The Prime Minster behaves as a cornered rat. These days, he talks of nothing but why Malay Unity talks must be held. He puts his feeble case for it, relaxing UMNO's initial tough stance with PAS as he goes on. Without any aces up its sleeve, UMNO had its bluff called and PAS imposes conditions, which UMNO cannot meet without losing face. UMNO, which regards its role as a political party and in government as interchangeable, is now asked to ensure that Petronas' petroleum royalties to Trengganu are returned forthwith. UMNO, of course, refused. The PAS administration in Trengganu has filed a suit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur for it, thus blocking off one condition UMNO cannot meet without mud on its face. But he now says PAS can discuss it at the talks itself. It would most likely not. The ground has shifted against UMNO and him. Especially if the talks are not eventually held.

That UMNO and PAS have not resolved their internal contradictions towards the proposed Malay Unity talks becomes clearer by the day. The two political parties have ground to a stalemate, each accusing the other of bad faith and neither prepared to cut the Gordian's Knot that hinders it. So, we have a daily diet of the other's bad faith and little in the way of good faith.

As expected, UMNO and PAS stumbles in its search for the Holy Grail of Malay Unity. UMNO seeks it to have the deserting Malay ground return to its leadership. PAS wants it to settle old scores. Both want to keep the third Malay-based political party, the Naional Justice Party or KeADILan, but the talks, when -- if -- held, would make sense only if it resolves the fate of its eminence grise, jailed former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.

That it comes when UMNO and PAS prepares for Malay Unity talks later this month questions UMNO's bona fides. The Prime Minister said last night the federal withholding of Petronas royalties could be discussed if PAS so wanted. But when it is, it points to an UMNO that would not accept the reality of a non-UMNO Malay state in power. That it does everything in its federal power to force it into submission is more divisive than the Malay Action Front's rally in Kuala Lumpur last week. What happens in Kelantan now is no different. The cynicism with which UMNO approaches it beggars belief. But UMNO is caught in its own trap: it cannot oppose what PAS has in mind; it attacked PAS for not passing the amendments in the early 1990s; it cannot afford to now.

UMNO and PAS would meet next week for talks on Malay Unity. Coincidentally, after stonewalling Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's request for a German endoscopic specialist to examine, he is suddenly told he could "on compassionate grounds". The stumbling block in any serious talks about Malay Unity is the treatment UMNO and the government metes out to the expelled and dismissed former deputy prime minister. The Prime Minister, in private, does not regard the National Justice Party (KeADILan) as a genuine Malay party, since it welcomes non-Malays into its fold. In any case, he does not want KeADILan around; certainly not its icon, whose political stature increases with every day he spends in prison.

As the days wear on, the Prime Minister loses ground as Dato' Seri Anwars gains. Malay Unity, the subject of talks between UMNO and PAS hinges on how Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim can be whisked out of jail without damaging UMNO. In other words, whatever complusions for Malay Unity, that must wait until the Anwar Ibrahim problem is solved. He has, willy nilly, become the human face of Malay Unity. The Prime Minister must take the credit for that.

Malay Unity was unaddressed. The MAF became no more than a pressure group to force UMNO leaders to its bidding and to make it difficult for Dr Mahathir to coninue. How this would ensure that the Malays would not disappear from this earth is beyond my understanding. But one thing is clear: if gatherings like these are held, they would attracts crowd like the opposition gather. The methods may differ bit the theme of both gathering would be the same: how to get the Prime Minister out of office. Somehow, one gets the impression, Dr Mahathir was not surprised at what happened. -- MGG

When the opposition wants to hold a gathering to espouse its view, the authorities do what it can to see it does not take place. The Bukit Jalil stadium, an ideal venue, is unavailable, shut down for repairs. The police would not give it a permit. But it goes ahead and hold it all the same, in remote corners of Selangor with the police on hand to make it difficult for all who attend. But the crowds come. When the government or its satraps want to hold a gathering, all stops are pulled to ensure it does. But the organisers soon realise it cannot draw the crowds. So after much fire and brimstone, even if the subject matter is Malay Unity, the venue is moved to a smaller venue where even 500 would represent a large crowd. With all the official help it can get, it cannot draw the crowds that the opposition can attract, even for a Hari Raya party.

The Prime Minister thought he could overcome this erosion of Malay support by banking on the Chinese. But that clearly did not work. He now goes over the heads of his critics by appealing for Malay Unity. Groups formed by discredited UMNO politicians rise to defend Malay Unity in huge gatherings for which the police clearly have allowed. One does not see the police bureaucracy at work when the opposition wants to hold a gathering. When the Prime Minister is to be supported, there is no problem with police permits. When the opposition wants to hold a Raya gathering, all available stadia and halls are either booked or closed for renovation. And, mark you, when Chinese parents question why a school has to close down, it is political; but Malay Unity gatherings, as one discredited UMNO leader tells the world, are not.

UMNO and PAS spar over Malay Unity, their secretaries-general meeting shortly to discuss how it could be achieved. Ultimately, UMNO would want PAS in the National Front. But UMNO is prepared to talk this over with PAS to save its political skin.

But his irrelevant remarks of PAS in the National Front is UMNO "softening" the Malay ground before Malay Unity talks with it. Would it be held? He tries to wriggle out of it after his cabinet colleagues pushed him over the edge, and despite what UMNO wants, and more than Malay rights will be discussed. PAS still toys with non-Malays in its team. When? A PAS official expects it later in the year, after the UMNO general assembly. The PAS president, Dato' Abdul Fadhil Nor, is on a pilgrimage to Mecca and only returns mid-March. The UMNO divisional meetings are now on. From now on until the UMNO general assembly, in May but could be later, the Prime Minister's, and UMNO's, focus is on that.

There is one flaw in this plan: Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. UMNO, and to a limited extent, PAS, would not want him out of prison. He threatens both. Any agreement between UMNO and PAS would fail if he remains in jail. A new form of government in stealth and outside the constitution cannot be a permanent cure. It breaks open the divisiveness and contradictions in Malaysian society so far kept beneath the surface. The Malay Unity talks upset the surface calm, more so than Suqiu and Vision schools. If it is for UMNO to lead an UMNO-PAS Malay ground, it would dissemble quicker than one dare predict. Especially when it isolates the UMNO ground as well.

Islam is the other contentious issue. Mahathir still believes in confronting PAS, despite the forthcoming talks on Malay Unity, and Abdul Hamid is known for that. He would have preferred the mufti of Johore, but he could not obviously get him to come. Abdul Hamid so defends his turf that it angers the congregation at the National Mosque that worshippers leave the prayer hall when he rises, as occasionally, to deliver the "khutbah".

Let us take just one example: The DAP is incensed at Suqiu "putting aside" seven points in its proposals. It was done to save UMNO Youth from its predicament over its false steps over Malay Unity. I thought the Suqiu committee handled this well. But the DAP wants this discussed with all the organisations that lent its name to it. I spoke to some of the younger supporters of Suqiu, who thought it was the right decision. But it is a Chinese issue, which throws the Chinese communities into a tizzy, and, in DAP's view, something you could stick a finger into UMNO and the National Front.

Tan Sri Dzaiddin says what we want to hear. But many believe justice is not for who needs it but for who bids the highest or for who is close to who matters. To change this, he must get all help he can from whom he must work with: the Bar, the Attorney-General's Chambers, the political leadership. The judiciary is caught in the hidden political debate about Malay Unity. He must move to right the wrongs his predecessor is rightly blamed for. He has too short a time to undo the wrongs of the past 15 years, but he must allow justice to flourish as it once did. For that the inherent powers of the court must return to it. The court must firmly distance itself from being a handmaiden to political will, and assert it bends to no one however high.

The deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, wants the UMNO-PAS youth chiefs' debate on Malay Unity to be called off. He fears that issues raised in that could disorient the tripartite meeting amongs the presidents of UMNO, PAS and Parti Keadilan Negara. He could not have made that call.

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