By Lim Kit Siang, MP for Gelang Patah

(Pic from FMT)

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has declared that I am not a communist but he called me an “authoritarian”.

I do not know whether I should thank Mahathir for clearing me of the “communist” charge which is still hurled against me by UMNO cybertroopers together with other lies and falsehoods like being the cause of May 13 race riots in 1969.

Mahathir wants probably to clear his name for he would look extremely foolish to have allowed a “communist” to operate freely in Parliament, having been Prime Minister for 22 years and Home Minister for nearly 15 years.

If I had been a “communist”, then Mahathir would be a failure as a Prime Minister and Home Minister not to know it.

I am intrigued by his accusation that I am an “authoritarian” and wants my son, Guan Eng, to replace me.

I would not accuse Mahathir of senility although he is capable of pretending to be senile and even pretend to suffer from amnesia, which was quite a show that he staged during his appearance at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Videotapes, when he suffered from so many lapses of amnesia which had not been repeated.

Mahathir said I want Guan Eng to replace me.

Was he referring to Guan Eng following my footsteps of being detained by him under the Internal Security Act (ISA), and subsequently “graduating” to be imprisoned in the Kajang Prison for 18 months and disqualified as MP and disenfranchisement of civil liberties like the right to vote and stand for elective office for five years when he championed the rights of a 15 year-old girl in Malacca?

Or was Mahathir referring to Guan Eng becoming Penang Chief Minister? May I remind Mahathir that I was never Penang Chief Minister?

Or was he referring to Guan Eng as DAP Secretary-General? Can I remind Mahathir that I ceased to be DAP Secretary-General in 1999 and Guan Eng became DAP Secretary-General in 2004.

Furthermore, Mahathir should be reminded he was responsible for the dragnet of mass arrests of ISA detention without trial, the infamous Operation Lalang, in October 1987; that he single-handed destroyed the independence, impartiality and professionalism not only of the judiciary, but also of other important national institutions like the police, the Elections Commission, the anti-corruption agency, and the civil service?

Need Mahathir be reminded that it was under his premiership, that Malaysia began to suffer from rampant corruption in high political places and massive abuses of power by those in authority?

After the Federal Court’s shocking dismissal of  Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal and sent him back to prison for the third time on Tuesday, February 10, Mahathir blogged, quoting Hamlet, declaring that something is rotten in Malaysia.

Yes, something is rotten in Malaysia – as evidenced by a patriot like Anwar Ibrahim being sent to jail for the third time despite devoting 47 years of his life fighting for justice, freedom, human dignity and national unity.

If Malaysians are asked as to who are the top political leaders, past and present, who should be languishing in jail for five years, different names would be mentioned but Anwar Ibrahim would not be among them.

This shows the rot in Malaysia, but it is a rot which was started during Mahathir’s 22-year premiership, and by Mahathir himself!

Today, Mahathir is obsessed with the toppling of Najib as Prime Minister, but this is not because he wanted to stop the rot in Malaysia, to restore the independence and integrity of the judiciary and a just rule of law; to end the subversion of the independence and professionalism of national institutions whether the civil service, the police, the elections commission or anti-corruption agency; eradicate rampant corruption; restore ethics and honesty in public life; re-establish a good education system or restore Malaysia’s economic competitiveness.

Mahathir wants Najib out as the Prime Minister for Malaysia, not to stop the rot which was started by him during his premiership, but for an agenda personal to himself.

This is the rot of Hamlet in Malaysia!