The Malaysian Malaise: Corrupt Leadership, Failing Institutions, And Intolerant Islamism

 The Malaysian Malaise: Corrupt Leadership, Failing Institutions, And Intolerant Islamism

M. Bakri Musa © 2023

Excerpt 1: Prologue

When the virulent Covid-19 virus broke out beyond Wuhan, China, in January 2020, the whole world was consumed in an unprecedented collective mega effort to contain the outbreak. The whole world, but not Malaysia. As if the pandemic was not serious enough of a threat and burden, Malaysia was (and still is) one of those self-destructive if not downright dysfunctional countries that brought upon itself additional unneeded and self-inflicted series of political crises. Those are still ongoing as of my writing, inflicting needless havoc, destruction, and uncertainty upon the nation and its citizens.

    While the Covid-19 pandemic is now manageable, the political and other problems plaguing Malaysia are still very much there and fast deteriorating. The tragedy is that those non-Covid related challenges are all potentially preventable and readily solvable with a modicum of smarts and dedication on the part of Malaysian leaders. The other aspect, also a tragedy, is that these political and other crises are all traceable to the personal ego and endless scheming of one conniving character, its former long-time Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Consider such critical issues as entrenched corruption, deteriorating education, and rise of Islamist extremism, to name but a few. They all bear Mahathir’s classic scheming fingerprints all over them. To use modern management parlance, Mahathir is the root cause.

    Perversely, and in an almost psychotic disconnect from reality, the old man still sees himself as the nation’s only savior. As late as September 2022 he had the temerity, and without any trace of embarrassment, to proclaim himself ready to assume the nation’s leadership once again, and for the third time. In a pean to humility, he did add, “if people were to insist on it and the insistence incessant.” Then he would serve for only one year.

Such modesty! At least that was an improvement over his previous two-year limitation he had imposed upon himself when he assumed the position for the second time in May 2018. And what a mess he created then! Malaysians are still paying the price and carrying the burden.

    That is in addition to the now near irreversible degradation of the nation that is the direct consequence of his earlier, much longer first tenure of nearly 23 years. In case the point is missed, that was also the duration of Muhammad’s prophethood.

    Mahathir’s second tenure began in a benign way and with all the best intentions. After serving as Prime Minister from July 1981 to October 2003 (the longest serving), Mahathir came out of retirement to help defeat the corrupt Najib Razak and his band of bandits in Barisan Nasional in the May 2018 14th General Elections. He went beyond to claim the major if not sole credit for ousting Najib and thus convinced Malaysians that he was indeed the nation’s savior.

    The world too was impressed; a nonagenarian making a spectacular political comeback! There was indeed hope for other ageing global leaders; they too became emboldened if not inspired to hang on to their positions. Mahathir spent much of his first year as a geriatric celebrity of sorts, flying to various major capitals to be interviewed by other oldies in the media, think tank, and global institutions like the International Monetary Fund. Even venerable Oxford University got in the act too!

As for domestic problems, he convened a panel of five-member Council of Eminent Persons. Such was Mahathir’s newly-acquired aura that even his earlier severe critics like economist K S Jomo and sugar mogul Robert Kuok gladly agreed to be co-opted.

Next: Excerpt #2: Mahathir: Back To His Old Wily Self