Mahathir: His contributions to the decline in political morality in Malaysia.

What distinguish the UMNO of today and that of the time before Mahathir can be said in a few words : compassion for and the respect of the rights of the people : or to be more exact the lack of it after Mahathir became Prime Minister. With Mahathir came the decline of political morality and a corresponding decline in the moral fibre in the civil service. Since 1981 the indiscretions of elected officials and those in the civil service have become the hall mark of all things Malaysian to the extent that Malaysians are now accepting that the realities of corruption, greed and vested interests colors all government transactions. An acceptance that we are now a country in decline without much hope for recovery in the foreseeable future.


As if to emphasize this decline we are continually bombarded with scandals after scandals of the worse kind - financial, sexual and the abuse of power by high ranking public officials. What the murder of Altantuya, PKFZ, death in PDRM and MACC custody and the massive financial abuses of the nation's wealth confirms is that Malaysia is indeed a nation in moral decline bereft of any decent political leadership : in short a nation that has lost it's way.   


And as if this was not enough our increasing economic woes are now compounded by a social and racial divide that has been deliberately and irresponsibly concocted by the BN government to divide and rule the people of our country - and by so doing have manged to hold on to power for the last 53 years! 


Not only have this been done by creating a social and racial divide amongst the Malays and non-Malays but the BN government of the day has found it expedient to accelerate this racial divide by the giving of citizenship's to legal and illegal Malay immigrants further exacerbating an already precarious and delicate racial and social problems that is now plaguing the country. Imagine what social harm the massive influx of unskilled and uneducated immigrants would do to any country that is not even able to provide basic welfare care and education to its existing people. Surely this is the act of an irresponsible and self serving government without regard for anything else but their own political survival! 


At all levels of our society we now see our people in distress. Financial distress. Social distress. Moral distress. And surely a society in which its political leaders are without the controlling influence of decent morality is a society in real distress? That is the situation we now find ourselves!


The BN government has succumb to the lowest level of politics : GUTTER POLITICS : gutter politics is where the worse of human nature and behaviour in politics have not only been unleashed but rewarded! There is simply no precedent in the once grand tradition of UMNO/BN politics or of our country for the shameful manner in which UMNO/BN has now descended. In the Malaysia of today we see our Prime Minister using his office as a sanctuary from prosecution in the Altantuya murder. We see lewd behaviour by BN politicians rewarded with an ambassadorial posting to Washington! The President of MCA is more well known for his sexual hi jinks in a pornographic video then for his political prowess. Our Chief Justice though guilty of thinking with his penis rather then with his distinguish grey matter was rewarded with his judicial post giving credence to this adage : 


Chief Justice : Honorary tittle given to leader's best friend!       


And none distinguishes the depths that UMNO/BN has sunk to then the relentless attacks against DSAI - the latest of which required the use of one Child Rapist Tan Sri and two slimy Datuks. 


Following the examples set by this BN government our society has followed suit. We have a corrupt and brutal Police Force which is just short of becoming a willing appendage of UMNO. The corporate world is a willing, eager and generous participant where prudent business practices are cast aside for the more lucrative political patronage on offer from corrupt politicians where the spoils on offer is breath takingly profitable at the expense of the public.  


And where does all this lead to? The simple answer is to look at where we are to day : 2nd July 2011. We have a government that has virtually declared war on its people for wanting a fair, free and open election. We have a government that is prepared to risk the lives of its people in Gebeng Kuantan for Lynas - big business against the little people.


We have the Prime Minister talking up a RM 4 billion redevelopment of the city riverfront - this at a time when minimum wages are still just "to be discussed" next year, when subsidies are being "restructured" and when our hard core poor can still be seen wandering the streets of our capital and major cities, and the old are still without adequate care.  What madness is this to prioritize these mega projects when matters of affordable housing and putting food on the table for the nations poor should really be the priority?


These are some of the reasons why today in Malaysia compassion for others who are less fortunate are no longer a consideration for this BN government. Why we no longer trust this BN government to do what is right for us and for our country. And of course where moral decency has gone the same way as this BN government has gone -  into the abyss where the dregs of society resides!


Are we at the point of no return?


To answer this we need to look at what has happened after Mahathir became Prime Minister. The manner in which Mahathir consciously used race to divide and rule the country would put Malaysia on the same level as South Africa that had used Apartheid to "manage" racial inequality. Initially as the restructuring of the Malaysian society got underway there were visible images of the Malays getting their share of the nations wealth. The non-Malays accepted the necessity of this social re engineering with grace and possibly an acceptance that this must be the way to go forward if we were to be 1Malaysia. 


But soon, much too soon the cosmetics redistribution of wealth amongst the Malays became in reality a grab by UMNO politicians of the nations wealth for their own keeping. The executive power vested in UMNO politicians made this too easy a task for UMNO to do and do it they did with gusto and a greed that brought with it the culture of money politics into the consciousness of the Malays in general and into UMNO in particular. 


I would think that the irreversible slide towards this moral decay started when UMNO within itself accepted the use of money politics and factionalism within itself as a means of buying and staying in power. Thus began the transformation of UMNO into an organization where the needs justifies the means - and the end is always to hold on to power at any costs. Because power open doors to great wealth. No longer was UMNO there to fight the battles for the Malays. No longer were the Malays the reason for UMNO's being. Money was the be all and end all of all things UMNO. This new reality brought along with it the troubles and abuses that we now have today. 


Malaysia is now a country governed by corrupt politicians.The races no longer lived in harmony because it serves the interest of these politicians for the various races to be at each other's throats. Gone are the interest of the people, their dreams and aspirations  - in its place there was one and only one overriding need of the BN government - to stay in power!


All this started when Mahathir became our Prime Minister in 1987. We now have a new generation, maybe even two generations of our young and not too young, brought up to turn away from the ways of "pre Mahathir" to grow up to become parents in this new "1Malaysia" where ketuanan Melayu and the rights of government to pillage and plunder our nation's resources was, for a time, tolerated.


But not anymore! With the advent of the electronic media and the world wide web and the Internet our people are now able to access information of the abuse and wrong doings of this BN government. No longer can the BN government keep from us the massive losses incurred in wasteful public spending, excessive infrastructure costs and all in all incompetence of the BN government in the Mahathir years which still continues till today.


The Malaysian people have now realized just how far this BN government should be held responsible for the ills we all now face.


All the dominance Malaysia once had within the Asean, if not global economy has now disappeared because of the lack of prudence by this BN government in our times of plenty - so much so that we now question our ability to regain economic stability.


What else does this BN government need to see before they realize that their past and current policies whether in education, business or racial balance have failed miserably? That changes must be made now if we are to ever regain our place again amongst our peers in the East? These economic reforms and national transformation programs must be done to address the necessary changes most needed not for political grand scoring or vested interests of the BN cronies but to guarantee that our economic future will be assured.

I cannot see any other way forward for Malaysia then to do away with this corrupt and self serving UMNO/BN government. What is to come after BN is still to be seen. Much too often human beings have the ability to change for better or for worse when called upon to do so circumstances of their own making or by factors outside their control. If BN is voted out of office at the 13th general election then let those that will take its place understand that the momentum to ensure change rests with the people. Ignore the people at your peril!