Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📕

In his address to Parliament, Dr. Mahathir suggested that his administration's openness and liberalism in the first six years had invited the rise of political hostility and criticism, and he would tolerate it no longer.[49] He developed this theme as he shifted into authoritarian gear in the months ahead. In reality, Dr. Mahathir had always held a dim view of democracy, with a particular dislike for pressure groups, the press and other un-elected bodies. As education minister in the late 1970s, he had supported the suppression of the student movement and introduced legislation that ended university autonomy. As deputy prime minister in 1979, he had no hesitation in using the ISA to detain unionists in a dispute with state-owned Malaysian Airlines System.

The record showed that the "growing authoritarianism" of Dr. Mahathir's leadership actually began almost the day he took over as prime minister.[50] Constitutional amendments in 1981 empowered the king — in practice, the executive — to proclaim a state of emergency even "before the actual occurrence of the event" that might threaten security, economic life or public order. And his proclamation could not be questioned in court. It was a drastic departure from the 1957 Constitution, which stipulated that Parliament should decide when an emergency existed.

Dr. Mahathir also tightened regulations affecting press freedom several times between 1984 and 1987, strengthened the Official Secrets Act in 1984 and moved to head off any possible political challenge, especially from civil society groups, outside the political party system. Under an amendment to the Societies Act, an organization had to register as a "political society" to comment on the policies or activities of the government. Otherwise, the Registrar of Societies, a civil servant under the Home Ministry, could interpret any comment as "political" and deregister a society. While compromises were accepted in 1982 and 1983 to accommodate increasing opposition to the act, most of the repressive provisions remained intact.[51]

If there was a liberal gloss to the 2-M administration it was provided by Musa, and his departure left Dr. Mahathir free to indulge his autocratic instincts. Having taken over the Home Ministry from Musa in 1986, Dr. Mahathir would keep it firmly in his grasp for 13 years, using the ISA more freely than any of his predecessors. Soon after Ghafar replaced Musa, Dr. Mahathir pushed another Official Secrets Act amendment through Parliament in defiance of a nine-month campaign by Malaysian lawyers, journalists, labour unions, reform groups and the political opposition. It enhanced the "intimidating effect" by broadening the definition of an official secret and, for the first time, prescribed a mandatory jail sentence for violators.[52]

Hardly had the prison gates slammed shut on the Operation Lalang detainees than Dr. Mahathir moved again to limit the space available to anyone else who might disagree with him. In December 1987, he introduced two pieces of legislation on the same day that imposed additional restrictions on publications, and granted broader powers to the police to curb public gatherings. An amendment to the Police Act made it easier to prosecute organizers and participants of ostensibly private meetings that turned into public forums, while the Printing Presses and Publications Act was amended again in a way that would "further bind an already cowed, pro-establishment media".[53] Dr. Mahathir said the amendments were aimed at individuals and groups who abused the government's liberal attitude. "Being liberal to them is like offering a flower to a monkey," he said. "The monkey would rather tear the flower apart than appreciate its beauty."

Just when it appeared that Dr. Mahathir had cleared all obstacles to his rule, he found a new target in another un-elected body, the judiciary. Stung by several court decisions, he set out to wrest discretionary power from the judges and place it where he felt it belonged, in the hands of the executive. The irony was that as Dr. Mahathir limited political and civil rights, fellow Malaysians increasingly turned to the courts for the redress of grievances, or at least to score points against the government. By late 1987, Dr. Mahathir had the country's legal establishment on edge with his repeated attacks on judges, and the disclosure that he was drafting legislation to define the boundaries of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

Again, Dr. Mahathir's frontal assault was surprising since Malaysia's judiciary previously had not been the source of controversy. The courts had an international reputation for independence and integrity, though they were fairly conservative and had never held any act of parliament unconstitutional. Malaysia's first three premiers, lawyers all, coexisted comfortably with the judiciary, and Dr. Mahathir seemed to share their appreciation of the institution. "I will always respect the independence of the judiciary," he had told the Asean Law Association General Assembly in October 1982. While the legislature must retain the right to make laws, he said the judiciary should be free to judge the government's alleged trespasses without fear or favour, in accordance with the Constitution, the law and the law of evidence and procedure, as well as justly and fairly. "We shall always respect their judgments."[54]

Having been thwarted at times by the courts, however, an aggrieved and aggressive Dr. Mahathir felt differently. In private, one of his favourite slogans became, "Hang the lawyers, hang the judges."[55] Deep in his heart, Dr. Mahathir found it hard to respect legal practitioners. He had no doubt he was trained in a more noble profession. As he noted, "I ask questions of my patients to get at the truth. The lawyer asks questions of his client in order to find out how to defend his client even if he is wrong."[56]

One case that annoyed him was the government's attempt in 1986 to ban the Hong Kong-based Asian Wall Street Journal for three months and expel its two Kuala Lumpur-based staff correspondents. The Supreme Court, the country's highest legal tribunal, ruled that reporter John Berthelsen was denied his right to a hearing when his work permit was cancelled. Dr. Mahathir was also deeply unhappy that Lim Kit Siang had been