PEOPLE NO LONGER FEEL OPPRESSED, SAYS DR M
They can deal with govt officers without having to pay bribes, says PM
TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in the New Malaysia people are content as they no longer feel oppressed by the government.
He said a major achievement of the new government was its success in fighting corruption.
The prime minister said unlike before, people no longer talked about having to pay bribes when dealing with government officers.
“We don’t hear about corruption anymore.
“People can deal with the government without having to pay bribes.
“Even when you travel overseas, you won’t get people asking ‘what has happened to your country?’
“Corruption is almost no more as there is a fear of the law.
“This is a major success... we don’t get government officers looking to make profit through corruption.”
He said this in an exclusive live broadcast on New Malaysia with Tun M, which was aired on Astro Awani last night, hosted by Kamarul Haron and Ashwad Ismail.
Touching on the sentiment in the country, he said, people no longer felt oppressed.
He said under the previous regime, those who did not support the government were subjected to pressure.
“They found themselves being hauled up by the income tax people.
“Some were slapped with up to RM90 million in taxes... they found themselves in a spot as their accounts were frozen and they could not do business.
“Now, we don’t have all that... no more visits from the taxman or other enforcement agencies.”
Dr Mahathir said after Pakatan Harapan took over the government, he realised that the problems plaguing the country were far worse than he had anticipated.
He said the government was focused on reforming the civil service and improving the country’s finances.
“Initially, we couldn’t look at getting investments or economic growth as we were focused on cleaning up (the government).
“Now, we can... we are getting the private sector to contribute.
“This includes construction of affordable homes and other things.”
Dr Mahathir, however, lamented the country’s reliance on foreign workers, thanks to the attitude of locals who refused to work in certain sectors.
He said a high number of foreign workers only led to an outflow of currency.
Calling on people to emulate the Japanese, Dr Mahathir said he could not understand why youth refused to work in certain sectors.
“I visit construction sites often but all I see are Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Indians and Thai workers... there are no locals.
“Why is it that locals can’t work there? In Japan, it is not like that.”
Dr Mahathir said he had been called a workaholic as he was at it even at 93.
“I am 93, but I am still working... on the other hand, we have those who are young but don’t want to work and leave it to foreigners.
“When we leave it to others, we will end up being enslaved by them.”
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia could learn from China, which had made tremendous progress in the past 30 years, from a poor country to become a world leader in the manufacturing sector.
He said Malaysia needed to cut down its reliance on imported goods and concentrate on producing its own goods.
On the third national car project, Dr Mahathir said many felt that locally-manufactured goods were of inferior quality compared with imported ones.
However, he said, the Japanese and South Koreans faced similar issues when they first got into automotive manufacturing.
“I remember a time when people considered Japanese cars as (Milo) tins and were lowly regarded. Even the Koreans faced a similar problem.
“However, today, the Koreans are not only exporting their cars, but they also have a manufacturing plant in the United States.”
On allegations of cronyism, Dr Mahathir said he helped those who could deliver when he was the prime minister the first time around.
He said this had, however, led to those who did not succeed to accuse him of preferring certain people over others.
“That is how the story of cronies came about.”
On efforts to clean up the government’s administration, he said action would be taken against those who committed wrongdoings.
He said the government was tackling the more important cases first while action against others would follow suit.
He said the government needed solid evidence before action could be initiated against culprits.
“So once all this is obtained, action will definitely be taken against the others.”