本文是民主行动党双溪比力州议员刘天球10月22日发表于<当今大马>英文版，题为“Mahathir:The Paper Tiger”(马哈迪是纸老虎)的评论文章的华文译稿，由人民之友自愿工作者翻译刊出。我们这么做，为的是让一些不谙英文的读者得以全面而准确了解刘氏的见解，避免受到一些别有用心者对刘文断章取义或片面解读所误导。
刘天球的“马哈迪是纸老虎”的论说，引起了朝野政党和人民群众的高度重视和广泛议论。刘天球在文章中批判马哈迪的“霸权专断”和“一意孤行”，遭受特别是来自土著团结党和右翼种族主义者的猛烈围攻，是很容易理解的事。但是，他此时此刻为民主行动党广大党员和国内各民族人民，说了该说的话，做了该做的事，却要面对民主行动党的纪律追究，让人匪夷所思，相信会有许许多多正义之士为他打抱不平。
在我们看来，对民主行动党人和马来西亚各族人民来说，刘天球的<马哈迪是纸老虎>，都是“警示”之作。
本译文含义若与刘氏的原文（英文）含义有所抵触，以英文内容为准。有不尽善之处，还望作者和读者海涵。以上插图和文内小标题为<人民之友>编者所加，其余照片为刊载于<当今大马>（英文版）的原文插图。
当希盟意外地赢得了我国第14届大选时，马哈迪登上了世界的顶峰。他协助完成了一件原先认为不可能的事——推翻了一个自独立以来一直居于统治地位的盗贼专制政权。出于感激的选民的巨大善意，他被引进作为在过渡时期稳定局势的一个人物。
尽管他的土著团结党只赢得13个国会议席（相较于人民公正党的49个和民主行动党的42个国会议席，获得席位最少）他之所以当上过渡时期首相是根据希盟各党在大选之前的协议。
其他的希盟成员党或许轻易违反协议，而坚持说例如旺阿兹莎当首相，因为人民公正党在国会中拥有最多议席。事实上，国家元首已经建议她当首相。但是，作为一个有信用的人，她坚持遵守协议。因此，马哈迪当了我国的首相。
每个人，包括我本人，决定姑且相信马哈迪这一次。希盟各成员党共同决定给他足够的空间去做他需要做的事。我们可以做的最糟糕的是一开始就质疑他的作为。
当他早些时候说由于国家缺乏资金，希盟不能兑现一些承诺，却喋喋不休谈论第三国产车，这是令人十分担心的事！
马哈迪有意实现右翼马来政党控制的联盟
当土著团结党开始吸收“巫统青蛙”（译者注：指来自巫统的跳槽政客）尽管马哈迪本人答应不这样做，情况变得更加令人烦恼！如今拜跳槽所赐，土著团结党国会议席翻了一番，增到26个席位。之所以没有再增加的唯一原因是，马哈迪还没有能够成功诱逼更多人跳槽。
虽然土著团结党以外的希盟成员党，都想要推动一个多元民族的议程，马哈迪似乎意图实行一个国阵模式的由占主导地位的马来政党控制的联盟。当他公开邀请以马来人为基础的在野党加入土著团结党的时候，这一点变得明显清楚。后来，他澄清说，这是邀请它们（指在野的马来政党）的成员，以期创建一个大型的马来人政党。这除了成为巫统3.0，还有其他什么意义呢？
有句英国人的谚语说：给他一寸，他将会拿一里。这当然适用于马哈迪身上。不去利用每个人给予他的善意和广泛的空间来进行急需的改革，而去利用他的特权去做那些不仅不得人心，而且违背了希盟及其支持者的精神、价值和志向。
废除各种恶法是我们(希盟)的一项任务。许多我们（希盟各党）领导人和民间组织领导人在第14届大选之前,都遭到各种恶法的迫害和困扰。我们不要那些残酷的法律继续留下来，因为它们很容易被人滥用。那么，为何它们还继续存在呢？因为有一个人还要它们留存下来。
【最近利用SOSMA [即2012年国家安全罪行（特别措施）法令 (Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012的缩称 ]对所谓“淡米尔之虎”的镇压说明了，残酷的法律对马来西亚公民造成的恶劣后果。即使是州行政议员和民选代表也无法幸免于恶法的对付】
马哈迪却专注于他的土著政策的延续
《消除一切形式种族歧视国际公约》（缩称Icerd）和《罗马规约》（Rome Statute）的签署无疑将把马来西亚提升到现代国家的地位。因为马哈迪决定向右翼极端分子屈服，马来西亚不能进入179个Icerd签署国的行列里，而相反，马来西亚是没有签署这项条约的14个国家之一，其中包括南苏丹、缅甸和朝鲜。这的确不是光彩的事！
当希盟的其他领导人在呼吁采取基于需要的扶弱政策，以帮助所有的马来西亚人，不论他们的种族肤色或宗教信仰之时，马哈迪却专注于他的土著政策的延续。这是跟希盟的立场和主张不一致的。
当马哈迪的宠儿和他的伙伴们呼吁他做满5年首相（这意味着安华将无法按照约定在两年后从马哈迪手中接棒），他（马哈迪）不是去抑制这些呼吁，而只简单的说“这是他们（他的宠儿和伙伴们）的意见”。
他继续拒绝定下一个首相权力移交的日期，给人一种明显的印象是，两年后他不想真正离任，或者是他所要选择的继承者不是安华。如此这般，啥也不做，却在人民公正党内引起不合。但他忧虑吗？
有关整个KHAT（爪夷文书法教学）的争论，到底是什么一回事？为何不去修复有缺陷的大学预科班制度，而去搞爪夷文书法教学？
这是一项理应搁置或抛弃的国阵政策。马哈迪和他的教育部长反而试图在非马来人社会大力推行，而在过程中损害民主行动党。但他在乎吗？
为何他（马哈迪）要庇护印度逃亡者扎基尔•奈克（Zakir Naik）（上图中），这人曾质疑马来西亚印度兴都教徒对国家的忠诚，这人也声称马来西亚华人在中国出生（言下之意都是外来者）。
他（马哈迪）指责董总是种族主义者，却对扎基尔•奈克的种族主义言行闭口不谈。他批判董总“只谈论一个民族，而忘记了这是一个多元民族的国家。”这番言论来自参加土著权威组织（Perkasa）就职仪式的马哈迪是可笑的。
他（马哈迪）在马来人尊严大会上对非马来人（或称orang lain/其他人）和马来人（懒惰）的评论，都是没有理由的。他实际上是使到希盟失去更多的支持。
他（马哈迪）的言行，没有使到希盟团结起来，反而在它最大的两个成员党即人民公正党和民主行动党之间散布不和；他的言行也没有使到马来西亚人团结起来，反而造成民族关系更加紧张。
马哈迪之所以这样做，是因为他认为自己无所不能。他自以为，他在推翻国阵政府方面扮演了一个重要的角色，因此他可以去做他所要做的事。他认为，至今为止，希盟各党领袖都对他表示尊敬和顺从，这是因为他们都很害怕他。
若希盟分裂, 马哈迪和土团党将是最大输家
如果他（马哈迪）最终因为自己的行动而分裂了希盟，他的土著团结党将是最大的输家。土著团结党现在或许会有26个国会议员，但是，民主行动党、人民公正党、国家诚信党、沙巴民族复兴党（Parti Warisan Sabah,简称“民兴党”）和卡达山杜顺姆鲁族统一机构（简称“沙民统”UPKO），在国会中共有113个席位，足以构成多数席位。他们可以联合起来，组织一个没有土著团结党的政府。
大概人民公正党或许会出现一个分裂的阵营，我们不能排除这个可能性，但是，这种情况也同样会发生在土著团结党，他们之中有些人也将会把他们的资源投注到其他的盟党中去。这可能是死里逃生。
如果这种情况导致一场突然的大选，那么，土著团结党将是最大的输家，这是因为没有人跟它（土著团结党）结盟。伊斯兰党和巫统至少互相拥有对方，马华和印度国大党将会跟随巫统和伊斯兰党，而土著团结党只有孤军作战一途可走。
对马哈迪而言，停止作出那些使到希盟不和以至分裂的事情，以扭转恶劣局面，还不会太晚。他必须记住，他的土著团结党在希盟里不是最大的政党，而且人民并不是想要他做满一届的首相。
尽管增加了许多跳槽的国会议员，马哈迪的土著团结党在国会中的席位仍然落后于人民公正党和民主行动党，人民投票支持希盟竞选时，牢记着马哈迪是过渡时期的首相，如果马哈迪继续往他的老路滑下去，将是他在他的政治生命中的最大失算！#
原文：
Mahathir: The paper tiger
RONNIE LIU is the state assemblyperson for Sungai Pelek state constituency.
ADUN SPEAKS | When Pakatan Harapan unexpectedly won the 14th General Election, Dr Mahathir Mohamad was on top of the world. He had helped to do the impossible – topple a kleptocratic regime that had run the country since in independence. With a huge amount of goodwill from a grateful electorate, he was ushered in as the steady hand that would help to guide the transition.
Even though his party had garnered only 13 seats in Parliament (compared to PKR’s 49 and DAP’s 42), he was made the interim prime minister as per the agreement before the election.
The other Harapan component parties could have easily reneged on this agreement and insist that Wan Azizah, for example, be the PM since PKR had the most number of seats in Parliament. In fact, the king had even offered her just that. But as a person of honour, she stuck with the agreement and thus Dr M became PM.
Everybody, including this writer, decided to give Mahathir the benefit of the doubt. Collectively, the Harapan parties gave him the room and space to do what was needed. The worst thing we could do was to start second-guessing him from the start.
It was quite worrying when even from early on he started harping about a third national car, even as he was saying that Harapan could not fulfil some of its promises due to lack of money.
It became more worrying when Bersatu started taking in Umno frogs despite Mahathir himself promising not to do that. Now, Bersatu’s numbers have doubled to 26 thanks to crossovers. The only reason there aren’t more is that Mahathir has not been successful in enticing more to cross over.
While the rest of the Harapan parties wanted to press forward with a multiracial agenda, Dr M seemed intent on pursuing a BN-model of having dominant Malay party control the coalition. This became obvious when he openly invited Malay-based parties in the opposition to join Bersatu. Later, he clarified this to mean inviting its members, with the intention of creating a mega-Malay party. What’s the point of this other than to become Umno 3.0?
There is an English saying, give a man an inch he will take a mile. This certainly applies to Mahathir. Instead of using the goodwill and broad leeway everyone has given him to institute much-needed reforms, he has used his prerogative to do things that are not only unpopular but goes against the ethos, value and aspirations of Harapan and its supporters.
One of the things we campaigned on was the abolition of repressive laws, which many of our leaders and leaders of civil society had been persecuted with before GE14. We don’t want such draconian laws to stay in the books because they can be easily abused. Why are they still there? Because one man still wants them to be there.
(The recent so-called Tamil Tigers crackdown using Sosma says a lot about what draconian laws could do to Malaysian citizens. Even state exco and elected representatives could not spare the tyranny.
Icerd and the Rome Statute were things that would uplift Malaysia into the company of modern nations. Because of Mahathir’s decision to give in to right-wing extremists, Malaysia is not one of the 179 nations which are signatories of Icerd Instead, we are among the 14 which are not, which includes South Sudan, Myanmar and North Korea. Not exactly something to be proud of.
While other leaders in Harapan are calling for a needs-based affirmative action policy that would help all Malaysians regardless of race or religion, Mahathir is for the continuation of the bumiputra policy. This is at odds with what Harapan stands for.
When his blue-eyed boy(s) and his cohorts called for Mahathir to serve the whole term (meaning Anwar would not succeed him after two years, as promised), instead of swatting down these calls, Dr M merely said, that’s their opinion.
He continues to refuse to name a date for the transition of power, giving people the distinct impression that he doesn’t really want to leave after two years and that his perhaps his preferred successor is not Anwar. This has done nothing but creates discord in PKR. But does he care?
And what’s with the whole khat controversy? Instead of fixing the flawed matriculation system Why the need to score this own goal? It was a BN policy that should have been discarded or put on hold. Instead, he and his education minister tried to bulldoze it through and in the process damaging DAP in the eyes of the non-Malay community. But does he care?
Why does he want to harbour Indian fugitive Zakir Naik (photo), who has questioned the loyalty of Malaysian Indian Hindus and claims that Malaysian Chinese were born in China?
He claims Dong Zong is racist but says nothing about Zakir Naik. He criticises Dong Zong for “talking about one community, forgetting that this is a multiracial country". That’s rich coming from the guy who attended Perkasa's inauguration.
His recent remarks made in the Malay Dignity Congress on both the non-Malays (orang lain - 'other people' ) and Malays (lazy) were uncalled for. He's practically helping Harapan to lose more support.
Instead of uniting Harapan, his words and actions are helping to sow discord in its two biggest component parties ie PKR and DAP. Instead of uniting Malaysians, his words and actions are causing tensions to rise.
Mahathir is doing all this because he thinks he is all-powerful. He thinks because he played an important role in helping to topple BN, he can do as he wishes. He believes that because the other party leaders have so far shown him a lot of respect and deference, it is because they are scared of him.
If he ends up breaking up Harapan because of his actions, his party is the biggest to lose out. Bersatu may have 26 MPs now, but DAP, PKR, Amanah, Warisan and UPKO collectively have 113 seats in parliament, enough to form a majority. They can band together and form a government without Bersatu.
Perhaps there might be a breakaway camp from PKR. We can’t discount that. But there would also be a breakaway camp from Bersatu who would prefer to throw their lot with the other component parties. It could be a close call.
If this led to a snap election, Bersatu would be the biggest loser because it would have an alliance with nobody. At least PAS and Umno would have each other, and MCA and MIC would tag along with them. Bersatu would have no one.
It’s not too late for Mahathir to turn things around and stop doing these divisive things that are at odds with what the rest of Harpan wants. He has to remember that his party is not the biggest one in the coalition and that the people did not vote with him in mind as the prime minister for the full term.
Despite the crossovers, his party is still way behind PKR and DAP and the people had him as interim prime minister in mind when they voted for Harapan. If he continues to act as if it was otherwise, it would be the biggest miscalculation of his political life.
