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