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.

He can be a dangerous opponent. If he has firmed with the opposition, as he appears to have, it spells danger for UMNO. But it addresses the threat amateurishly. It speads the news, by deed and words, that the opposition is split. It shows the opposition to be incapable of uniting. The irony is that the opposition is prepared to unite at a time when UMNO is not. The inflighting within UMNO between the Pak Lah faction and his deputy's is a sign that UMNO is not united. At least that is how Malaysians view it. It is no use therefore saying the opposition is disunited. Or the National Front, especially UMNO, united superficially during the occasional byelections, is when it is not. Politics in Malaysia has gone beyond that. It cannot say Malaysia is Islamic because the non-Muslims in the National Front back the move. But they are at odds with their communities for that. Besides the National Front and its lead party still accept what the founding fathers believed in, but not why. They have rewritten history in the process, but the youngsters of today, usually sons and daughters, or grandsons and granddaugters, of those who saw independence through, believe in what UMNO does not believe in. So force is not an option. And what they think is not what the National Front and UMNO does.

That Putera UMNO is not. It is a vehicle for Mr Khairy has used to get rid of Dato'Hishamuddin Hussein, the UMNO Youth leader, before the next party elections. It was formed, as usual without thought, so that it was a male alternative to Puteri UMNO. The Puteri UMNO was formed because the young professional women of today thought the UMNO's women's wing, Kaum Ibu, staid and was peopled by women who did understand their problems. It has become the most original political unit that in Malaysia since the Second World War. Besides getting the young professional women a politicial life, it has also forced other political parties, in the National Front and outside, to copy Puteri UMNO, and form similar avenues for its young women professionals. But Putera UMNO does not have such credentials. Mr Khairy's and Dato' Azeez's difficulties only makes Putera UMNO a bad idea.

The government is split, with Pak Lah on one side and his deputy prime minister on the other. So one side will hold the other to task if they do anything. It was originally thought that Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister now in the opposition, would be brought back into UMNO to ease Dato' Seri Najib out. But there is much opposition to that. Dato' Seri Anwar has burned his bridges in UMNO: he climbed to the near top with the help of UMNO stalwarts whom he later chopped. He would not be given a second chance to do that. Besides, many supporting Dato' Seri Najib, and this group includes the former prime minister, Tun Mahathir, do not want him in UMNO. In any case, the UMNO constitution wants a new member to be five years before he can hold office. This is ignored most times, but it can be used to prevent people like Dato' Seri Anwar from holding the high office from which he was expelled.

The UMNO they were presidents of is not the UMNO ot today. The UMNO of old was a nationalist movement, the UMNO of today was formed a political party after the high courts banned the UMNO of old, through UMNO's lawyer making a suggestion in court – and the judge warned him of it – that it be declared illegal. UMNO could be now defeated, as India's Congress Party was in 1976 after it transformed into a political party in 1967. The Malay opposition and that many young Malays consider joining a political party other than UMNO will have no qualms about criticising UMNO. Besides, UMNO itself is divided. When newspapers go on a witchhunt on the deputy prime minister, he is never given space in the newspapers to argue his side of the case, but whatever is reported , to the reader is an UMNO divided.

Dato' Ibrahim asked for two conditions for withdrawal: he be reinstated as Pasir Mas UMNO divisional chief, to which he had been elected, and Pak Lah had removed him; and Dato' Annuar Musa be removed as UMNO chief for Kelantan. He went off for his daughter's graduation in Australian, and on his return, met Tan Sri Rashid, who in the meanwhile had presented Dato' Ibrahim's conditions to Pak Lah, who was not agreeable to Dato' Ibrahim being Pasir Mas UMNO chief but agreed to sack Dato' Annuar Musa as UMNO chief in Kelantan. Dato' Ibrahim Ali stood as a candidate in Pengkalen Pasir, and got what was predicted for him by the Election Commission. The Election Commission was in full force in Pengkalen Pasir to see that he also did not get more, Besides seeing that PAS did not win the seat. PAS had won the seat before the postal votes were counted but the Postal Votes edged UMNO in, but after more votes than allowed were counted.

How is it that 1.6 summonses have not been issued? It is taken for granted that once a Malaysian is told he has committed a traffic offence, he is deemed guilty. He has to pay the maximum fine. Otherwise he cannot renew his driving, car licence or his insurance. If he decides to fight it out in court, he must accept that he is not allowed to have his car in the meantime. A friend have renewed all this, after the police computer is checked, until this year, he was told of an offence in 1998, for which he must pay RM300 before he can have his car on the road. He paid. But a summons must be signed by the person against whom the summons is issued. It is for him to decide whether he goes to court, Not now. Anyone can put an alleged traffic offence in the police computers, in a moment of pique, and that is taken as proof that an offence is committed. This is one example. There are others in other ministries. So when the Chinese government attacks the Malaysian government for police harassing its tourists, Malaysians in the private sector clap their hands in glee. The Chinese newspapers have gone to town with the MMS videoclip, often giving it front page coverage, for the very narrow reason that the naked woman is Chinese. The government has justified what happened, and has become unstuck. The publici is happy about it. The National Front cannot ask its non-Malay partners to explain what is unexplainable. Besides, the non-Malay partners are unhappy at what has happened. They will not talk about it, because they want to be in the government, and they will sell their communities for that. Up to a point. The Malay ministers have to explain it to the public.

The host government dedicate more security than it can afford to these meetings, which include a gathering of Caucasiuan academics which can last up a week. The academics have taken over, and the meetings are seen as occasions for coverage of national leaders. The format of these meetings are built for their convenience. What was discussed at these meetings? We do not know, but we know what our leaders said, for that is all over the papers here. These meetings seem to strengthen the leaders of countries. Before the APEC meeting, Malaysia's Pak Lah visited Bush a few days before APEC. We do not hear of our leaders calling on other leaders in APEC Besides the United States and other Western powers. That Pak Lah visited Washington in secret, and his visit sprung on Malaysians after he landed there, gives him an importance he does not have in the world scheme of things. The only things these meetings show up is the intense nationalism, or the lack of it. President Roh of South Korea spoke in Korean in public; in Malaysia, our leaders would have talked in English. Our leaders speak in English so that they would get coverage overseas. Foreign correspondents in South Korea or Thailand have leaders who speak in public in their national language. The US Embassy in Thailand and other countries engage native people to translate what the government leaders tell the people. In Bangkok, the translation of Thai ministerial statements and press conferences is given to correspondents who do not speak Thai and visiting reporters. I used to get translated texts of press conferences by post. But there is no such worry in Malaysia. The vernacular press is ignored. With the result, we at least know what is happening in this country by reading the vernacular press.

The IGP's son is arrested. He is released on bail. The IGP must resign. It does not matter if the son is eventually acquitted. The son is arrested for asking RM11,000 for a RM250 licence. The Malay Mail reports yesterday that RM39,000 has been demanded from one potential hawker. The system is rife with corruption. The IGP's son is doing what everyone with authority does: being the middleman in the exchange of cash from those lower down with the peole that matter in City Hall (Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur). City Hall does not allow direct applications from hawkers for the sale, only through middle men. On is an electician who makes RM2.4 million and justifies it by saying that he has to give most of it to people in City Hall. This will inevitably continue when the aim is not the licence but the money behind it. The newspapers report the superficial news, and the arrest of the IGP's son is, and leave out the main issue of it. Why are we being asked to change the identity cards? Because there is money behind it. I am asked to change my identity card once again, and will be asked to change soon enough to another system. Besides the money that changes hands in the civil service, it costs one many several days daily wages to change the identity card. Why cannot police stations be the centre for changing identify cards?

Today, the Iraqi confrontation of US power is so dominant and widespread. Bin Laden, a CIA agent at one time as Saddam Hussein was, alive or dead, is raised to be an iconomic figure. Indeed. I dare say, that it is Bin Laden, not US power, that determines what happens in the Middle East. The US is reduced to a bit player. I think Bin Laden is dead, but in American eyes, he cannot be, for it would then by fighting a dead enemy. Besides, the US does not know what the Arab Street would make of a Bin Laden dead. He is better be kept alive, for him alive is better for US policy in the Middle East. In short, the US has no policy in Iraq nor the Middle East, its role in Iraq so long as it can leave the country and leave it in chaos. Bin Laden, who was not a force in the Middle East, stepped into the breach. No one likes a vacuum. The US is caught in its own propaganda. But neither the Iraqis nor Middle Eastern citizens believe it.

He was convicted, ordered jailed and caned one with a rotan. His friend raised a hue and cry, and the man was released. What did the super-efficient Immigration Department have to say of this gross miscarriage of justice? Its enforcement chief, Dato' iskah Mohamed, insisted "it is Mangal who did not tell the authorities the truth. What our officers did is right as they followed procedures." But none of these super-efficient agencies of the government thought it unusual that he could not produce the official documents, assuming he could explain to the threatening officers, because his employers kept them. This is an offence under Malaysian law. Why is no action taken against the employer? Besides, he had not been paid ten months of wages. Why has the super-efficient Labour Ministry done nothing to ensure the employer is charged in court?

But the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, insists the boy is to blame: he should have asked to defer or be exempt from national service; he should have explained his predicament to the police, if not the magistrate. He did not. He must pay the price. The law, after all, must be respected. "I wish to state that the laws of our country do not differentiate between individuals. Attendance at the national service training programme is mandatory by law and everyone selected must attend," he thundred. Besides, he adds "I'm sure that if he had explained his family situation, the National Service department or the prosecutors would have been sympathetic towards him." He expects a frightened 18-year-old from the poorest of the poor, who is frightened of authority of any kind, to argue his case before officious police men and unsympathetic prosecutors. In other words, frightened 18-year-olds, when arrested, should behave as corrupt business men and politicians, with a battery of lawyers, when charged.

Well trained, not caught in the BN belief that they owe it a living, jobless, and with no hope of one with each passing year, they begin to question. First ignored, in BN and Opposition, then isolated, their numbers grew. Every year about 10,000 unemployed graduates joined the ranks. Perhaps 200,000, possibly far more, graduates are now unemployed. Besides two million and more who are forced to live on their wits. No one knows how many, but the government insists it is far, far less. This is not information but a spin to win the argument. No one in government cares about it, until it becomes a political football for government and opposition to kick. But then as Mark Twain once said: Statistics, damn statistics and lies.

He should have acted decisively from the start, reshuffled his cabinet, behave as to the manor born. Instead, he retained the tired Mahathir cabinet, could not make up his mind, cocooned himself with untested advisers and a nepotic cabal. His vision of Islam Hadhari is shot to pieces: several of his key aides have been caught red handed for khalwat, but are kept on, often at more powerful positions. His promises to bring the corrupt to justice is forgotten. He has not moved into his official residence; whatever the reason, it is viewed, and believed, as a deliberate attempt to deny his deputy an official residence. The two wives, Besides, do not get along.

The Glenn Braveheart caper is treason, no less. It had on board Nepalese commandoes, and a full complement of weapons one would expect of a navy ship providing escort services. Its automatic identification system, which, unlike naval ships, should be switched on at all times but it was not. Why? Then it quietly left port in the middle of the night. Why was it not ordered to remain until investigations were over? Besides, Dato' Seri Najib must tell when it would return to continue to map the coast, which was his reason why it was here. Why did the Marine Police chief and the Harbour Master allow it to leave port? Did they not know of the furore about its presence?

Long term policies are decided ad hoc, and changed or ignored when they become inconvenient or irrelevant though only after the damage is done. Cabinet ministers, caught by this clear and open resentment of the middle class, threaten the people when confronted with the mistakes of their policies. Profligacy and irrelevance dictate public policy. Petronas spent RM40 billion to build the first phase of Putra Jaya, and cannot maintain it, let alone continue to build the rest of it. The prime minister's residence, a 400-room monstrosity, cost RM200 million to build, but when it became a political issue in Parliament, it was told unequivocally that his living quarters cost only RM17 million. it was a lie. But it was accepted in good faith. Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who succeeded Tun Mahathir Mohamed, orders a RM30 million facelift to his official quarters before he moves in. No parliamentary approval was asked for. Besides, why does a building less than five years old need a face lift nearly twice what it cost? Reason flies out the window, starting at the top.

Almost all my letters are written in an Italic hand – though based on the flowing chancery hand primer of the Papal scriptist Ludovic Arrighi in the 16th century, were he alive today he would well scoff at my adaptation of his hand; I have written it for 45 years, at speed and since I never learnt shorthand, to take notes at press conferences and interviews – and naturally I address all envelopes by hand, Besides writing most of my letters in my italic hand. Besides it is far more legible than the chicken-scratch scribble it replaced in 1959. My other workhorse is my Apple eMac computer, and adjusting it for the occasional writing of addresses on envelopes is too daunting, and wasteful, to undertake.

This rape and pillage is justified, Besides power and greed, for a larger national purpose: the need for UMNO contestants for office to build up a slush fund. It is not said so crudely but that is what it is. One UMNO divisional leader insisted the only way he could remain in politics was to buy off his opponents in the party, fuelled by the fear of the anonymity that beckons if he lost. This view pervades all the way up to the cabinet. It is understood, unmentioned. Which is also why the UMNO treasurer is a wheeler and dealer. But the once rich UMNO is now bereft of its wealth, siphoned off to private companies controlled by one appointed treasurer. The chairman of the National Savings Bank, BSN, Dato' Azim Zabidi, is UMNO treasurer, and tipped to replace Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob, as the second minister of finance in the expected cabinet reshuffle (or rather, realignments) next month. It is fair to assume he would tilt towards the power-generation contracting firm whose chairman he now is. I could be wrong. But not if the recent past is any guide.

THE BOOK HAS A TITLE guaranteed to inflame: "Khairy Jamaludin Bakal Perdana Mentri?" (Khairy Jamaludin a prime minister-to-be?). His father-in-law and prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was so shocked and incensed that he summoned the author to express his displeasure. Every effort is made to have the book off the shelves. The New StraitsTimes has warned its news vendors they would be dropped if they had the book for sale. So intent is this that the book has disappeared from the market, but the book sells well since they are being bought off the market. This is not unusual. About a decade-and-a-half ago, an unflattering book about the present deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, disappeared off the shelves when those aligned to him bought out the unsold books, the printing plates, and the few thousand unbound copies of the book. The contents of that book, at the time, was as explosive as this book which is all but banned. Besides Mr Khairy, it warns of the unhealthy influence of the young crowd arond him who prevent Pak Lah from meeting whomsoever he wants. One prominent Malaysian whom Pak Lah wanted to meet, at the latter's request, was prevented by this praetorian guard.

Before he left, he sent word to the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, whose contempt for the man is ill disguised, that should he should continue to attack and belittle him as he has, he would retaliate so it would be front page news in the New Straits Times. The import of it was clear: the NST, under its present leadership, has no love lost for him. Besides, the Pak Lah camp is incensed that the Najib camp has gone on the warpath. It looks an even fight now, so word of that has yet to make the newspapers. Which is why the menace in Dato' Seri Anwar's threat is all the more serious.

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