Dr M on HardTalk

http://heart-murmur.blogspot.com/2008/04/dr-m-on-hard-talk.html

I haven't watched any BBC Hard Talk before this, but I find the host Stephen Sackur a bit irritating, he talked loudly and kept interrupting Dr M, sometimes barely after he just uttered a few words in response. Maybe it's his style.

Hard Talk kononnya... but still, there is a difference between hard talk (discussion about tough topics) and hard to talk. Not sure whether Stephen Sackur understands that. Sure he can play 'hard' by grilling Dr M with one tough question after another, but for the audience's sake, let him finishes his answer.

What's the point of interview when you are so fixed on your own agenda, asked some tough questions yet leave very little room for the other person to reply. The audience is not interested in you asking questions but in how he answers them.

As Dr M sarcastically remarked "I am here to be lambasted by you, that's what you do".

Anyway, overall, I am impressed at how Dr M skillfully fended off Stephen Sackur's difficult questions and even countered several of Stephen's questions with questions of his own that left the interviewer stumped and with no choice but to quickly changed topic.

Some interesting quotes by Dr M:

When asked if he should stop sniping the present government
"Why should I be quiet, when they are doing something wrong to my country. I would be irresponsible if I do that."

When accused that "his sniping from the side" costed BN badly in the election
"Results of the GE show former supporters of the ruling party (BN), voted Oppositions, not because they liked them! They disliked the decisions made by the leaderships"

"The newspapers only report to him and make him look great. The PM was even misled by his BN members. He thought if he were to hold the election now, he would make a clean sweep, win big."

On whether the election's results showed that Malaysians now oppose the racially divided policies
"I know that was a wishful thinking on the part of foreign critics but the fact is that in this election result, it is due to the dissatisfaction on the part of the ruling party’s supporters with the present decisions.The present leadership should be blamed for losing the support of the BN MPs.”

On democracy
"Great nations in history had no democracy...and yet they achieved greatness.... a poor leader in a democracy can make a huge mess ...eg starting a war in Iraq."

"It is not necessary that the system will work for everybody, but if they have a bad leader, even a democratic system will fail."

"You must remember that it is a democratic country that dropped the atomic bombs killing more than 200,000 people."

"You must have a certain understanding of the limitation of democracy in order for it to work."

"It is necessary (to some form of control). All over the world, multiracial countries can be very unstable...In Ireland they had prolonged war."

On political ideology
"They used it for some time and then they found it to be defective. They dump it and they start on another. One day, they are going to forget about democracy because in some countries, democracy usually ends up with anarchy, and there is practically no government."

When accused of unfair trials and trumped up charges against Anwar Ibrahim
"What are the track record of these countries? These are the sort of people who arrest people without law and trial, like Guantanamo Bay, and even in this country and the States. The people were arrested with no trial at all.”

When accused of imprisoning hundreds of people who voiced out against him
“Who are they? The first thing I did as the Prime Minister, was to release many political detainees.. many of them from the oppositions.. 52 of them. You western media is fond of making up these stories and end up propagating them as the truth. Tell me who are the hundreds who I have put in prison?”

When accused of being anti Western
"I am not anti-western, I’m against the bad things done by the western countries."

On his harsh criticisms against the West when he was PM
"The British used to call us lazy Malays, incompetent Malays, untrustworthy Malays and we are expected to like it. We couldn’t say a thing about you, so when I was in a position to say what I think about you, and then said it, you don’t like it. When you say it to us, you expect us to like it, we don’t like it but we don’t have a way for our voice to be heard."

On Anwar Ibrahim wanting to do a full public inquiry into his misdeeds
"Well, he is welcomed to do so, but I hope that he finds people who are neutral, who are impartial, probably foreigners because I don’t trust people they are putting in charge of the people they don’t like."

On NEP
“It was a system initiated by my predecessors. The system worked for the past 50 years, and had worked very well. It was to correct the imbalance created since the British days”

On the people's discontentment on racial discrimination
“Malaysia is built for all. Everyone is prosperous. We have developed tremendously. All benefited from the Government policies and progressed. Why only now and not during my time?”

On Anwar Ibrahim's promises to rid of racially discriminative policies
“Now, there is an opportunity for him. He was in government for a long time before. He did not complain.”

On Anwar Ibrahim being savagely beaten
"Savagely beaten? I know he was slapped and he had a black eye which was very useful for election purpose."

Why he chose Badawi
"These people, they are very smart in hiding their true character, he was known as Mr Clean and I thought I should appoint a clean and pious person to succeed me...although he was not the one with the highest votes (as vice president)in the party but I thought that he was older and I appointed him thinking that he is not going to do anything very wrong, but this man gives greater priority to his family rather than to the country."

When pressed that he made a poor judgement in choosing Badawi
"Everyone made mistakes, you British voted for Blair who is a liar."

View Dr M on BBC Hard Talk with Stephen Sackur here.