Tun Dr Mahathir, do keep your self respect intact

I used to revere Tun Dr Mahathir; I am, after all a product of his period and until now, I respect him as an elderly man even though his misdeeds affected me and my compatriots adversely. My mother taught me to respect my elders.

But, my respect for Mahathir and my hold to my mom's advice is increasingly becoming tenuous now as the octogenarian gradually morphed into a loose cannon, making racist, unwarranted, unfounded, vacuous comments that are winning vitriol from the Malaysian masses.

As a well aged man whose current stature is already unpopular for his past crimes as Prime Minister, him, fostering racial polarization, biased national policies, the attrition of the quality, transparency and independence of education, judicial system, the power of the Malay rulers, the imposing of totalitarian control over the media and the issuing of blue IC for immigrants in Sabah to ascertain his political survival and whatnot, he should be reticent and be in repentant mode in a private way.

But, what does he do? The direct opposite. Instead of having the grace of his predecessors and his only successor, Tun Abdulah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir is engaging in public gaffe, displeasing the rakyat as a whole.

With all due respect Malaysians have on Tun Dr Mahathir does not mean they won't get incensed when he makes ethnocentric remarks and issue a clarion call for the investigation of the citizenship given to the Chinese and Indians at pre-independence, justifying that if what Tunku Abdul Rahman did back then, that is, bestowing citizenship to the Chinese and Indians of the days of colonial withdrawal is righteous then the Project IC in Sabah masterminded by our 4th prime minister is also righteous.

The Chinese and Indians have lived in Malaya for generations in the British colonial times. They procreated here, picked up Malay language and soaked in Malayan soil, their respective motherlands, long forsaken.

The Chinese and Indians together with the Malays built Malaysia together, shedding sweat, tears and blood and forged a strong bond. The bond was made stronger by Tunku when he bestowed the deserved denizens citizenship abiding by the jus soli, that is, the right of soil principle true to the tenet of a multi racial demography and formed Malaysia. Those Chinese and Indians were calling Malaya home for more than 2 generations which sanctions Tunku's action.

In contra with Tunku's deed, Tun Dr Mahathir granted citizenship to the immigrants in Sabah in a matter of months of their arrival. Surely their patriotism and loyalty to Malaysia are questionable if not obvious. What did they contribute to Malaysia to deserve citizenship? Were they in PR status for at least 15 years to be eligible for citizenship? The answer is a deafening no. The objective behind Project IC is a self serving one, serving none other the swashbuckler Tun Dr Mahathir, allowing him to remain in power longer, until his avarice and sedition got satiated.

Not so fast we can leave Dr Mahathir off the hook for putting forth bemusing vindications and wild allegations which are virulent which is dangerous for a united Malaysia. His rash comments will disintegrate the very fabric of Malaysia's multi-racial and multi-cultural and multi-religious society. As the longest serving PM of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir should know this as a fact and if he truly loves his country, such sordid accusations and division creating revelations should not come from a respectable public figure that he is.

 Tun Dr Mahathir sure has a lot of knowledge but somehow lacks eclectic wisdom that ripens through age; his recent numerous faux pas is testimony for this claim of mine. There is a saying which goes, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Despite seeing generation after generation evolve and revolve before his very eyes, Tun Dr Mahathir is failing to be relevant and wise and that borderlines revulsion.