Premier Mahathir Mohamad's lieutenants pass acid test

Premier Mahathir Mohamad's lieutenants pass acid test

By Brendan Pereira

SINGAPORE: Something unusual happened in Malaysia last week.
For five days the country was in the throes of a national-
security crisis, but its most recognizable face and voice for the
past 19 years was missing.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad chose to remain
in the background and allowed his two most senior lieutenants,
Home Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi and Defense Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, to head the operations to force the
surrender of the heavily armed members of a religious group and
provide the headlines for the newspapers. His only clear
instruction to both his men: avoid a bloodbath.

It was a guideline he was to drum in many times over the
telephone and at a meeting at his office on July 5. It was a
message that was embedded in the mind of the defense minister by
the time he stood before army and police top brass at 10am the
next day and doused plans for an all-out assault on members of
the Al-Ma'unah gang holed up in the Perak jungle.

The temperature in the briefing room was perceptibly higher
than for the previous four days, the result of learning from two
members of the gang who surrendered at dawn that two hostages had
been killed brutally. Army commandos were ready to go in. Datuk
Najib said no.

His aide told The Straits Times: "If an assault had been
ordered we would have been carrying body bags out of the hills.
The soldiers would go back to the barracks, but the government
would have had a big headache.

"Datuk was the man on the ground who ensured that the main
consideration of the government to avoid a bloodbath was always
given primacy. He is really surprised at the intensity of the
attack by some quarters against him. He should be judged on the
outcome of the crisis and not on the theft of weapons."

It was inevitable that the performances of the two men, slated
to occupy Malaysia's top two positions when Mahathir retires,
would be watched closely by the media, political analysts and
opposition politicians. It was the first time that either had
handled a full-blown crisis without the protective shield of the
prime minister.

Judgment began on July 2, the day 114 assault rifles, grenade-
launchers and ammunition were removed from two military camps in
Perak under the noses of army personnel. The defense minister got
off to a poor start, in large part due to the weak comments he
made at a press conference.

He seemed unwilling to chastise military personnel for not
following standard operating procedure, appearing instead to be
in awe of the men who had pulled off the Hollywood-style raid.

Editorials of Malaysian newspapers and letters from several
readers and opposition politicians let him know what they thought
of his comments. They noted that this was not the first theft of
firearms from an army installation. Some wanted his resignation;
others just wanted him to own up that there had been a serious
security breach in a key institution under his care.

Democratic Action Party chairman Lim Kit Siang noted on
Tuesday that it was scandalous that a full-scale inquiry was not
under way 10 days after the heist, adding that the minister's
"tardiness and procrastination in setting up an inquiry board
will only reignite public concern as to his suitability to
continue as defense minister".

In contrast Datuk Seri Abdullah earned praise for calling a
spade a spade. He said that negligence by military personnel had
paved the way for the arms heist. No excuses were offered, just a
spot-on diagnosis of the problem.

He also exuded the air of a person in control, issuing orders
that security be beefed up in key installations around the
country and telling senior police officers on the ground to hold
three press conferences a day for the hordes of reporters who
made Sauk their home during the stand-off.

More importantly he stayed away from the theater of action,
telling his aides that the "professionals" must be allowed to do
their jobs without having to worry about babysitting visiting
politicians.

But political analysts say that the public perception of the
performances of the two ministers may only fuel coffee-shop talk
and carry little political significance. Shamsul Amri Baharuddin,
a noted political commentator, said: "Najib was a bit slow to
understand the magnitude of the heist while Pak Lah had a better
appreciation of the problem.

"But in the eyes of their boss, they will be judged on whether
they achieved the goal of avoiding a bloodbath. If there was a
lot of bloodshed, it would not have mattered if you said the
right things and looked the part."

History tends to support his analysis. In 1985 Dr Mahathir was
out of the country when police and Islamic fundamentalists
clashed in the village of Memali in Kedah. The death toll: 18
dead, including four police officers. The operation was headed by
then home minister Tan Sri Musa Hitam.

There remains a strong conviction that the use of force would
not have been sanctioned by Dr Mahathir if he had been in the
country. Today PAS members who were killed in Memali are
considered martyrs by the Islamic party, and the incident
continues to strike a raw nerve among conservative Muslims in the
country.

Another bloodbath would have given PAS, much stronger and more
popular today than 15 years ago, another platform to reach out to
Malay voters. Dr Mahathir and his government could not afford
this scenario. That is why, in his eyes, both Datuk Najib and
Datuk Abdullah passed the test.

The writer is the Malaysia correspondent for The Straits Times.

The Nation / Asia News Network