Since losing his seat in the recent Malaysia General Elections, former Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has remained vocal in politics, and among his favourite topics to “kao peh kao bu” about is Singapore.
He warned on 4 March that Malaysia risks becoming like Singapore after the next two general elections, according to The Straits Times.
Soeajubg at a town hall dialogue on 4 March, the 97-year-old complained about how the Malays in Malaysia had lost control of the country’s economy, as well as their political power, according to Malaysian news media Sinar Harian.
Malaysia’s former ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) first lost power in GE2018 before returning to power from 2020 to 2022.
They then lost again last year with their Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition falling behind two other coalitions and ceding the elections.
Malaysia could become like Singapore
Mahathir claimed said during the dialogue that Malaysia’s current government, led by Anwar Ibrahim, could make changes to the electoral boundaries and reduce the number of Malay-majority constituencies in favour of increasing the number of non-Malay-majority constituencies.
He said that this will change the existing government pattern in the next GE and “the situation will become worse” in the subsequent elections.
He warned that as a result, Malaysia could become like Singapore, within the next two elections.
Mahathir added that the Malay parties in the government are not in power, and he claimed that if Malaysia is not careful, “the next election will come and if the votes get bought off, we’ll elect people who are not good and they will mortgage our country.”
He urged the Malays in Malaysia to set aside their personal interests and party affiliations in order to take power back in Malaysia.
M’sians respond, say it’s good to become like Singapore
I hope mahathir’s prediction is right. Can’t wait for Malaysia to finally be like Singapore (but with better food) 😏
— Paris B (@parisbmws) March 5, 2023
Singapore has faster internet, better wages, better public transport, tight control over car ownership…why yes why can't we be like Singapore, Mahathir? Oh yeah, because it's your fault. https://t.co/pDBOQyqrlO
— Erna Mahyuni (@ernamh) March 4, 2023
Bagus kalau jadi macam Singapura pic.twitter.com/dMiwuZzs8L
— RakyatNegara (@NegaraGemilang) March 5, 2023