DEMOCRACY IN POLITICAL PARTIES

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on November 23, 2009 10:00 AM

1. All praise for democracy, the best system for politics ever invented by man. But being invented by man, it is not free from imperfections. It works only if you know these imperfections and their limitations.

2. It is fine to determine everything by majority vote and not by consensus. It is fine only if the loser accepts the winner. But when the loser refuses to accept the decision of the majority and launches a campaign to undermine the party, the only result would be a split and therefore a weakening of the party.

3. With UMNO the loser took the case to court and the party was made illegal. When revived it lost a huge chunk of the members.

4. But for Liong Sik, the MCA President who headed BN, accepting UMNO Baru and not Semangat 46, life would have been difficult for me.

5. Fortunately the voters in the General Election restored UMNO Baru's credibility and strength. Otherwise UMNO Baru would have become Peking Duck, deader than the Dodo.

6. History has many lessons for us. As George Santayana said: "those who forget the lessons of history will be punished by making the same mistakes over and over again" or words to that effect.

7. But we never like to learn from history. We think our case is different.

8. No. Actually our case is the same.

9. You can interpret this any way you like.

ANWAR AS ECONOMIC ADVISER

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on November 20, 2009 8:55 AM

1. I would like to thank everyone for their comments on the above. I appreciate very much the positive comments and I accept the negative ones also. I am not perfect. I make mistakes. But some of the wrongdoings attributed to me are just not true or correct.

2. We see what we want to see. Everyone is like that. So do I. But I try my best to be factual.

3. My greatest mistake is in the choice of people. I seem to be picking the wrong people all the time. They not only did not live up to my expectations but they went all out to do all the wrong things, including abusing me.

4. I accept the blame for making wrong choices. But they were all so good before they were chosen.

5. Anwar was pious and holy almost. Before I admitted him into Umno no one told me of his peculiar inclinations.

6. The other one was known as Mr. Clean. Well he and his family certainly did a lot of cleaning.

7. Awarding privatisation at inflated prices! Well the contract to double track and electrify the railways from Johore Baru to Padang Besar was for RM14 billion (including the spur line to KL). It was cancelled by Abdullah.

8. Then it was found necessary to double track and electrify from Ipoh to Padang Besar. I understand the price is RM12 billion. Work out the new cost if we build up to Johore Baru.

9. Putrajaya and Cyberjaya - bought by the acres. Putrajaya, 10,000 acres for RM700 million or approximately RM17,500 per acre or RM0.43 per square foot.

10. Today average price of Putrajaya land per square foot is RM130.00.

11. Bailout happens when a business receives injection of capital to get over a financial crisis.

12. Selling a business at below cost is not a bailout. It is called a fire-sale. That was what my son had to do. Petronas subsequently sold ¾ of the fleet for more than what it paid for the whole fleet when the market was good.

13. Ekonomi Malaysia berkembang pada kadar 8.5% dari 1987 dan bukannya 10% dari 1991. Mula merosot pada 1997 di waktu Anwar sebagai Menteri Kewangan melaksana "ubat" IMF tanpa IMF. Memang Anwar ditangkap semasa krisis hampir berakhir. Kerana kegagalannya MTEN ditubuh untuk ambil alih tugas memulih semula kewangan dan ekonomi Negara, jauh sebelum dia ditangkap.

14. Sila semak SEJARAH dalam laporan akhbar dalam dan luar negeri.

15. Thank you for agreeing that I am a dictator. Tell me which dictator ever resign.

16. Terima kasih kerana membaca blog saya.