Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Impressive legacy

Sir, — This is with reference to the editorial, "Mahathir's impressive legacy" ( Nov. 3 ). Mahathir Mohamad put his nation before personal interests. The future leaders of Malaysia will not be from his family. Although his `Bumiputra' (sons of the soil) policy placed the Chinese and the Indians at a disadvantage, he never lost an opportunity to chide the Malays for their indifference to education and hard work. He has talked about a timeframe to end the discrimination and visualised a non-Malay as Prime Minister. And ensured a stable environment for the Malaysians to build on.

R.S. Kannan,
Singapore

Sir, — The reasons that you have put forward for your admiration of Dr. Mahathir are open to dispute. Dr. Mahathir's approach to "stability" was by enforcing his Bumiputra policy, which openly discriminated against the Chinese and the Indian ethnic minorities. And as for your contention that Dr. Mahathir ensured that the country did not witness the kind of riots that marked the birth of Singapore in the 1960s, perhaps it would be prudent to remind you of the widespread rioting in 2002 by the ethnic Malaysian community against Tamil labourers.

Mehul Kamdar,
Chennai

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