Mahathir's choice

Ousted Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim gained strong support from scores of human rights and political activists on Friday, a few hours after he was dismissed from his post as vice president of the ruling United Malays National Organization UMNO. On Wednesday, the popular Anwar was fired by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from his dual positions as deputy premier and finance minister.

Countries in the region, particularly members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, were obviously surprised by Mahathir's decision to dismiss his No. 2, especially given that Anwar had been considered his heir apparent.

The dismissal, quoting the spokesman of Malaysia's SUARAM human rights group, "illustrates the arrogance of the prime minister who has completely disregarded fairness, due process and political accountability to the public." Refusing to give a reason for Anwar's dismissal, Mahathir said: "I do not need to explain why we make such decisions. We find him not suitable, that's all." Mahathir's comment sounded preposterous as it was he himself who had promoted Anwar to the senior position.

Rifts between Mahathir and Anwar, which had been covered up and denied by the two until Wednesday, began to mount when Malaysia was blighted by economic woes last year and climaxed with Anwar's expulsion from the government and UMNO. While Mahathir prefers his own way to fix the country's economic problems without bowing to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Anwar is more ready to accept the IMF's offer of a bailout package as one way to cure Malaysia's economic ills.

Analysts believe that Mahathir, who at 17 years in power is Asia's longest serving leader, has been unable to accommodate the aspirations of Malaysia's younger generation of politicians who seek changes and greater freedom of expression. At least two newspaper editors have resigned in the last couple of months for disagreeing with Mahathir's overstringent control of the press, especially when dealing with reports of unfair business dealings involving the premier's cronies.

Last week's resignation of the central bank governor and Mahathir's remark that he had no plan to appoint a replacement for the deposed Anwar evidently shows that the prime minister wants to keep a firm control over the country's monetary policy. And history has taught us that when leaders rule a country for too long unopposed, they tend to become overconfident with their policies and decisions, resulting all too often in nothing less than authoritarianism. If this happens, it is the people who will suffer the most and not the political elite.

In the case of Malaysia, one analyst here said that if Mahathir used his power to arrest Anwar on allegations of "sexual misconduct and leaking state secrets" -- charges Anwar has denied -- by using the Internal Security Act, the prime minister "will be digging his own grave" and thereby creating political instability in this peninsular country.