Former PM Mahathir Mohamad taught us well - to obey and to follow, without question. We had the power to resist his authoritarian rule, but we looked away when the people who dared to resist him were jailed. We should have redoubled our efforts to oppose him.

Today, Malaysia reaps what Mahathir has sown. We marvel at the skyscrapers, in the Mahathir-tropolis, but it was built at great cost. It left a moral vacuum in each one of us. What we gained in material goods, only made us more willing to lie and cheat. Our greed and selfishness, triumphed, just like Mahathir’s towers.

The irony is that today, the sifu, Mahathir, is sore because his protégé, Najib Abdul Razak, is acting like a runaway train. Najib was his star pupil, who graduated in Mahathirism with flying colours.

The tragedy is that in two decades time, we will celebrate twenty-two years of Najib’s rule. How come? First. We are all Mahathir's children. Second. Mahathir’s second law: Malaysians mudah lupa. (The first law is, Melayu mudah lupa.)

Mahathir is worried about his legacy. No-one laments his efforts to remove Najib, but before a solution can be found, one has to acknowledge that there is a problem. Mahathir refuses to accept that he is the architect of Malaysia’s mess.

Najib’s removal would solve nothing. Senior Umno Baru politicians refuse to see the harm wreaked by Najib’s silence, his prevarication, the missing billions and the RM2.6 billion foreign ‘donation’.

Mahathir cannot and will not accept that Umno Baru is the problem. He once said, “If the opposition is really keen to be rid of Najib, they can only do so if Najib goes, but the BN government stays, led by another leader.” (sic)

A few days ago, a member of the G25 group of eminent and moderate Malays, Tawfik Ismail ( photo ), made a startling revelation. Earlier this year, during discussions about Islam and the constitution, Mahathir was more keen to attack the government and talk about 1MDB.

Undaunted, Tawfik said, “...we’re here about Islam, not to talk about politics.

“...Then I told him (Mahathir), if you get rid of Najib, who are you going to replace him with? And what makes you think he would be any better?

“Mahathir said, ‘Well, you know, the person who succeeds him will be guided by a council of elders’.”

Some months later, in September 2015, Tawfik claimed that Mahathir and former deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin had approached the G25 to fight Najib.

Tawfik said, “...we told him that we felt that he and Dr Mahathir were not the right people to fight Najib. He was a bit taken aback...”

The G25 would prefer younger Malaysian leaders, like Khairy Jamaluddin of Umno Baru, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of PKR or Liew Chin Tong of DAP, to determine the future of the nation, claimed Tawfik.

Selective amnesia

Mahathir’s selective amnesia, or double standards, call it what you wish, is to be expected. Two years ago (September 2013), in the run-up to the Umno Baru general assembly, a worried Mahathir told Mingguan Malaysia, that many people believed that Umno Baru was corrupt and that its leaders joined the party to enrich themselves.

Mahathir wanted Umno Baru to be injected with young blood and he said, “Only by handing over the Umno Baru leadership to the young and unpolluted can this cleansing of Umno Baru become reality. Only then will be accepted by the community.”

If Mahathir really wanted young blood in Umno Baru, he should not have been displeased when Tawfik rejected the idea of an unelected council of elders “advising” the PM.

Today, we moan that Malaysians are poor in English, and Malay graduates are practically unemployable, that race and religion are tearing us apart, that money politics is bad, and we shrug our shoulders when corrupt politicians are promoted.

Mahathir’s policies created a burgeoning Malay middle-class, and these Malays will think twice about upsetting the gravy train. Najib simply perfected Mahathir’s techniques.

Today, the struggling non-Malays have no hesitation about settling and working abroad, whilst the Malays prevaricate about change.

The wealthy non-Malays keep their noses clean, and keep activism in the shadows, for obvious reasons.

The rakyat wants change, but will not demand excellence from the opposition politicians; neither have the opposition politicians instilled any confidence in the rakyat.

The tragedy is that in 22 years, we will celebrate the fact that Najib will have become the longest serving prime minister of Malaysia.

If you really want change, unite and focus your efforts.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).