User:Morpheus Neo

The Truth behind Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

The word, "boleh" in Malay means, "can". The literal translation of the phrase, “Malaysia Boleh” is therefore, "Malaysia Can."

The slogan was coined during the time of Dr. Mahathir - one of the most ruthless and crooked political leaders the region ever produced. If ever there was an example of how utterly rotten and corrupt a politician can get, this would be it. When the truth is finally told, Mahathir without a doubt will make legendary crooks like Marcos, Suharto and Mugabe looking like angelic paupers at the Gates of Hell.

Malaysia - rich and endowed with bountiful natural resources (e.g., petroleum, LPG, tin, rubber, timber, oil palm) you name it - is supposed to be one if the richest countries of SE Asia. However, after 22 years under the corrupt rule of Dr. Mahathir, the country’s economy suffered. Most glaringly, despite its abundant resources and the advantage derived from its vast economic and geographic superiority, it fell behind its next-door neighbor - the little island of Singapore - in almost every aspect.

Suffering from a serious brain drain and overrun by millions of illegal Muslim migrants from Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Malaysia today is sadly, a crime-ridden economic basket case that is only a little better than Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Mahathir and his cronies during their heyday plundered Malaysia with such greed, callousness and alacrity, they literally robbed the people blind! His indiscriminate use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) meant he was able to detain anyone at his will and pleasure. He and his ministers were not answerable or accountable to anyone under any circumstance. Under the pretext of ensuring “internal security” he used the ISA to harass and intimidate his critics with arbitrary arrest and torture. It is a tool we know that tyrants over the ages use to terrorize their political opponents into surrender and submission.

Even the country’s judges were not spared. Instead of being the public defender of injustice, the judiciary was either bribed and/or coerced into abject silence and obedience. Compliant and fearful judges were literally forced to lick his boots while those with the courage to resist were bypassed during recognition and promotion. If not, they were sacked or dispatched to the rural courts to live out their days. The police force – particularly the sinister Special Branch – became his private army of thugs and spies to help “maintain law and order.”

This is why Mahathir - just like dictator Robert Mugabe - was able to perpetuate his rotten corrupt regime for 22 long years. His utter ruthlessness, his stranglehold over the judiciary, the police and the armed forces - together with his absolute monopoly of the country’s mass media - guaranteed that.

As a highly polished and accomplished stage performer, Mahathir was indeed a master in the art of distraction and deception. He was shrewd, cunning and knew exactly when and how to manipulate and whip up both the Muslim and non-Muslim mass into such a frenzy of ultra nationalism and xenophobia such that he and his cronies were able to bilk, milk and get away with not just millions - but billions of the country’s treasury and wealth.

"Malaysia Boleh!" is only one example of the many patronizing slogans he used. Today, the people of Malaysia have finally woken up to his game. The resounding vote against his ruling party, Barisan Nasional was a vote against Mahathir.