LETTER | When Dr M becomes a loose cannon, M'sia pays the price

LETTER | It seems that some folks are so desperate for attention that they are willing to say anything just to elicit a response.

One such person is former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In his attempt to promote his new book - 'Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia' - he chooses to lean on the tried-and-tested policy of bringing race into the picture, using chopsticks to highlight the difficulties of the Chinese community in assimilating into the Malay population in the country.

This, of course, attracted immediate criticism, and rightfully so. For all the attempts by his young sycophants to reform his image, there really is no difference between him and, say, Hitler – as both see the world through the myopic and often dangerous lens of race.

Let’s remember that a few years ago, he said that, “Muslims have a right… to kill millions of French people”, in retaliation to the French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech that Islam is facing a crisis globally from extreme radicalism.

Although Mahathir subsequently said that reports on his post were taken out of context, many of us could not help but feel like we have been transported back in time again.

Diplomatic standoff

Yet the problem is that when Mahathir says this kind of thing, it often can affect others beyond his small world.

For example, during his tenure as prime minister under the Pakatan Harapan government, his refusal to extradite infamous preacher, Zakir Naik, who is wanted in India for alleged money laundering, terror funding, and hate speech which provoked terror attacks, has led to a diplomatic standoff between India and Malaysia.

On top of this, Mahathir doubled down and rebuked New Delhi’s handling of the Kashmir issue and Muslim migrants.

The result: India’s subsequent boycott of Malaysian palm oil, one of our prized resources, with data showing that India only purchased just short of 15 percent of Malaysian palm oil between January and June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 – from 2.6 million tonnes to 400,000 tonnes.

To highlight the severity this has caused us, India is the largest importer of our palm oil – and one can only imagine the state our country will be in if it weren’t for the need to correct the relationship between both nations.

Without a doubt, this time is no different. Mahathir likely feels that he can still gain some influence globally despite seeing it waning day by day in Malaysia - where no one listens to him anymore and no sensible politician even thought of crossing the line by joining his new party, Pejuang.

Final price

Yet, the endless racist gaffes will not only tarnish our name in the world, but it will also still have an economic impact that elite politicians like the Mahathir family will never feel in their lifetime.

Bear in mind that all of this happened while the European Union, of which France is an influential member, is planning to phase out palm oil in the region.

Antagonising an influential member of the bloc will only hasten the decision.

In the end, the rakyat and Malaysia will always pay the final price whenever Mahathir becomes a loose cannon, with his polemics that only serves his ego and never the nation.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.