MALAYSIA: With Suharto Out, Mahathir Comes Under Spotlight

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia, May 25 1998 (IPS) - With the resignation of Indonesia’s President Suharto under popular pressure last week, the mantle of Asia’s longest-serving leader has passed on to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has led Brunei for a longer period of time, but unlike Suharto or Mahathir Mohamad, he is a royal ruler who does not rely on any form of electoral mandate.

Mahathir is already Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, having been premier since 1981. He has surpassed the 13 years of ‘Father of Independence’ Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, the country’s first prime minister.

Like Suharto, Mahathir is credited for steering his country’s transformation into a would-be tiger economy whose GDP was growing by 8 percent a year. But along with its neighbours, it fell victim to Asia’s financial crisis late last year.

Like Indonesia, the Malaysian government keeps a tight watch on the media and political dissent and has come under fire for poor respect for human rights.

Being the region’s longest-serving head of government is not a claim that Mahathir relishes or wishes to draw attention to.

Still, activists here say there are lessons for Malaysia to learn from Suharto’s excesses in office, his tight control of the political system and media and how economic crisis can undermine even a rule that until months ago seemed solid.

Political activists note that one of the key factors leading to Suharto’s downfall was the widespread nepotism, cronyism and corruption at the top. The Suharto family has a pervasive grip on the Indonesian economy, with Suharto himself said to be among the 10 richest men in the world.

“Suharto was the mentor for all the corruption and crony capitalism in the region,” says Malaysian political activist and writer Fan Yew Teng.

Some analysts are drawing parallels to some situations in Malaysia, where Mahathir’s children are directors in dozens of major companies — the difference lying in their smaller scale of involvement.

The Penang-based social reform group Aliran pointed to the case of the recent bailout of debt-laden haulier Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad (KPB), owned largely by Mahathir’s son, Mirzan.

KPB is to be rescued using funds from the national petroleum corporation, Petronas. “A Bailout Is A Bailout,” screamed ‘Aliran Monthly’ magazine, against a large picture of Mirzan on the cover.

In an interview with IPS, Fan said Suharto’s forced resignation is “a warning for leaders who forget the interests of the people and build their own personal and family empires”.

Activists also pointed out that ‘people power’ has already thrown out abusive leaders in several Asian countries, from the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea and now, Indonesia.

“The lesson to be learnt is that no leader or regime that rules by iron hand, corruption, nepotism and undemocratic means can last forever,” Dr Syed Husin Ali, president of the opposition Parti Rakyat Malaysia, said in a statement. The history of many different countries, he said, had demonstrated this repeatedly.

This is a lesson that Fan and other activists hope will inspire Indonesia’s neighbours.

“I hope what is happening in Indonesia will give courage to the people of Malaysia, in particular UMNO (the ruling United Malays Nationalist Organisation), to save our country from leaders who are deeply mired in nepotism, corruption and conflict of interest,” said Fan.

Indonesia and Malaysia’s warm ties go back a long way and the two countries often hold similar views on key issues.

In 1996, Jakarta pressured Kuala Lumpur to clamp down on a conference on East Timor, annexed by Indonesia, that had just started in the Malaysian capital. More than a hundred activists and delegates were arrested or deported.

Last year, both Indonesia and Malaysia strongly supported the admission of Burma’s military junta as a member of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Cooperation between the two countries continued right to the end of Suharto’s rule.

Mahathir had a heart-to-heart talk with Suharto just days before he quit on May 21. Eleven days before Suharto’s exit, with unrest mounting in Indonesia, Mahathir said Malaysia would provide a 250 million U.S. dollar loan to Indonesia, which would be repaid once the IMF released the balance of its rescue package for Indonesia.

Malaysia would not interfere in Indonesia’s domestic affairs, said Mahathir, “but we will do what we can”. Some analysts saw the aid as a desperate attempt to shore up Suharto’s discredited regime.

Mahathir’s statement came on the same day Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim met his Indonesian counterpart and agreed to the amount to be disbursed as part of Malaysia’s 1.0 billion dollar loan pledge to Indonesia.

Little did Anwar know that Suharto’s end was to come very soon. “We are providing the loan to show our commitment and confidence in the Indonesian government who we believe are implementing the necessary reforms,” Anwar said.

Perhaps not surprisingly, reaction in Kuala Lumpur to Suharto’s resignation was noticeably muted. In congratulating Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie on his appointment as Indonesia’s new president, Mahathir said he was pleased that the transition of power had been carried out peacefully and according to the republic’s Constitution.

He expressed the hope that Habibie’s appointment, “Indonesia will speedily recover in a calm and peaceful situation as well as progress again as hoped by the Indonesian people.”

Malaysia’s ties with Indonesia, however, have not been without irritants. In recent months, Malaysia has deported thousands of illegal immigrants from Indonesia who had fled to their neighbouring country in order to escape poverty and economic collapse at home.