Malaysia: At 100, former Prime Minister Mahathir still calls for government overthrow
Some of the Malaysian press has featured cover profiles of Mahathir Mohamad, the patriarch of the country's political life, who celebrated his 100th birthday on July 10. And he has lost none of his verve, especially toward the current Prime Minister, long seen as his own heir apparent.
“Doctor M. is 100 years old!” rejoiced the Malaysian Chinese-language daily Sin Chew Jit Poh on Friday, July 11, under a front-page photo of the country’s former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, face to face with his daughter Marina, famous in her country for her commitment to human rights.
Mahathir—usually referred to by his first name alone—serves as the patriarch of Malaysian politics. As prime minister between 1981 and 2003, he spearheaded the country's rapid modernization, earning him a prominent place among the "Asian Tigers," as emerging Asian economies were known at the turn of the century.
But it owes a good part of its longevity to its many developments and some spectacular reversals: on the Chinese minority in Malaysia, on society's relationship with Islam, on geopolitical balances...
“Doctor M.”, as he is also known, returned to the helm of government in 2018 “as a savior,” Sin Chew Jit Poh reports on its inside page, after the authoritarian and profiteering excesses of the previous government. He stayed in power for just under two years.
"Today, the old man still has the same verve ," notes the daily, which was present at a press conference that the patriarch gave on Thursday, July 10. "Is Malaysia going to enter an era of silence?" it asked.
He intends to highlight the attacks on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression for which he holds the current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, responsible. He was Mahathir's deputy prime minister for a long time and has been presented several times as his spiritual successor.
Anwar Ibrahim has been facing a serious crisis since the revelation earlier this week of tensions with the judiciary over the appointment of certain magistrates to key positions. Calling for the Prime Minister's resignation, Dr. M. even announced that he would organize "a large-scale popular mobilization on July 26, to reflect the current discontent of the population with the government, particularly on the issue of the judiciary." Moreover, the headline on the front page of Sin Chew Jit Poh , just above Mahathir's photo, is explicit: "Judges should not be appointed on political grounds."
Courrier International
