Initial reports revealed the hillslope weakened and soil rolled down about two kilometres from the Bukit Tinggi Resort entrance.

The Limousine and Taxi Operators' Association (Perteka) has alleged that one individual is given 6,000 commercial vehicle permits to one individual. Dato' Nazri, in his enthusiam for patriotism and nationalism is horrified. Cabinet ministers are always horrified when what they know - for no civil servant would dare offer 6,000 commercial vehicle licences to one individual without the cabinet minister's knowledge or order - is in the public domain. Is that not another wonderful way to show one's commitment to the nation by proving to the world cronyism and cronydom works? Do you remember the Pahang Darul Kasino episode when the government allowed a crony of the Prime Minister 250 one-armed bandits for his Bukit Tinggi resort, and this nationalistic and patriotic individual raised it to 420, and turned it into a virtual casino.

The Berjaya Group, which comes next, sunk further into a quagmire when its leading light decided to turn his Bukit Tinggi resort into a casino, against the law, and ran into a political storm and had to surrender his licence. Its leading light is the self-styled international business man of unquestioned repute, Tan Sri Vincent Tan (he is upset when his given name, Chee Yioun, is not mentioned in the same breath, so I shall not) is next as the CEO of three companies whose shares scrape the bottom that it is a penny stock, there for the flutter but not serious investment. But that has not restricted his pay packet. Three companies are listed - Berjaya Group, Berjaya Sports Toto and Berjaya Land - and they paid him in salary and directors' fees about RM24.75 million which with his shareholdings in them rose to RM35.3 million.

The BN and UMNO has done little to reverse the trend. All it has done it to give the nayseekers ammunition aplenty. One is the Bukit Tinggi casino licence, which nettled the solid UMNO-controlled Pahang state where it is based. Pak Lah is quite right to believe PAS is at BN's heels in Kedah. But would he make that same statement in Pahang, where his 'boys' work overtime, as PAS, to defeat the defence minister and UMNO vice president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, so he could not be Pak Lah's deputy prime minister, if at all, for long. All Pak Lah has revealed, in his Alor Star bravado, is that he, as the new prime minister, is more nervous than ever about holding on to Kedah at the general elections.

With general elections looming, the BN weaker than in 1999, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim languishing in jail, the prime minister-to-be weaker than ever, all rush hither and thither to show all is well. It is not. The most problematic is how it could allow gambling, casinos, and gambling revenues to balance the budget. It is worse because Malaysia is, in the Prime Minister's considered view, an Islamic state. The furore over the Bukit Tinggi casino is only the tip of the iceberg. Persistent rumours talk of a casino in Langkawi - but after the general elections. The BN has no consistent or thought-out answer. So, all BN leaders divert the attention from the main problems and concentrate on the inessentials in the hope that they would find an issue to beat the Opposition with.

Since his reputation, he insists, like Caesar's wife, beyond reproach, he should demand a similar grovelling from the PAS organ, Harakah. If it does not, defamation suits are in order. It would at least get the issue argued out in the courts. That newspaper has targetted him for turning Pahang into a casino state, and his resorts in the state at Bukit Tinggi and at Pulau Tioman into virtual gambling casinos. Often forgotten he also got 38,000 acres of prime land from the BN government in Pahang on which his Bukit Tinggi resort and casino are sited. He got them by subborning two Malay cronies, both now ministers in the Mahathir government, to alter the official licence as he desired. And yet a Malay in Pahang cannot get a ten-acre plot he is entitled to without money changing hands.

This controversial thesis upset many in UMNO. The formation of UMNO was irrelevant but not of PAS. Both Tun Ghafar Baba and Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when deputy prime minister, disagreed with him for they thought it would come to fruit during their Prime Ministership. That was not to be. Pak Lah that must grapple with it. Theories like these cannot fit into a pattern of 18 years just because it did in the early years. One should look at this decade that could destroy that Malay power. Be that as it may, there is a similarity between Tan Sri Musa's thesis and Tan Sri Sanusi's. The Malay Tan Sri Sanusi talks of is the cultural Malay not the theocratic Malay of PAS. And he looks at UMNO as the archetypal cultural Malay. But there is a transformation within PAS which pits the cultural Malay, a refugee from UMNO and other Malay parties, with the theocratic wing, and the outcome of this Malay fight for hegemony and continued rule would depend on that than UMNO's own internal convulsions over it. UMNO made a mistake to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state. By that, it lost the advantage of dictating policy. Its dissonance over the casino licences in Bukit Tinggi and in Pulau Tioman is only one of many confrontations it could not overcome.

Pak Lah understands that. Which is why he wants Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin, not Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, as his deputy prime minister. Dr Mahathir would rather he be Dato' Seri Najib, but he cannot force Pak Lah to comply. A former leader is just that - a former leader. Tan Sri Muhiyuddin is from Johore, the best-entrenched UMNO-controlled state. He has a well-oiled political machine which can make deals with other important states. And sideline those they do not like. It is not without cause that the Pak Lah backers work furiously to ensure the political destruction of Dato' Seri Najib. If he is not Pak Lah's deputy, his political career is all but over. He is caught in a political maelstrom of his own. The Bukit Tinggi casino scandal devolves on him in ways he cannot defend. His Pekan parliamentary constituency is not as safe as he assumes. PAS has several well-liked candidates chosen for the area, and any one of them could easily force Dato' Seri Najib into premature retirement.

THE PAHANG DARUL KASINO CONTROVERSY has sunk deep into the UMNO psyche. But hardly anyone even alluded to it in the controlled debate at the UMNO general assembly. Speaker after speaker raised other issues and how it would have fared worse in the 1999 general elections if the new electoral list, with its more than 600,000 new voters, had been used. The Bukit Tinggi casino, run by the super crony, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, UMNO now accepts, is one election issue in the coming general elections, most likely in the first few months of 2004, which could cause it to lose perhaps 20 seats, and one state government. One prominent UMNO leader was harsher: UMNO and the National Front (BN) must divert attention from that, or face, in his words, 'disaster'. The second finance minister, Dato' Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, was heard to tell to any who would listen he would react soon to the questions lobbed at him by PAS in Parliament. That might be too late.

It was used for a deliberate political purpose that had nothing to do with PAS, Harakah or Zunar, and several, more sane and practical, worried about its implications. When the offending cartoon is then published in the mainstream press and the government media outlets, it was clear the cartoon that was not offensive but a weapon to attack UMNO leaders from the other faction. It backfired. The embedded depleted uranium turned out to be a dud. If anything, those who did not know of it or read Harakah cannot understand what the fuss is. This became clear soon enough during the UMNO General Assembly proceedings. National Front (BN), mostly UMNO, MPs objected to the cartoon in the current session of Parliament. It was a manufactured crisis to put PAS on the defensive after its attack on the government decision to allow a casino in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang, which forced UMNO MPs and leaders in Pahang to grovel for a response.

Well, look at how Harakah reacted to the opposition to its cartoon. When it should have held its high ground, it apologised. Its chief editor, Mr Zulkifli Sulong, issued a statement last night (18 June 2003), that Harakah profusely apologised for the cartoon. "If it is true there are parties insulted by the publication of the cartton, Harakah offers its apology as it was not intentional." Why am I not surprised at this apology? When it had a good election issue in the casino at Bukit Tinggi, it pulled back rather than go for the kill. So why is this apology not unusual? It has a brilliant capacity to shoot itself on the foot when victory is in sight. Of that there is no doubt.

Tun Abdul Hamid Omar, who succeeded Tun Salleh, started the rot. His successor, Tun Eusoff Chin, continued it. He scandalised an already scandal-proof court when photographs of him on holiday with his favourite lawyer, Dato' V.K. Lingam, in New Zealand appeared on the Internet. He and his client, Tan Sri Vincent Tan (he of the Bukit Tinggi casino fame) were also photographed with the then Attorney-General (later Federal Court judge and now comatose), Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, and their wives, on holiday in Italy. What added fuel to fire was Dato' Lingam's arrogance and Tun Eusoff's subservience ensured anyone before him with the other side represented by Dato' Lingam found the judicial cards stacked against him. Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah, who succeeded him with a new broom and an unsullied reputation, could not, no matter how, turn the judiciary around. What destroyed a judicial tradition of two centuries cannot be reversed in decades, let alone in two or three years.

This dinner also proved the truism that if you give an UMNO leader aspiring to higher officer a platform, he would paint himself into a corner. Dato' Seri Najib talked warmly of Dr Mahathir, but nary a word about Pak Lah. That man did not exist that night. And he was there also as Pak Lah's representative. That proved, if nothing else, the fight for the UMNO presidency is about to turn messay. Dato' Najib is under strain in Pahang, where he can expect to be challenged. It is the considered view of the Pak Lah camp that he should be defeated. That with the unexpectedly tough Opposition campaign against him, and the fallout from the Bukit Tinggi casino, he is in for the toughest fight of his political career. If he scrapes through, he must, against Pak Lah's own instincts, be appointed his deputy prime minister. Or fade into the political black hole.

The government is in rigor mortis over the illegal casino at Tan Sri Vincent's Bukit Tinggi Resort. The cabinet had allowed it 250 one-armed bandits. He wanted more. His crony in the cabinet, Tengku Adnan Mansor subborned Dr Jamaluddin to ignore the Prime Minister and cabinet to give him what he wanted. He got a virtual casino licence, 420 one-armed bandits, internet gambling. Dr Mahathir was shocked, when he ordered it raided, at what he saw: the one-armed bandits were all over the place, even in the toilets. He cancelled the licence. Furious behind-the-scenes talks go on to have it restored. The resort, with the casino, is valued at more than RM800 million, with a guarantee of RM200 million profit from it for two years. It is to be part of the re-organised Berjaya Group. It is doubtful if it can. The prize was the casino, not the 15,000 acre resort. It can forget about its licence. No government would dare restore it. It must also be charged for breaching the conditions of its licence.

THERE IS MORE TO THE Bukit Tinggi CASINO than is known. And puts the National Front (BN) and UMNO in a spot. Every time its leaders talk of it - so far only the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and the Pahang mentri besar, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakub, have - more evidence of wrongdoing and outright lying is revealed. The Prime Minister revoked the gaming licence at the casino but the Bukit Tinggi resort, since it is owned by the super-crony, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, insists it can renegotiate it. Others who breach the conditions are fined heavily and the licences revoked. But not Tan Sri Vincent Tan. No whitewashing can convert this elaborate casino complex costing, in the end, RM1,000 million and more, to attract gamblers from all over the world into the social club Dr Mahathir insists it is. Even Tan Sri Vincent does not believe him. But the government expects us to.

THIS NAIVE BELIEF THAT IF THE MANTRA - Bukit Tinggi casino is not a casino - is repeated endlessly by three people like the Muslim "sembayang hajat" prayer, it would not be. The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed said it yesterday. And shortly after by the Pahang mentri besar, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakub, and the super-crony Tan Sri Vincent Tan-owned Bukit Tinggi casino's general manager, Teh Ming Wah. Now that the Great Man has spoken, we are told, it is not a casino. The only problem is that, unlike a sembayang hajat, when tens of thousands will pray for a stated goal in unision for days on end, this casino mantra is repeated by only this trio. This could have worked once, but not now. The injured innocence with which this mantra is repeated says it all: "It is unfortunate that certain parties have misconstrued and sought to politicise the matter, leading to allegations to the media with little regard to factual accuracy" and "Dr Mahathir has made such a clear statement on the matter".

Is it common practice for the National Front (BN) government in the centre to ride rough shod over the state governments it control? The Pahang mentri besar, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakub, says he knew nothing of it until the Bukit Tinggi resort issued a press statement about it. He has a strange constitutional view of state rights. He says the federal authorities need not inform him when it issues a gambling licence. Yet another crony a few years earlier was told to discuss the gaming licence he wanted in Sabah to discuss it with the state chief minister. Is it the norm for the National Front (BN) federal government to ride rough shod over state governments it controls?

Take the joint venture between Monash University and the Prime ministerial crony, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah, for a Malaysian campus of Monash. The university it has a joint venture with his Sunway Group. But the Sunway Group Monash entered into an agreement with is a fiction. Monash is fed a lemon, as the Sydney journalist, Mr Ganesh Sahathevan, unearthed. Is anyone upset or bothered about it? Not at all. So much for its stated excellence in education. Let the natives get third grade degrees for all we care, so long as they pay the exhorbitant fees demanded. Though, like the government over the Bukit Tinggi casino, it puts on a brave front, and refuses to answer queries. When business men and politicians venture into education, it is not so it could "provide quality education at affordable rates", as Dato' Seri Ong puts it, but so education can be marketed as a business. When the venture goes bad, these fellows abandon the students and go on to some other lucrative business to rip money off.

He insists the Bukit Tinggi casino has only slot machines. Tengku Adnan told the Prime Minister slot machines are passe and more sophisticated machines are now the norm. Which is which? Indeed, the gambling planned for the pseudo-French resort is anything but the norm. The casino's general manager returned yesterday afternoon from Dubai. She went there to attract the Arab sheikhs who cannot now go to Las Vegas and elsewhere after the US shell shock of 11 September to come to Bukit Tinggi. These high stakes gamblers would not come to Bukit Tinggi if only slot machines are available. There are already plans to build a hotel to accommodate the gamblers. "The existing resort cannot contain the gamblers we expect to come," said a casino official. The casino floor is so large that half a dozen tennis courts could fit in comfortably, according to the plans. And it has only licence, so the spin goes, for 250 slot machines. Would Dato' Seri Adnan explain why, if the casino is for non-Muslims only, are Arab sheikhs, all Muslims to a man, asked to come and gamble away their wealth and earn a place in an Islamic hell? Or is that all right because they are not Malaysian Muslims?

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