Under the leadership of 94 year old Prime Minister of Malaysia- Mahathir Bin Mohamad, the country is suffering one setback after another. Riding on the resentment against corrupt regime of previous Prime Minister Najib Rajak, Mahathir registered an unexpected victory and became prime minister of Malaysia in May 2018.
But, since then, Mahathir has taken many wrong moves which have harmed the political economy of Malaysia, as well as its foreign relations. The 94 year old leader is trying to project Malaysia as the voice of global Muslim community by making statements on Kashmir, standing up against anti-Muslim sentiments in United States and Europe.
He has also criticized the right wing leaders from Western world, and called Trump a bad man during the RCEP meet. During the free trade meet, he also criticized America and EU for the aversion to free trade. He came to power on anti-China rhetoric and the promise to cancel China sponsored East Coast Rail Link.
His government cancelled the Rail Link project just a few days after coming to power, but, after a few months, his government agreed to restart the project on renegotiated price. He has also taken a benign stance on China’s claim on South China Sea. In last few months, he has turned to an anti-West China puppet.
Mahathir’s unnecessary meddling in global politics, and lack of focus on domestic policies, is causing immense damage to economy of Malaysia. After his unnecessary comments on Trump, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded Malaysia’s air safety rating and placed the country in category 2. The FAA said that Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), the air traffic regulator of Malaysia is deficient in more than one area “such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record-keeping, and/or inspection procedures.”
With downgradation, Malaysia is among the countries with worst air traffic regulation such as Bangladesh, Thailand Ghana and Costa Rica. Now, Malaysia will not be able to add any new flight to the US, but the existing flight- AirAsia X Bhd services from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu via Osaka, Japan, will not be impacted due to the decision.
After such a big blow to Malaysian flight operations, Malaysian Prime Minister said that he is not aware of the issue. “If there is anything wrong with our civil aviation authority, we will take measures, we will correct the situation,” said Mahathir.
Perhaps, the 94 year old leader is too busy with global politics to focus on its domestic policies.
According to analysts, the downgradation will prove a big blow to Malaysia’s aviation industry as they will lose the premium customers. “The moment they hear Malaysia is Category 2 questionable safety, you have a lot of people start to wonder ‘oh, I don’t want to fly with Malaysian carriers,’” said Mohshin Aziz, an analyst at Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.
It will not be easy for Malaysia to restore the country into Category 1. In last few years, the Malaysian flight operations have been very inefficient. In March 2014, 227 passengers and 12 crew were killed due to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which was destined to Beijing from Kuala Lampur, went missing.
In the same year in the month of July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) crashed in midair after hit by an anti-aircraft missile. The flight was bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam with 298 people (283 passengers and 15 crew) when it was hit by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
Given the previous incidents, Malaysia will not get restored to Category 1 easily. Mahathir’s comment on Western world would further delay any possibilities of restoration. “Restoring Category 1 takes time and a lot of work,” he wrote. “In some instances countries have achieved it in one year — for example India. But the most recent examples in Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand) have been several years,” said Sobie Aviation analyst Brendan Sobie.
This is second major blow to Malaysia due to Mahathir’s stupid foreign policy. After his unasked comments on Kashmir issue, India is mulling canceling import of palm oil from Malaysia which forms the bulk of the island nation’s economy. The government has already increased import duty on palm oil from 45 percent to 50 percent.
94 year old Mahathir is taking Malaysia to dark world of religious conservatism and financial bankruptcy. Ethnic Malaysians, though Muslims, have practiced a more tolerant and vibrant version of Islam which is very different from the version of the religion practiced in the western part of the Asia. Even his own daughter had castigated him for trying to Arabize a proud Malay nation.
