Brazen Mahathir Mohamad pulls dictator card on Anwar Ibrahim

The two-time former PM was notorious for using Malaysia’s laws and institutions throughout his career to pursue rivals.

Mahathir Mohamad blames Anwar Ibrahim for the sudden unavailability of several city venues booked for the weekend. Picture: AFP

For sheer chutzpah it’s hard not to admire Malaysia’s former strongman Mahathir Mohamad bemoaning the dictatorial nature of the new government under his long-time nemesis and democracy champion Anwar Ibrahim.

The 97-year-old two-time prime minister — notorious for having used the country’s laws and institutions throughout his career to pursue rivals — made the claim after Mr Anwar warned those who sought to destabilise his coalition government by inciting racial or religious hatred would be arrested.

“If you want to criticise go ahead, but if you use race to instigate and disrupt peace, I will make sure to have them arrested,” Mr Anwar said on Saturday after a “Malay Proclamation” event set to feature Dr Mahathir was cancelled for the second time.

Dr Mahathir blamed Mr Anwar for the sudden unavailability of several city venues booked for the weekend gathering designed to rally Malay Muslim rights groups behind a bid to revive his political career and potentially stave off corruption charges.

“I don’t understand why the government is so afraid of Malays that they won’t let us gather. We have tried four venues but to no avail. The gathering is apparently racist,” he said on Sunday. “Actually, when you block one race, you are the one who is racist.”

Mr Anwar’s sacking as Dr Mahathir’s deputy prime minister in 1998, and subsequent jailing on trumped up sodomy and corruption charges, led to the rise of the country’s Reformasi movement. But just four months after winning government, Mr Anwar’s coalition is under pressure from Malay Muslim rights groups and an opposition buoyed by the rallying of conservative Islamic forces behind the notion that a government that includes non-Malays is inherently suspect.

Malaysia’s already febrile political environment has turned toxic as Dr Mahathir has revived the trope that the Malay Muslim majority — the same group that has long-enjoyed quotas for universities and public service jobs — is marginalised and persecuted.

Some analysts say Dr Mahathir sees an opportunity to seize the opposition leadership in the wake of former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin being charged with laundering Covid-19 funds during his 17 months in power. Others suggest he fears Mr Anwar’s selective “corruption jihad” could soon turn his way.

Mr Muhyiddin, 75, the second former leader to face corruption charges after Najib Razak was jailed for 12-years for convictions related to the 1MDB financial scandal, has denied the charges.

Just four months after winning government, Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition is under pressure from Malay Muslim rights groups. Picture: Getty Images

But Mr Anwar’s corruption jihad plays well with his own base ahead of six crucial state elections in July that could determine the longevity of his government.

Most analysts agree he must claw back Malay Muslim voters — who rallied behind the anti-corruption platform of Mr Muhyiddin’s Bersatu Party and the allied hard-line Malaysia Islamic Party during last November’s general elections in an Islamic “green wave” — to remain in power.

Yet Mr Anwar has his own legitimacy problems. After 25 years of railing against political corruption, the 75-year-old could only form government by aligning with the scandal-plagued United Malays National Organisation — the former ruling party which oversaw the embezzlement of $US4.5bn from the 1MDB state development fund. Anwar’s chosen deputy, UMNO leader Zahid Hamidi, faces numerous corruption charges that cannot be pursued while he is in government.

“Anwar has never been in a more compromised position. He is helming a government of 18 parties,” says Kean Wong, a Malaysia analyst and author. “For years he has complained against the kleptocrats and here he is in charge because of those same kleptocrats.”

Southeast Asia scholar Bridget Welsh says there are clear similarities between the Malay rights movement in 2019 that led to the collapse of the uneasy Mahathir- Anwar’s coalition government, and the latest “reckless” push by opposition forces and Dr Mahathir to “play the race card”.

Yet, she also warns, voters are not blind to Mr Anwar’s selective anti-corruption campaign.

“We see Anwar using the state apparatus in a very Mahathir-like way,” she says. “At the same time we have a former PM locked in bitter, old man rhetoric using old politics as a way to destabilise government. Mahathir wants to be politically relevant but the question is whether this divisive old politics is constructive, and it is not. It is so hot in Malaysia right now, so much more polarised, that this sort of rhetoric is really like throwing kindling on a warming fire.”