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LETTER | Way back in the seventies, when ex-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad was the education minister of Malaysia, he made a grave mistake by switching the medium of teaching in schools from English to Bahasa Malaysia.

This was in line with his policy of championing the Malay cause which he utterly regrets today. Now he is upping the ante along with those who want to promote the use of English among Malaysians but it is perhaps a case of being a little bit too late.

The damage wrecked is untold to this day. But Mahathir is no newcomer to regrets. He has such a long list of regrets in his lifetime that people are beginning to wonder what gives. What really is the real aspiration and hope of this man?

In the early part of his prime ministership, he wrestled on issues of politics with his deputy prime minister, Musa Hitam. He was angry that Musa resigned and Mahathir deeply regretted his (Musa's) decision.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was promoted to become prime minister it was the personal wish of Mahathir. Mahathir was beaming with pride when Pak Lah replaced him only to be at loggerheads with him later and to regret he endorsed Abdullah’s candidacy as prime minister.

When Abdullah was ousted by Najib, Mahathir was all proud once again as he thought Najib was the perfect person to lead Malaysia to be an advanced and fully developed nation. But just look at how Mahathir is going for the jugular now, with deep regrets once again over Najib.

This is why Malaysians are perplexed and placed in a quandary when they observe the antics of Mahathir. They are unsure and uncertain as to the reasons why Mahathir often ends up full of regret. It looks as if his whole life is full of misery and regrets.

Whether Mahathir is a perfectionist is hard to say. But note how hard it is for him to be pleased and satisfied for long. In old age now, the geriatric Mahathir has nothing but complaints, anger and fury leveled at every segment and sector of the nation.

He is bitterly disappointed and deeply regretful that things are not turning out the way he wants it in this country. But in all fairness, and upon scrutiny, Malaysians can trace back most of the regrets of Mahathir to be of his own doing and of his own making.

This is what was once suggested by a famous Malaysian author as being 'the paradoxes of Mahathir' in a book that unveiled the virtual split personality of Mahathir and his megalomania or obsession with the biggest, the longest, the highest and so on.

Mahathir has now evolved into a certain kind of loose cannon often shooting blanks in different directions and this is why his credibility is suspect and his influence is waning causing Najib and his followers to gain the upper hand on him in the present showdown between them.


The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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