Prime Minister Mahathir Muhamad who run Malaysia with an iron hand and who
transformed this Third World Country into the beacon of prosperity all Third
World countries envied will retire tomorrow.



His parliament passed a law banning the Communist Party to participate in
Malaysian Political life about two decades ago and expressed a wish that
the ban will continue under his successor.



Malaysia went through a Communist Insurrection in the 1950s-1960s with tens
of thousands killed. It pitched the ethnic Chinese Malaysian against the
Ethnic Malays. Dr Mahathir Muhamad believed that abolishing the ban will
bring instability to Malaysia and discord between Chinese Malaysian and
Malay Malaysian.



A parallel situation existed in Vietnam where a civil war pitted the
Communists against the "nationalists" supported by the French and the USA.



What would the champions of Democracy say if the Vietkong were to
promulgate the same law banning Anti Communists to organize in Vietnam. The
defunct Vietzankonghoa regime passed a law outlawing Communism in the 1950s.



If the VCP were to do that they were just following the recipe of the most
respected politician in South East Asia.