Globalisation will make that easier. In India, it cannot move as it likes because the middle class organised the masses in the early years of the last centry. India won independence because the people, energised by Gandhi and other leaders, wanted it. The government in power, British or Indian, accepted it. This middle class leadership caused difficulties for Coca Cola in Kerala, where the state government had given it a licence but the village panchayat in Pachymada, the site of the plant, objected. Globalisation is supported by governments but ignored by the middle class. In Africa, the middle class is with the government and which do not, in most countries, lead the masses. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe remains in power even if the West would him to leave because he is backed by a significant middle class, besides the power to harass and ill treat.

I have been told to believe she is alive today because of 'shrewd' leg work by the British and American troops. But she is worth money, by selling to other insurgent groups. Citizens of the United States, Canada and Europe, not prominent, have been killed in the past, because the kidnap gang had sold the victims for a profit before asking for a ransom. Technically, the US government or the Christian Science Monitor did not pay the ransom. They could have paid others to pay it. The Americans insist no bribes are paid in Africa and Asia, but they get contracts all the same. This is possible because they appoint local agents, who work with companies they establish and control but keep a wide distance from them. It is impossible to believe the Americans have not paid to get contracts in Asia when we know that millions of dollars change hands. Otherwise, how could the political party and its members close to its leadership get so much money?

He started the khadi movement, which struck at the heart of the textile industry in Manchester and encouraged Indians to wear Indian-spun cloth. He made a symbolic trip to Dondi, at the sea, where he made salt, then a government monopoly. Sir Winston Churchilll refused to give India its independence to the 'half-naked fakir' but his successor, Mr Clement Atlee, did. He had brought the British Empire to its knees. During this time, his friendship with Britain did not waver. India was finally given its independence, and it opted to stay in the British Commonwealth of Nations, and stays in it to this day. Nelson Mandela used Mahatma Gandhi's tactics in South Africa to end the white supremacy there. Like the Mahatma, Mr Mandela spent years in jail for his views but he retained his belief in the South African white who supported the White-Only government.

MALAYSIA IS A SAFE place to visit, says the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents. It is. But tourists from Asia and Africa must allow themselves to be harassed by agencies of the government. That they are is in no doubt. This is a multi-racial country is which the non-Malays are as badly treated as the Asian and African tourists. But the deputy information and former newspaper editor, Dato' Zainuddin Mohamed, has asked 'various parties, not to inject racial overtones into the MMS videclips issue and the crackdown on illegals. The 'ear squats' by women stripped in police station for forgetting passports is normal, he implies, for they may be carrying drugs on them. The authorities have created a side issue of 50,000 illegal Chinese tourists in this country. They say it is deliberate. But the existence of these illegals reveal how impetent they are. By their own admission, as the DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng, points out, Singapore's population between 2000 and 2003 are illegal stayers in Malaysia. Nothing is done about that. But the authorities have created a campaign to catch the 50,000 illegal Chinese tourists! But Malaysia is a safe country. The MATTA president, Mr Ngiam Foon, assures that Chinese visitors here can feel at home. There were now announcements in Chinese at the immigration counters and 'signagess in that language, too' at the KLIA airport, placed there after the event. But Chinese tourists do not listen to Malaysian statements to the contrary when their experiences are different. It is not official hopes but practice that matter. And that leaves much to be desired.

One lady did not die until her charm was passed on to one who was not in her family. She lingered for months until it was done. She had taken a charm to ensure her husband did not stray as long as she lived. After she died, he took a second wife amost immediately after the mourning period. Ordinary men and women takes charms as a matter of course. I was given two on my wedding day nearly 40 years ago. I still have them on my body. Whether they had an effect on my life, it is not for me to say. Perhaps my life would have been different. I believe in the efficacy of charms when properly done. It goes against the grain for the Western educated, who believe in proof, but almost all Asian and African people use them. They may in the Western education decry them, and wear them by saying that there is no harm in it.

The United States gets complete dominance around the world for what it does in Afghanisation. That is because its opponents there do not have the sophistication that the Sunnis have in iraq. It would have helped the United States if it knew history. They do not. When I took history and inernational affairs in Harvard to whence I had gone as a Nieman fellow in Journalism in 1976, most of my friends in Harvard were dismissive of it. My lecturers included Thomas Kanza, a former foreign minister of the Congo. And what I learnt there was not the dry fact that history is often regarded as, but that the countries in Africa, Asia, South America were different from one another, and we must treat each country in its entirety. The Americans tend to treat contintents as if the countries in them do not matter. From that attitude to the war on terror, where Islam is treated as a monolitic religion, when in fact it is not. That is how it got into the mess it has in its foreign policy. An American who understands the world do not agree with his government's attitude towards war on an adjective. To an independent mind, the United States going to war on Islam was a mistake. True Muslim governments support it. But their people do not. The United States as a result has created a divide between the people and their governments. The governments wag the war on terror, as in Thailand and Malaysia, to remain in power. If in relatively peaceful countries, the difference between the people and the government is present, then do we need to talk of countries where there is no government, as in Iraq or Afghanistan?

THERE IS WORLD WIDE interest these days in bird flu as there was four years ago of bio-terrorism, each threatening, so health authorities maintained, the deaths of millions of people. Bio terrorism did not come to pass. Neither will bird flu. The only beneficiaries will be the pharmaceutical companies and the authorities who keep their people glued to television sets so that they can do as they like. If a pandemic is threatened, individual countries would have strengthened their health regimen so that it does not spread. They have not done so. The people panic unnecessarily at these health concerns made worse by authorities assuming the worst but doing nothing about it. The people are left with half baked advice on television, radio and newspapers on how to cope with the pandemic should it ever strike. But bird flu has killed less in the whole of Asia these past two years than daily road deaths in the United States. The United States have killed about 100,000 Iraqis deliberately and have lost more than 2,000 in the conflict there. But that does not count in these calculations. Saddam Hussein, we are told, is a evil figure and his people's death is necessary to him out. The only beneficiary of this bird flu scare is the pharmaceutical industry. That stories appear daily of the threatened pandemic. A pharmaceutical product is miraculously found which is out of reach of Asians Africans and Latin Americans. But the pandemic in time will be no more. Another one will take its place, and the pharmaceutical industry laughs all the way to the bank.

But these issues sit lightly with the bigots and vigilantes. They are not interested in the Islamic faith per se. They want to use it to dominate, and drive out any who would challenge their worldview. They are no different from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in India, the White Supremacists in South Africa, the Nazis in Germany, the Opus Dei of the Roman Catholic Church. There is no force yet like the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela in South Africa to challenge this coming strangulation of Malaysian society. Until then, it can only worsen before reason and confidence rise to thwart this march of the vigilante bigots.

If unchecked, the political arthritis would make way for dementia, the signs of which are about us. When things go askew, as history tells us, a figure would appear with a programme that could turn the tide. He is often spurned, ignored, even destroyed, but he has the aura, the presence, the fearlessness to turn the tide. History is replete with examples of such figures: Garibaldi in Italy, Gandhi in India, Mandela in South Africa, Rizal in the Philippines, Sukarno in Indonesia, Sihanouk in Cambodia. He need not be heroic or larger than life as they, but he could do what must. His role may only be to kickstart the political process, but that would at least rid the political arthritis that threatens to strangle Malaysia.

It turns out the two chiefs told a right royal fib aka a pack of lies. The Hong Kong seizure caught the Malaysians flatfooted. Why should it if all is above board? The unravelling started immediately. The Royal Malaysia Police's CID director, Dato' Musa Hassan, now confirms the machine guns were from the police armoury, bought half-a-century ago, and sold to a California firm which would sell them to collectors as antique weapons. Who authorised the sale? He does not say. Did the home and internal security ministries approve it? He does not say. Did the cabinet? He does not say. It is possible that the machine guns could have been ordered sold as the police upgraded its gunnery. But there is a problem. The consignment has enough guns to equip an army division. The guns are not antique. A machine gun first used in the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century was captured in Afghanistan in the 1990s. It had seen action in every major war in Europe, the Middle East and Africa before it landed in Afghanistan warlord's armoury. More important, how could the police sell off an armoury of a division without a corresponding purchase to replace it. Was this done? We have no record. Who authorised it? We do not know.

Tan Sri Rashid had no role in this and clearly was out of the loop, though the EC secretary, Dato' Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, a member of Malaysia's intelligence services, cannot escape blame for what happened. Nor could the home ministry's secretary-general, Tan Sri Aseh Che' Mat, and the National Registration Department, which issues identity cards. Why was Tan Sri Aseh at the PWTC with Pak Lah to observe the election results on the night of 21 March? His glee at every BN victory, at the live telecast, contrasted sharply with the sombre demeanour of the politicians around Pak Lah. It is important, at least that is how the BN and UMNO view it, to accept that the elections are over, and carry on with running the government. That is more difficult than it realises. For this election proves beyond doubt that if the EC does not act decisively to right the electoral wrongs, a fair and free elections in Malaysia is a contradiction in terms, and Malaysia would join the ranks of other countries in Africa - Mr Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, for instance - where elections are held so the ruling party can wipe out the opposition. Is that the Malaysia the BN wants in the future?

What we see unfolding in the Middle East and in much of Africa now is a revised version of the genocidal havoc the Western colonial powers inflicted before the First World War. Rwanda and Burundi, with the Belgium Congo, were the private property of King Leopold II, in fact the largest private estate in history. Rubber was the golden crop then. He is reputed to killed, by murder or starvation, at least a fifth of the 100 million dead in similar actions in the 20th century, or Malaysia's population. Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and "An Outpost of Progress" are based on this genocide. He is not alone. The Dutch, in what is now Indonesia, perfected this method in what it called, the culture system of agriculture, whence local communities often had to spend more of their time to work for a pittance to produce goods the colonial invader wanted. The result was the same: murder or starvation. The colonial powers are back in the saddle, after the confusion of ill-prepared independence, this time for the baubles of modernity: diamonds, oil, and rare earths to fuel the atomic age. But they do not like to be reminded of it: hence the French shock at being told a few home truths by the Rwandan president in Kigale of its complicity in the 1994 massacres. There is in this celebration no mention of a similar tragedy in Burundi. Why?

There is no international law which can accuse Malaysia or even Pakistan of what it did. The United States continues to strengthen its nuclear weaponry programmes while it threatens others from getting into it. It unilaterally decided the only nuclear powers should be restricted to those who have the technology. No new comers are allowed in after the cut-off date. The racist rationale behind it clear enough: nuclear weapon technology should be confined to the Judae-Christian countries of the West; others should not be. But Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan broke the barrier; several more are on the verge. Israel and South Africa have nuclear weapons, but their role is played down for the two countries are inextricably linked to Washington over it. The others are not. The idea of Muslim countries like Iran and Libya and communist North Korea is frightening enough in Washington, free lance transfer of technology more so.

The OIC took a strong stand where it did not matter or could not influence decisions, decided discretion the better part of valour, and accused the world of not taking Islam and it seriously. It fudged on every issue it could have taken a strong stand. And reserved is harshest words for and on matters beyond its control and competence. The Russian president, Mr Vladimar Putin, came bearing gifts, and spoke of the Muslim population on its borders - the Muslim states of Central Asia - but not the one within - Chechnya - where his troops have made as much progress to subdue it into submission the Chechens as Washington has in Iraq. When OIC as the one body uniting Muslim nations - though a few African members, like Chad, are not Islamic or Muslim - would not, or cannot, take decisions and hide that with calls for what ought to be done, its role is suspect. Malaysia, as host, reflected that in abundance.

We must be grateful to Tan Sri Abdul Rashid for being so candid about his constitutionally defined role, for telling us that the constitution does not require the EC to be impartial, that its role is not to conduct elections fairly and impartially. Until now, there was only anecdotal evidence of the EC's perfidy; he now provides the proof, for which we must be eternally grateful. Now we know that the conduct of elections in Malaysia does not match up to the highest international standards of fairplay and justice. Thanks, Tan Sri, for telling us that. And in future elections, international oversight of it is as important as elections in Africa.

What happened to the building of fast patrol boats, the contract for which was, as is the norm, given to a crony? He messed it up. Even the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, acknowledges it. What has happened to him? Nothing. He hopes for another huge contract which he can turn into a corrupt scam. After failing to implement a RM1.2 billion computerisation of Malaysian hospitals, the crony, a class mate of a Mahathir son, is promptly given a contract worth several hundred millions of ringgit to build computer labs in schools. It is a collosal failure. The man has disappeared to South Africa, after allegedly instructing to his staff to get the story off the newspapers and public attention "no matter who and how much has to be paid". It is a matter of record that the media is not interested in it any more.

When officials of a government corporation's subsidiary issued foreign bonds worth billions in a deliberate scam, a few officials were arrested, but that could not have happened with official approval. When a crony with a contract to build computer labs in schools failed, the government took no action than pointing fingers at various irrelevant players in the drama: the culprit sits in relative comfort in South Africa. He was also the brains behind the computerisation of hospitals, which in true Malaysian tradition, is unworkable. No doubt he thinks of another scam to fail yet again and make millions of ringgit at public expense. There is no sign of seriousness to correct corruption. The cosmetic changes cannot change an ingrained lifestyle. And corruption, like nasi lemak, is here to stay.

Dr Mahathir relies on him much. When the former MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, refused to step down and threw the party into a crisis, Dr Mahathir called on Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing to be the mediator. The man has no political sense or even an understanding of issues, but does that matter? A Prime Ministerial mediator needs to be infused in self-importance, of which he has aplenty, and pass the message. Nothing else is needed. His office-boy could have done a better job. But it shows how important Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing has come to be at this time to Dr Mahathir. It was to him Dr Mahathir called to prepare the posters and election material for the first general election in South Africa which ushered in majority rule.

Impressive as the website looks, it was next to useless. You could access the front page, and of the subject headings. Whoever put it together was no doubt handsomely, but how would a journalist in, say, Penang, get his information if the website cannot provide it? I could, with ease, get what I wanted of the NAM Summit in South Africa in 2000. Would the government find out what happened? I doubt it. One would have thought though that the government would have the framework for website information by now which could be ajdusted to the needs of the moment. Obviously not.

So NAM stirringly calls to halt preparations for war in Iraq, while individual members score points in the drafting of communiques and statements. But what use are these if they are forgotten when the leaders go home. NAM is not the only organisation which looks over its shoulders to see if what it says would offend Washington, but when the language used is not that of the weak, but ersatz strong, like South African President Thabo Mbeki's demand that Iraq must disarm, all it attracts is derision. If NAM was so concerned about it, why did it not get involved in the Iraqi problem when it was brewing. And countries in the Middle East are lobotomised to ignore the wider ramifactions of this war. Hitler was accused of genocide for using massive force to destroy a defenceless minority. When genocide occurs in Africa, the world is roused to anger. When Washington plans one, for that is what this hypertechnical war of offense is, all nations rise in support, especially when aid and assistance is thrown their way. Depleted uranium bombs, weapons with the velocity and damage of nuclear weapons are routinely used, as in Afghanistan, would be used in Iraq. Some of its actions would fall foul of international law. But does any one care?

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