YOURSAY | ‘We should all give him a second chance to right the wrongs that he has created.’

Dr M vows new party will restore democracy, rule of law

Kim Quek: This statement from former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad augurs well for the grand alliance that will include his new party.

Against his previous stance to just replace PM Najib Abdul Razak and soldier on with Umno as the ruling party, he now sees the necessity to start anew (minus Umno) with the necessary reforms to turn Malaysia into a healthy democracy.

For those who yearn to have a new Malaysia, they must first ask how they could achieve that without getting rid of Umno.

And how do you get rid of Umno when the racial mindset of its traditional rural and conservative supporters have been so conditioned by Umno’s long rule that it seems to be impervious to the opposition’s political message?

Therein lies the logic of Bersatu’s race-based membership - so that it can communicate with these Umno supporters on the same frequency as Umno does.

I believe the basis of cooperation between Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu is already there. The next step is to get down to work out the nitty-gritty of reforms that will restore democracy and good governance.

GE14Now!: Mahathir, the trouble is that your so-called 'glory of the past' was built using the same bully tactics and draconian laws that are currently in place (although one must admit the new ones are worse than the old ones).

This country can only be developed to something that might even resemble that of Singapore's if all traces of Umno or Umno-ism and Umno-lookalikes are removed permanently.

To that end, while I agree with Dr M, I find it impossible to support him.

Proarte: 'Glory days' under Mahathir? He sacked the Lord President which set in train the destruction of the independence of the judiciary, he jailed opposition leaders without trial, he closed down newspapers, he had contempt for environmental issues, he abused the East Malaysians and allowed grand scale exploitation of their resources, he practiced cronyism, oversaw so many billion ringgit failed projects, was a racist to the core which was part of his political strategy for support, has a thoroughly wicked and cruel streak which was clear in the manner he sacked Anwar Ibrahim and the show trials which followed.

The judiciary, police force, media were brought to heel by Mahathir to serve his dictatorial agenda.

Mahathir, the Dear Leader, is now seeing the fruits of his 'glorious rule' in the manner which the Umno regime operates. Najib is merely a symptom of the vile disease called Mahathirism.

You cure a disease by isolating the offending cancerous cells or germs, not promoting its growth.

The Analyser: Mahathir, which version of democracy are you planning to restore?

Your version, with gerrymandering, vote-buying and ballot box-tampering, or the Islamic version, or perhaps the Chinese communist version?

The hypocrisy of this statement is unbelievable even in a Malaysian context.

Unspin: Instead of criticising Mahathir about his ‘misdeeds’ in the past, we should all give him a second chance to right the wrongs that he has created.

It is an indisputable fact that our country progressed rapidly under Mahathir’s watch vis-à-vis Abdullah Ahmad Badawi or Najib. Even today, when one travels outside the country, it is not uncommon for foreigners to ask about Mahathir. That is the kind of respect that Mahathir's Malaysia has in the minds of outsiders.

If there is anyone who can stop the slide and turn our country around, it is Mahathir. If we do not support Mahathir now, can you imagine the scenario when he is gone?

Unless the critics have an alternative plan, Mahathir is our best chance to prevent Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) from further destroying our beloved country.

Anonymous Hotplate: We hope and pray this new party will be not like Umno-BN when Mahathir ruled for 22 years. Only during the time of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn, the rakyat of all races were treated equally and enjoyed facilities equally.

From the time of Mahathir, everything, especially the education system, civil service, scholarships, subsidies, business opportunities, etc, slowly worsened.

Anonymous112233: We have nothing to lose, we should give a chance to this new party. This is because BN, and in particular Umno and Najib, have become rotten to core.

Similar to our badminton teams in Rio, their target of the silver medal has been achieved, so there is nothing to lose if they play their best to secure gold.

ANA: Return us the rule of law, the integrity and independence of our institutions, a commitment for ethical conduct where zero tolerance means exactly that, accountability for actions, corporate governance that excels, equality of opportunity for all, the unyielding respect and tolerance for the cultural, racial and religious diversity of all people where we are all equal, a caring heart for those less fortunate, and pride in our nation.

Umno and BN are on their deathbed. Race-aligned parties are living on borrowed time. Your undertakers are knocking on the door.

Whoever fails to deliver on the above values will have failed to feel the winds of change and will equally have sealed their ultimate fate.

Anticonmen: Dr M, how does it feel to be discarded, discriminated against and marginalised?

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