Pengerusi DAP Karpal Singh berkata sebagai bekas Perdana Menteri yang paling lama memerintah Malaysia, beliau tidak patut campur tangan dalam soal Pakatan Rakyat dan perlu berusaha menjadi seorang negarawan.
“Dia banyak buat kesalahan (semasa menjadi perdana menteri) dan sepatutnya menggunakn sisa-sisa kehidupannya untuk bertaubat kerana banyak bersalah kepada negara dan rakyat…sebagai perdana menteri, dia sangat degil dan tidak sepatutnya berkelakuan seperti itu,” katanya sebagaimana yang dilaporkan oleh malaysiakini.com.
Mahahir dalam blognya telah menulis:
“Tokoh yang memang besar di sebalik muktamar kali ini adalah Karpal. Perjuangannya supaya PAS gugurkan matlamat untuk mendiri negara Islam yang akan menguatkuasa hukum hudud sudah pun tercapai. Karpal tidak perlu mati untuk PAS melangkah mayatnya.
“Belum pun dia mati, PAS sekarang sudah menjadikan perjuangan untuk negara Islam dan hukum hudud tidak lagi perkara utama. Sekarang PAS akan berjuang untuk negara kebajikan.”
Menjawab kutukan Mahathir terhadap beliau, Karpal mengingatkan bekas perdana menteri itu supaya tidak lupa bahawa sewaktu persidangan perwakilan nasional Gerakan pada September 2001, Mahathir telah mengisytiharkan Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara Islam.
“Kenyataan di blognya itu tak perlu kerana dia sudah berkata demikian, kali pertama pada 2001, kecuali dia sudah lupa,” kata Karpal yang turut memuji langkah Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang yang mahu membawa Malaysia ke sebuah negara berkebajikan jika Pakatan Rakyat menguasai Putrajaya.
Menurutnya, langkah itu memang disokong oleh rakyat Malaysia, termasuk yang Islam dan bukan Islam, bagi manfaat semua orang.
Sebelum ini, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan timbalannya Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mendakwa negara berkebajikan yang mahu dilaksanakan oleh PAS telah lama diamalkan oleh kerajaan UMNO-BN.
Kenyataan mereka bagaimana pun disifatkan oleh Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu sebagai amat dangkal kerana “negara berkebajikan UMNO” tidak mengutamakan rakyat jelata.
“Yang ada sekarang ialah yang kaya bertambah kaya, rasuah berleluasa, penindasan rakyat berlaku. Ini bukan negara kebajikan, ini negara diktator,” katanya dalam wawancara dengan TVSelangor.
Mohamad menjelaskan negara berkebajikan bererti kerajaan bersih dari rasuah dan tidak menyalahgunakan kuasa manakala kekayaan negara diagihkan kepada rakyat. – Roketkini.com
How I wish that Ben Bernanke would get caught emailing photos of his underwear-clad groin. Otherwise we don't stand a chance of reversing this administration's economic policy, which is shaping up to be every bit as disastrous as that of its predecessor.
Indeed, the Fed chairman's much anticipated remarks on Tuesday take one back to the contemptuous indifference of a Herbert Hoover to the public's suffering: Bernanke dismissed the wobbly economy with its anemic 1.8 percent first-quarter growth as merely "somewhat slower than expected." The rise in unemployment to 9.1 percent was "some loss of momentum."
The problem with Bernanke is that he is utterly clueless as to the stark pain and fear endured by the 50 million Americans who have experienced, or face the prospect of, losing their homes. His remarks reflected the insularity of a ruling-power elite that is magnificently impervious to the damage that Bernanke's policies in the current and past administration helped inflict on what used to be called the American way of life. This is a man who assured us there was no housing crisis, while his policies at the Fed encouraged the mortgage securitization swindles that caused the meltdown of the economy.
His full statement stands as a classic example of the limits of economic language as morally descriptive: "Overall, the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers." Frustratingly slow -- how about going bat nuts with fear over not being able to make your mortgage payment and losing your home? Tell it to workers who must contend with stagnant wage rates and sharply rising gas and food costs as better jobs and therefore consumer demand move offshore. Bernanke takes low wages to be reassuring news on what he sees as the all-important inflation front: "subdued unit labor costs should remain a restraining influence on inflation."
At home we are experiencing a social tsunami with the disappearance of a middle-class workforce of stakeholders who were assumed by observers as varied as Thomas Jefferson and Alexis de Tocqueville to be the very bedrock of America's experiment in freedom. Many with jobs are struggling desperately to get by as the average workweek and pay scales fall, and countless workers find themselves settling for rewards well below their skill sets. Even those slim pickings are denied to the unemployed. Bernanke concedes: "Particularly concerning is the very high level of long-term unemployment -- nearly half of the unemployed have been jobless for more than six months."
The jobs that have been created by our large multinational corporations, like the bailed-out GE, are primarily outside of the country, as Bernanke admitted: "Many U.S. firms, notably in manufacturing but also in services, have benefited from the strong growth of demand in foreign markets." Those foreign gains, fueled by far more successful anti-recession policies in China, Brazil and Germany, have driven up demand and prices abroad in the areas of petroleum, food and key construction commodities.
Bernanke, speaking at a monetary conference in Atlanta, conceded that "the depressed state of housing in the United States is a big reason that the current recovery is less vigorous than we would like," and that the "U.S. economy is recovering from both the worst financial crisis and the most severe housing bust since the Great Depression."
But he offered not a word as to how the severe effects of that housing bust might be mitigated. Not a word about assisting people to stay in their homes. Yet he claimed that the relief that the Fed provided to the bankers by buying up more than $1.2 trillion of the toxic mortgages those bankers had created "has been accomplished, I should note, at no net cost to the federal budget or to the U.S. taxpayer."
This is the Big Lie technique at work, employed by a huge banking lobby that stresses the direct cost of the TARP program while ignoring other programs that will not be paid back, as well as the additional cost of $5 trillion to the national debt that a proper Fed policy could have avoided.
The record is by now indelibly clear that the economic approaches pursued by George W. Bush and Barack Obama, with Bernanke playing a key role in both administrations, can be most accurately summarized as a policy of government of the bankers, by the bankers, and for the bankers.
Assurances of stability to the financial markets, meaning the ability for companies to borrow government funds at a near-zero interest rate without giving anything back to the public in the form of mortgage relief or job creation, have been the overwhelming goal. But even by that standard, as the latest statistics on job creation and construction starts attest, the government's effort is not working. Putting the bankers first has represented pushing on a string, what Paul Volcker condemns as a "liquidity trap," a situation in which taxpayer money has been made available to major corporations that invest in job creation that benefits foreigners instead of U.S. workers. Now that's an obscenity we should be concerned about.
'From all the negative comments from Malaysiakini readers, Mahathir must surely deserve the award for Malaysia's favourite villain.'
Tkc: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the single biggest liability for Malaysia. Even in his twilight years, he is relentless in the pursuit of his 'divide and rule' strategies that had served him well when he was running our country with an iron fist.
No one in Umno/BN dares to cross him due to his infamous vindictiveness so much so that nothing moves without his tacit approval. And his tacit approval will depend on whether his son gets to be the next PM or whether his cronies get the lion share of the cake.
For the sake of our country, we look forward to the day when we are finally rid of this menace.
Louis: Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh is absolutely right about Mahathir. Mahathir had tons of sins and should repent now before it is too late.
The rakyat is now burdened with high electric tariffs all because of him. The highway tolls keep rising, and he too has a part to play in it. Now he is old and finding himself unwanted, he tries to make himself important by talking nonsense.
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew is still sought after because he gives good advice. I agree, Mahathir is our biggest liability.
Quigonbond: The term 'welfare state' has a not-so-illustrious past as it connotes a people who are lazy and rely on handouts by the state.
What Malaysia wants is not to go down that road - or to borrow a phrase - give a man to fish and he will finish in a meal, teach him to fish and he'll have meals for a lifetime. We should only be required to provide welfare to those who are infirm or physically/mentally challenged.
As for those who still have the capacity to work, the social re-engineering must be about enpowering them to stand on their own two feet. BN has failed for the past 53 years to engineer this upward mobility. Pakatan Rakyat can turn this around if given a chance.
Gordon Gecko: From all the negative comments from Malaysiakinireaders, Dr M must surely deserve the award for Malaysia's favourite villain. It's so sad to see the elderly statesman being condemned by his own people.
At this point of his life, he should just sit back, shut up, enjoy his retirement, and save whatever dignity he's got left. The million dollar question is will Mahathir repent? I think not.
Malaysiasakit: Absolutely spot on, Karpal. This was the man who destroyed the country single-handedly. From oppression of opposition members to dodgy privatisation to racial strife to the complete and utter degradation of all public institutions and the general decline of the Malaysian society - he was the man, and we can't thank him enough for all he had done.
CityMan: Mahathir is the worst PM we ever had. A hypocrite and extremely egoistic, he believes he is always right. The IPP and PLUS highway agreements show that the people are not his priority. They were all signed during his time.
Dingy: Dr M had done more harm than good for the country. He literally destroyed the judiciary system for his own benefits.
I remember in early 1980s, he pushed for heavy industrialisation when Malaysia was not in a position to implement it. Just look at the steel industry and the losses the country had to endure. For the car industry, because of high price we have to pay for our Proton, the people suffered.
Universiti Malaya economist Chee Peng Lim was sidelined for commenting that Malaysia was not ready for heavy industry as we didn't have economies of scale. Many other economists dared not response for fear of backlash.
Whatever he did for the country, it was for his own benefits and to enrich himself and his family. The public have lost complete respect for him.
SickNegara: Ask Mahathir why in other countries people get a Toyota Camry for the same amount we pay for a Proton?
Ask Mahathir why he made so much noise about APs (approved permits) before, and now that his son takes charge of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, he keeps his mouth shut? Who are getting the APs now?
Gunner: 'Projek IC Mahathir' in Sabah has been the dirtiest trick that Mahathir did. Not less than 600,000 immigrants were granted instant Malaysian citizenships...
JBGUY: I used to be an admirer of Dr M at one time but look at the state of Malaysia today - endemic corruption at all levels, a failed education system, racial and religious polarisation, a less than impartial judiciary, police and the MACC - all of which were a result of Mahathir's rule.
Tun, you have done enough harm to this country, please refrain from causing more harm. We the rakyat have lost all respect for you. At least in your twilight years, speak out for a fair and equitable society and right all the wrongs you were responsible for.
Moontime: There is a reason God prolonged Mahathir's life - so that he may see the destruction of all that he cherished, especially Umno and the setting-up of a truly 'for the rakyat' government by Pakatan.
It's so unfortunate that this former PM could never be a statesman - a wise figurehead or 'sifu' for aspiring politicians. Mahathir believed only in himself and refused to admit his wrongdoings by selective amnesia.
I'm sure he won't follow Karpal's suggestion to repent and retire gracefully from politics altogether. Such concepts are alien to him. When the time finally comes for him to meet his maker, sure, there will be tears, but most of it are the crocodile-type.
Don't worry Mahathir, I will cry for you, not of sadness but of joy, for I know Malaysia will be a better place without you.
Lusiapa: Any God-fearing octogenarian would have realised the need not only for repentance but also reconciliation with his fellowmen and above all, restitution, primary of which is the restoration of the once glorious judiciary that he so mercilessly destroyed.
It's a pity and a national disaster that a person so well endowed should choose to use his God-given talents not for the betterment of mankind but to continue stirring up and encouraging racial animosity and distrust among Malaysians even at this late stage of his life.
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