Mahathir & Sanusi Junid - true bedfellows

Mahathir's recent show of support for Sanusi when the latter was SACKED as IIU President, goes to show how much of a soft spot he has had for Sanusi, for a long time now.

In 1996, Mahathir attempted to appoint Sanusi as Chief Minister of Kedah (even though the latter lost a key divisional post). Mahathir also openly faced dissent from a majority of assemblymen from Kedah, if he pushed to have his preferred "appointee" in place of then Kedah Chief Minister Osman Aroff.

Those very assemblymen later appologised to Mahathir for their action, which subtly indicates that Mahathir did not like dissent from any quarter - as a side comment, this is another of Mahathir's hypocrisy. He never tolerated dissent, yet he openly instigates people and UMNO members to revolt against current leadership.

Anyhow, Sanusi was appointed as CM, and I can never remember any of his high-points as MB of Mahathir's home state.

Sanusi was also an open opponent of Mahathir's nemesis, Anwar Ibrahim. This is another example of how Mahathir "rewards" loyalty - support him unconditionally and he will install those in positions of power without expecting any real productivity from them.

For those who don't remember (or have selective memory), Sanusi has a prior assault charge and was fined by a magistrate court for grieviously hurting 2 Malaysian Airlines employees.

Well, TDM - now that Sanusi is no longer in UMNO, it will allow the party to progress and work productively!

-Ravi

In my next segment, I am thinking of writing about another Mahathir bedfellow - Samy Velu. Another example where Mahathir's cronyism extends to corrupt and unproductive elected representatives. Am interested to hear from those who can name other Mahathir's cronies and their contributions (or lack of) to Malaysia.