Rightly, Malaysia insisted on a share of that profits. Another public relations barrage attacked Malaysia for asking a share of the profits. But Singapore is on the defensive. It knows it cannot look Malaysia in the eye. There is talk of invading Malaysia. The crooked bridge is not as fanciful or odd as it seems. This would prevent a Singapore army from ever invading Malaysia. They do not have the ingenuity of the Japanese army, who finding the Australian sappers had bombed the causeway, crossed into the island from Johore Bahru by cross the channel on bicycles with propellers. The British were sure the Japanese would attack the island in conventional ways, had all its heavy guns trained outside, when the Japanese army caught them unawares from behind.

He was the son of I.V.K. Nair, from Palghat, who had come to Malaysia in 1910, and was brought to the then Federated Malay States. He appointed agents later in all districts. That is how Inspector P.C. Joseph. from Alwaye, and my father, from Thalavady, came to Malaysia. It was to Inspector Joseph's house in Johore Bahru I was taken after I was born at the General Hospital in Johore Bahru in 1939. James Puthucheary, who joined the Indian National Army in his twenties, was in detention with Mr Nair, when his father in 1956 died. He was among the small band of Malayalis who provided the PAP with the left intellectual framework, for which they were exiled in old age. Mr Puthucheary studied law, died a rich corporate lawyer in Malaysia, believed to the end he had failed. He said to me he would title his autobiography, which he never wrote mainly because of the stroke that ravaged his last days, "The Autobiography of a Failure." He was banned for almost 25 years from the island, lifted after his friend's wife died in Singapore, he wanted to attend the funeral, and just before he did. As an aside, I was put on restricted entry into Singapore in 1971, and permanently banned in 1991. But as I told an Italian journalist, who put the quote in his book, "I have already done my shopping."

The UMNO General Assembly had seriously argued banning those who left UMNO from returning, aimed at preventing the former deputy president and former Malaysian deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim for returning to UMNO, but the resolution was hastily withdrawn when it was discovered that three UMNO presidents, two alive, would have been banned. The prime miniser, Pak Lah, when he was foreign minister, had gone to Johore Bahru for the byelection in which Dato' Shahrir Samad, now of the Backbenchers' Club, had stood as an independent against the UMNO Baru candidate, and he was supported by the old UMNO hands who disagreed with the new UMNO. Pak Lah had joined the new UMNO crowd going to file nomination papers. He said he did not know what to do when he met Dato' Shahrir Samad pushing the Tengku in a wheelchair, and followed by thousands waving the UMNO flag. The Tengku and Tun Hussein Onn remained loyal to the UMNO which had been declared illegal, and refused to join the new entity. The only difference between the two UMNO flags is that the insigna is smaller on the new UMNO.

When Tun Mahathir came acalling on the Tengku in hospital on his terminal illness, I, who had gone to see him before Tun Mahathir, was asked to say. There was a tug-of-war of sorts between Tun Mahathir's security detail and the Tengku. He finally made me sit on the bed beside him. So when Tun Mahathir came in, I was also in the room. The Tengku had known me since the early 1950s, when as president of UMNO he shifted to Johore Bahru, and stayed near the edge of the Wadi Hana area where I stayed. When my father died in 1963, he was already prime minister and I did not inform him. When I returned to Reuters in Singapore from leave after the funeral to the night shift, I found the Tengku there. He told me to see him for breakfast at the Hotel Adephi, now no more. "M.A.G. Pillai was the Tengku's friend, not the prime minister's." giving me a wigging as only he could. He was in Saudi Arabia when my mother died in 1978, so I sent him a cable, and two of his personal staff turned up before the cremation. He used to say he was the happiest prime minister in the world because "he had as his deputy, Tun Razak". Tun Razak's premiership was spoiled for this reason. But little did he know, until it was too late, that Tun Razak was plotting against him. Tun Mahathir and the future deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, were some of the plotters.

The rebels against British rule in Malaya came from the titled: Dato' Bahaman, Mat Kilau, Maharaja Lela, Dato' Sagor were on the royal court. They failed because they could not get the people on their side in fighting the British, who hanged most of them. Our officials did not bother until Mat Kilau was found to be alive. There were intense discussions in the 20th century whether he ought to be given a dato'ship. I knew his son-in-law and daughter, and have stayed with them when I was in the capital he was Malaysian ambassador. He later became an official at the Organisation of Islamic Conference when Tengku Abul Rahman, Malaysia's first prime minister, was secretary- general. But until Mat Kilau was found alive, the Malaysian people, if ever, did not know the connection. Both are dead now, his widow died in a car crash. The people will not move unless led. UMNO was founded in the Istana in Johore Bahru, Dato' Sir Onn bin Jaffar its founding president, was a cousin of the sultan, and mentri besar of Johore. (His mother's sister, both Circassions from Turkey, was the wife of Sultan Abubakar, grandfather of the present Sultan.) Many of the earlier leaders of UMNO were from the palace. It is only the last two presidents, Tun Mahathir Mohamed and Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, were not from the aristocratic class, although Tun Mahathir's mother was from the Kedah royal court.

More important, the average non-Malay can be persuaded, even if that is now more difficult - a Chinese voter, a former MCA executive in Pengkalen Pasir, who had moved to Kuala Lumpur in the last six months to take over his father's business, agreed to go back to vote only if he was given $1,000, air fare, and hotel and living expenses for three days in Pengkalen Pasir - but a Malay does not automatically vote for the National Front if he is brought to vote. And he is likely to complain if someone votes on his behalf. The National Front in the constituency is angry that he is superseded by the organisation in the centre, and is likely to join in the chorus of nay-sayers. The National Front in the centre organises a campaign that often results in more people than they are voters into the constituency, and what it says and does is often not useful in the campaign, but the voter in Johore Bahru or Kedah is told of the National Front's supposed efficient in Kelantan, but is ignored by voters in the Kelantan constituency.

The elections in Pengkalen Pasir was between UMNO and PAS, and UMNO was represented by the National Front. It has fine tuned the art of putting down the non-Malay over the years, and does so every day but Election day. Malaysians are told that the non-Malay must be put down in favour of the Malay. The reason is Malay Dominance and the New Economic Policy. I agreed with the policy when it first started, and its progenitors agreed at the time it could go wrong but the Malay would overcome their setbacks and would benefit from the government help. The Malay had been given a raw deal by the British, because the immigrant races - the Chinese and Indians - were more energetic, and were favoured. The British trained Malays to be like them, in the early years of the 20th century. The Malay College in Kuala Kangsar was modelled on Eton in the United Kingdom. Those who went to Malay Schools had to be educated in remove class before they could go English schools. On independence in 1957, this social structure was put in effect. The great debates in Parliament in the late 1950s were by political party leaders of all political parties, the Alliance and the opposition, Malay and non-Malay. And which is how I ended up at the English College in Johore Bahru and those in school at that time was Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, my class mate, and the former deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, as my head prefect; others who were in school included Dato' Dominic Puthucheary, the former MCA president Tan Sri Lee San Choon. It would not happen now.

UMNO has suggested PAS should resign if it lost Pengkalen Pasir next week. But that has been modified later by saying that PAS should resign unilaterally if it lost Pengkalen Pasir. Under the election laws amended after UMNO stalwart Dato' Shahrir Ahmad won as an independent in the Johore Bahru parliamentary byelections in the 1980s, any one who resigns is automatically suspended from standing for five years. There is no talk anymore of UMNO state assemblymen resigning. PAS state assemblyman would resign if they are asked to but UMNO state assemblymen would rather not. The UMNO elected official makes it his life time occupation. He cannot afford to be left on the sidelines. In UMNO it is the individual that counts, in PAS the collective decision. The federal cabinet under the National Front is so constructed that its members hold office for a lifetime. The ministers and other political members of the government puts the country in limbo so that they can survive. The prime minister dare not sack them or reshuffle his cabinet for fear they will join his enemies in the party. The byelections in Pengkalen Pasir is held not so the people can elect their representative to the state assembly. It believes that if the people of Malaysia accept its message, so will the people of Pengkalen Pasir. The media, which it controls, carry what National Front leaders from elsewhere are doing to ensure UMNO's continued relevance in the state. But it is not true.

Education is one way of keeping the rulers separate from the ruled. Conferences like APEC is another. I have a theory that officials go for meetings by whatever name in exotic locations around the world for two or three days so that they can have a holiday at public expense. In Malaysia, civil servants from Johore Bahru fly to Pulau Langkawi to discuss traffic along Sungei Johore, or some such. The hotels get filled, the country or area gets the public approval, some get their bank balances raised. But the result is a holiday, whatever the reason for being in the exotic locale. But as the rulers act, the ruled retaliate. So, as the years go by, the governments in power pass laws to keep the ruled in check. But those who demonstrated in favour of Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Dataran Merdeka, facing the Selangor Court, got cold feet when the police retaliated in force. If they had held their ground, and stayed put, the government could have done nothing. But the demonstration broke up. Now the ordinary man will not take part in any demonstration against the government, which reacts with violent force at any such move. But the spark has been lit. It may be years before it is lit again. But the question is when, not if. There is no major dissidence for such a crowd to gather. The government is fearful of that happening, and so arms itself with powers to stop that. But with each policy against the people, they organise themselves. The National Front is supposed to get the races together, but its raison d'etre is to separate them. Divide and rule is their practice, though unity in strength is the motto. But the youngsters, from all races, cannot see the relevance of the National Front, and unite, often in unemployment. More than 60,000 graduates from local universities cannot get jobs. That is a grave danger for the National Front. Just 2,000 unemployed graduates in Trengganu in 1990 helped PAS win the state. They have lost the state since. But more than 2,000 unemployed graduated are with PAS in the state. The National Front is formulating its policies so that the opposition will benefit in the years ahead.

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.

I am interested in Tan Sri Halil Mutalib and his farewell party. I had gone to Klang last weekend and met a man whose life depended on the customs and excise department. He was told bluntly, by Tan Sri Halil and his deputies, that if he did not pay RM3,000 for the farewell party, he would face difficultes in his working life. He could bring along his wife or a friend for the price. That was later reduced to RM1,500. This bribery is prevalent in all government departments. In Putrajaya, for instance, one woman in each department is told she is in charge of cooking, and there are at least 20 women who give up their professional qualifications for the cooking every week. The government has since said there is provision for farewell parties for the chief, but this is for the whole country. But in the case of Tan Sri Haiil, it is RM250,000 for the whole country. His department spent RM160,000 for a golf game. Much of the money goes into the pockets of senior officials. At the English College (now the Makltab Sultan Abu Bakar) in Johore Bahru. it was common for us in the 1950s to collect funds for the school magazine from the school suppliers. Often, the cheques came in unasked. But the practice was common in those days. Today, funds are collected so that senior officials pocket the difference. This is common throughout the civil service. Many people cannot afford to go to the government departments for the bribe asked. You pay a lower amount at the bottom, and more as you go up the civil service ladder. Pak Lah cannot stop this by blaming his predecessor. He would be out of his job if he means what he says on corruption. His 'boys' are in it to the hilt. He would keep silent about his 'boys' for they are as guilty as Tan Sri Halil.

UMNO, or the UMNO Baru today, is not the nationalist political organisation that brought this country independence. UMNO that brought this country independence died in 1987, by court order, and in its place rose UMNO Baru. That UMNO Baru is formed is orchestrated by leaders of the old UMNO who led UMNO Baru. They were still in power, and they ordered the registrar of societies to declare Tengku Abdul Rahman's request for UMNO to be re-registered. He had filed the application several days earlier, but it was Tun Mahathir's UMNO Baru that was registered. As it happened, the founder of UMNO, Dato' Onn bin Jaffar, and the first UMNO president of Malaysia, and his son, the fourth president and third Malaysian prime minister, went to their graves without joining UMNO Baru. The flag of UMNO Baru is of different dimensions than of UMNO, but at first sight, they seem similar. In the Johore Bahru byelection, when UMNO Baru warlord, Dato' Shahrir Samad, stood as an independent but with strong support of the old UMNO adherents, the present Prime Minister, Pak Lah, told me at that time that when the two processions met at the crossroads before the nomination station in Johore Bahru, tears came to his eyes, for he saw two UMNO processsions where the two parties had met. It goes without saying that it was the independent who won. It is UMNO the political party that rules, and Dato' Shahir joined the party afterwards, and remains in Parliament as UMNO Baru MP. The question asked by diplomats and even UMNO bigwigs and members is whether Pak Lah would be challenged. I think he would, Dato' Shahrir Samad being the last minute candidate if the other warlords decide not to. Pak Lah is UMNO Baru president held hostage by UMNO warlords, which is why he has not sacked from his cabinet the two warlords - Dato' Isa Samad, found guilty of money politics; and Datin (or rather as she would prefer to be called, Dato') Rafidah, who was guilty of giving her son-in-law a monthly wage of about Rm 1.5 million by giving him sufficient APs. (It is said, and not in jest, that she should be known as Rafidah AP Aziz). But both will not resign from the cabinet and neither will they be sacked. They hold enormous power in their areas of strength, Isa in the Linggi area and possibly Malacca; and Datin Rafidah, in the Kuala Kangsar area that she is MP of. Fearing that either or both would go to those opposed to Pak Lah in UMNO is why they both remain in the cabinet.

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