With the reactionary forces now taking over Umno, Mahathir has fired a broadside calling for a strong, powerful government.
He said in his latest blog entry that a weak government would be incapable of dealing with racial and religious conflicts:
We now have a weak Government and clearly it is incapable of dealing with the tendency towards conflicts because of race and religion. Because of its weakness it commands little respect and even the weakest parties would thumb its collective noses at the Government. The Government apparently has no idea how to handle these problems. We see it apologising only to have it’s apologies rejected.
Hang on a minute. Who are the ones actually stirring these conflicts? Who exactly is responsible for “race politics”?
If the government is weak today, it is because of its inability to reform the oppressive structures, many of which were put in place during Mahathir’s time. It is this inability to reform and undo the damage of the Mahathir era that led to the Abdullah administration losing much of its popular support. In fact, the Abdullah administration’s initial popularity was premised on the hope that Abdullah’s softer approach promised to usher in an era of liberalisation that would be in stark contrast to Mahathir’s repressive rule.
Of course, we know that Mahathir’s use of the terms “strong government” and “stability” are but code words for authoritarian and even repressive rule.
