Nothing in Malaysia is what it seems. The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, last month, at last called on President Bush as he desired, but not how he would have liked. It could not be arranged as an official visit. The State Department was lukewarm and the National Security Council was none too keen to have him call on the President just yet. Wisma Putra and the foreign minister, Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Albar, having failed, four key men stepped in with the help of US insurance companies, to make the visit happen: The former cabinet minister, Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayob; the current cabinet minister, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim; the business men Tan Sri Francis Yeoh and Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing. It was Tan Sri Megat Junid who got the visit put back, but the other three insist it was they. And now all four want to paid for their "success" -- in contracts and perks that could run into billions of ringgit and political IOUs.

The mistake Dr Mahathir makes is his view that since he has snared the PAS president, he could the country. The BN and UMNO is in tenterhooks, not knowing whether it comes or goes, with the individual parties so deeply scarred with internal problems that it ensures a reasonably level field when elections come around. The scale of that emerged when the UMNO president appointed the defeated former cabinet minister, Dato' Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob, as its information chief. If he had appointed a younger and more active man to fill that slot, it could have made a difference.

The Indah Water Konsortium, to which was privatised the right to operate the country's sewage systems, is back in the news. The two Establishment cronies who operated it in succession racked up losses so high and without a system to operate it that the government took it over. Now a third group, in which a former cabinet minister, Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayob, is the key crony, is given a letter of intent; but it also has a former Anwar Ibrahim comrade-in-arms suggests other political developments though he has nothing to do with the mess this new group is ladled with. Two failures, and one more in the offing. All was set, and the government was to have announced it. But it cannot. The cabinet suddenly got an attack of clarity and integrity and desired know from those who made the decision why they believed that after two failures, this would succeed. And getting no answers, it refused to approve. Those who thought it would provide them with million-ringgit Mercedes Benzes and BMWs must now wait longer.

But is this Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi the same chap Dr Mahathir does not want as his successor? One member of the conspiracy against Anwar Ibrahim, former cabinet minister Dato' Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob, is convinced Dr Mahathir wants Dato' Abdullah Ahmad Badawi replaced by the defence minister, Dato' Seri Dr Najib Tun Razak. An ex-commando, now of opposition persuasion, tells of a meeting of former commandoes in Malacca recently, to which he was inexplicably invited, which Dr Mahathir addressed, and the subject matter was how to stop his deputy in his tracks. He is, in the Old Man's view, not the right sort of chap who can succeed him as Prime Minister.

The five men Dato' Seri Anwar alleged were in a conspiracy to destroy him politically all lost or are under severe political pressure. Dato' Seri Mahathir and his finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, are at hammer and tongs with each other; Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, lost in his bid to be divisional leader; so did Dato' Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin, the deputy education minister, and former cabinet minister Dato' Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob. UMNO must also resolve the accusations Dato' Fauzi Abdul Rahman, an Anwar supporter, hurled corruption charges at the UMNO secretary=general, former Pahang mentri besar and now federal information minister, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob. The more UMNO attempts to contain the politics of money, the more it runs arounds in circles. For it would not accept that UMNO's success is that it is the gravy train that greased the wheels of powers in Malaysia.

The NST story comes as Internet rumours identified the Prime Minister, his family, his cabinet ministers, a handful of mentris besar and others as having millions of US dollars in deposits in the Israel National Bank. Suddenly, ministers at whom fingers are pointed, deny they have these deposit accounts. The Malaysian domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, Dato' Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayub threatens to sue the opposition Parti Keadilan Negara (PKN) leader, Mr Ruslan Kassim, for RM10 million if he does not retract his speech at Chenderong Balai in Teluk Intan on April 4; the NST says Ruslan allegedly said the minister had "two accounts at the Bank of Israel with deposits of RM20 million and RM25 million." The UMNO's "Sue the Opposition" Committee, chaired by Senator Dato' Ibrahim Ali, who is also the non-lawyer deputy minister in charge of legal matters in the government, has received, the NST reported, "more than 100 tapes of speeches at ceramah organised by the Opposition" which the committee would "study ... thoroughly to determine whether we can take similar action against the speakers."

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