Call on Mahathir to make a full disclosure of beneficiaries from government contracts, shares, APs and licences which should be an act of good governance rather than an instrument of intra-party feuding

(Ipoh, Saturday):  The keynote address of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at a leadership seminar for students of public institutes of higher learning at :Pusat Islam, Kuala Lumpur yesterday will go down as one of the most remarkable speeches by Mahathir in his political career  as it portends  a watershed in UMNO politics in the 1990s, marking an open parting of ways between Mahathir and his anointed successor, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

It is clear that in that speech, Mahathir made rather open attacks on the Anwar forces which are not veiled at all, such as:

• The serious allegation that Indonesian students are brought to Malaysia by "certain people, who aspire to become ministers, to instigate local university students;
• The implication of the statements that "before we raise the gun to shoot someone, we must determine whether that person should be our target" and "If we are taken in by assertions by some people with vested interests and stand up to call for the eradication of cronyism and to topple the government, we will not benefit, only those with an agenda will benefit".
• His very open attack on Anwar when  he said that foreigners want to see the government fall not because they like those who will take over but because they want these people to be indebted to them, with his specific attack on Anwar when he said: "If we read the foreign press, that person gets the support of these people for raising the issues of nepotism, cronyism and others in Malaysia�but he is the same, or even worse than others, in terms of getting shares.  As the PM, I know everything. I get information about all ministers' activities because these have to be reported to the PM. That is among the advantages of (being) PM."
• Allegation that Anwar or those in Anwar camp are more guilty of corruption, cronyism and nepotism when he said: "There are those who accused us of nepotism, as though government leaders only give projects to their family members and friends. Is this true?  When we reveal the list, we find those who talk (about the issue) are also listed.  In fact, they got even more�we have not disclosed everything yet."
• Insinuation that Anwar or those in Anwar camp are being used by "greedy foreigners" so that the West can recolonise Malaysia to further the Western agenda to "topple the government" by blaming the economic crisis on the government claiming that the situation arose as a result of nepotism, cronyism and corruption. Mahathir said: "And I believe that many among us have been influenced, may be because of self-interests and not because (they) want to improve the situation and eradicate cronyism.  They pointed to Indonesia where the leader has been brought down because of nepotism, cronyism and others, and they likened Malaysia to Indoneisa".

The DAP is not involved and will not be involved  in the squaring up for a showdown between the Mahathir and Anwar forces, but the effect of such a showdown on the Malaysian economy is undoubtedly a concern for all Malaysians.

Equally of concern to all Malaysians is that the Prime Minister and the government should be seen to be fully committed to the war against corruption, cronyism and nepotism and not using them merely as instruments of internal  political war in UMNO.
For this reason, I call on Mahathir to make a full disclosure of beneficiaries from government contracts, shares, APs and licences which should be an act of good governance rather than an instrument of intra-party feuding and let Malaysians know the extent of the problem of corruption, cronyism and nepotism in Malaysia, regardless of whether Mahathir or Anwar camps.
 
 (27/6/98)