After 5 days, pakdokter has only managed to read about 400 pages of Mahathir's Memoirs. Work at the clinic was unusually heavy and with the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan forcing pakdokter to focus on the TV coverage and trying to keep in touch with Rastam in Tokyo by phone or on-line, time for reading was considerably limited. Finishing half the book over the 5 days was not that bad actually. Pakdokter was impressed that one columnist who writes for M-STAR ( the Malay section the the STAR weekend edition) finished the whole book in one night ( over 4 hours and 45 minutes to be exact!) . "Susah nak 'caya" actually. Pakdokter found too many things too interesting to be just glossed over.....
Several chapters were devoted to his return to mainstream politics after being expelled from the party in the aftermath of the May 13 '69 riots. He believed Datuk Harun Idris had been supportive of his return and Tun Razak was in all manner and aspect his mentor. He felt Tun Dr Ismail had reservations about him. As fate would have it, they both passed away in office and catapulted his rise to the number 2 post in the country. However, in his usual frank and (honest?) way, he was critical of his 'boss' - Tun Hussein Onn, whom he felt, although was strict and righteous, was too slow in decision-making. His meticulousness made him ineffective and over several matters they disagreed ( the persecution of Harun Idris, the arrests of so-called communist agents etc etc.) In the end, Tun Hussien's poor health made him give up his tenure to allow Mahathir to become PM.
Mahathir himself was a meticulous and hands-on type of person. When Tun Razak made him non-executive Chairman of the Pineapple Cannery of FIMA in Johore, he went about as if he was the CEO. He uncovered the corruption of the staff at various levels causing repeated losses at this government-owned factory. When he inspected the factory and asked the Manager to explain why caps of the pineapple cans were littered all over the floor, the Manager collapsed into a faint - only to be revealed later on that he was involved in selling the caps to a competing company based in Singapore!
When he was PM he wanted the area around and leading up to the KL Tower ( on Bukit Nanas) to be like the 'Spanish Steps' with booths selling souvenier articles lining the steps up to the tower. The JKR took up the case and sent a team to look and study the design of the 'Spanish Steps' - but they were not able to find any 'Spanish Steps' because the delegation was sent to Spain! Can you believe it - our 'gomen' officers did not even know that the 'Spanish Steps' is a famous tourist location in Rome.......
Honestly, pakdokter can believe this story.......
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