Mahathir's choice

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.