PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will not get the opportunity to be a dictator, due to the circumstances of the Pakatan Harapan federal government, said Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

This is because the politicians who joined forces with him, as well as the voters who supported him, are backing him to lead the reform of Malaysia’s institutions and correct the misdeeds of the previous administration, said the editor of whistleblower site Sarawak Report in an interview.

“I think he knows he’s not going to get away with being a dictator under the present (circumstances), given whom he’s leading, given the people who are behind him, and given the reform agenda he has agreed to lead.

“He’s not going to get away with being a dictator,” said Rewcastle-Brown, who was previously barred from entering Malaysia, and is now here for a visit following Barisan Nasional’s fall in the 14th general election.

Dr Mahathir, who was sworn in as the seventh prime minister on May 10, had joked about his past track record, saying he “was once a dictator”.

The PH chairman has wasted no time in taking on the reform agenda, cleaning up the excesses and alleged corruption in former prime minister Najib Razak’s administration.

Among his moves was the termination of 17,000 political appointments to government jobs.

He has also mandated a committee of prominent legal minds to study the needed institutional reforms.

Most striking was the speed and force with which police teams simultaneously descended on residences linked to Najib, as well as his old office in Putrajaya, to search for evidence related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd. Najib is being investigated for alleged money laundering.

Rewcastle-Brown said GE14 showed how “mature” Malaysian politics has become, given the deep divisions over Dr Mahathir’s past record as an authoritarian leader whose decisions, while he was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, have been blamed for today’s systemic cronyism and suppression of civil liberties.

“It’s been an incredible journey for many Malaysians, particularly those who had to swallow hard, think hard, and make that compromise of joining Dr Mahathir.

“He also made a compromise, and I think that’s one of the amazing, mature things that have happened… when people settle their differences, put behind them very deep divisions, and put their country first.

“That’s a very great thing for them to have done, (to) put aside their rivalries for a greater good. And within that, they’ve found a unity across all aspects of society, in favour of common values against corruption, in favour of the rule of law and fairness.” – May 21, 2018.