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

slipped from his grasp, and leaving the party singularly ill-equipped to face a globalizing future, Dr. Mahathir cut Malaysia adrift institutionally. Similar to the way he personalized control of the party, he emasculated almost all institutions so he would meet no obstruction. He handed them to loyalists, shrank their authority, or bypassed them altogether. While that left the police, the courts and other agencies unable to discharge their public obligations professionally, his attacks on the doctrine of the separation of powers struck at "the very soul of principled, democratic governance".[22] In particular, the assault on the judiciary left fundamental flaws in Malaysia's constitutional system that would take time, in the best of circumstances, to rectify.

Unchecked, Dr. Mahathir created a culture that rewarded obedience and shortchanged integrity, allowing Malaysia to drift into a period appropriately described as "the lost ethical years".[23] For example, he extended Mohamed Eusoff Chin's term as chief justice beyond retirement in 2000, despite representations by the Bar Council that the judge had been photographed on holiday with a Malaysian lawyer in New Zealand in circumstances that raised questions of serious unethical conduct. A number of the most successful senior officials learned to anticipate what was expected of them and act before receiving orders. If they crossed the line of legality, as some did, they were likely to be even more responsive to prime ministerial demands. As one unhappy judge remarked, it was widely believed that Dr. Mahathir "kept a docket on everyone useful with a skeleton in their cupboard so that he can manipulate them on pain of disclosing the skeleton".[24]

Judged by his own high-minded rhetoric associated with Vision 2020, Dr. Mahathir failed Malaysia. One of the nine "strategic challenges" he set to enter the First World was "establishing a fully moral and ethical society, whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and imbued with the highest of ethical standards".[25]

Although a significant number of Malays entered the professions, or made the transition from farm to boardroom, during his term, Dr. Mahathir expressed disappointment over his attempts to alter their mindset. "More of them should have succeeded," he said. Too many Malays took the easy way out to get rich by selling the contracts, stocks, permits and licences allocated to them, he said, instead of going into business as he intended.[26] Though valid, Dr. Mathathir's criticism let his government off the hook for the wholesale abuse of the New Economic Policy, which was a source of widespread discontent, particularly among Malays. It was his core supporters — the Umnoputras, in veteran opposition politician Lim Kit Siang's colourful term — who were the serial offenders, and almost nothing was done to prevent them hawking their state-bestowed bumiputra privileges, such as discounted share allocations, for quick profit.

When it came to strengthening Malaysia's macroeconomic muscles and sinews to realize Vision 2020, however, Dr. Mahathir scored convincingly. He engineered a socio-economic transformation, lessening the country's dependence on commodities and deepening its industrialization. Development was driven by local and foreign private investment, attracted by political stability, first-class physical infrastructure and enlightened policies that deregulated and liberalized the economy and encouraged higher value-added export-oriented industries. During the Mahathir era, before the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis, Malaysia received in absolute terms as much foreign direct investment as Thailand and Indonesia, which had a population base of three and ten times, respectively, that of Malaysia.[27]

The reduction in poverty and increasing affluence gave Malaysia the look and feel of a modern, prosperous nation, especially in urban areas. An expansion of the middle class, not least the Malay component, changed the ethnic landscape and helped dampen communal tensions in at least one segment of the population. One or two of the concrete symbols of Dr. Mahathir's dreams, always controversial, could become more contentious with the passage of time. While the highways, bridges, airports, seaports and industrial zones were necessary, multi-billion mega-projects such as the Putrajaya administrative capital were optional extras he personally ordered with a Petronas credit card. As Malaysia draws nearer the time it will run out of oil and gas, projected for 2027 and 2049, respectively,[28] past extravagance and wastage could become an issue for future generations of Malaysians. Depending on economic circumstances, they may curse Dr. Mahathir for squandering their earnings in advance, or praise him for his foresight in building landmarks like European monarchs in the past.

Although Dr. Mahathir spoke modestly of his achievements, he obviously saw himself, like his heroes, as a man of history. He rated keeping ethnic relations "well under control" near the top, especially considering he was a Malay nationalist feared by the Chinese as "the ultra" when he took over. "But in the end, when I stepped down, there was relative harmony, good relations between the different races," he said.[29] Yet even this claim was flimsy, since clearly all was not well beneath the surface of social peace. Studies showed university students interacting less across ethnic lines, while UMNO's attempts to recover Malay support by stressing ketuanan Melayu often heightened communal tensions. And many Malaysians, especially Chinese and Indians, were disturbed by ongoing Islamization, propelled by conservative religious elements.

Dr. Mahathir also gave himself high marks for another goal he set at the outset: raising Malaysia's profile so that the country was known as well as its Southeast Asian neighbours, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. "Today, people know Malaysia. People know Malaysia has done well," he said.[30] Internationally, Malaysia had won a "premier" position among developing countries, being regarded as "the model" of an economy transformed from agricultural to industrial. "Malaysia has shown the way for the rest of the world," he said.[31]

Whether Malaysia would realize its Vision 2020 and graduate on time to the ranks of the developed world was less important than the fact that it was on the way. Dr. Mahathir supplied the compass. As he said, "If somebody doesn't give you a sense of direction, everybody would be going all over the place and nothing can be done."[32] Rising living standards, together with