The Return of Dr. Mahathir
We shall start this story with a quotation from Alex Josey’s biography of Lee Kuan Yew, at the ending paragraphs on page 390 of Alex’s book:
Dr. Mahathir, an Alliance MP had said in Parliament (in the 1960’s), ‘Malaysia as originally conceived was best of all, Malaysian Malaysia; let us all stick to the Constitution; honor racial society, with everybody equal, Malaysian citizens regardless of race, language, religion. This is the message I want to give. It is not in Singapore that people are not accustomed to Malay rule.’
‘Let me tell him this,’ said Lee. ‘When we joined Malaysia, we never agreed to Malay rule; we agreed to Malaysian rule, never Malay rule. This is all nonsense. Somebody has made a grave error of judgement if they believe that we agreed to Malay rule. We never agreed to it. The Constitution means democratic rule by representatives of the people on the basis of adult franchise: one man, one vote, one citizen, one vote, which means Malaysia is ruled by Malaysians. And we want to make that clear now. That is the only kind of rule that we will agree to … ‘
With the above quotation as a backdrop let us move forward to the present.
Dr. Mahathir was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia after Malaysia’s independence from the United Kingdom, from the year 1981 to the year 2003. He was then the first layman Prime Minister as the previous three Prime Ministers were all from the Malaysia royal families (there being eleven sultans [kings] from eleven States of the West Malaysia territory). Now in 2018 at the age of 92, he has just been elected into Parliament again and he is now the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia.
During his earlier premiership Dr. Mahathir was credited as the one person who was instrumental in modernising Malaysia, developing the country from a ‘third world’ status to a ‘developed world’ at an astounding pace. He attempted to prevent corruption and succeeded in eroding the powers of elected officials who were close to the royals.
Dr. Mahathir was also credited with the creation of the Malaysian cars - Protons - and the now famous Malaysian landmark the twin Petronas Towers. He created the Cyberjaya and moved the government offices to a new city - Putrajaya. He turned the country into the largest exporter of semiconductors. He increased the economic wealth of all Malaysians by making Malaysia one of the fastest growing economies in the world at that time.
“Move forward to the present, please,” we hear you say. So let us go there - the present and then the future as our imaginations move even more forward.
The following selected four YouTube videos present the events of the weeks following Dr. Mahathir elevation to the top job of the country.
Video No. 1
Video No. 2
Video No. 3
Video No. 4
Now please listen to him way back in the year 2015:
Video No. 5
Video No. 6
Video No. 7
Video No. 8
All right, enough is enough. What is in the future?
Let us speculate a little.
We have a look at the new Ministers of Malaysia. We find that they are sensible leaders of the country from the four parties that constitute the government. They are full of enthusiasm to make sure that the Malaysia of the future will be a successful country.
We then look at the present Ministers in Singapore. They too want to make Singapore a real successful country in the future.
Let us think over this scenario - two successful countries so close to each other separated by a narrow strait - the Strait of Johor. The value systems of both countries will be similar by say ten or twenty years, if they are not similar and clear by now, 2018. The races of both countries are similar. Singapore is smack right in the middle of the two wings of Malaysia - West Malaysia and East Malaysia. Singapore wants to grow her economy but she has not got the size, the land mass, the population to grow very much further. Malaysia wants to grow her economy but she is at least ten or even twenty years behind her nearest neighbour, Singapore.
What then is the solution?
Quite obvious, we thought.
And Yes, the futures of both Singapore and Malaysia are a lot brighter under a common banner.
And Yes, we think that sensible leaders of both countries will eventually see the solution in front of them.
And Yes, Singapore and Malaysia (both West and East) will merge as one country. We will follow the following ten years with interest.
“Malaysia forever, ten million strong” - A song from history:
Let us wait and see!