Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, Barry Wain [best mystery novels of all time .txt] 📗

he had no qualms about stripping away the democratic trappings and baring his authoritarian claws. Nothing, before or since, had created a climate of fear like Operation Lalang in 1987, with the roundup of 119 politicians, intellectuals and activists.

While Dr. Mahathir insisted that only issues divided him and Abdullah, he made the dispute personal, branding Abdullah a liar, deceitful and shameless.[71] Privately, with close friends, Dr. Mahathir used even stronger language, calling Abdullah a "hypocrite" and a "great pretender", pretending to be cleaner and more modest than his predecessor.[72] Dr. Mahathir's sheer nastiness made relations between their families awkward. Caught in the crossfire was Mokhzani, Dr. Mahathir's second son, who recalled that Abdullah had helped him get together with Mastisa Hani Mohamed Abid, whom Mokhzani married.[73] Despite what Abdullah called Dr. Mahathir's "stronger doses of venom", the prime minister remained on warm terms with Dr. Mahathir's wife, Dr. Siti Hasmah. Abdullah's wife invited Dr. Siti Hasmah to her old Putrajaya home, the official residence, even as the war of words turned ugly. Dr. Siti Hasmah accepted, keen to see what changes had been made by the new occupants, and delighted to accept a ride with Abdullah around the premises.[74]

Although he helped shaped the perception of Abdullah as an indecisive leader who relied heavily on a group of young advisers led by his son and son-in-law, Dr. Mahathir paid a price for his remorseless, scatter-gun offensive. While he retained a public following, elite political opinion turned against him when it became obvious that he was obsessed with ousting Abdullah, whatever the cost to UMNO and stability.[75] A brokered meeting with Abdullah in late 2006, billed as "peace talks", was pivotal. Apart from insisting on recording the private, two-hour discussion — mostly a stream of complaints by Dr. Mahathir — he resumed his onslaught the following day, before Abdullah had time to respond.[76]

The harder Dr. Mahathir pressed, the more his stature was diminished. He was hit in the face with pepper spray while attending a rally in Kelantan. The ultimate indignity was his attempt to persuade his old UMNO division, Kubang Pasu in Kedah, to elect him as one of seven delegates to the party's General Assembly in 2006. Although his name was first on the ballot paper, he came ninth out of 15 contestants — in the division he had headed for nearly 30 years. While Abdullah's followers, fearing Dr. Mahathir would try to instigate a revolt against Abdullah at the assembly, undoubtedly blocked his election, Dr. Mahathir compounded his humiliation by alleging vote-buying. "I know that bribery happens in any politics, but I did not think that the ruling party itself used money politics," he said, choosing to forget that the rampant use of cold hard cash had become common in his time and reduced him to tears.[77]

Dr. Mahathir's hectic schedule, including interviews, speeches and overseas travel, as well as opening a "concept bakery and bistro" with a Japanese partner, trying to criminalize war and convening a meeting in an attempt to solve the Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand, took a toll on his health. Despite his relatively youthful and extremely healthy appearance, doctors detected blockages in his arteries and warned him to slow down. After three minor heart attacks in under a year, Dr. Mahathir, 82, elected to have a five-and-a-half hour heart bypass operation in 2007, the second in 18 years. A resulting chest infection required him to undergo another three hours of traumatic surgery within three weeks. Malaysians tracked his recovery through daughter Marina's blog, updated twice daily. A week after the infected tissue was removed, she reported her father's moods were like the seven dwarfs: "grouchy, grumpy, whiny, snarly, whateverly, smirky and sometimes, sometimes smiley".[78]

While Abdullah no doubt enjoyed the periodic silence that hospitalization imposed on Dr. Mahathir, it did little to help the prime minister's political fortunes. Having promised so much so early, Abdullah was excoriated for failing to deliver on almost all fronts. After encountering resistance at UMNO's annual meeting in 2004, he ran out of what reformist zeal he genuinely harboured and allowed himself to be carried along by stronger party currents. His laid-back style, initially seen as endearing, became a liability and he was portrayed by opponents as listless, even lazy. Abdullah told one interviewer he was "not losing any sleep over" Dr. Mahathir's comments.[79] He was not losing sleep over much at all, according to anti-government websites, which circulated photos of him dozing through cabinet meetings and political gatherings.[80]

As Malaysia's ranking in Transparency International's corruption index slipped to 44 in 2006 from 37 in 2003,[81] Abdullah's lack of political will to tackle the entrenched system of "money politics" and abuse of power played out publicly over the case of Zakaria Mat Deros, the little known UMNO divisional chief in Klang. A one-time railway gatekeeper and office boy, Zakaria, 60, was the classic UMNO warlord, dispensing patronage and delivering votes. He attracted national attention by building an RM8 million mansion in a working-class neighbourhood, without obtaining planning approval and on land originally meant for low-cost housing.[82] With Malaysians flocking to Klang to gawk at the almost-completed palace, which would not have looked out of place in Hollywood or Beverley Hills, Abdullah emerged from an UMNO Supreme Council meeting to slap Zakaria on the wrist: He should quit as a municipal councilor, Abdullah said, but he could continue as a state legislator and UMNO divisional chief as his wrongdoing was not a party matter.[83]

A financial scandal over plans to establish a free-trade zone at Port Klang, the country's main port, also indicated that nothing much had changed in the way of large infrastructure projects.[84] Only after press reports that the state-owned Port Klang Authority had been saddled with huge losses did the government acknowledge a multi-billion ringgit bailout, in the form of a soft loan.[85]

With the royal commission into the police force, which delivered a 634-page report in mid-2005, Abdullah had a chance to make amends. It recommended sweeping reforms to fight corruption,