What’s behind Dr M’s joust with Tony Pua?

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From Terence Netto

The spat between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tony Pua that has been sparking in the political arena the past few days is interesting for what it may suggest about the former prime minister’s motives.

The public will not get any the wiser about the issues involved in the kerfuffle because Mahathir is not an elucidator.

Only when his cause stands to benefit will he endeavour to explain his side of a controversy.

In that event, he can be lucid, and his would often be the more persuasive presentation vis-à-vis his interlocutor’s.

At other times, he is apt to bring up an issue in bits and pieces, dribs and drabs, to serve an ulterior purpose he nurses, a purpose that may not be evident to observers at the outset of the skirmish he is engaged in.

Dr M always has a purpose, but won’t tell, for Dr M’s craft is essentially Machiavellian. That necessarily means gaining one’s purpose by stealth and surprise; elaborate explanations are reckoned unnecessary and self-defeating.

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