Dr Mahathir has criticised the Najib administration’s 1 Malaysia slogan Failings in Malay, Indian and the Malaysian at large Justice

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed has criticised the Najib administration’s 1 Malaysia slogan, claiming that the concept needed further “explanation” to prevent it from being interpreted differently by various races.

Dr Mahathir lamented the fact that the 1 Malaysia slogan, introduced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak shortly after he took office on August 3 last year, had failed to unite Malaysians as a whole.

“I have spoken to the Chinese, the Malays, each person has different opinions and cannot be united. I feel that an explanation is needed,” Bernama quoted Dr Mahathir (pic) as saying here today.

Dr Mahathir said that the onus was on the Najib administration to ensure that Malaysians understood the idea behind the 1 Malaysia slogan, to avoid further misunderstanding or confusion.

“They (the rakyat) do not know which is which, which ones are for the Chinese and which ones are for the Malays. If I were to explain, how should I know, I was not the one who created the slogan,” said the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister.

Dr Mahathir’s remarks today come after a recent public opinion poll by the Merdeka Center found that a majority of non-Bumiputeras in the country considered Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan a mere political gimmick.

According to the poll, only 39 per cent of non-Bumiputeras accepted the 1 Malaysia concept despite the fact that it had been introduced for over a year.

Forty-six per cent out of 3,141 respondents interviewed felt that 1Malaysia was only a “tactic to win over non-Malay support”, while another 16 per cent had either refused to answer the poll questions or claimed to have no understanding of the concept whatsoever.

Respondents were undecided on whether Malaysia had become more united under the Najib administration, with 48 per cent saying yes and 43 per cent claiming that the country was still disunited.

Najib has been under a lot of fire lately as even veteran Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders have come out and openly mocked his 1 Malaysia campaign, in effect branding it a “hollow” cause.

Veteran Umno politician and one time finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said recently that the 1Malaysia slogan was “hollow” and had lacked direction and vision and even compared it to Dr Mahathir’s Vision 2020.

In a rare compliment to the former prime minister, Tengku Razaleigh said that Vision 2020 “inspired” more confidence among Malaysians than 1Malaysia.

“When Dr Mahathir positioned a vision of 2020, the vision, its idea gives people hope.

“1Malaysia is hollow, it must have a policy to go about it, to support it. Only then will people get involved in it,” the Gua Musang MP told The Malaysian Insider recently.

Similarly, Najib has been castigated by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders who claim that 1 Malaysia was not even respected and understood by ministers in the Cabinet, following Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s declaration earlier this year that he was “Malay first, then Malaysian”.

T.N. Seshan, former Chief Election Commissioner of India

The 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India, T.N. Seshanserved in office between December 1990 and December 1996. Born in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, he is known for his introduction of many electoral reforms and his uprightness. Though he has become rather more optimistic now, he has famously stated about India:
“Make up a list of 200 political leaders of the central government, the national parliament and the state parliaments. Are you able to find one single person on this list to whom you can go for help? Obviously not. The politicians of today are as pygmies masquerading as Titans. They are like small children who try to walk in the shoes of their grandparents, and who sooner or later will stumble and fall.”
and “Today it can seem that honesty and integrity are banned from public life. The situation makes me think of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who used to go around with his lamp alight at the height of day in the hope of finding an honest person.”

In the highly informative and well-balanced Norwegian book ‘India, Stevnemøte med Skjebnen’ (i.e.’India, Encounter with Fate’) by Thorbjørn Færøvik (Oslo, 1999) the author interviewed the renowned former Chief Election Commissioner, T.N. Seshan. The author wrote of the Indian election system “… a peaceful election is not necessarily a just election. Accusations thunder in the newspapers and few use tougher words that T.N. Seshan, who led the election commission in the 1980s: “Once more we have witnessed a farce. Millions of analphabetics have given their vote without knowing who or what they voted for. Bribes have flourished and now – in the aftermath of the election – we see that gangsters and criminals have been elected to parliamentary bodies throughout the country.”

Færøvik points out, correctly, that T.N. Seshan has repeatedly warned about what he refers to as the criminalization of politics and – where not illegal – to the universal political apathy. “Make up a list of 200 political leaders of the central government, the national parliament and the state parliaments. Are you able to find one single person on this list to whom you can go for help? Obviously not. The politicians of today are as pygmies masquerading as Titans. They are like small children who try to walk in the shoes of their grandparents, and who sooner or later will stumble and fall.”

T.N. Seshan is also extremely negative about Indian courts, as most ordinary Indians are also known to be. An opinion survey made by the Times of India showed 80% of Indians answered that they regarded judges and lawyers as corrupt. In 1947, India took over a judiciary based on British traditions whichhonourable and impartial. Today it is chronically understaffed and has lost the trust of the public. In 1998 as many as 23 million cases awaited court process, two million in the higher courts and 21 million in the lower courts. In the High Court, 66,000 cases were in the queue and 10,000 of them had laid there for 10 years or more.

Færøvik also writes that it is ordinary people without the finances to buy themselves a place further ahead in the queue who are hit the hardest. The examples are as many as they are grotesque. Times of India mentioned one of many grotesque examples: A woman in the town of Lucknow went to court in 1948 for a divorce. The verdict fell exactly 40 years later: the woman received a divorce. In the mean time both the woman, her husband and parents-in-law had left this world. Those with fat bank accounts often get suspiciously rapid treatment.

Read: The degeneration of India : T.N. Seshan with Sanjoy Hazarika Study in post-independence political and administrative realities.[ New Delhi, India ; New York : Viking, 1995.]

Amusing – if often depressing- quotations from T.N. Seshan:

On the Indian education scenario –
“Operation successful; Patient dead!” (2001). “Some universities are called deemed because the others are doomed and some are called open because the others are closed!”

Excerpts from an interview with Seshan:-

Question. What prevented you from ‘yielding’ in your career as a bureaucrat?

Seshan : Five days after joining my first posting as a sub-collector of Dindigul, I was traveling with the minister in his car, and was dropped off in the middle of the road – where I stood for 100 minutes, when it was 45C. All this because the village officer I took action against was the husband of the Tehsil Officer, who belonged to the Congress party.

35 years later, I was transferred from my post of Cabinet Secretary in charge of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s personal security, to the unnecessary 12th man in Hegde’s Planning Commission team.

My 6 years as CEC have been the toughest times of my life. Narasimha Rao when he was PM offered me the post of governor, and then, ambassador. But I have resisted temptation. I read the Gita everyday.

I scored 452/600 in my final exam. The boy who scored 451, 1 mark less than me, is now a station master. I had 100% marks in Physics, Chemistry and Maths. Yet, in my Engineering College Admission Interview, I was not selected because I could not name the first movie of Shivaji Ganesan.http://www.iimcal.ac.in/imz/archive/imz-archive/article.asp?id=Seshan————-

The Rediff Interview/Former Chief Election Comissioner T N Seshan:-

When I spoke to T N Seshan, the former chief election commissioner, in 1998, he was very cynical about India. Almost a decade later, as we prepare to celebrate the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence, I found Seshan, the man credited with cleaning up the Indian election system, optimistic and upbeat. He spoke at length about terrorism, reservations and the quality of India’s political system:-

“There are still corrections to be made; there are still changes to be made. In many areas, we have not done what we should have been doing in the last 8 to 10 years.”

Interviewer: “Like?”

T.N. Seshan: “Like, for example, we lost ten valuable years in making sure that all children get education. Mr (President A P J) Kalam has been speaking about it; the others have been speaking about it. There is nothing more important than all children being in school as is promised by the Constitution. We have not done that.

From a completely different angle, we should have learnt to conduct our business particularly in the assemblies and legislatures in a far more disciplined fashion than we do. Yes, in every country, there is a lot of noise made in the parliaments and assemblies but sometimes business is transacted. I don’t know whether we could not transact more business than we are currently doing in the parliament and assemblies.

The progress made in the clearance of arrears in court cases is completely unsatisfactory.

Our inability to settle outstanding social and political issues by discussion and negotiation — rather than by violence and demonstration — is unfortunate.

We have not put in place an agency to combat the growing menace of terrorism and Naxalism.”

Interviewer: “Ten years ago, anybody who had an IIT degree collected his degree and went away to America. Today, they are working all over the place; and they are doing fantastically well. You told me then that a change in the attitude of the people to the country would take place through either a social revolution or a technological revolution.”

T.N. Seshan: “Yes. Both are happening now. Everybody knows about the technological revolution. It has made them more self-confident. The young people of 2006 are far more confident than the young people of 1996. “

—-
Interviewer: Is it not the politicians who are dividing people in the name of religion just to get votes?

T.N. Seshan: Yes, it is. It is very easy to feed poison but it not easy to feed good things. So, the politicians are feeding poison.

Interviewer: When the police question the suspects, politicians jump in and say they are targeting the minority community. Are they not giving religious colour to terrorism and not allowing the law to act?

T.N. Seshan: Yes, they are doing that which is all wrong. The highest courts have gone into the evidence and said that Mr X was the person responsible for the Parliament attack and he should be hanged. Then, there are demonstrations in Srinagar. Politics unfortunately plays on the sentiments and emotions of people.

Q. Do you vote?

Seshan : No I don’t. Because democracy is dead. But yet there is hope.

Q. What do you think about the situation in Tamil Nadu?

Seshan : Pathetic. Whichever way you look at it.

Q. Why did you contest for the Presidency, knowing fully well that you couldn’t succeed?

Seshan : When I was in elementary school, I had zero sporting ability. I still contested the High Jump.

Q. Mr. Seshan, you said that when you were Cabinet Secretary in charge of Mr. Gandhi’s personal security, you were transferred because you did not yield. Would it not have been better for the country, if you HAD yielded?

Seshan : See, there was no question of yielding. They just weren’t happy with my performance. But you won’t believe the kind of precautions we took to protect Rajiv Gandhi’s life. We used to buy oranges from 10 shops, atta from 12 shops, we rewired the entire house so even 2000V couldn’t break down the switches, we relaid the water lines, welded the sewage lines with wire mesh so no one could enter that way. And at the end of it, they felt I didn’t do my job.

There was a day when I was transferred SIX times between 10 am and 6 pm. From Rural Development, to Finance, to Small Savings, to Agriculture, to Harijan Welfare, to Backward Classes and finally to Women’s Development. Once a minister transferred me from Industry to Agriculture, purely because he wanted to shift me from the 10th to the 1st floor. So I went to him and said, ‘Why don’t you shift me to the ground floor?’ He was appalled. But the ground floor is the car park, Seshan!`: I said, ‘Does it matter? I could look after the car park you know’.

Q. Mr. Seshan, all the IAS officers, like you, are educated people of similar caliber. Then how do they become bad?

Seshan : Try putting one rotten orange in a basket of good oranges. That’s what has happened to our system. But the entire basket is not bad yet. What we can do is separate the not-so-bad oranges.

Q. When the majority is wrong, isn’t it time for a minority? Don’t you think dictatorship is the only solution to India?

Seshan : The majority is not wrong! It’s only the minority of people that are corrupt, have no ethics and are spoiling the system. Democracy cannot be replaced – that’s a universal truth.

Q. You said Dharma is essential for a country to grow. There is no Dharma in the US. Then how have they prospered?

Seshan : Who said there is no Dharma in the US? It’s very much there! Their Dharma is the supreme respect for the ‘Rule of Law’ and ‘Punishment of the Evildoer.’

from [http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/25seshan.htm]

1 Malaysia can never be because it was 3 in 1 for your 22 years. 1plus 1plus 1 = 3. You cannot have 1 when you created 3. You squeezed the other 2=3 to pay to the 1. Interest rates in banks are higher for the 2.=3 They pay higher .you gasak and pay better dividends to your 1. Unfortunately as Muslims they don't know that this cheating and taking non-halal money from the kafirs. You force 2+3 to pay higher for houses and give it back 15% cheaper to 1 and the 2+3 have to pay the difference to the developers or the bank. You took 2+3 tax-money and paid to 1 for JPA and other free scholarships so 2+3 has to pay more for their children and studies. You lowered the standards for 1 using affirmative action (making them stupid not to compete) and you quietly told those in charge to make ti more difficult for 2+3 to want to do their own choice of studies. What a good Muslim you are. For advantages you use race and you forget the justice in Islam and when you need islam you use it for furthering your stand..no not that you believe and really practice it. In civil service you pushed all the 2+3 down and put your 1 up there although they know next to nothing how to run a service, a bank, or conglomerate..resulting in inefficient service. a bloated body where salary is paid for doing nothing almost. Banks and GLC sran into big trouble but you used 2+3s money to bail out...What a good Muslim you are.And the 2 +3 they slog without promotion or are by passed. This is the islam you practice and promote. You transfer money from the treasury and from Petronas without telling 1 or 2+3 honestly what you did with it..but somehow over the years you took 2+3's money to pay higher dividends to 1 and all the while 1 is thinking it is halal and that is how you practice Islam. When it comes to race you run at lightning speed to support 1 waving the keris. You support all this groups that want the free ride given to 1 while leeching on 2+3. And that is how Islam is practiced. You cut down doctors, lawyers and others for 2+3 and increase it for 1..and today we are short of doctors-I mean good doctors because the 1s don't come back or they are not good. ( even your 1s reject some of your 1s) And then you want the 2+3s to come back from overseas..and when they come back..you still kick them around...that is how Islam is practiced. In schools you have made it such a way that the 1s are told they are different and cannot mix with the 2s..and that is how Islam is practiced.This is so bad that at U level the 1s do not want to mix with the 2+3s. Next all the important licences to be issued for all kinds of business is controlled by 1 and you do not give fairly to 2 and that is how you practice islam. You made it a monopoly that no petrol station be given to no 2 ..only no 1 must be given ..and thats how you practice islam...And you interfere with the courts / use osa/ isa/ and close your eye to police brutality where over 1800 Indians and others have died.In addition corruption is so high that it stinks to heaven..that is how islam is practiced by you

Now your people are stirring the Allah issue again and flaming the fire...and thats how you have taught them to practice islam..So how can Najib have a 1 when all the while it was 2 or 3 has been leeched?

Najib cannot explain and he cannot convince 2+3 to be 1 because you the cause of this polarization . You have driven a deep wedge and the rift is beyond the grand canyon. of America. So why don't you explain it for Najib...maybe you can do a better job???? I forgot the 1s do not know how much you personally ripped them off. They are happy because they think all is given to them....ha ha..ha...By the way the 2s +3s will survive...remember you said something about destroying the Jews and they cannot be destroyed...it is not only the Jews...remember the Japanese you wanted to ape badly but failed...yes 2s and 3s will survive better let me tell you because you have made your children weak old man....unless you againput the blame on 2s + 3s for their failure and start yur Mei 13 again...anyway it is ok... because that is your brand of Islam isn't it..

The Malays have been enriched in the past couple of decades but only a select few truly benefits from it. That’s because the Chinese have created a ‘structure’ where the ultimate wealth will flow among the Chinese. Let’s take an example of a construction project. The government allocates RM100 million to build a road. The Menteri and his cronies award the project to a Bumi company. The Menteri and his thieves take a 15% cut. The Bumi company keeps 5% of the project value. The project is then ali-baba-ed to some Chinese sub-contractors. (Tun said “Mungkin semua ini disebabkan kesalahan orang Melayu sendiri. Mereka tidak guna peluang yang disediakan bagi mereka”.)

The wholesale adoption of neo-liberal policies, such as the privatisation of massive infrastructural projects to cronies; the increasing reliance on indirect taxes, which are regressive, as a source of governmental revenue; and shrinking the role of the state sector as a provider of public goods, has led in part to this rising inequality.relatedarticle

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What is worse, and this is my second objection, Mahathir’s resort to using very strong ethnic underpinnings in his argument may well lead to further ethnic division and contradictions. I would have thought that as a former Prime Minister of 22 years, he would have made it his utmost priority to promote the core values of socio-economic egalitarianism, inter-ethnic co-operation and communitarian togetherness.

It would seem that this is not the case, which is indeed most disappointing. The Chinese sub-contractors on the other hand no longer sub it down. They share the balance of RM80 million among Chinese businessmen via provision of labour, materials, freight, and what is and what not.

This ‘sharing’ is made possible because the Chinese have extended their interests in all forms of businesses in this country. And we all know how much the Cina Ah Peks don’t trust the Malays in doing jobs for them. Heck, they don’t even trust the Malays to deliver ordered raw materials. You can’t really blame them when the Malays have such poor track records. So where did the wealth ultimately end up with. You heard me right, the circles of Chinese. And a vicious circle is thus created.

And this is where Tun gets frustrated. The Chinese will not change a system that treats them even better than an open market. Whenever the Malays try to come up with a new system, the Chinese will manipulatively re-invent and send the lazy Malays back to square one. The Chinese will fight to maintain status quo. In no part of the transaction do they lose a single sen. The portion ‘retained’ by the Malays is not even their profit. It’s the public’s money, stupid – the project has been awarded at a price much higher than that in a free market. The net profit may also even be higher than that in a free market.

Finally, Mahathir, like many others who take the racial approach, has taken the simplistic and unscientific assumption that all communities are monolithic and homogenous in socio-economic terms, when in fact they are far from so. All the ethnic communities in Malaysia are class stratified.

The Malays, as much as the Chinese and the Indians, are all stratified into different income groups, with the rich making up only a small percentage of the total. The bulk of the Chinese, like the bulk of the Malays and the Indians, are relatively poor. Over the years, these labouring Malaysians have found monetary returns to their labour unable to catch up with the rising cost of living. In real terms, all of them have suffered.

Mahathir’s thoughts and efforts should be on how governmental policies can be better designed to alleviate their economic sufferings and not resort to pursuing racist arguments in support of one group of the rich elite. Reorienting his priorities will go a long way towards helping the nation attain equality, social justice and inter-ethnic harmony.the Chinese have no social ethics. Sure they did not ask for grant or subsidy, but they damn well manipulated the system. Too bad that they are too smart!

You just have to give it to them. The Chinese are street smart, hard working, entrepreneurial and most important of all, they are realists.

So yes, the Chinese controls the nation and wealth of the country like what Tun said. He is not senile la. And to proof that even further, lets compare the wealth of Malays and Chinese based on categories; apple to apple.

Tun’s super rich sons. What do you expect? Which man do not first enrich himself and his family first? This is human’s nature. In which country does this not exist? Look at the US. The elites are always wealthy. Just that they don’t to it that obviously. So, maybe Tun was not very subtle with his boys’ wealth. But that’s how it is. This is the real world. To me, it’s a foregone conclusion that the leader(s) will take. But I only hope that they make sure that they do their job in leading the nation. The country must benefit from his leadership. And this I think Tun M did. He built Malaysia. No questions about that. Badawi on the other hand, took way much more in a much shorter time and gave nothing back in return. As to you struggling to make ends meet, your destiny is in your own hands..

EDITED BY TAXIDRIVER

By Dr. Toh Kin Woon is a Research Fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Kyoto and former State Executive Councillor, Penang