His politicisation of the education
system with its lack of meritocracy has crippled two generations of
Malaysians and god forbid if he succeeds in pushing his son to continue
his legacy
COMMENT
The
haughty Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister,
will never express regret. Mahathir made a mess of Malaysia and now he
acts the innocent. He played on the insecurities of the Malays to build
his empire – political and financial – within a warped framework of
“unity”.
Whatever
has gone wrong with Malaysia, the solution is not more Mahathirism.
Look where it got us and look at what this nation will become if
Mahathir succeeds in pushing his son, Mukhriz into pole position.
The
closest Mahathir came to admit that his policies had failed Malaysians,
was on Sept 12, at the 30th anniversary luncheon of the Japanese
Chambers of Trade and Industry Malaysia (Jactim). He said that the use
of English, especially in science and mathematics, would help improve
the standing of Malaysian public universities on the world stage.
When
asked for his views about the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025,
his curt reply indicated his displeasure at the omission of English in
schools.
“Melayu
mudah lupa”, for it was Mahathir in his role as the Minister of
Education in the 70s, who effectively wiped English off the slate, in
schools. Mahathir dismantled a century of British effort to provide
education, and demolished the work of two centuries of dedicated mission
school pioneers.
On
Oct 7, Mahathir again expressed his concern at the lack of proficiency
in English displayed by students, when he complained about the quality
of graduates, who presented themselves for job interviews. In one case,
he claimed that only seven out of the 333 potential job applicants in
information technology, were suitable. The unsuccessful graduates did
not know English and had asked for the interview to be conducted in
Malay.
“Melayu
mudah lupa” and it is disingenuous of Mahathir to feign ignorance,
because he tinkered with the education system, as Minister for Education
and later, as prime minister. Malaysian parents from the 70s onwards,
have been on a roller-coaster ride with their children’s education,
which flopped between English and Malay, several times.
The
70s saw a decline of English medium schools. A decade later, it was the
turn of the higher institutions of learning to suffer. Non-Malay
lecturers saw their services, and their publications, being sidelined.
Simultaneously, the civil service, the armed forces and the judiciary,
absorbed many Malays and promoted them, in preference to the other
races.
Today,
Malaysia reaps what Mahathir has sown. With the emphasis on Malay,
Malays are reluctant to speak English with some claiming that it is
unpatriotic to speak anything but Malay. The irony is that these Malays
complain about the difficulty of getting jobs in the private sector, or
with multinational companies.
A
child in a MARA residential college told this writer that if he were to
speak English, to practise the language, he would be teased and bullied
for showing off and wanting to be “Mat Salleh”. When overseas, a
majority of the Malay students, diplomatic staff and government
officials speak halting English. Many have difficulty making themselves
understood.
Mahathir kept Malays frightened and demoralised
In
Mahathir’s ‘Look east’ campaign, he claimed to like the Japanese work
culture but ignored the Chinese work ethic. Why? If he had promoted the
use of Mandarin alongside Malay, all Malaysian school children would
have greater exposure to business and educational opportunities in the
east, especially as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is now a super
power.
Mahathir
did not care about the consequences of politicising education, despite
the reservations of parents, pupils, teachers and schools. All he cared
about was to be declared the “saviour of the Malays”. The man who
claimed to have a vision for Malaysia, displayed a naïve, parochial view
of the world.
Although
more Malays enter higher education, their degrees are dumbed-down,
because the pass marks are lowered for them. Despite the introduction of
quotas, élite Malays abuse the system and deny their poorer countrymen
the opportunities which were meant for them. Five decades ago, the Dewan
Bahasa and Pustaka invited engineers and scientists to expand the Malay
language, with suitable scientific terms.
Today,
we see a bastardisation of the Malay language, not just in science and
technology, with suffixes like “ogi” or “asi” being appended to many
English words, in a lazy manner.
Mahathir’s
politicisation of the education system with its lack of meritocracy,
has crippled at least two generations of Malaysians. The brightest
students whom we rejected, became Singapore’s gain.
Mahathir
may have wanted to help the bulk of the Malays, but his policy of
making everyone slow down, to the point of standstill, so the Malays
could catch up, was detrimental to the nation. His policy should have
been to provide assistance to all needy students, regardless of race or
religion, to raise them to an acceptable standard.
If
Malaysia is in a mess today, blame the BN politicians (Umno-Baru, MIC,
MCA, Gerakan) who did not unite and stand up to Mahathir. We know that
opposition politicians who criticised Mahathir, were jailed.
Yesterday,
Mahathir said that the ministers, whose failed departments were
highlighted in the latest Auditor-General’s report, should resign for
incompetence. It is ironic that during his tenure, he defended the
failures of his ministers, despite these failures being highlighted in
the annual Auditor-General’s reports. Furthermore, he dismissed reports
of his own deficiencies.
No
one should be fooled by Mahathir’s latest call for ministers to resign.
He is not concerned about the quality of Umno-Baru ministers, he is only
weeding out the candidates who stand in the way of Mukhriz.
In
his book on Mahathir, Barry Wain describes the pain felt by the young
Mahathir, on being discriminated by the Malay community in his native
Alor Setar. It is possible that Mahathir expressed his loathing for the
Malays by using them to gain power, whilst at the same time giving the
Malays the perception that they were privileged.
Mahathir kept his hold on the Malays by deliberately keeping them frightened and demoralised.
He did this by constantly harping on May 13
and racial violence. He told the Malays that they would not survive if
they did not have the NEP and other government incentives. He gave them
an inferior education because he knew that a confident and well-educated
nation is more difficult to govern.
Mahathir made the Malays feel helpless so that they would think he was their saviour. The greatest tragedy would be if Mahathir managed to promote his son, Mukhriz, to continue, where he left off.
Mariam Mokhtar is a FMT columnist
Zahid, in speech, also said that PPP, IPF, MIC, Gerakan and MCA leaders had tried to free gangsters in detention. 
Norah,
a beautiful actress with some Burmese ancestry, hopes that with her
explanation the speculation about the bungalow and super-car would stop.
Nora
was once married to Rizal Ashram Ramli, the son of another famous
political figure – former Perak Mentri Besar and former Dewan Rakyat
Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib. They had a son and were divorced six years
ago.
Some
years ago, Nedim and his friends were accused of involvement in the
death of a young student Darren Kang in a restaurant in Sri Hartamas. 
"I know the loss was not due to a breach of trust, deviant acts or elements of bribery," he told reporters.
and mistakes made in the line of duty."
