Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad defended his democratic record and predicted strong economic growth in an upbeat final parliamentary appearance yesterday on the eve of retirement.
Facing opposition questioning for the last time after 22 years in power, Mahathir warned that too much freedom could lead to anarchy in Malaysia's multiracial society and made a strong call for national unity.
"As I retire from the nation's highest elected office, I call upon every Malaysian to rise to the occasion to face the challenges as they emerge and shoulder the responsibilities of citizenship," he said.
"If we do this, there is no reason why we cannot continue to be successful and make this county a model for the world to emulate."
Groups of schoolchildren crowded the public gallery and Mahathir was praised lavishly by some MPs, but the session was free of the tears and emotion which have marked a series of farewells, with normal parliamentary banter the order of the day.
Mahathir presented a mid-term review of the 8th Malaysia Plan, which ends in 2005, predicting real GDP growth at an average of 6 percent per year, which he said would put the country on track to realizing its target of becoming a developed nation by 2020.
Before that, however, Asia's longest-serving elected leader faced a question and answer session in which opposition MPs probed his commitment to democracy.
Mahathir defended controls such as the detention without trial of terrorism suspects and the banning of communists from elections as essential to maintaining democracy.
While the government believed in free speech, he said, it also had to ensure that racial sentiments in Malaysia's multicultural society were not inflamed.
He described national unity as the country's greatest asset. Malaysia has a Malay Muslim majority of around 60 percent of its 24 million people, but large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
"We have seen how many other multi-ethnic societies have failed because each race places its own interest first before the interest of the nation. If we are not careful we too will fail and be destroyed," he said.
"Anarchy can take place because of an obsession with democratic freedoms. The belief that if democracy is implemented then everything will be well has no basis, especially if democracy is imposed immediately."
Mahathir pointed out that it had taken Western countries nearly 200 years to reach their current level of liberal democracy, but they were still not free of problems such as political corruption and the manipulation of power.
They had also "linked individual and minority freedoms to democracy, until they forget the rights of the majority."
Harking back to one of his familiar complaints about what he sees as Western decadence, he said some countries "are too free, until everything being done is accepted as a right. The practice of homosexuality is accepted as a right and same sex marriage is legitimized."
When a member of the hardline Islamic Party (PAS) opposition suggested that Malaysia in fact practised the "tyranny of the majority" and was simply afraid of losing power, Mahathir pointed to PAS' presence in parliament as a sign that the opposition "enjoy many privileges."
He said his United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the linchpin of the ruling coalition, was not afraid. "We win with a huge majority every time."
Mahathir's chosen successor, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, will face an election within a year, with a key element being the struggle between UMNO and PAS for the votes of the Muslim majority.
Abdullah is to be sworn-in by King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin at 3pm today.
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