THE NATIONAL FRONT IS caught between two stools. The Islamic establishment, unelected but wants its say in how the country is run, on one side, and the empowered people on the other, who see they are not members of the Malaysia the National Front has created. Malaysia is now a nation of exclusion. As the widow of Corporal Moorthy's widow, found out she had no claim on his body, and no court would hear her complaint ...

THE CANDLE-LIGHT VIGIL in Kuala Lumpur, which began after the High Court had refused to allow the Hindu wife of the Corporal Moorthy her right to know what is happening around her, after he is alleged to have become a Muslim in surpicious circumstances and buried as one, has been called off. It was to have continued till the end of this month, the number taking part increasing from about 50 when it started to about 500 when it stopped. It was not of course reported for it protested an official policy although many journalists from the mainstream newspapers took part. The organisers decided to call it off after the Chief Secretary (KSN) and the police requested ...

THE HIDDEN STORY OF ECM Libra merging with Avenue Capital is not told. Avenue Capital used to be called Phileo Bank, which got its licence from the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and was said to be his vehicle, but was taken over by the government after his fall, and which is controlled by the Prime Minister. It has in its portfolio the post office, with about RM3 billion in funds. The new entity will rival Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB) as Malaysia's largest investment group. But CIMB. built brick-by-brick and therefore solid, is run by Dato' Nazir Razak, the younger brother of the deputy prime minister ...

PAK LAH SAYS HE will decide if the Commission of Inquiry on the nude ear squat is made public. He should have decided that before he appointed it. The Commission of Inquiry was told, unbelievably, that the woman in question was not a Chinese national, as the mainstream newspapers had reported, but a Malay woman. In the meanwhile, the home minister, Dato' Azmi Khalid, had apologised to the Chinese government ...

PAK LAH SAID HIS syle is different from Tun Mahathir's. There is no doubt about that. He said this in Bangkok, a statement meant for Malaysians. Tun Mahathir would have done that in office, but not before he had said it locally ...

THE PUTERA UMNO HEAD, Dato' Azeez Abdul Rahman, has not given a convincing reason he was not caught in a vice raid at the Holiday Villa recently. He has refused to speak to the press then. UMNO leaders do not talk to the press unless they want to. Others who ought to know better spoke on his behalf instead ...

DEFAMATION AND LIBEL LAWS prevent political debate in Malaysia. They are used by National Front, especially UMNO, hacks and politicians to get their way, usually in silence. They then ask their critics, even if they are MPs, to apologise or else. They take their cue from the government, which does not bother with such niceties as explaining their actions, but woe betide any who has the right to ask questions. It was Singapore which led the way, bankrupting opposition politicians so that they would be removed from the political scene. The PAP does not have opposition of any note in Singapoore – yet ...

HE IS THE SON-IN-LAW of the Prime Minister but he has brought UMNO, the leading party in the National Front, to its knees. He caused so much damage that it is probably too late for him to withdraw. His actions to show he is a rich man – by buying 3 per cent of ECM Libra for RM9.2 million, for example – has backfired on Pak Lah and UMNO. But Mr Khairy Jamaluddin thinks he can ride through, going after his critics with defamation suits, answering no questions, riding rough shod over UMNO members. Pak Lah cannot reshuffle his cabinet, as he should have by now, because Mr Khairy wants his men in it ...

NO PUBLIC DEBATE EXISTS in Malaysia. The threat of defamation, usually by men and companies with much to keep hidden, is thrown with alacrity to establish their position. They are in a hurry for they will lose their influence when the prime minister retires. Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Berjaya Corporation were Mr Khairy and ECM Libra ...

THE KHAIRY CHRONICLES, now in its 23rd part in Malaysia Today, has become uncomfortable to the young man. Who writes it is not known, Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, editor and the driving force behind it, will not say. But it contains many bullets that UMNO enemies of Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of the Prime Minister, use with damaging accuracy. Mr Khairy has come from nowhere, married Pak Lah's daughter, and runs the Malaysian government: Pak Lah depends on him, over tried and tested civil servants, who are forced to follow what Mr Khairy decides ...

THE PRIME MNISTER IS an Islamic scholar because he has a degree in Islamic studies, so goes the spin. But while he is a deeply religious man, as many are, even he would admit he is no scholar. He has been built into one when he became prime minister. Tun Mahathir is a doctor, a great one at that, although he stopped practicing more than 30 years ago ...

HOW MUCH DOES A man need to be successful? In Malaysia, the public servant considers himself a failure if he does not have assets of RM50 million. There is a pecking order among them, in which the wealthiest is at the top. This means they would not bother about those in whose name they have been appointed. All the millionaires and billionaires in the past 30 years were concerned only of their wealth, and chasing the RM50 million was their goal ...

THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, 79, is rushed to the United States after doctors at the Institiut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute) ruled out a bypass for the second time. He had a heart attack about Christmas and left, according to sources, "at the end of 2005 or early 2006". Given his age, and his inclement health, the doctors here ruled out a second bypass; he had his first done in 1988. This would effectively rule him out from active politics for at least three months ...

THE NATIONAL FRONT IS caught in a cleft stick. It idoes not know how to solve the problems within. The political scene has changed, what measures it takes would be known. And it needs the secrecy if it is remain a viable political party ...

THE MALAYSIAN CABINET WILL discuss tomorrow (04 January 2006) the sudden and freak death of Dr Liew Boon-Horng of Ethos Consulting, whose work in the Ministry of Defence took away from the defence minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, his powers to buy weapons. Purchases of arms are given to UMNO go-betweens, and Ethos Consulting made sure that it went to the prime minister's son-in-law Mr Khairy Jamaluddin's friends. Divine intervention has stalked Mr Khairy's every recent move. He used Ethos Consulting to make the defence minister have no control over arms purchases. With Dr Liew dead, Mr Khairy has to start again in the defence ministry ...

The Internet is today what the newspapers and official media were yesterday. We are often told, though, that the Internet cannot be trusted.

THE PUTERA UMNO CHIEF, Dato' Azeez Abdul Rahman, is caught in a vice raid at the Holiday Villa. He frequents the hotel, but he would not have been caught if his enemies, or that of his protector, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, had tipped the police, who went there in full force, with a complement of journalists. Whatever the UMNO spin, what makes the rounds at the Holiday Villa is not what is reported. The story is, or has become, confused ...

THE NATIONAL FRONT MPs are in a bind. They have been told to set up blogs, to be with the people. But those who have not done so will have to think twice. The blog is a double-edged weapon ...

THE PRIME MINISTER'S SON-IN-LAW, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, has bought into that Ali Baba concern, ECM Libra, for RM9.2 million. How did he get that money in his thirties when he has no known jobs or business that would earn him that much in so short a time. He has threatened to sue any one, including me, for bringing out these to the general public. But threatening to sue is a way of life with people at the top, when when they cannot or rather not explain. Look at the chairman of MAS, who would threaten or lodge police reports to stop the emails against him ...

THE NATIONAL FRONT PASSES laws to affect nearly half the population, and no Malaysian is concerned at the time when their kind is affected by it. The Malaysian Chinese Association, the Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, the Malaysian Indian Congress and other parties in the Front other that UMNO would rather not talk about it, and look the other way. Two cases in recent weeks show that it is done. A Malaysian, who was born an Indian Hindu and scaled Mount Everest in his time, was buried a Muslim, after the civil court decided it could not interfere in what should have been other court ...

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