COMMENT If you googled “fairy tale”, two definitions pop up. The first is “a story usually for children, about elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, or other magical creatures.” The second, “an incredible or misleading statement, account, or belief.”

 

Both these definitions can best describe former law minister Zaid Ibrahim’s call for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to name Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as the next prime minister.

 

“...I believe that if Mahathir wants better and more accountable leaders for Umno in the years to come - and at the same time put an end to systemic corruption and improve the quality of the public institutions - the choice of successor must be none other than Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah,” he had said in campaigning for Razaleigh.

 

The fact that Zaid included ‘Mahathir’ in the same sentence with words such as ‘better and more accountable leaders’ and ‘put an end to systemic corruption’ is bizarre, to say the least.

 

Perhaps the former law minister is a romanticist who still believes that when kissed even frogs could turn into handsome princes.

 

No doubt, Zaid is spot on in arguing that among the current crop of Umno leaders, be those trained in Universiti Teknologi Mara or Oxford, Razaleigh is in a class of his own.

 

But to expect Mahathir to have the interest of the nation at heart is, as in the words of PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, most naive indeed.

 

As the latter pointed out, yes, Mahathir is keen on finding the “best man for the job” but the former premier’s job description for such a man varies greatly from Zaid’s.

 

Mahathir wants the “best man” to safeguard his and Umno’s interests.

 

Dr M has not changed

                                                                       

For 22 years, Mahathir could not care less about the nation’s interest. He was responsible for the rot that has permeated every sphere of Malaysian politics, civil service, judiciary and key institutions.

 

Umno is what it is now because subsequent leaders draw inspiration from him to enrich the coffers, stifle dissent and retain power.

 

He is the guru of all that is wrong with both the party and nation.

 

He built magnificent structures but retarded our mental growth. And now he pretends to be the messiah, and apparently gullible characters like Zaid take the bait.

 

Perhaps Zaid is of the school of thought that the end justifies the means and considers Mahathir a tool who can institute the changes the former law minister desires to see in Umno.

 

If this is so, then Zaid must think that age has somehow mellowed Mahathir. He is wrong. Even at 90, Mahathir is still a master in statecraft and as crafty as a fox.

 

He has openly declared that he wants to save Umno from defeat and prevent many of its leaders from going to prison.

 

It is unbecoming for a former law minister to place such faith and hope in a man, who inadvertently admitted that his actions are to protect wrongdoers who would otherwise face the law should the opposition come into power.

 

Zaid should realise that Mahathir is not Hans Christian Andersen.