He Who Must Be Destroyed At All Cost should not expect special treatment, an UMNO bigwig bellowed into my ears. He is a criminal serving a sentence, and he should not expect special favours, he insisted. But he is not. He does not ask for special favours. He wanted to see his seriously sick mother. Is the prison regimen so insentive that prisoners are not allowed to visit a terminally ill parent or other member of his family even more frequently than the rules allow? If so, something wrong with a penal system that prevents it. This is as serious as, if not more, than the jueveniles held in adult prisons waiting for their cases to be heard. When a man goes to jail, he loses his liberty, but he is not shut out from his family and his world. But if a prisoner has to go on a hunger strike before he is allowed to visit his sick mother, then surely something is wrong somewhere. Besides, if he is barred, under prison regulations, to visit her on compassionate grounds, why did they relent when he went on a hunger strike? Rules, surely, must be rules.

The government avers that English must be widely used or be left behind internationally. Instead of competence, we are told to speak Standard English, what is called Queen's English and spoken in London and the southeast of England. But this disappears from England, with people speaking dialects, even on BBC, that my Indianised English appears to be Queen's English itself. Speech alone is enough. Without writing and reading, and practice, we cannot obtain the fluency the form requires except as a second language. There is nothing wrong with that. Malaysia will always have its own idiom. In India, where it is not only an official language but a link language amongst the linguistic nationalism that splits states and policies so severe that blood sometimes flows on the streets, the "Indlish" has a charm of its own: Besides a preference for archaic Latinism and construction, such phrases as "What nonsence are you talking" does not detract English from its inherent strength; even Tamilnadu, which objects to Hindi, India's national language, teach English with a vengeance. When English was deliberately sidelines at the turn of the 20th century, as a nationalistic ideal, its teaching stood still, and when it picked up after independence, the archaic idiom was retained. English today is more vigorous there than the English-speaking countries. English was taught throughout the nationalistic ban, students winning scholarships to Oxford, Cambridge and other universities, to provide the sinews of Viceregal and, later, independent India. English is spoken as an Indian speaks it. Even the writers who achieve worldwide fame as writers of English.

THE PRIME MINISTER gives the impression of total control. The government is in good hands. The party he heads, UMNO, is obviously not. So, he would now devote time to that. He continues to makes speeches which annoy hearers. He has, we are told, not lost his touch. But the reality could not be more different. When the impropriety of a man paid out of public funds doing full-time party work full time was raised, he testilly replied he earns "only RM16,000" a month, lower he avers than some chairman of governmnt-controlled companies like Petronas earn much more. He does not mention the perks of office are such that one could be paid RM1 a month and not be out of pocket at the end of 20 years at the job. Besides others as his wife travelling with him as his medical officer, or at least she used to. Which man earning RM16,000 a month is built two official residences, one for RM21 million in early 1980 prices, and another for RM200 million, and lives in neither? His tetchiness at inconvenient questions is legendary -- but the threshold gets lower, especially in recent months. Today, he is all but invisible, occasionally and unexepctedly "meeting the people", as he did at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Even when he travels, as he is about to, it is in secret. The fawning receptions he has come to expect is not certain any more. His visit to Chicago to negotiate with Motorola was couched in a talk to an Islamic group, but that invitation was withdrawn when pro-Anwar groups forced it to. His latest trip to the United Kindom, during which he is to address a meeting in Cambridge, is already under a cloud.

These approaches, Besides giving speakers an opportunity to visit exotic capitals, cannot succeed. For three reasons: the political motivation stems from internal difficulties; it is not the journalists nor newspaper editors or owners who want press councils, but the government, which in the Third World, reacts when stung by external criticism; no story that would upset any member country would be excised by the country concerned. The press council further must, in general, support the official view of any complaint. Two examples from Malaysia would suffice: the de facto justice minister, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim, welcomed the a press council but insisted the old laws that kept journalists on a short leash would be retained. The government-sponsored human rights body, Suhakam, chaired by a former deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, is now criticised for statements it made, in the Anwar Ibrahim affair, which challenged the official view. Official interest in these bodies is in inverse proportion to its popularity with the masses.

PAS prevented outgoing state executive councillors and the mentri besar from their offices after its victory, a National Front representative alleged in the Trengganu state assembly on Wednesday. This barred a "smooth" transfer of power, and proof enough of the PAS administration's prejudice against the outgoing administration. "When PAS won, they immediately declared a one-day holiday," alleged Tengku Putra Tengku Awang; Besides it showed no respect for the caretaker government. But who barred the smooth transfer? Was it PAS or the National Front? There is more to it than meets the eye. Tengku Putra knows what happened, but cannot accuse that party without drawing himself into a needless confrontation. A caretaker administration has no place once a political party has won power as decisively as PAS did in Trengganu. In this case, PAS did the right thing. Especially when at least seven trucks sped to Trengganu to remove documents; two slipped away before they were stopped at a police road block in the state. Tengku Puta's complaint could have stood up if the National Front administration had been defeated in a non-confidence vote, or if PAS had stopped it from removing their personal effects on the dissolution of the state assembly. But the National Front was so confident of being returned, they did not bother. In any case, why is Tengku Putra's upset about the smooth transfer of power? Trengganu never had it since independence, even when it was a National Front man handing over power to his colleague.

The English College retained that hold among students, especially when many came from the outlying towns for the Form Six. The NST articles does not do justice to its distinguished alumni. Such members of the Johore Royal Family who went to English College, like the Sultan, did not complete their education there but went on to schools overseas. So, the choice of distinguished alumni is unfortunate: the list is more distinguished than what is provided. Besides Tun Hussein, Prof. Ungku Aziz, Dato' Syed Hussein Alatas, the late deputy prime minister, Tun Ismail Abdul Rahman, his brother Sulaiman (also a cabinet minister), the Kuok brothers, their brother-in-law, Mr Leslie Cheah, at least one Lord President, numerous judges, two armed forces chiefs of staff, Prof. Toh Ban Hock of Sydney University, Prof Louis Lim. Even Tok Mat, who is listed, would agree that our class mates Ban Hock and Louis have their reputations etched in stone and ours ours on sand.

Otherwise, despite police rules and regulations, the men on the ground would take such transgressions of the law as licence for them to emulate. In any case, how many policemen have been brought to book for the regular killing in the course of duty of innocent men and women? But this doctor's death has become a highly emotional issue amongst the Chinese community that could cost the governing National Front a lot of votes. Especially when Chinese parties in the coalition view discretion as better than valour. The inevitable feeling that the police's sudden interest in resolving this case quickly has to do with the government's comfiture about what happened last Monday night, and its impact among the voters refuses to go away. The government should now come out with a clear explanation on what happened, what it intends to do about it, Besides charging the two men in court, and what it intends to do about bringing the police back to the professionalism it lost along the way.

The high level of UMNO politicisation of the government continued unabated throughout the past 44 years. But it did not rate any concern so long as the Malay opposition was weak and disorganised. When Tengku Razaleigh, yes the current Kelantan strongman, raised his banner of revolt after he challenged the Prime Minister for the UMNO presidency in 1987, this was, briefly, an issue. It is now questioned virulently by an energized opposition, with a defensive UMNO attacking any who goes against what it considers fair, and absorbs any who agrees with it. So, a routine query from one of those present in a closed-door discussion with an UMNO supreme council member, albeit a cabinet minister, is proof that primary school teachers are politicised! But if Datin Rafidah Aziz thought the remark serious enough, should she not have brought it to the cabinet's, and the education minister's, attention, instead of trying to make political capital out of it? Why did she not do that? Why is UMNO so ready to assume that this practice is widespread when, on what we know, only one primary school teacher is involved? If the problem is serious, what steps does the education ministry take Besides politicising the issue?

The MIC president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, has decreed the creation of a Malaysian Indian artistes foundation, which in two months would collect RM1,000,000 to provide insurance for its members when they travel and they fall on hard times. The foundation is not formed yet, but he told reporters yesterday that it would set up a production company to produce movies and television shows and recordings Besides training local Indian talent. Indian castles in dreamland is his specialty. Curious, that it took more than 50 years to realise that there was such an animal as artiste within the Indian community. Dato' S. Samy Vellu and an MIC central committee member, Senator Dato' V.K.K. Teagarajan are trustees: that is only fair since the artistes cannot be relied upon, as these two fellows can, to ensure this would be a collosal failure. The initial donation of RM10,000 is provided by the company which produces the Indian Nada Suria programme on RTM. So far well and good. But a few niggardly questions arise: If the foundation is not yet registered, how can it collect funds? How did the Registrar of Society allow Dato' Teagarajan to accept the funds when the organisation itself is not registered? Or are they different rules for the MIC which cannot apply to the riff raff amongst us who has similar aims, with more justification than the MIC could ever have? If the foundation is to benefit the artistes, why is there no prominent artiste amongst the trustees? If the MIC can raise RM1,000,000 in two months, why can it not raise many more millions to kick off a programme to benefit, for example, Tamil schools? The Indian artistes who fondly believe this foundation would benefit them believes in tooth fairies.

One senior UMNO source insisted the information minister, Dato' Mohamed Rahmat, and the culture, arts and tourism minister, Dato' Seri Sabbaruddin Chik, were dismissed for their gross incompetence in containing the seamless public relations campaign that He Who Must Be Destryed At All Cost waged against an UMNO and government that rushed helter skelter in a campaign that did not make sense. So much so the Anwarians had the tactical and, I dare say, strategic and moral high ground. They had to go. They went. Ministers and senior officials whose careers have been shortcircuited by the jailed man, so far, include the Prime Minister, who had to give up home affairs; the Inspector-General of Police, who was sacked for beating him up, and due to be charged shortly; and these two men. Besides, UMNO and the government establishment are in convulsions to root out the Anwarians amongst their midst, unsure of how many they could have missed. And every move a second guessing of how the man in Sungei Buloh would react. An officer's competence is still irrelevant if he was seen close to him only nine months ago.

Universiti Putra Malaysia looks over its shoulders for saboteurs, the deputy education minister threatens to expel 4,000 demonstrating undergraduates, over unmentioned fears of the dreaded "Reformasi" invading the campus. This, we are led to believe, is why 53 undergraduates were poisoned after "consuming a drink at their hostel" or "after having breakfast", depending on whether you believe column 5 or 6 of page two of the New Straits Times of 24 May 1999. The university and the canteen caterer is convinced it is sabotage; the student council disagrees; "unproven and hypothetical", it says. Fourthousand undergraduates staged a peaceful demonstration at the UPM campus in Serdang. The deputy education minister, Dato' Khalid Yunus, who has nightmarish dreams of Reformasi unseating him, said the students should have used "proper channels". He believes fresh undergraduates, who do not yet know their way around, should not be upset when 53 of them are felled by food poisoning, should not show their displeasure at the shoddy goods they are fed with? Or is the deputy minister saying that the undergraduates have no grounds to show their displeasure in public? Besides, does he seriously think the government would survive if he begins to expel undergraduates because they fear food poisoning?

Already, it has all but destroyed the reputation, what remained of it, of the former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor, who admitted to a commision of inquiry that he administered the near lethal blows on the just arrested ousted deputy prime minister on the night of 20 September last year. The attorney-general, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, is also on the skids; one high court judge is tipped to succeed him. Besides, one worthy in the Federal Court is also tipped to retire earlier than scheduled. So whatever happens in the Anwar imbroglio, the drama is only about to begin. Meanwhile, the political ramifications piles the pressure upon the embattled prime minister, who continues to be in contempt of court for his ex cathedra statements on Dato' Seri Anwar's guilt, as he did in the Bloomburg TV interview on Monday.

The prime minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, doubts if either vice president -- the other vice president, like the former deputy president, has problems with the law -- could be deputy prime minister; otherwise, he would have appointed either last month. But the delay shows not his strength, the strength he had only six months ago, but his weakness amidst a general Malay belief that he should go sooner than later. His leaning towards Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah upsets the camp followers of the two vice presidents. But matters now come to a head. Tengku Razaleigh, not Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi or Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, is Dr Mahathir's preferred choice to rout the Anwar tide in Sabah. But would the Tengku continue to pick the federal coals out of the Sabah fire under a different leader? Besides the strongest UMNO faction today, without doubt, is his.

Some questions arise: Why did the Special Branch not take action against Dato' Seri Anwar a year ago when these acts of corruption happened? Why did it decide to take action after his dismissal? Especially when prosecution witnesses admit that it did these things when those higher up wanted to and even if they thought otherwise. Why was Dato' Nalla's house turned into a security area before he was detained under the ISA? What this means in practice is that it became a "black area", an area in Malaysian anti-communist theory plagued with an overabundance of communists. Since the "black area" extends 50 yards beyond the designated area, the house of my former school captain and head prefect, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, the former deputy prime minister, is now also a black area, as well of others in the fashionable Bukit Tunku area of Kuala Lumpur. Has the area been gazetted, and degazetted, since the arrest? In high profile cases like these, it is normal for the Attorney General to prosecute. Why has he not? The two judges seem to be taking all this in their stride. But it is clear that the impact would be more than the judgements they deliver. What that is slowly begins to unravel. Meanwhile, there must be quite a few, Besides those involved in the trials, waiting for the next clanger to fall. All this before the sodomy trial gets under way.

Industries would not move out of the Klang Valley since the cost of moving their products through the toll highways would be prohibitibe. This means the East Coast would remain as backward as it already is. Or is El Samy telling us that the incentives Malaysian government gives industrial investors is really for road toll operators? Besides, civil servants working at Genting -- those at the Ministry of Education's Institiut Aminuddin Baki, for instance -- suddenly find that it costs more than RM100 extra a month in toll fees to go to work. IAB does not have enough quarters for the staff, most of whom live in Kuala Lumpur.

For it now becomes clear that Park May and Intrakota are not there to provide an efficient service. Intrakota unilaterally and suddenly decided that on the morning of Hari Raya Haji, the bus services would be suspended to enable its staff to attend prayers. This is underheard of in the past. It was quickly cancelled. But that it could do this without compunction is a sign of matters to come. Would MAS dare to stop flying because it is time for prayers? It would not dare do such a thing because of competition. Besides, it might reflect on why a brigadier and six officers of the Malaysian armed forces were killed during Indonesia's confrontation of Malaysia: all of them were at prayers deep in the Sarawak jungles, when the Muslim Indonesian soldiers shot them.

When cabinet ministers like Dato' Seri Osu make suggestions like this, I shudder. In the 1970s, the then prime minister, Tun Razak's handlers decided the country needed "restoran rakyats", places where the Malaysian, faced with rising prices, could eat wholesomely in these places at a reasonable cost. Of course, these restoran rakyats must be air-conditioned; otherwise how could the people eat cheaply. The first -- and, if I remember correctly, the only one -- was built, where else but, in Kuala Lumpur, opposite where the Dewan Bandaraya now is; it is now part of the floral arrangements of Beautiful Kuala Lumpur. The Pasir Tani in the vacant space Besides the Sulaiman Court is now the Sogo shopping centre. The Green Lung that the old Selangor Turf Club grounds is of course the course of present and future pollution problems in the form of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. So, it is with trepedition that I read of Dato' Osu's first pasar rakyat -- the car park of his ministry. Now, that should be suitable for a 98-story building that we need in Bolehland, don't you think?

If Dato' Yong must want to preserve his reputation, he must explain his actions as -- to use the current buzzword -- transparently as possible. And instead of threatening dire consequences, he should explain his case fully. A politician does not have the luxury of shutting up its opponents, especially when on the surface it does appear that has not been truthful in his statements so far. It cannot be denied that the state lost that amount and more. It cannot be denied that the state's share buying at that scale of a company whose shares had risen from RM7.50 to RM58.50 under conditions that had nothing to do with its intrinsic value -- it was overpriced at RM7.50; it certainly was when it was quoted four and a half times higher. There was a piece which suggested close ties between Dato' Yong and Dato' Joseph Ambrose Lee. He needs to answer these questions in public before he considers legal action. Besides, it is well known that the writ of libel has been used to shut people from asking inconvenient questions.

The Malaysian works minister, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is out to bat for DIMS, even urging the consortium to withdraw in favour of DIMS and suggesting that Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro, even if they joined hands for the project, would be no match for the likes of DIMS which has "strategic alliances" -- whatever that means -- with leading software companies from the United States. DIMS ebullient chief executive, Mr Dharan, roots incessantly for a "strategic linkage" -- whatever that means -- between our yet unbuilt Multimedia Super Corridor with Chennai's yet unbuilt IT Park. Now, all that Reliance and L&T could promise is to link the Chennai Park to Silicon Valley; only DIMS can link CITP to MSC. Besides, Reliance and L&T should know, if they do not already, that the cutting edge of worldwide computer technology is situated outside Kuala Lumpur.

I have addressed only the problem of Malayalam films, because that is the only ones I watch when I do look at it. I am not a TV watcher myself, although not my family. But I am sure this problem is not confined to Malayalees alone. Besides, one does sometimes stay awake till past midnight -- not a problem for me since I am an insomaniac -- thinking what one would see it is a Malayalam film, only to find that it is a Telegu film of doubtful ancestry.

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