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Thursday, May 21, 2015

Zam sees blessing in Mahathir’s shaming

The ex-minister urges the public to look on the bright side of the controversy over Pandikar's woes.
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KUALA LUMPUR: If former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had not disclosed Pandikar Amin Mulia’s decision to quit as Speaker, there would not have been a robust debate on the need for Parliament to be reformed, former information minister Zainuddin Maidin said in a blog posting today.
“It must be conceded, however, that it was Mahathir’s determination to bring down Najib that prompted his disclosure and brought moral support for both men,” said Zainuddin.
“If Mahathir had not mentioned Pandikar being unhappy over the petty issue of furniture in his office, perhaps there would not have been so much attention on the real reasons for the Speaker’s quit decision.
“Pandikar, it’s clear to everyone now, is unhappy with the leadership and how he has been allegedly treated.”
He said Pandikar had a point when he told the media that Mahathir shamed himself by making their private discussion public knowledge. “Still, without Mahathir’s disclosure, there wouldn’t have been so much support, especially moral, for Pandikar’s wish that Parliament should be reformed and given the respect that it deserves as an institution in its own right.”
He pointed out that Shahrir Samad, who chairs the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club, had conceded that Pandikar was a “Speaker without the respect that he should have”. He also noted statements from NGOs, opposition figures and members of the public expressing sympathy for the Speaker.
If not for Mahathir spilling the beans, he said, Pandikar would have continued to suffer in silence and remained under pressure. “The fact that Parliament is not given the respect that it deserves and that the Speaker himself is a victim of the situation have all been hidden from the public before this.”
In Pandikar’s own words, Zainuddin pointed out, the real reason for his quit decision was related to Parliament’s role in a democracy, namely that the doctrine of separation of powers had been compromised, thereby affecting the status of the legislature as a body independent of the executive arm of government.
“He was worried by the public perception that Parliament was under the thumb of the executive and felt that quitting would be one way of dispelling the notion. He certainly doesn’t want Parliament under a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.”
Revisiting Pandikar’s take that Mahathir had shamed himself – in response to the latter’s complaint that the Speaker had shamed him by denying that he had quit – Zainuddin also referred to Cultural Adviser Rais Yatim’s recent statement that the former PM, in trying to oust Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, was out of line with Malay culture.
“Let the custom die, but not the child,” said Zainuddin in a twist on a Malay folk saying and in an implication that it was precisely through defying Malay sentimentality that Mahathir had brought respect to the Malay race and the nation.
“No one should doubt that in his current campaign to oust Najib, he’s willing to conduct himself in such a way that will invite criticisms not only from the mainstream media and TV3 but every cheat and scoundrel in town who can be quoted by them.”

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