I don’t believe you’ll need to think very hard about the implications of the Lingam report. This is just further dismantling of the Mahathir regime and one, I think, that is done with relish and not without a smidgen of desperation. In the light of recent moves by Mahathir to re-establish old ties and bona fides within the UMNO party structure, I suppose it’ll be imperative for Badawi to act against him in some way.
The fact that the Lingam Report comes out a few short months after the General Elections (and not before) would naturally lead one to various questions: if the Lingam inquiry puts a large dent on judicial corruption, wouldn’t it have been better to release findings before the elections; and why release the findings now when we are almost 6 months away from the UMNO general assembly - where we all know the real locus of power lies.
At the same time, the political undercurrent of this Lingam shockwave will be ignored by activists and civil rights groups who have been pushing for a more free, fair and clean judiciary - the recommendations by Haidar’s team are particularly damning, and his team didn’t mince words either. This is the sort of thing the Bar Council would applaud - and rightly so. Any overtly apolitical group has reason for cheer, I believe. The trouble is, the one person who could initiate a change in the political landscape in UMNO and Barisan Nasional is just the person under the spotlight: Mahathir.
So I can’t help but feel ambivalent about the Lingam Report. On the one hand - and for selfish reasons - I welcome the condemnation in the report. On the other hand, I wonder if this will damage chances for a more reformed, revitalized UMNO - because, let’s be clear, a revitalized UMNO under a steady hand is far better an opponent than a desperate, cornered one. If Mahathir has his way with the UMNO General Assembly, we could see the continuation, albeit with more restraint, of the old ways; restraint because a politically savvy UMNO leader would read the pulse on the ground better, and continuation because, simply, Mahathir’s an old warlord. Warlords tend to breed warlords, not democratic party elections.
And now we’ll wait and see how fast the government will act - and I’m sure this is directly proportional to how fast Mahathir acts to rally support amongst UMNO divisions too disillusioned with Badawi’s miming act. This will definitely be something to look out for in the coming weeks (if not days).
Is this Badawi’s shot across Mahathir’s bow or is Badawi moving in for the kill?