta Honda Civic 1.5 yang dijual dengan harga RM40,000 di Thailand naik harga sehingga RM110,000 di Malaysia. ”

The above was Posted by: “hinzelmann”

~~~~~~~

I must conserve energy in line with DPM’s call to CHANGE LIFESTYLE!…), hence re-cycling my arugments here:

“MAS itself in announcing the 3Q2005 results says it needs a “govt bailout” of RM2billion. Whether this sum comes out of the RM4.4billion oil subsidy savings, or from another Govt budget allocation, it’s ONE AND THE SAME, the money is from the tax-payers’ money. Our rakyat’s lament is that PEtronas made RM35.5billion for FY ended March 205, which was 50% more than the preceding year. With just this profits increase — AFTER-TAX– whatever world fuel price rise in the period under review, if Petronas had flowed back just a portion for the benefit of the citizenry — hey, oil is a national resource, we the people surely deserve some benefits, NO? — there should be NO NEED FOR ANY PRICE INCREASE IN PUMP PRICES.
I’ve indeed argued in my blog last june/July following another price rise that in fact, there is a case for local pump prices to GO SOUTH (down-lah!) every time there is a world price increase. DA RATIONALE — we export more than we import petroleum. Furthermore, our exports are “sweeter”, and hence command a “premium” price.
BVoth ways we win, and these idiots keep perpetuating the “myth” otherwise.
Anyweay Malaysians like to complain, and complain, yet come the GE, the voters put the cross against the Dacing.Are the general populace suffering MASOCHISM, or wat? And that’s arhetorical Q!

So I believe any “sympathetic” ear extended to the DPM is misplaced — he knows NOT even what’s saying on the petrol price rise, OR his lietenants should be sacked when Najib said in 2005 the local pump prices were raised three times for a total 45sen rise. Look at the Table quoted by Hinzelmann:

The three price increases preceding the latest 30sen were 10+10+5=25sen.
If you add the earlier two, it’s +2+2=29sen.

As typical of Pal Lah’s iKabinet, many members are still living in the last millennium (6-7 years gone-lah!), and think they can get away by talking bull….(I was hesitating whether top use ‘lembu’ but …)

To me, Pak Lah wasted a golden opportunity in “Seizing the day” after socring a massive 90% mandate during GE2004, ” and DID NOT throw out the baggae of Tun Dr Mahathir’s regimented team. Even withthe recent Re0shuffle, as noted by PKR Deputy President (IMHO, highly esteemed Malaysian Opposition leader) Dr Syed Husin Ali- the long shadow of Dr Mahathir still shrouds over Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by his own IN-action!
Din, i realliYmust beg to differ with you in crediting Najib, especially his totally out-of-this-world adVICE:
“CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE-lah!” — like we Malaysians have a choice of going to Monaco for our annual vacation, and swtiching to Disneyland? Hey, we only stay back in the Cameron Highlands OR Chinoserie like Desi want to try his luck, go for a spin of Lady Luck roulette wheel since the Dacing failed to give some taels of MAS!

Can I venture some guesses where our oil&gas has evaporated before time/dime?
(1) The old regime Fore-sold the petroleum to big buyers like Taiwan and Japan?
(2) Pak Lah’s contradiction of just another FOUR YEARS before Malaysia’s oils run dry contrasted with Dr Mahathir’s time of “lasting some 15 years” implies this bad habit of “futures sales” are still going on ..including the lust TWO YEARS plus under the present PM
(3) The Govt wants to PERPETUATE MORE MYTHS so that further wolrd price increases will be justifiable with local pump prices going up again, and again…

I also thanked Hinzelmann for the point he raised WHY MALAYSIA COULD HAVE EASILY PALACTED THE IRE OF THE RAKYAT BY BRINGING DOWN CAR PRICES … HE GAVE US THE EXAMPLE OF hONDA CAR’S PRICE IN tHAILAND VERSUS IN MALAYSIA AND THE in-FAMOUS “ap” CRYING MINster ISSUE AND HER HapPY KINGS. I WON’T NEED TO BORE MY READERS WITH ANY ELABORATION, EXCEPT A PARTING REQUEST: PLEASE PASS HER SOME TISSUE COS THE “SHOW IS NOT OVER nyet… UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS!”

Thanks Bakri, and Din Merican, for hearing me out.

~~~~~~~

I enjoy nasi kandar, laksa assam, mee rebus, nasi lemak and tea tarik; all these items are becoming expensive, given the rapidly declining purchasing power of the ringgit.