'In Mahathir's eyes, Malaysia's problems are all about the personal failings of those who have succeeded him. At times he has come close to saying that Prime Minister Najib and his most famous political prisoner, Anwar Ibrahim, should be trading places. "Anwar should have been the Prime Minister of Malaysia today," writes Mahathir, in his memoir.
Like so many successful dictators, Mahathir was never able to decide between competence and loyalty and so ended up with neither. The resulting succession feud makes Australian Labor Party politics look meek.'
'But Mahathir is finding it much harder to unseat Najib than he did with Anwar, Badawi, and several others he destroyed before. The problem is that Mahathir made the position of prime minister virtually impregnable. He destroyed the independence of the police, judiciary and media and gave the prime minister almost unbridled financial powers. Moreover, Najib has worked tirelessly to build his own financial war chest, beyond the webs of Mahathir patronage, albeit at significant political cost. And so, after Anwar Ibrahim was released from jail, and nearly pulled off an extraordinary victory at the 2013 elections, Najib used the dictatorial powers that Mahathir bequeathed to him and threw Anwar in jail on a second lot of sodomy charges.
It's not hard to see that the decay at the heart of Malaysian politics is no longer about personalities, but institutions, which Mahathir did his utmost to destroy.'
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/mahathir-has-lost-control-of--his-puppet-20150717-gidig9.html#ixzz3gan7cvXN
Link
Like so many successful dictators, Mahathir was never able to decide between competence and loyalty and so ended up with neither. The resulting succession feud makes Australian Labor Party politics look meek.'
'But Mahathir is finding it much harder to unseat Najib than he did with Anwar, Badawi, and several others he destroyed before. The problem is that Mahathir made the position of prime minister virtually impregnable. He destroyed the independence of the police, judiciary and media and gave the prime minister almost unbridled financial powers. Moreover, Najib has worked tirelessly to build his own financial war chest, beyond the webs of Mahathir patronage, albeit at significant political cost. And so, after Anwar Ibrahim was released from jail, and nearly pulled off an extraordinary victory at the 2013 elections, Najib used the dictatorial powers that Mahathir bequeathed to him and threw Anwar in jail on a second lot of sodomy charges.
It's not hard to see that the decay at the heart of Malaysian politics is no longer about personalities, but institutions, which Mahathir did his utmost to destroy.'
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/mahathir-has-lost-control-of--his-puppet-20150717-gidig9.html#ixzz3gan7cvXN
No comments:
Post a Comment