YOURSAY | 'Mahathir did not save Malaysia (in 1997-98); he saved his own cronies.'

Dr M offers sarcastic apology for 'solving' 1997 financial crisis, helping tycoons

Kim Quek: It is puzzling, in fact disturbing, to see the 94-year-old autocrat rattling away (about solving the 1997 financial crisis and at the same time helping the tycoons), like a schoolboy without any apparent provocation. Has he gone into his second childhood?

Or is Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad defending his action to use public funds to bail out his billionaire son and Umno crony companies during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98?

Is it not unsettling that he now holds the fate of the country in his hands?

Anonymous #33227154: Mahathir did not save Malaysia (in 1997-98); he saved his own cronies.

Under his administration, he encouraged rampant corruption, cronyism, racism and unfair monopolies, and all these caused Malaysia's economy to crash during the 1997 financial crisis.

He created the problem, then pretended to 'solve' it.

Proarte: We don't deserve his nonsensical ramblings which are self-serving and ridiculous. We have to move on beyond Mahathir.

His brand of politics, which employs racism and Islamic supremacy to facilitate klepto-cronyism, is something we cannot afford and do not deserve as a nation.

Mahathir has done enough damage to this nation, which will take generations to rehabilitate. He has to be put to pasture. But will his cronies allow him to step down as the nation expects him to?

The Malays need a new paradigm, not klepto-cronyism by their self-styled 'defenders' who allow a few crumbs to trickle down to Malays and expect infinite gratitude for 'protecting' them and Islam from make-belief enemies.

How long do Malays want to be enslaved mentally, economically and morally by Mahathirism?

Anonymous 770241447347646: Where in the world is this system practised - helping to set up companies, arranging bank loans, giving lucrative projects and monopolies and yet when they fail, billions are taken from the taxpayers to bail them out?

Are these cronies or friends investigated for their failures? Are they probed for their own personal financial standing? How could these companies fail after so much help? Were the management probed for where the billions had gone?

The answer lies very clearly at the top. Since it was not their personal monies involved, there was no real responsibility carried out to make sure these companies were successful.

Salvage Malaysia: Mahathir, I agree that you made the right moves then. Today, banks have failed to play their part as a catalyst to the economy. They have become the perfect example of fair-weather bankers.

Many of us businesspeople are dying. Banks offer no solution to help but only threaten to sue us. Many of us are not thieves but victims of the slow economy.

In the 1997 financial crisis, many banks would have folded had it not been for Danaharta to buy the bad loans and Danamodal to recapitalise the banks using taxpayers’ money.

But the bank owners have forgotten that. They just want to make us entrepreneurs bankrupt for defaulting. But underlying all these is Bank Negara, which is stifling the banking system with way too much micromanaging.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, are you aware of the endemic problems why Malaysian entrepreneurship is so hard to thrive? Too few banks, after all the consolidations, and too hard an approach that kills off entrepreneurs.

After they go bankrupt, they are shunned from future endeavours because they are all listed in CCRIS (Central Credit Reference Information System) and CTOS (Credit Tip-Off Service).

Why can’t we have a US Chapter 11 equivalent in Malaysia? We must encourage more entrepreneurship without being so punitive.

Meerkat: We know Mahathir’s past. We were prepared to concede and forget it for his part in bringing down former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. He was very lucky that Najib came along to enable his past to be whitewashed.

We were optimistic about the future. However, he has since turned back to the past to justify his new misdeeds.

Now we need to look at his gory past again. There is no rest for the wicked.

Mushiro: Here is a 94-year-old who is longing desperately to be praised.

Will Mahathir dare mention or hear out his major blunders? Has he not saved any tycoons at all? Has he not created tycoons, including some in his own family?

People have not exposed his blunders and scandals in his second term as PM as they have a slight appreciation for his small part in toppling the kleptocrat, Najib.

But Mahathir has got it into his head that he had played a major role in toppling Najib when in actual fact many groups and parties also played very prominent roles.

Kangkuong: It’s so sad to see rakyat has lost faith and respect for Mahathir - something he brought it upon himself.

The rakyat has forgiven him once before GE14, and I believe, we will forgive him again if he is willing to:

1) Publicly reject the five racist resolutions of the Malay Dignity Congress;

2) Deport Zakir Naik and apologise to India for the 'invading Kashmir' remarks;

4) Let PDRM finish Azmin Ali's gay sex investigations without interference;

5) Step down before May 2020 (without any backdoor shenanigans with Umno/PAS); and

6) Stay out of politics forever. No more hidden hands.

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