Chow Kon Yeow: 曹观友

A bridge too far for Malaysia’s premier
By Mageswary Ramakrishnan

KUALA LUMPUR - A growing tussle between Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his strong-willed predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, has complicated the premier’s reform plans and cast a dark cloud over the political scene.

Abdullah rose to power with Mahathir’s overt blessing in 2003, and with a promise to reform the links between government and business that characterized Mahathir’s 22-year tenure. Nearly three years later, a series of politically charged policy decisions has put the two leaders on a collision course that is testing Abdullah’s grip on power.

Abdullah’s recent decision to suspend construction of a half-built bridge from Malaysia’s Johor province to Singapore reportedly infuriated Mahathir, 80, who made an executive decision to build the massive bridge two months before announcing his resignation in 2003.

Mahathir had earlier promised to inspect the bridge’s construction, even if he was no longer in power. His son sits on the board of one of the Malaysian companies involved in the bridge’s construction.

Abdullah also recently sacked the chief executive officer of the national car maker, Proton, a well-known Mahathir associate. Mahathir, who currently serves as a senior adviser to the company, publicly condemned the decision. Proton was largely shielded from international competition during Mahathir’s tenure, where high tariffs made foreign cars as much as triple the price of Proton’s cars. Abdullah has since moved tentatively to reduce those trade barriers.

On his resignation, Mahathir overtly decided against taking on the title of mentor minister, as Lee Kwan Yew did in Singapore to maintain a measure of influence over major government policies. Now that Abdullah’s policies have exposed chinks in Mahathir’s political legacy, the tough-talking former premier is fighting back with a surprising vengeance. (more…)

I happened to see a catchy headline, Zai Qiong Ye Bu Neng Qiong Jiao Yu in one Chinese newspaper two days ago.

I think it can be roughly translated to mean “however poor we are, we must not sacrifice our education’s financial need”.

This phrase is often used to inspire the Chinese community to donate and contribute towards the development of Chinese education in Malaysia.

I would not be surprised if someone from the Chinese education movement has made this valiant call to the community to support fund-raising for a particular school.

Over the years, the community has contributed to the well-beings of so many Chinese primary schools throughout the country.

Although recognized as part of the mainstream education system, not all of the Chinese schools received full funding from the Education Ministry.

One educationist estimated that as much as RM100 million have to be collected yearly to support Chinese education in the country.

I am most surprised that Prime Minister Abdullah is making the appeal. Is he talking about Chinese education?

However, upon reading, I found that he was trying to reassure that the government would spare no effort (and money) to help Malay achieve education opportunities. He said lack of money should never to use as an excuse.

In my 20 years of political involvement, I find that the Chinese community is very passionate about the survival of Chinese education.

They fear Chinese education would be threatened by government policies. As such, they have stood steadfastly over the last 50 years to defend Chinese education.

I think they have been inspired by the Chinese phrase. From tycoons to hawkers and trishaw pullers, each donates according to their means. In Penang, there is an association dedicated to raise fund each year for a designated Chinese primary school in the State.

However, this Chinese phrase may not be enough to get government leaders to share the same passion for Chinese education.

The best I can say is these Umno government leaders are just tolerating.

It will have to be a gigantic paradigm shift before Chinese education could be given equal funding by the government.

Politicians, who ignore Chinese education issue, ignore at their peril.

In Parliament, I find MP for Bukit Mertajam, Chong Eng the most passionate of the lot.

Dr Mahathir has been speaking a lot the recent months. Some feel he should not criticize government’s policies as it would weaken the credibility of Pak Lah, his anointed successor.

I think Dr Mahathir has every right to speak up, after all Malaysia is also his country.

Maybe Dr Mahathir should now speak up on the predicaments of Tenaga Nasional and to respond to Ani Arope’s views that the utility company got a raw deal with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Ani Arope was former TNB executive who headed the company from 1990 to 1996. It was during his tenure that the first generation IPPs was created.

When asked by the StarBiz on how the Malaysian model of IPPs was created, Ani simply replied: “Ask our previous Prime Minister.”

Asked how he was affected by the process of awarding the IPP contracts, Ani answered: “I felt sick. It was morally wrong and not fair.”

Tenaga’s predicaments are linked to a certain extent with the raw deal they got from the IPPs, a move that have benefited Dr Mahathir’s cronies.

How long are we going to be stuck with these raw deals?

Dr Mahathir should break his silence and give his two-cent worth on the matter.