Dear Prime Minister,

You have become so powerful, both by virtue of your office and by popular acclaim,
that UMNO has become subservient to you. UMNO is being held together, not because
the members share your ideas on politics, but through a system of patronage and
disguised coercion based on Government rather than party authority.

A feeling of power normally grips those who wield patronage, a feeling that they can
mould and shape people and opinions any way they please. The leaders of UMNO, the
senior partners of the Alliance Government, have succumbed to this disease and,
believing that they no longer need to heed the opinions of their supporters, they
disregard them at every turn.

Laws have been hurriedly passed without prior consultation with the representatives who
have had to "sell" these laws to the people. Tax innovations have been made and
discarded with complete disregard for the disrupting effect on the public. In the main,
Parliamentary sittings are regarded as a pleasant formality which afford members an
opportunity to be heard and quoted, but which have absolutely no effect on the course
of the Government. The sittings are a concession to a superfluous democratic practice.
Off and on, this strength is used to change the constitution. The manner, the frequency,
and the trivial reasons for altering the constitution have reduced this supreme law of the
nation to a useless scrap of paper.

Your Ministers and the Cabinet are vested with this decision-making authority. It is obvious
that only the most capable and experienced should be made Ministers and be in the
Cabinet. But independent Malaysia has chosen to treat membership of the Cabinet as a
reward for loyalty to party chiefs and acceptability to the Prime Minister. Once
appointed, no amount of dereliction of duty could affect the position of a Minister. On
the other hand, even if the Minister performs well, failure to remain on good terms with
the Prime Minister means removal from the Ministry.

Your Government of mediocre people is bereft of ideas, is unable to understand the

limits of their authority, and is generally unable to rule. All the while, however, your
Government is busy on devices to perpetuate itself. These devices are so transparent
and so lacking in subtlety that they achieve just the opposite effect.

May I remind you, Merdeka has brought power and wealth to the new Malay elite.
Politics is found to be the panacea. It provides a shortcut to everything. It makes possible
the attainment of positions of immense power. These Malays are in a position to acquire
riches.

At first, this might seem grossly unfair. These few Malays - for they are still only a very few -
have waxed riches not because of themselves, but because of the policy of a
Government supported by a huge majority of poor Malays. It would seem that the efforts
of the poor Malays have gone to enrich a select few of their own people. The poor
Malays themselves have not gained one iota. With the existence of the few rich Malays,
at least the poor Malays can say that their fate is not entirely to serve the rich non-Malays.
From their point of view of racial ego, and this ego is still strong, the unseemly existence
of Malay tycoons is essential.
The various races in Malaysia are differentiated not merely by ethnic origin, but also by
many other characteristics. These characteristics are important. How these
characteristics develop is another matter, but when races compete in a given field,
these characteristics play an extremely important role. The Jews, for example are not
merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively.

The possession of these characteristics means little until different races come into contact
with each other. Jewish stinginess and financial wizardry gained them the commercial
control of Europe and provoked an anti-Semitism, which waxed and waned throughout
Europe through the ages.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the vast majorities of Malays are feudalistic and
wish to remain so. A revolution, which starts off by preaching the destruction of the
established monarchical order, will therefore fail. It will not win the support of the majority
of orthodox Malays. In any case, the monarch has done no real harm to the Malays or to
anyone else. The maintenance of the system is no doubt costly, but being separated
from power, the ruler cannot constitute a tyranny. Besides, a Malaysia without rulers
would mean the complete eclipse of the Malays. It is the rulers who have in the past
furnished and continued to present the Malay character of Malaysia. Remove them, and
the last vestige of traditional Malaysia would disappear. It is essential therefore that the
monarchy remains.

To take on an adversary when it seems to be beyond one's capacity is courageous. To

calculate and assess one's chances first is to exhibit cowardice. Time and again this
inability or unwillingness to measure the odds against them has led to defeat and disaster
for the Malays. The courageous or brave Malay is usually foolhardy, and because he is
likely to do things without thinking of the consequences, the average Malay treats him
with fear and respect. The ordinary man knows that it is not worthwhile to incur his
displeasure and that it is safer to let him have his own way. The ordinary man therefore
represents the other extreme when principle is easily set aside for the sake of safety.

Even feudalism can be beneficial if it facilitates changes. The political Rajas of today can,
therefore, institute change if they themselves are willing to change. Such a change
would spread rapidly. If the indications are that there should be a change in the value
system and ethical code, then the leaders can lead the way with the certainty that they
will be followed by the masses. In a feudal society, if the leaders fail, then there is little
hope for the masses.

Mahathir Mohamad