PRIMA Assembly: Address by Tun Dr. Mahathir

Technorati tags: Politics, State of the Nation, Malaysia, PRIMA, Tun Dr Mahathir, Corruption, Crime, YouTube, Malaysia Today

Yesterday, Malaysia Today posted six videos of the PRIMA organized meeting with former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. PRIMA, incidentally, is the acronym for Jawatankuasa Ad-Hoc Warga Prihatin Malaysia (Ad-Hoc Committee of Concerned Malaysians). The event was announced at, among other places, So-Po Sentral (hat-tip to A Voice).

Because of problems faced by MT readers in accessing the videos, Walski took the liberty of editing the six videos, and has posted them (in 11 parts) on YouTube, as a public service. You can access the videos via this link, or view all eleven parts below.

(address highlights, and more, in the full post)

Tun Mahathir begins by quoting a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet - "there is something rotten in the state of Denmark", leading into an analysis, from his viewpoint, of the rot that plagues our own nation, Malaysia.

Typical of Tun Mahathir, the address had its lighter moments - perhaps as a counter-balance to the dire seriousness of what he had to say. The gist of his address, really, is the perceived widespread corruption and increase in crime in Malaysia today, plus the inability of the Government to address these pressing issues.

In fact, Tun Mahathir also lays part of the blame on the Attorney General's Office for its inability to successfully prosecute criminals, and also the inability to convincingly put a case together. Walski doesn't call the AG Abdul Ghani "No Case" Patail for nothing.

The inability of the ACA (Anti Corruption Agency) is also touched upon, as is the way the economy is being handled.

All these, according to the Tun, exemplify the growing moral decay that truly worries him. And it's a moral decay in a larger sense, not the petty personal morality that some Islamists want policed. Rather, its the moral decay of a society that tolerates corruption and crime, treating it as if it were a necessary evil, for society and business to function.

Underlying all this is the feel-good way that the mainstream press and media reports on domestic affairs, which the Tun states does not paint an accurate picture of the state of the nation. Everything, it seems, is hunky-dory, while the real rot continues to fester and spread across the land. But constantly sweeping the truth under the carpet rarely solves anything. In time, the space under the carpet is gonna overflow... and that time is fast approaching, if not already here.

Walski urges everyone to take some time to watch, and more importantly, listen to what Tun Dr. Mahathir has to say. He may not have been everyone's favorite person while in office - certainly true as far as Walski is concerned. But in contrast, as Prime Minister, he had the vision and the tenacity to ensure things got done. Yes, the man had his faults too. But to Walski, the current Executive pales in comparison - in fact, it would be ludicrous to even compare the Tun with AAB.

Just as there was something rotten in Shakespeare's Denmark, there certainly is a distinct stench in our Malaysia of the now.