LONE

Friday, October 29, 2004

A Response to Mahathir's Letter

A columnist of the Daily Times of Pakistan, Razi Azmi, has responded to the Tun's letter calling on American muslims to vote out Bush. Razi is a former academic with a doctorate in modern history and is now a freelance writer and columnist.
The Tun's letter was written on 15th October 2004 ie 1st Ramadhan 1425 and he signs off his letter as DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD, Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Malaysia. A Malaysiakini columnist had pointed out that according to the Wesminster system, there is actually nothing in the book to hold Mahathir to certain standards during retirement. And some like the Tun can become sorts of loose cannons. But is it right for a former PM to tell the voters of another nation how to vote?
Razi Azmi starts off thus :: As Asia’s longest-serving former prime minister, Dr Mahathir should know that his appeal to American Muslims establishes a very dangerous precedent by attempting to rouse extra-territorial allegiances and loyalties. It is akin to Vajpayee asking Pakistani Hindus to vote against President Musharraf in a future Pakistani election, or Nawaz Sharif appealing to Indian Muslims to vote against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Here are some more excerpts from what he wrote ::

Imagine Zhao Ziyang, a former Chinese prime minister, appealing to the Chinese-Malaysians to vote against Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in the next Malaysian elections “in the name of China’s glory”, or the Indian-Malaysians being asked by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a former Indian prime minister, to vote in a similar way “in the name of Hinduism”.

Obviously, it would cause disgust and shock in Malaysia. Not just the Ummah, but many other countries of the world would rightly join Malaysia in condemning such a blatant attempt to interfere in another country’s elections by inciting the religious or ethnic affiliation of a section of its population. Malaysian Muslims would regard it as a conspiracy against them. The loyalty of ethnic Chinese and Indians of Malaysia would become suspect, some would even accuse them of being fifth columnists.

He also points out that during Mahathir's long stint as prime minister of Malaysia, he had earned a reputation for fiercely defending Malaysian sovereignty. Mahathir saw external interference and conspiracies even where none existed. Often telling others to shut up and mind their own business.
He also points out what other past leaders like Carter with his Carter Center and Fraser with his Care Australia are doing and obviously pointing out to Mahathir that maybe he would like to go in that direction instead of being a busybody trying to mess with the internal affairs of others. Locally the Tengku became the OIC Sec-General and Hussein Onn became a senior honorary member of Institute of Strategic and International Studies after becoming former PM.
Now don't we wonder what the Westminster system has to say regarding former deputy PM, and we do have a number hanging around, sufficient to form a tiny club; one of them will be back this Sunday and Malaysians won't be alone in waiting to see what he will be doing.

For the Razi's full article, click here.

| ¶ 10/29/2004 11:15:00 AM

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