Mahathir Was Right But Only

If Mahathir was spot on for once, it was his description of Pak Lah's cabinet as half past six.

But Mahtahir was only half honest. His cabinets over the years were also half past six.

He had staffed his cabinets with yes men over the 23 so years he headed them.

Many of Pah Lak's cabinet consisted of the same ministers as had been in Mahathir's cabinets.

But where Pak Lah was himself personally concerned, he at least had the cheeks to give the short shrift to Mahathir's crooked bridge to nowhere that eventually got lost in Oxford.

That really must have had rankled the old man so much so that Mahathir was thereafter said to have worked tirelessly to oust his successor.

Najib's immediate past cabinet was worse.

And his present cabinet if not more than half past six, is really a laughable one.

Najib's immediate past cabinet was distinguished only by the half cooked and half baked so-called transformation plans from Najib's Campbell Alphabet Soup Kitchen that very few saw as transforming their lives except for the privileged elite in on the gravy train.

Najib's present cabinet still consists of several ministers from Mahathir's era. So the half past six genes continue.

Just look at Zahid Hamidi who when he was first just appointed to the Home Ministry in the present cabinet, immediately started to foam at the mouth self-righteously hollering at the rakyat to pack up and leave the country if they were not happy with the electoral system here that got him and the Umno/Bn coalition into continued power on a minority vote! as if the country belonged to his grandfather!

He conveniently forgot that the 51% majority who had not voted for the Umno/Bn coalition surely and vehemently did not agree with him, nor that even the minority 47% who did, would think that the call was beyond his scope or right and downright arrogant if not puerile, ignorant or imbecilic or all of these!

Up until now, Zahid's only distinguished achievement seems to be equating the recent spike in violent crimes to the the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) and the ISA (Internal Security Act) and calling for their reinstatement.

How distinguished is that!

And we still have Hishamuddin Hussein now in Zahid's previous post at the Defence Mininstry, whose great distinction when he was himself the past immediate Home Minister, was to turn the police on the Bersih demonstrators and chiding the public on their perception of the crime rate.

The rest of Najib's current cabinet consist largely of those who have been rejected or out of favour in the NGOs or groups they once headed, or ministers who achievements seem to be making public statements that don't gel with their portfolios if not downright inane.

Najib even had a minister in his previous cabinet who had no idea at all, according to her own protestations, as what her husband was doing with cows and condos allegedly at public expense, and who is now back in favour in some obscure function.

Yes, Mahathir was right.

He has left a legacy of half past six cabinets.