THE PRIME MNISTER IS an Islamic scholar because he has a degree in Islamic studies, so goes the spin. But while he is a deeply religious man, as many are, even he would admit he is no scholar. He has been built into one when he became prime minister. Tun Mahathir is a doctor, a great one at that, although he stopped practicing more than 30 years ago. The health minister, Doctor Chua Soi Lek graduated as a doctor, but gave it up for politics about the same time. But both are described as medical doctors. News reports, then of Tun Mahathir and Dato' Chua now, speak of their expertise in medicine, but neither would admit to all that. Dato' Ling Liong Sik, a medical graduate from Singapore, gave up his medical practice about a quarter of a centry ago, but he was treated in office as if he knew more than the specialists at the University Hospital. Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, before he entered Parliament, was known for his brawn than brain; but today in office it is reversed.

THE ELECTION IN PENGALEN Pasir was important for UMNO that it had its leaders virtually staying in the constituency for the campaigning. The deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, for instance, was there virtually every day of the runup to the polls. The first reason is easily discernible: he did not want the Prime Minister's son-law and UMNO Youth deputy leader, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, steal a march over him in the Prime Ministerial stakes. The other reason, unmentioned, is that the voters took askance to the presence of the MCA President, Dato' Ong Kah Ting, the Gerakan President, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, the MIC President, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, even the former MCA President, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik. During the campaign, the newspapers which supported each of them were talking of how they brought in the Chinese and Indian votes in the constituency. But the reality is that the non-Malay communities did not want them. But the National Front is a multiracial coalition, and it would be disastrous if the non-Malay constituencies did not not support them. Dato' Seri Najib was also in constituency to make sure of the non-Malay vote. This is not how it was portrayed. The Star, for instance, reported how the Chinese came out to vote because of the efforts of the MCA past and present MCA presidents. The Chinese and Indian voters in Pengkalen Pasir believed the UMNO deputy president more they believed their own leaders.

But stories like this are not meant for Parliament's ears, not when it is the Tunship awarded to the former MCA president, Tun Ling Liong Sik. When it came for discussion, the government was at pains to insist on an unfortunate fact of life in today's Malaysian politics. It does not matter if your past is dodgy. It does not matter if a title is awarded to a man whose actions while it might not be criminal is nevertheless a breach of trust, or to a crook. The book on Dr Ling's past is still open, but creative politics and investigations have cleared him. So, he is awarded the SSM. It is also the same rule that allows the states to award dato'ships to criminals, gangsters and of the ilk. Yet when it happens, there is the usual flurry of comment on how it could happen.

By the way, the one charge, notably by the MCA, against Mr Lim is that he moved constituencies often. But this is a cast of the pot calling the kettle black. The former MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, was in search for a safe seat, from Penang to Perak to finally Labis in Johore. His successor, Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting, safe in his Pontian constituency in Johore, but is a refugee from Perak. The defeat of his elder brother, Dato' Ong Ka Chuan, in the Batu Gajah constituency, showed how volatile a Chinese majority constituency is for an MCA leader. MCA and Gerakan leaders need Malay majority constituency to get them home high and dry. In the last parliament, the civil servants on call during parliamentary sessions were highly impressed with the PAS MPs and how they conducted themselves in the chamber. With the civil service generally at odds with the BN government, this was not a good sign, and it had to be cut sharply. How did the BN go about to ensure victory beyond its wildest dreams? Victory was all that mattered, and no price is too high to pay. The end justifies the means. With this mindset is the frightening realisation of what would happen to it should it fall.

Dato' Seri Samy wants to all MIC elected representatives moulded in his image and cravenly beholden to him. It is not peculiar to him. Every BN party leader looks upon his role as a dictator riding rough shod over a slaven crew of sycophants; all others are sidelined and damned. Besides, almost every BN party president has a deputy he does not want but can do little about it. The Gerakan president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, had announced his retirement but withdrew it at the thought of his deputy succeeding him. Pak Lah has a deputy he cannot stand, and would not be displeased if the general election on March 21 swallows him. The MCA went into crisis in the last days of its former president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, over his differences with his deputy. Leaders in office for too long or too powerful believe they are omnipotent, ignoring that often their feet are clay. Malaysian politics, with rare exception, is "palace politics" - the skull duggery and scheming to be close to the overall leader. This is doubly so in UMNO, whose president is so overwhelmingly powerful that BN leaders sycophantically behave before him.

The "official" MCA presidents are: Tun Sir Cheng-lock Tan (1949-58); Tun Tan Siew Sin (1961-74); Tan Sri Lee San Choon (1974-83); Mr Tan Koon Swan (1985-86); Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik (1986-2003); Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting (2003-present). Tun Lim and Dato' Cheah comes between Tun Sir Chenglock and his son, and Dato' Seri Neo between Tan Sri Lee and Mr Tan.

He made one fundamental mistake. He did not know when to retire. But then BN leaders do not know when to. The former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, would not until the last moment let go. The former MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, would not until he was forced to. As would the MIC president. And, let us not forget, the Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik. Sarawak could well plunge into a crisis if the chief minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, would not step down after two decades in office. So would Negri Sembilan, whose mentri besar, Tan Sri Isa Samad, has been in office for 22 years. Trengganu was lost to PAS when the UMNO mentri besar, Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Wah Ahmad, insisted 24 years in office was not enough and he wanted another term. That decision would now be made for him. What would he do then? Retire to Perth with his ill-gotten gains, or stay back and face the music as the former Georgian president, Mr Eduoard Sheverdnadze, when he declined political asylum in Germany? Whatever he does, he is history.

Since this is Bolehland, he ought to know of his BN colleagues: the UMNO president, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, three weeks ago; the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik earlier in the year; the SNAP leader, Dato' Amar James Wong; and to come: the Gerakan president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik; the Sarawak BN leader, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud; several BN mentris besar and cabinet ministers. In fact, only a handful of BN leaders ever leave on their own; all others were forced out in indignity. When the people move, nothing but nothing can stop them.

A few months ago, before the award, a new bidder arrives on the scene: a hastily cobbled MMC-Gamuda consortium led by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhairy. It submitted a bid of RM14.5 billion, without undertaking detailed studies or what the project entails. On Monday, 20 October 2003, the second minister of finance, Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis, called in the IRCON and CREC representatives, told them of the new bid, and wanted them to reduce their bids. No, he would not give it in writing. But if they wanted to be in the running, they had better consider it. He gave no reasons, nor respond to why the KTM general manager and the former transport minister, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, had said the two companies would sign their contracts "soon". Mysteriously and without notice, control of the project shifted from the transport ministry to the finance ministry. IRCON and CREC reduced their bids to RM24 billion, then RM20, and on Wednesday, matched the MMC-Gamuda offer. It was too late. On Tuesday, the finance ministry awarded the contract to MMC-Gamuda, the award papers delivered in the night, so MMC and Gamuda informed the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange the next morning.

It also shows a dramatic change in BN politics in which its president does not take into account past standing, with real politik the only basis. Only that the MIC and its president did not grasp it early enough. So did not the Malaysian Chinese Association under its past president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, who was forced out when faced with the reality that he would not have any influence in the Pak Lah regime. The new MCA president, Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting, as his loyal henchman, also has, and like Dato' Seri Samy Vellu, works overtime to ingratiate himself before the new leader. As Dr Mahathir found at the tail end of his 22 years as Prime Minister, a dictatorial autocracy - let us not kid about it, this is what it was in practice - is not an ideal form of governance. No one would dare tell him the Emperor wears no clothes. Pak Lah understands this, and has told BN leaders to tell him the truth. But BN leaders - Dato' Seri Samy Vellu is only one - deify their hold on the parties they lead, brook no opposition, and when opposition comes from outside the party, they are annoyed. They always look over their shoulders to war off attacks from other Indian leaders from other parties.

The BN oldtimers who must step down show no intent. The MIC leader, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is in office and cabinet since 1979, but he believes he is good for another 30 years. The Gerakan president, Dato' Seri Ling Kheng Yaik, in office from that year, insists the party needs him and would cling on to power until he decides to leave. The former MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, clung to office even after his sell-by date because Dr Mahathir wanted him to stay on. But he was driven out nevertheless by a communal campaign that all but split the MCA. The family dynasty in Sarawak, the paterfamilias being now the chief minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, has all but destroyed the BN in Sarawak, but he shows not sign of stepping down. Kuala Lumpur is fed up, but can do little. His cabinet colleagues threaten to boycott him, but they do not have the guts to do that. The perks of office are too varied to give up so easily.

As usual, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Has Parliament ever been told the total cost to the Treasury of the Prime Minister's frequent forays overseas? He seems to spend more time out of the country than in. A large staff accompanies him. If it is not the RM200 million Global Express jet aircraft, expanded to fly non-stop to London and with accoutrements specially ordered that billionaires can only drool at, then it is specially chartered MAS aircraft. In country, he flies regularly to Langkawi for no reason than that it is there. [Curiously, he has never been known to visit a FELDA scheme or an agricultural project in the peninsular or Sabah and Sarawak.] Add to this the running cost, and other incidentals. And the conservatrive estimate of him costing the Treasury a billion ringgit since he took office in 1981 is not excessive. During these trips abroad, he is entited to a daily living allowance of about RM4,000 a day, in addition to other expenses. The works minister, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is more often than not in India or Australia on allegedly government business. The other BN leaders, the recently-forced-out MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, the Gerakan President, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, and others stake claims as high. One deputy minister held a dinner in Cameron Highlands at government expense to lobby for the new parliamentary constituency seat there. We should be told the expenses cabinet ministers and those in the government run up. Would the ACA dare investigate that?

Dr Mahathir relies on him much. When the former MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, refused to step down and threw the party into a crisis, Dr Mahathir called on Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing to be the mediator. The man has no political sense or even an understanding of issues, but does that matter? A Prime Ministerial mediator needs to be infused in self-importance, of which he has aplenty, and pass the message. Nothing else is needed. His office-boy could have done a better job. But it shows how important Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing has come to be at this time to Dr Mahathir. It was to him Dr Mahathir called to prepare the posters and election material for the first general election in South Africa which ushered in majority rule.

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) POLITICAL party presidents believe that if they parrot their hopes often enough to an unbelieving citizenry, all is well. The United Malays National Organisation president, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and his successor in three months, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is no doubt that theirs is the strongest party in the Malaysian political horizon, raring to lead the BN into another awesome victory. Dr Mahathir has only been in office for 22 years. The Malaysian Chinese Association president, Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting, is made president to continue a divisive party divide which came about when his predecessor, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik decided they exist at the UMNO president's pleasure. Dr Ling was president for only 17 years.

He puts on a brave front, and calls on MCA members to ignore the triad issue, which he implies, rightly, is destructive, and work instead to make the party a political fighting machine. He says disingeniously: "We should get on to more constructive work rather than talk about something we have already dealt with." When was that done? True, the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who has the list of triad leaders in the MCA, is worried that an unsettled and quarrelsom MCA can redound on the BN's electoral chances, and has called for peace and quiet. He has taken the cue, and now calls for the quietitude which has escaped the party since the former president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, decided he rules not on the pleasure of the general body but of the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed.

One 'surat layang' (anonymous letter) in Chinese reflects his close links to the triad leaders, which began when he, as deputy home minister, helped them out of restricted residence. Too may incidents related in it is verifiable, and it has the ring of truth. If it is wrong, Dato' Seri Ong must categorically deny it. But when the MCA youth leader, Dato' Ong Tee Kiat, highlighted it, Dato' Seri Ong and his predecessor, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, wanted to expel him. But the controversy would not die down.

So, one is not surprised when the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, did not want to step down. He decided he is needed even if his party had no need of him. Dr Mahathir is not about to desert those who, like him, have only service and wealth in mind. So he stayed on. But this fellow has no staying power. He was only president for 17 years. Too short for anyone to make an impact. But he buckled. He is reviled for it. But not in the MCA, which respects his defiance and has made him honorary president, the only one in its 54 years. The Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik has been its president longer than Dr Mahathir in UMNO. He informed the Prime Minister in 1999 of his desire to retire, long before Dr Mahathir had the same thought.

But one should not blame Dato' Seri Ong for what he did. That is how the BN, and the MCA, conducts its affairs: by riding roughshod over the rules. The leaders are deemed demi-gods, one defies or challenges at one's peril. Dato' Seri Ong would have got away with it last year, when the BN and MCA presidents were in total control. He could not now. The two state assemblymen were not the innocents they are portrayed as. They were pawns in an MCA brinkmanship to wrest the chief ministership from the Gerakan in Penang. And failed disastrously. Tan Sri Koh did not look kindly to this act of rebellion, the issue that sparked it is irrelevant, and if the perpetrator of that rebellion, Dato' Seri Ong's predecessor, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, is no more, it does not mean that all is forgiven and forgotten. It is not. He took the brinkmanship a mite further to see if he could get away with it. But he misread the signals, and assumed he need not deal with those who come after Dr Mahathir retires in November.

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) system is strained. In fear. An important Indian group, the Indian Progressive Party (IPF), could not join the BN because the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) fears its potential strength. The recent Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) leadership crisis could not be resolved except in how it was. The president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, had to resign, but he could not be succeeded by any other than his designated successor. Again, in fear. When Dato' Leo Moggie is forced out as president of his Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), he should have resigned as cabinet minister. No, says the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Party leaders can be kicked out by the members, but it is the Prime Minister who decides who would be in his cabinet. He could not care less if who he selects has no role in the party he represents in his government. The BN Prime Minister changes the rules as he likes, for fear of what could happen if he followed them.

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