Thanks to former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s gracious bid to step down in favour of his successor Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2009, Malaysia lost its opportunity to open up to discussions on various issues such as citizenship, rights, freedom and democracy.
Former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said due to this loss of opportunity, the country will face many more years of dominance and power craziness.
Zaid said Abdullah, fondly known as Pak Lah, tried his best to provide open discussions so that people can view things differently and this includes introducing the concept of Islam Hadhari.
“Islam in this country has always been about roots, power and authority. This is not Islam. That is why Pak Lah was trying to get the Muslims to start thinking and have a new historical perspective.
“But he failed to change the Malay Muslim culture in the country. He wasn’t strong enough to say, this is what you have to do.
“Pak Lah tried to open up discussions so that we, as a nation, can start talking again, thinking again. We have lost the opportunity now with him out of the way,” Zaid said during a discussion at the launch of the book "Awakening: The Abdullah Years in Malaysia".
Zaid said Pak Lah’s tenure as the country fifth Prime Minister was too short a time for him to do anything significant.
“After over 20 years of Tun Mahathir’s control, someone (Pak Lah) comes much later trying to change it. It is not easy.
“Even the Umno fellows were sceptical of Pak Lah. The time was too short for him. I think has he been allowed to grow, if those fellows who pushed him out realised their mistakes, Pak Lah, in his own way, would still be able to do something,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Appellate Court judge and Suhakam founding member Datuk Mahadev Shankar, who launched the book, said the Malaysian judiciary system was a lot freer under Pak Lah’s administration.
“Pak Lah liberated the minds of the judges, He said, ‘Don’t do anything to please me, just fulfil your judicial oaths.’
“His slogan was, ‘don’t work for me, work with me’. His motto was an invitation to every Malaysian to participate in the business of government.
“If Pak Lah’s tenure of office has been a little disappointing in the sense that it did not fulfil your great expectation, what did we do to fulfil his request for us to work with him?” he asked.
Mahadev described the book, which is a collection of 37 articles by an array of contributors, as a vessel of provocative ideas, incisive penetrations and ‘biased judgements’.
Awakening is available in major bookstores in the country.
Former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said due to this loss of opportunity, the country will face many more years of dominance and power craziness.
Zaid said Abdullah, fondly known as Pak Lah, tried his best to provide open discussions so that people can view things differently and this includes introducing the concept of Islam Hadhari.
“Islam in this country has always been about roots, power and authority. This is not Islam. That is why Pak Lah was trying to get the Muslims to start thinking and have a new historical perspective.
“But he failed to change the Malay Muslim culture in the country. He wasn’t strong enough to say, this is what you have to do.
“Pak Lah tried to open up discussions so that we, as a nation, can start talking again, thinking again. We have lost the opportunity now with him out of the way,” Zaid said during a discussion at the launch of the book "Awakening: The Abdullah Years in Malaysia".
Zaid said Pak Lah’s tenure as the country fifth Prime Minister was too short a time for him to do anything significant.
“After over 20 years of Tun Mahathir’s control, someone (Pak Lah) comes much later trying to change it. It is not easy.
“Even the Umno fellows were sceptical of Pak Lah. The time was too short for him. I think has he been allowed to grow, if those fellows who pushed him out realised their mistakes, Pak Lah, in his own way, would still be able to do something,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Appellate Court judge and Suhakam founding member Datuk Mahadev Shankar, who launched the book, said the Malaysian judiciary system was a lot freer under Pak Lah’s administration.
“Pak Lah liberated the minds of the judges, He said, ‘Don’t do anything to please me, just fulfil your judicial oaths.’
“His slogan was, ‘don’t work for me, work with me’. His motto was an invitation to every Malaysian to participate in the business of government.
“If Pak Lah’s tenure of office has been a little disappointing in the sense that it did not fulfil your great expectation, what did we do to fulfil his request for us to work with him?” he asked.
Mahadev described the book, which is a collection of 37 articles by an array of contributors, as a vessel of provocative ideas, incisive penetrations and ‘biased judgements’.
Awakening is available in major bookstores in the country.
