So what is not said publicly about the helicopter mishap is more relevant for it shows the pattern. It is owned by Dato' Syed Azman bin Syed Ibrahim, who was given APs to import motor vehicles although he owns no motor showrooms. Since he is well-connected, this is obviously no hindrance. His house has a helipad, which no nouveau riche business man in Malaysia believe they could do without. There is one on the Promet building in Jalan Sultan Ismail in Kuala Lumpur. The man who owned Promet then had another on his mansion. A business man is not considered successful then and now if he did not have a helipad. Today this business man does not own Promet and is out of the public eye. There are helipads in Malaysia built by former crony business men who bit the dust when their political patrols retired. It was no different when others were prime ministers of Malaysia or under the chief ministers of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia.

What annoys the National Front in Sabah is that several of its leaders want to join the Parti Keadilan Sabah, whose president is Dato' Seri Anwar's wife, Datin Seri Wan Aziz binti Dato' Wan Ismail. The Sabah unit operate on its own, and is seen as a Sabah party not a West Malaysian clone. It is credible in the state. Dato' Seri Anwar's presence in Sabah has given the party a fillip, and this worries the National Front. As it worried the Malaysian Chinese Association that more than 1,000 of its members had joined PKR in Penang last week. Its leaders issued a statement that they were of no consequence, they were not members, they were bankrupts. But MCA leaders were in Penang up to the night before to persuade them not to leave! It was also the largest gathering of Chinese that PKR had attracted, short of its dinners. To often the blow, the New Straits Times reported that the DAP, almost all Chinese members, would not join an opposition coalition!!

But UMNO has been sailing into the sunset long before Dato' Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) took over as prime minister two years ago. He strengthened his position by winning the general election last year. But he is more interested in keeping UMNO together as he is challenged by warlords in the party, and reluctant to even reshuffle the cabinet he inherited from Tun Mahathir for fear that those dropped would go against him, especially in the 2007 party elections. He is more worried about UMNO than general elections, a trait his predecessor also showed. He is unsure of himself, and there is talk in Kuala Lumpur that he will bring Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim into UMNO - one stone he hopes would kill his two major political enemies, Dato' Seri Najib and his predecessor, Tun Mahathir Mohamed. It was Tun Mahathir who sacked Dato' Seri Anwar as deputy prime minister for committing sodomy but would not appear in court to justify it. No one has asked if Dato' Anwar would rejoin UMNO, from which he was expelled. He is not even a member of Parti Keadilan or its successor, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), former after its amalgamation with Parti Rakyat Malaysia, although his wife, Datin Seri Wan Aziz binti Dato Wan Ismail, is president. He has since said in press releases that he would rather join the opposition. The scuttlebutt in Kuala Lumpur is that he would join PAS and be its president before the next general election.

THE GRAVE HAS BEEN DUG at the National Mosque, and those who went to the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur were told it is for the former deputy prime minister, Tun Ghafar Baba, now in Pantai hospital where is undergoing medical treatment. He is weak. He has been out of ICU for about ten days, and looks poorly. He may not survive his stay in hospital, as Tun Razak did not in a London hospital, but the officials have decided he would not return from hospital alive. But the grave. ghoulishly, had to be dug three times because the length of the grave each time not correct. The National Mosque has graves for six who laboured for Malaysian independence. The former deputy prime minister, Tun Ismail bin Abdul Rahman, was first, followed by the two prime ministers, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn. The man who should be there and the first prime minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman, a member of the Kedah royal family, decided before this death that he would be buried at the royal family masouleum there. Another man, Dato' Sir Onn bin Jaffar, is not counted by the officials, and died a lonely death because he was in the opposition. His son, Tun Hussein Onn became prime minister, and his grandson, Dato' Hiihamudin, sits in the present cabinet. But Dato' Sir Onn, who was related to the Johore royal family, is buried at the royal masouleum in Johore Bahru.

The author of this book, Mr Yahya Ismail, is a journalist and political writer, whose books on Malaysian politics infuriate those he portrays. Many denounce him, and others like him, as pens for hire, available to the highest bidder, but are quick to praise him when he, and they, laud them. The reality is more prosaic. Instant political books are a feature of the Malay publishing industry. The Malay takes his politics seriously, and the instant books are a reflection of how intensive Malay politics can be. Instant books on a wide range of political views, especially of UMNO personalities and politics, are sold out during the UMNO general assembly every year. The Malay political world sees a need for books like these. Various personalities often engage them to write books about them in the hope it would put them firmly in the party leadership. Few make the headlines, usually when personalities sue or demand the books be destroyed. An instant book asking the same searching questions about Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's chances of being prime minister led him, in a political conspiracy, to jail and humiliation. The corrosive damage of these books cannot be overstated.

Civil servants from the Chief Secretary of the day, Tan Sri Samsuddin Abdul Kadir, down were subborned into the conspiracy. The National Operations Council, headed by the then chief of the armed forces, General Tun Ibrahim Ismail, governed in the aftermath of the 13 May racial riots. It had a hidden agenda to turn the Tengku into a non-person. Pak Lah was the secretary to the NOC; who later became director of youth who, with another officer, Dato' Seri Aziz Shamusudin, now in his cabinet, had the unrevealed role to contain the growing political role of a prominent student leader, who is today the cause of UMNO's biggest headache. But then this is the fate of those who challenge the status quo.

It is yet another weapon in the UMNO armoury to best PAS. It was concocted by the Government's Islamic adviser, Dr Hamid Othman, and the former Grand Imam ('Imam Besar') of the National Mosque ('Masjid Negara'), Pirdaus Ismail, who now sits on the UMNO youth executive and has decided his future is not in Islam but in UMNO politics. The former prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamed, would have none of it. But Pak Lah slurped it up. The spin followed. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So, in the end, the BN retained Kuala Berang in the by-election on 28 August 2004. Its candidate, Mr Mohamed Zawawi Ismail, had 6,051 votes against PAS's Mr Muhyuddin Abdul Rashid's 3,992 votes, a majority of 2,059 – compared to a 1,695 vote majority in March. The by-election was caused by the sudden death of the BN state assemblyman, Mr Komaruddin Abdul Rahman, elected in March. The published analysis all point to PAS's bankruptcy, the power of the people, the righteousness of BN policies, the prescience of Pak Lah as BN leader, PAS misjudgments.

An Oxbridge degree is not as unusual or rare as we make it out to be. The first Malay to graduate from Oxford was Raja Chulan ibni almarhum Sultan Abdullah of Perak in the 1890s. The late governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and the late Lord President, Tun Ismail Ali and Tun Suffian respectively, went to Cambridge on a Queen's Scholarship in the late 1930s. A young Malay engineer from Clare College, Cambridge, six years ago bested Mr Lee Kuan Yew's startling performance there in the 1940s. It so annoyed the soon-to-be Singapore prime minister, Mr Lee's son that when he visited his alma mater shortly after, that when he met the Malaysia-Singapore students union, but excluded all Malaysians from that meeting.

A few days later, his wife, Datin Seri Wan Aziz Wan Ismail, was assured that he is well looked after. He was not. It took a Royal Commission to ferret this out, Tan Sri Rahim was convicted and jailed. The National Front (BN) government did not expect this to come out. But it did not flinch. It went ahead and convicted him on unsound and unfounded charges of corruption and sodomy, denying him the defendant's legal right to rebut the charges, and sentenced him to six years on one and nine years on the other. The appeal courts have deliberately delayed his appeals, threatened his lawyers, committing two for contempt of court.

But Malay cultural and feudal tradition demanded an unchallenged leader; if he is, he gives way so as not to split the party. When the then Dato' Abdul Razak, in 1954, defeated the then Dato' Ismail Abdul Rahman, he became deputy prime minister on independence, and the latter opted out of UMNO politics to be first ambassador to the US and UN, returning to mainstream politics and the cabinet on his return, resigned over the National Language Act 1967, to return to the cabinet again after the May 1969 riots and at Tun (as he then was) Razak's request.

But other leaders did not have this luck with their deputies. Tun Razak died too early in office to have a problem, although he could have if the forceful and temperamental deputy, Tun Ismail Abdul Rahman, had out-lived him. Tun Hussein who succeeded him chose the man now known as Tun Mahathir Mohamed, who in time manipulated behind the scenes to force him to retire.

Dato' Seri Najib is in the same political boat as a predecessor and mentor, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, in the mid-1980s. Both immensely ambitious and hyperactive, neither hid their belief that they are better men than their prime ministers. Tan Sri Musa took on Dr Mahathir with a brilliant strategic political campaign his political secretary, Mr Ismail Kamaluddin, thought up in the mid-1980s. But it stalled as quickly when tragically Mr Ismail was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died within months. His successor could not carry on the campaign with the same finesse. Tan Sri Musa was hoist on his own petard, and in time forced out by a prime minister bent on revenge.

The BN, especially UMNO, insisted he was history, at least in public. It ignored the ground, that UMNO did itself a grave dishonour at bundling its prime minister-to-be to jail. UMNO insists the visible support groups for him declined sharply, and the Malay has returned to support UMNO. He did not. In private, Pak Lah had to destroy him politically once and for all, for his survival. But how he went about struck many as odd. He decided to confront him by proxy at Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's old parliamentary constituency, Permatang Pauh, which his wife, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had represented since his fall. His secret weapon was the former National Mosque imam, Dato' Pirdaus Ismail, 38, a 'hafiz', one who can recite the Quran from memory. If he was returned, he would be in the new cabinet as minister for Islamic affairs. Two birds with one stone. But only if it worked. It did not.

THE NATIONAL FRONT WON an unexpected landslide victory in yesterday's (21 March 2004), the best since it as the Alliance won 51 of 52 constituencies for the Federal Legislative Assembly in 1955. It is a result that defies statistical probability and logic. It swept the Malay states, routed PAS in Trengganu, a cliff hanger in Kelantan, where the votes are still being recounted, decimated the National Justice Party, KeADILan, and made its president, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, unbeatable in his own right. The only KeADILan MP is its president, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. PAS saw its hopes dashed so thoroughly that it would be awhile before it recovers. The only opposition of any note comes from the Democratic Action Party (DAP). But this BN victory also calls into question the Election Commission's impartiality and ability to conduct elections. It stepped in in Selangor when as polls were about to close it was clear the BN and the Opposition were running neck to neck. Without warning, it extended the voting by two hours, breaking its own rules and without consulting the candidates. It was during this time that BN bussed in a surge of voters that turned the tide. Pak Lah's brilliant mandate comes with it deep-seated questions of fairness of the election process.

The prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has another difficulty: he must appear at the UMNO general assembly in June with the Malay ground on his side. But he came into office too late in the day to address that before the elections. The battle is fought in Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Trengganu, Pahang and Selangor. His main opponent is PAS now and the National Justice Party (KeADILan) possibly in the coming years. PAS only has to show it has gained ground in these states by denying the BN its two-thirds majority, as in Kedah. If it can achieve that, and be returned in 50 per cent more seats in Parliament and the states, it has achieved what it wants for this general election. A problem for the BN, more narrowly, UMNO, is that PAS and KeADILan work hand-in-hand in this general election. In 1999, the BN strategy was to deny every KeADILan candidate but its president, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, a seat. KeADILan had five seats in the last parliament.

The UMNO acting deputy president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, who was midwife to the defections, realised he had made a mistake, and told his staff the dozen are "useless" and of "no worth to UMNO". The other 58 were non-entities even in KeADILan and helped only to add to the numbers. Several in fact had resigned from the party or had not renewed their membership and technically were not KeADILan members. So that fell flat. UMNO needs a high profile defector. The New Straits Times yesterday (28 February 2004, p7) reported the KeADILan vice-president and Kedah state assemblyman for Lunas, Mr Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, could well defect to UMNO. This is why he had met the Prime Minister and UMNO president, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Sources told the NST he had "declared to Abdullah that he was ready to jump ship", that he is "said to be disillusioned" with the Opposition.

THE FRENCH STATESMAN, CARDINAL RICHELIEU, of the 17th century, said: "If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in him to hang him." Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad did not believe it and talked his way out as editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times. Now a cabinet minister talks intently for no purpose than to be sacked. In a remarkable tour de farce, the entrepreneur development minister, Dato' Seri Nazri Aziz, confronts a senior official of the Anti-Corruption Agency in a war of words. He is investigated by the ACA for allowing one individual 6,000 taxi permits. That he did that is clear: he says the ACA official, Dato' Nordin Ismail, did not understand why. Since these taxi permits can be farmed out at RM100 a month, this is a RM60,000 a month sinecure. It is not as profitable as the 150 AP permits a month the international trade and industry minister, Datin Rafidah Aziz, gave her son-in-law who then sold it to those who imported cars at RM10,000 a piece, or RM1.5 million a month. There are other cabinet ministers and politicians who offer similar sinecures for their loved ones.

The Kelantan PAS secretary, Wan Ismail Wan Jusoh, retorts: "UMNO is trying to find a scapegoat to cover up its weaknesses because it is a known fact that Dato' Ibrahim's supporers are angry over the decision made by the top UMNO leaders. Mustapha is trying to divert the attention of UMNO members by pointing fingers at PAS. I am sure PAS leaders or supporters are not involved in such work, and it is UMNO's doing." It is more than that. It is in PAS's interest to keep the political pot boiling. It has. It lends a helping hand. As an opposition party would in similar circumstances.

At the heart of the programme is the allegation that the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), based in Washington, funds terrorist activities. If IIIT is linked to international terrorism, then two others besides Dato' Seri Anwar must be investigated and damned - the Malaysian prime minister of six more days, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and President George W. Bush. The three founding directors of IIIT were Dato' Seri Anwar, the late Dr Ismail Farouki, a close friend of Dr Mahathir, and Sheikh Taha Jabir, the well known and respected international scholar of Islam. Dr Ismail, a Malaysian permanent resident, was instrumental in Dato' Seri Anwar joining UMNO - and, lest one forget, Dato' Fadhil Noor, joining PAS. He taught at Temple University in Philadelphia, was shot dead in the city a decade or so ago for reasons still unknown. Sheikh Taha is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Democracy, in Washington DC, is regularly consulted by the White House and the State Department. President Bush thinks the world of him. So if Dato' Seri Anwar must be implicated, so much Dr Mahathir and President Bush. Why are they not?

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