Dr. M Letter on Why BN Losses and Pak Lah Must Go

Dr. Mahathir Letter to "The Sun" on Why BN Losses and Pak Lah Must Go.

Extracted from the following article
Why BN and Umno performed miserably
by Dr Mahathir Mohamad on 9 May 2008

Why UMNO Members voted for the Opposition?
(1) UMNO Members cannot speak their minds
Umno members did not want their party to lose. But they needed to send a message to Abdullah and his coterie of “Yes Men”. They could not speak their minds because all avenues were closed to them. Delegates to the Umno General Assembly were chosen because they would not criticise the president. My son Mukhriz had commented that there was nothing new in the president’s speech in 2006 and he was called up by the Umno Youth Committee, was scolded and told to choose between his father and the president.

Since Umno members could not express their real opinion regarding the government at any time and in any place, the only way they could convey their disenchantment with it was through voting at the general election. Voting was relatively secret and no action could be taken against them. So scared were the Umno voters that they might be found out that they never revealed to each other or to anyone of their intention to vote for the Opposition. And so it was that no one accurately forecast the massive swing in favour of the Opposition.

Some Umno members could not bring themselves to vote for the Opposition. And so they deliberately spoiled their votes. There were more than 300,000 spoilt votes in all, a record. It cannot be that after 50 years and 11 elections the voters still did not know how to vote

(2) UMNO CAndidates were not good.
Umno could have fielded really good candidates but despite the president assuring that all the candidates were clean and qualified, they lost. This was because the candidates were not good and they often replaced the giant-killers who had done well in the past. Most of the “parachuted” candidates were young and Umno members were angry because they suspected that these young candidates were chosen by one person. Do a survey and find out how many of these new candidates lost.
The leadership apparently believed that Umno members would vote for any candidate chosen by the party leader. The leadership, was grossly mistaken.

(3) PM Bring Family Unofficially into the Government
The first thing he did when becoming prime minister was to bring his family unofficially into the government. He can deny this but people know the activities of Khairy Jamaluddin and Kamaluddin Abdullah and their cronies, including those of the fourth floor. They often sit in meetings of government committees and when the prime minister met people.

Khairy’s winning the deputy Umno Youth post uncontested disgusted many people. Had it been a party veteran with years of service to the party winning uncontested, no one would object. But Khairy had been in Umno less than five years and had no record of service to Umno. How could he win uncontested?

(4) Mega Projects necessaries but cancelled.
Early in his term of office, Abdullah decided not to go ahead with the so-called mega projects initiated by me. That was his right. But what was not right and what caused people to think he was being vindictive was the suggestion that I was wasting money on my many “pet” projects so much so that the government no longer had money to continue with them. Actually people know the projects were necessary. Imagine Malaysia without the KLIA, Sentral Station, Penang Bridge, North-South Highway, double-tracking and electrification
(Malaysia Alternative Voices :
Double Track Project awarded to Gamuda costed RM14.5 Billion for Johor to Padang Besar in 2003 (when Pak Lah aborted the project
but was reawarded on Dec 2007 to Gamuda for RM 12.5 Billion for Ipoh to Padang Besar (less than half the initial project length)
- How many Billion has the Government/Peoples lost as a results of Abdullah Badawi decision to postpone the Projects.) - Personal View of Malaysia Alternative Voices - Not Dr. M view or Opinion.
, the LRT and monorail for Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, toll roads, Westport, Tanjung Pelepas Port, Formula 1 circuit, KL Tower, ports, etc.
I will not mention the things he did which affected me alone and are not generally known to the public. This is because the voting public could not have been influenced by this.

(5) APs Issues
But what is known is his reaction to my criticism regarding the APs (Approved Permits) and the decision not to build the “crooked” bridge in Johor. He and his ministers publicly abused me and at one stage wanted to expel me from the party. Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was extremely rude

(6) Singapore "Crooked" Bridge issue
If Singapore could not agree to build a straight bridge unless sand was sold to it, we could have gone on to build the “crooked” bridge which had nothing to do with Singapore. Irked by the refusal of Johoreans to sell sand and allow Singapore warplanes to fly over Johor air space, Abdullah disallowed the construction of even the “crooked” bridge. Why?

I am sure it was because the one billion cubic metres of sand he wanted to sell to Singapore was objected to by Johor. Someone stood to make RM1 billion or more over 20 years from the sale of sand. Singapore would like to have the sand at above market price even as the land reclaimed would be sold at S$3,000-S$5,000 per sq ft.

The objection by Johor was because mining the seabed sand would cause erosion of the shores, destroy fish breeding grounds and deprive Johor fishermen of their fishing ground. The royalty collected by Johor would be nothing compared to what Singapore could make from selling reclaimed land.

(7) Others Issues
There were other things done by Abdullah which the people did not like. These include matters related to
(1) the issuance of APs,
(2) the sale of MV Agusta,
(3) the CIQ building in Johor Baru,
(4) the double-tracking of the railway from JB to Padang Besar,
(5) miniature mosques and crystal mosques in Terengganu,
(6) the Monsoon Cup, the various corridors and
(7) the extensive renovation of Sri Perdana.

No matter how strongly he denies that he is the cause, no matter how many people he blames, he cannot explain why this catastrophe to the Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan and the BN had never happened under four previous prime ministers but happens only during this tenure. He cannot explain why the “sabotage” by Umno and the component party members in 2008 when in the past they had been very loyal and never failed to give the Alliance and the BN two-thirds majority in Parliament and control of almost all the states. If he refuses to go and tries to ignore the calls for his removal until the next election, the disgusted voters and party members will probably ensure the BN will be defeated at federal and state levels as the only way to end his premiership.

DAP and PAS will want to ensure that Abdullah remains until the next election because, as in 2008, the disgusted BN supporters will vote for the Opposition. This will be even more likely if PAS and DAP provide good government for the states under their care.

When that happens there will be no hope for Umno to make a comeback.

In Conclusion

In the final analysis, the responsibility for the losses sustained by the BN is with the prime minister himself. If he wishes to redeem himself and help resuscitate Umno and BN, he should resign now and let others rehabilitate the parties. As long as he remains Umno president, BN chairman and prime minister, recovery would be impossible

by Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Kuala Lumpur
in Letter to "The Sun" on 9 May 2008
Read Full Transcript of the letter
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=22185