Imitation Kings

Is there a conspiracy between father and son? We know that Dr Mahathir has long wanted Ahmad Badawi (AB) to hand over the PM'ship to his deputy, Najib Tun Razak. He said that he had wanted Ahmad Badawi to just serve one term, hinting of such a private 'gentlemen's' agreement when he first chose Ahmad Badawi to succeed him. This sounds awfully like what actually happened in Britain, where Tony Blair, the former PM, reportedly made a pack with the current PM, Mr Gordon Brown, to hand over the premiership after an agreed period. Well, how original of Dr. M, to borrow the story from his former colonial masters and make it his own!

Why does Dr M want Ahmad Badawi to be gone? It is said that Dr M was immensely displeased that AB cancelled many of the mega-projects, including the fantastic crooked bridge that was planned to replace the Singapore-Malaysia Causeway, that he, Dr M, had put in place while he was PM. This is probably true. I do not know if this also includes AB successfully repairing the sour relationship between Singapore and Malaysia during Dr M's time. If so, then Dr M is being very mean, to both AB and Singapore.

But it appears that this pattern of imitation runs in the family. Freshly minted MP, Mukhriz Mahathir (MM Jr) is echoing his father's long-standing call for AB to step aside as PM. He has gone to the extent of circulating a letter to the top people in UMNO calling for AB's resignation. Hmmm...sounds awfully familiar when one recalls the flurry of letters before Anwar Ibrahim was sacked and thrown in jail. The reason given now is not the mega-projects or Singapore. MM Jr is so freshly minted that he has no other credibility except that he is Dr. M's son. But he is nevertheless imitating some nations where, when the election result is less than ideal for the sitting government party, the leader - the PM - resigns to take responsibility. An example will be Japan, which has serial examples of PM's resigning due to unfavourable election results. It is their symbolic version of hara-kiri. MM Jr must be fascinated by this ancient Japanese practice to want to have it imitated in UMNO politics. Or is it opportunistic plagiarism? Whatever it is, it appears that MM Jr has become Dr M's surrogate. We had hoped that MM Jr would establish his own credentials and come into his own as a politician and leader. If his approach today is representative of his thinking - one of imitation and duplicity - then he has lost the people and allied himself with the cronies of Dr M's time, which is not surprising.

What a waste for a young and freshly-minted MP!

See also: UMNO Youth mulling action against MM Jr