Mahathir's megaproject comes under fire

Mahathir's megaproject comes under fire

By Andreas Baenziger

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): The recently completed Prime Minister's
Office rages mightily over a landscape that until recently was
covered by dense palm and rubber plantations. But the vast
granite structure, with its green onion domes, cannot be called
beautiful and certainly not tasteful. In fact, it conjures up a
rather dark and forbidding impression; perhaps its design was
really aimed at instilling respect for -- or even fear of -- the
new building's resident, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad.

At the foot of this colossal shrine to temporal power, the
Grand Mosque is nearing completion. It, too, is a grand affair of
pink marble with a minaret that towers 116 meters above the
ornate boulevard it adjoins. Both buildings are surrounded by a
complex of artificial lakes and linked by a series of elegant
bridges bearing lampposts vaguely reminiscent of Paris.

In the far distance, on the other side of the lake, shimmers
the prime minister's new residence, a building of laughable
proportions which was designed to be bigger than Washington's
White House.

A building site surrounds the new edifices, where guest
workers from Bangladesh and Indonesia toil to complete Malaysia's
future capital. This is Putrajaya, the futuristic model city 25
kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur, supposed to represent
Mahathir's noble efforts at paying tribute to Malaysia's now
somewhat doubtful economic miracle.

And yet Mahathir is not deriving as much pleasure from the
mega-project as he might. Putrajaya, designed to house office and
living space for 330,000 people, has become a symbol of almost
pharaonic self-indulgence deeply at odds with Malaysia's current
economic malaise.

Mahathir expects to have shelled out US$4.6 billion on
Putrajaya by 2012. His prime political opponent, the now
imprisoned former deputy premier and finance minister Anwar
Ibrahim, accuses Mahathir of having squandered almost $50 million
on his residence alone; a claim denied by the government.

"This money could have achieved wonders in the area of
affordable new housing," says Syed Husin Ali, leader of the small
social-democratic people's party (PRM).

But then again, for subversive comments like this Husin Ali
was already sentenced to six years jail under Mahathir's Internal
Security Law. The statute permits Mahathir to imprison political
opponents without an irksome court case. Husin Ali had the
opportunity to meet Anwar Ibrahim in prison, before the latter's
rise to the country's number two slot. Now Anwar is in prison
again on corruption charges and is still answering charges of
sodomy in court.

There are two topics currently holding an otherwise hopelessly
split opposition together in their constant battle against
Mahathir: the premier's giantism and the internal-security law
which has been turned against so many opposition figures.

Pre-election tension is sweeping Malaysia. The premier can
call elections at any time, as long as they take place within a
year. Paradoxically, this has taken the wind out of the sails of
the democracy movement which sprang up after Anwar's removal from
office and later arrest.

"Everyone's energy was directed to building up opposition
parties," says Elizabeth Wong, president of the important non-
governmental organization Suaram. But its current concentration
of forces could mean the opposition appears best-prepared for the
elections at completely the wrong moment.

New in the opposition's ranks is the Parti Keadilan Nasional
(National Justice Party) led by Wan Azizah Ismail, wife of Anwar
Ibrahim, who aims to take the call for reformasi (reform) further
into political territory.

Keadilan sees itself as a multi-ethnic organization, pulling
Malays, Chinese and Indians all in the same direction. This
compares with the government camp's National Front, which is
constructed along ethnically-defined lines.

The modern and secular Justice Party has joined ranks with the
Chinese opposition Democratic Action Party and the PRM, both of
them non-religious, to form a pact with the Muslims of the
Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS). The latter's aim is to turn
Malaysia into an Islamic state.

But the opposition is split on fundamental issues. The Chinese
DAP tends to give Mahathir the kid-glove treatment. "Mahathir is
not Soeharto," said Tan Seng Giaw, the party's vice-president.
"In fact, there is nothing dramatically wrong with Malaysia. All
we say to people is that they shouldn't give the ruling National
Front so much power."

The Islamic PAS is a lot more radical. "Mahathir is the
Milosevic of Malaysia," said Subky Latif, Kuala Lumpur district
party leader. "Mahathir must go."

Despite all the differences, the opposition is determined to
stick together, so great is the dissatisfaction with the
autocratic Mahathir, who has monopolized power for 18 years.

So far, the biggest party in the opposition alliance is the
PAS, which already governs Kelantan in the north-east of the
country, the only state of Malaysia where Mahathir's National
Front is not in power. And things certainly look different there
than they do in Putrajaya or in Kuala Lumpur with its gigantic
skyscrapers.

"Kelantan is one of Malaysia's poorer regions," says Husam
Mussa, political secretary to the state's chief minister Nik
Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, speaking in the state capital Kota Baharu.
"But the quality of life is better."

It is better, he says, because Kelantan treats its rain
forests carefully, because there is less traffic on the roads,
because Kelantan has not fully surrendered to industrialization.

The Kelantan parliament unanimously approve the introduction
of the Sharia, the Islamic code of law. "Why should British
colonial laws be correct for a country where 95 percent of the
people are Muslims?" Mussa asks.

But the federal government in Kuala Lumpur overruled the state
parliament, and Kelantan has only been able to make some small
changes. Gambling is banned, alcohol consumption restricted and
the state has deposited its money in an Islamic bank.

However, the central government's destabilization attempts
have failed. PAS has shown that you can get by without Mahathir,
indeed in opposition to him. Husam Mussa says that numerous
people from all over Malaysia have come to Kota Bahara just to
see how it works.

"It has really given a boost to tourism."