LETTER | During the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s team locked horns with Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s during the Umno election.

Razaleigh’s team filed a report against Mahathir’s team, alleging election fraud that gave Mahathir’s team victory.

Although Mahathir tried to influence the court to favour him, the court that was independent then didn’t succumb. Mahathir lashed out at the judiciary and gave an interview to Time stating that the judiciary is undermining the power of the legislation.

Just as he is today, he was the same back then by saying he is right and the court was wrong. As a result, the sacking of Salleh Abas and other Federal Court judges ensued.

Although there was allegedly sufficient evidence of election fraud, Mahathir did not want to accept defeat and instead got his newly appointed judge, Justice Harun Hashim, to declare Umno illegal, which paved way for him to form Umno Baru and hold on to power.

That incident hallmarked the demise of judiciary’s independence in Malaysia.

30 years after, and Mahathir is still resorting to the same tactics. Intel within Harapan has realised that they are probably not going to be able to form the government. Hence, as he did before, Mahathir is trying to push the court to declare Umno illegal again.

However, this time his attempt is likely to be futile. Following the 1988 crisis, Mahathir amended the Umno constitution to say that member who takes the party to court loses their membership.

Hence, Mahathirism has led to the automatic sacking of the 16 complainants.

The sacked members can take Umno to task in court, but the eventual outcome is a forgone conclusion.

With 400 Bersatu members quitting recently, it is obvious that Mahathir is unable to command as he did before.

Last month, 34 Bersatu members quit in Kota Bharu to join PAS. This month, 281 Bersatu members in Perak have also quit and joined Umno.

During the lead up to the May 13, 1969 riots, the Malay versus Chinese mantra was recited. Following BN’s unexpected loss in the 1969 general elections, racial sentiments heated up and that led to the darkest day in Malaysia’s history.

Although the government blamed the opposition for causing the riots, an article in the Asia Sentinel by Philip Bowring and declassified documents by Dr Kua Kia Soong insinuated that the riots may have been fanned by Malay elements led by Umno’s ‘young turks’ headed by none other than Mahathir.

Following the riot, Mahathir wrote a harsh letter to the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, accusing him of favouring the Chinese that eventually led to Tunku resigning.

Almost 50 years ahead, and the Malay versus Chinese sentiment is being played up again. We often hear leaders of a particular coalition using terms like “Malay Tsunami,” “Malays are not as hardworking as the others,” “use Malays to fight the Malays,” and “split the Malay vote.”

Fortunately, we Malays are very tolerant people.

Acting Bersih 2.0 chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari’s statement on racial division and a reminder of the May 13 incident is uncalled for. It is fair to argue amicably and have difference in opinions. However, I hope people do not cross the line and react emotionally.

If Mahathir continues to stir hatred and racial sentiments post elections, I hope the government and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong wouldn’t refrain from bringing the full force of the law down on Mahathir.

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