I wrote about it, didn’t I? A vote for Najib Abdul Razak would be a vote for the return of Mahathirism, and no sooner was I proven right last Saturday when student activist Adam Adli Abd Halim was hauled up by the police for investigation into his ‘seditious’ remarks.

While Adam is now out on bail awaiting trial, Haris Ibrahim, Tian Chua and Tamrin Ghafar were nabbed one after another, again under the notorious and anachronistic Sedition Act 1948.

It does feel like 1987 and 1998 all over again, and we are stuck.

We are stuck because this Umno-dominated government persistently refuses to acknowledge that the world has moved on and that a large segment of Malaysian society is now ready to ditch it. The only way for Umno to remain in power is through vote-rigging, bribery, control of the media, electoral fraud and draconian legislation.

While the Internal Security Act is gone, the Sedition Act is not. Najib, now the minority prime minister, announced last July that it would be abolished, but was cunning enough to not gazette it as he knew he would need it after GE13. How convenient. As a closet authoritarian, he never disappoints. And his Wesak message that “there will be an abundance of joy and peace and forgiveness as people seek blessings for themselves and their loved ones” just makes me puke.

NONE Early this week, Mahathir Mohamad ( left ) warned against street rallies on his blog, saying that “in many instances the police had to withdraw or they may be directed to withdraw. They become disinclined to carry out their duties. Some people would take advantage of this by committing minor crimes. The people would feel insecure”.

But time and again, the protesters have proven him wrong, for those who were bent on wreaking havoc turned out to be agents provocateur planted by Umno!

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, desperate to prove his worth, has first alienated the public with his migration outburst and then come down hard on those who dare to stand up to state bullying. There will be a do-or-die party election end of the year and, true to their chauvinistic nature, all the Umno bigwigs must act tough to secure the support of the rank and file.

As many Malaysia watchers have said, the real contest in Malaysia is not general elections, which are fought on uneven terrain and horribly skewed to the disproportionate advantage of the ruling coalition, but Umno party polls, in which horse-trading, betraying and vote-buying are far more rampant.

This year, it is going to be all the more crucial now that close to two-thirds of the cabinet is made up of Umno ministers, most of whom will not think twice to resort to high-handedness and provocative statements just to up the ante against their rivals, all at the expense of the people.

Iron-fisted tactics

Some have asked why I must blame Mahathir for all that is wrong with Malaysian society today?

Of course one has to apportion a large chunk of the blame to the man who is single-handedly responsible for the rot in our judiciary, distortion of parliamentary democracy, police brutality and media manipulation. In short, Mahathir has practically destroyed the relatively fair system of checks and balances envisioned by the founding fathers in 1957.

His iron-fisted tactics in 1987 and then in 1998 have left his successors with a modus operandi to emulate when their authority is severely challenged, and they have shown no qualms in substituting even the last vestiges of our democracy with renewed authoritarianism.

Lest not forget that it was Mahathir who as education minister in the 1970s brutally suppressed our vibrant campus culture, after which student activism went into a sharp decline. In the decades that followed, the Chinese were taught to think they were superior to the Malays academically.

For years, the Chinese parents would want their young ones to shun student activism, focus on textbook knowledge, and care about nothing else. For a student to take to the streets to protest against an unjust system and a suffocating campus culture was not only useless but also a sign of moral decay.

NONE That’s why Adam ( right ) has been amazing. With his simple but brave act of defiance, he has won the hearts and minds of many Chinese parents. He has changed radically their perception about student politics, and given them tremendous hopes for the future generations. Adam and his supportive father have done Malaysia proud indeed.

I would not care one iota if Mahathir had honoured his promise by not playing a prominent role in Malaysian politics. Instead, he is just omnipresent.

In other words, I would not hold Adolf Hitler accountable for neo-Nazism that is now becoming pervasive again across Europe, or Emperor Hirohito for the jingoistic stance taken by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in recent weeks, or Mao Zedong for the re-emergence of ugly nationalism in China, for the simple reason that all these autocrats who once brought their respective countries onto the brink of total destruction are dead.

Not so with Mahathir, as he continues to manoeuvre behind the scenes and influence his party’s directions in a way that may eventually bring Malaysia ‘securely’ back to the age of tyranny,  not to mention the racist and seditious views which he sees no wrong in uttering every now and then.

This is precisely what the ‘neutral elites’ choose not to admit, pretending instead that Malaysia has moved out of the dark shadows of Mahathirism. Unlike the Germans who have thoroughly de-Nazified their beloved country, we are yet to embark on the project of de-Mahathirisation. The task is doubly hard now that Mahathir is practically the backseat driver, and a devious one at that.

Hence, the arrests of Adam, Tian Chua, Harris and Tamrin are only just the beginning and represent the shape of more abhorrent things to come.

Yes, it is 1987 and 1998 all over again, but the sentiments on the ground are vastly different in 2013. In their pursuit of greater democratic space, Malaysians have demonstrated their determination in confronting state violence face to face. It is a trend that must not be reversed, and change is now a duty that cannot be relegated.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.