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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
If any ruler puts a single one of his subjects to shame [member' aib], that shall be a sign that his kingdom will be destroyed by Almighty God. Similarly it has been granted by Almighty God to Malay subjects that they shall never be disloyal or treacherous to their rulers, even if their rulers behave evilly or inflict injustice upon them.
(Sejarah Melayu)During my entire political career, when I visited every corner of the country, at any gathering, I felt confident of the support of the Malay society for UMNO. On the other hand, it was difficult to be certain of Chinese support or even be sure of their stand. Now the situation has changed. … My experience was extremely peculiar, one that I had never experienced in my entire life. In Malay-majority areas, BN leaders and workers looked weary and exhausted as well as pressured. This was because in a very open, fearless and unhesitant manner, so many Malays — young, old, labourers, the learned, the rich, the poor — worked hard and earnestly for the opposition parties, no matter whether it was PAS, DAP, Parti Rakyat, or KeADILan. Only in Chinese-majority areas were the BN and UMNO leaders and workers relaxed.
(Musa Hitam, 2000)The year 1998 marks a significant change in Malaysian political history. After several years of leadership conflict speculation within UMNO, Anwar Ibrahim was abruptly dismissed from office, expelled from the party, imprisoned under the ISA, beaten while in custody and eventually charged in court on five counts of sodomy and five counts of corruption. These events happened with Machiavellian ruthlessness in September 1998. Anwar sensed his time as Mahathir's deputy was about to end, but even he did not anticipate Mahathir acting in “such a despicable and shameless manner”. Interestingly, Mahathir claimed in an interview that he had not read Machiavelli's prescription on how to be a successful politician. Anwar's abrupt dismissal and its aftermath, nonetheless, recall Machiavelli's famous dictum about cruelty, that a successful leader should not care about the infamy of cruelty in order to maintain power.
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