Recent Selangor mentris besar went out in a cloud. Dr Khir's precedessor, Dato' Seri Abu Hassan Omar, went out in a cloud for his unusual marital arrangements, and whose predecessor, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mohamed, when caught in Australia with a shopping bag full -- RM2.5 million worth -- of foreign currency. Dr Khir, a mild-mannered dentist and just elected to the state assembly, was chosen because Dr Mahathir considered none from the state executive council suitable or, not to put a fine point to it, clean. How he came upon Dr Khir reflects how the man is so out of touch with reality that he has to depend on the say so of those close to him. Dr Khir is close to a bin Mahathir.

The cultural Malay is unhappy at this, and sit even more firmly on the sidelines. Both PAS and UMNO now flounder, aided by the spurious war on terrorism the US engages, in a street fight neither could win without damaging the core of Malaysia's raison d'etre. For each sticks to its fundamental stand, and defend it to exclude every other. UMNO realises, though late, it but can neither change nor rally the troops. There is none in UMNO willing to take on the likes of PAS's Ustadz Dato' Nik Aziz Nik Mat or Ustadz Dato' Hadi Awang or even its rabble rousers, Mohamed Sabu or Mahfuz Omar.

Dr Mahathir would have known by now that his predecessor and good friend, He Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned, had ensured that our grandchildren would be paying for our folly and His Greed. But he would not be touched. He is in the same dilemma Mr Hamid Karzai is with the United States: he cannot allow Mullah Omar to be extradited to the United States as Washington wants as the good doctor cannot arrest the brilliant financier, as fawning newspapers were only too happy to describe him not so long ago, without jeopardising his own position. The banking system is flush with cash because it now lends only to those the government guarantees, and with adequate security. Or on direct orders that near-bankrupts be lent billions. But even near-bankrupt billionaires are few and far between.

So far so good. But the party leaders -- Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi et al -- cannot leave well enough alone. They had to warn UMNO of what is in store if members engaged in money politics; and went on to spoil their case to explain and make a fool of themselves, with no pretence of fairness or fair play, to end up, without intent, by questioning their motives. A Kedah state executive councillor and Baling division chief, Dato' Zainol Mohd Isa, is one. The mentri besar of Kedah, Dato' Seri Syed Razak Syed Zin, keeps him on in his executive council, insist he is a paragon of brilliance who has committed no wrong, and that he should not be sacked. Another, KFC Holdings (M) Bhd chairman and Muar division chief, Dato' Abdullah Omar, wants to resign from UMNO. He should not, says Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose son is married to Dato' Abdullah's daughter. Neither the UMNO president nor the deputy president should have even talked about it.

Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed keeps cabinet and other appointments close to his chest. He makes up his mind, informs those affected though, often, not telling them of their portfolios, or even if they are to be dropped. So, rumours, often true, indicate what could happen. Since rumours spawns rumours, the list can be messy indeed. He usually goes out of the country before the expected cabinet reshuffle. The late Indian prime minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, was so paranoid of the list being leaked that she was known to change the final list when she was on her way to the president's residence, Rashtrapati Bhavan, for the swearing-in. The mentri besar of Selangor, Dato' Khir Toyo, did not believe when told a day earlier he would succeed Dato' Abu Hassan Omar, and was glued to the television set to find out if it was true.

He is wrong in wanting the UMNO Youth chief, Hishamuddin Hussein, to call off his debate with the PAS chief, Mahfuz Omar. His reasoning -- that the debate would spawn issues that might hamper the meeting of the presidents -- more so.

The UMNO youth would rather not have the debate on Malay rights and unity between its chief, Dato' Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, and the PAS youth chief, Mr Mahfuz Omar. UMNO is nettled that the opposition commands greater rapport with the Malay cultural ground than it. But it refuses to meet the opposition parties to discuss it.

What happened since follows from that. Tun Hamid Omar, who succeeded Tun Saleh as Lord President, as the chief justice was then known, presided over the tribunal which dismissed him. It threw into doubt the judiciary's integrity and the obvious political decisions of that act. The judiciary's role in destroying the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, came when Malays roiled at how he is demonised and humiliated. That, with Tun Eusoff's belief that he could do what he liked, even -- especially -- if wrong, and how less than competent judges became hatchet men for those in authority all reduced the judiciary to a shell of what it once was. Datin Ainum must keep pace with Tan Sri Dzaiddin to make the changes she must to return the Attorney-General's Chambers to its pre-eminent role as legal advisers to the government and the director of public prosecutions. I hope she succeeds but she will face pressures more severe than her predecessor ever did.

Several thousand opposition supporters, and 500 policemen, were at Kajang prison to welcome the PAS trio, who included its youth leader and MP for Pokok Sena, Mr Mahfuz Omar, in yet another test of will between opposition and government. The prison released them at 0200 yesterday (09 December 00), six hours earlier than normal, and took them for an unscheduled drive, two to Lembah Patai in Kuala Lumpur, and Mahfuz somewhere north, presumably to his home in Kedah. Mr Mahfuz jumped out of the four-wheeled vehicle at the Rawang toll booths, called his political secretary, and both made their way to Kajang to meet his welcoming crowd. Since he had been released, the prison officials in the van could do nothing. Opposition leaders and others meanwhile attempted to see Mahfuz at prison shortly after they arrived only to be told he had been released. He arrived about an hour later to a emoitional welcome and to mosque for prayers. Last night, he recounted his experiences in the one month he spent in jail when he refused to pay a fine for protesting against an Israeli cricket team playing in Kuala Lumpur in April 1997.

On 09 December 00, the PAS MP, Mr Mahfuz Omar, is released from a month in jail, refusing to pay the RM1,000 fine in lieu. Plans are afoot to have as large a crowd that gathered in Jalan Kebun in Klang on 5 November to welcome him home from Kajang Prison. The Malay ground shifts inexorably from the National Front and UMNO. And all because it mishandled the dismissal of Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Today, it all but consumes it, with the Malay ground moving away for its humiliation, as Malay culture does not allow, of him. The Prime Minister is caught in a trap of his own making. He did not dare to campaign in Lunas for the flak he would have got. His minister made asinine statements, which reflected both their stupidity and idiocy and consequent voter anger that they take him to be as stupid and idiotic as they are. And the incredible campaign which alienated even more voters beggars belief.

In Parliament, the PAS MP for Pokok Sena, Mahfuz Omar and the BN MP for Tampin, Shahziman Abu Mansor, trading insults in the House, challenged the other to a fist fight outside. During the Budget speech last month, Opposition MPs disrupted the proceedings to show their displeasure.

When the PAS MP, Mr Mahfuz Omar, and three others yesterday (10 November 00) opted for a month's jail than pay a RM1,500 fine for demonstrating three years ago against an Israeli cricket team playing in Malaysia, it frightened UMNO, if not the National Front it leads. It comes but four days after 100,000 people defied a government ban and gathered in Klang to mark the second anniversary of the Parti Keadilan Nasional (National Justice Party). UMNO politicians I spoke to since are shell-shocked at Mr Mahfuz's decision. They could not understand why he preferred jail to a not overly onerous fine. But when I told them what this meant, it depressed them even further. They could not understand he preferred jail on principle.

The states have cause to worry. The federal governments wants Putra Jaya hived off from Selangor for peppercorn rates. The state is disallowed its constitutional rights. The former mentri besar, Dato' Seri Abu Hassan Omar, is forced out for un-Islamic marital infidelity because he refused to hand over Putra Jaya. His successor, Dato' Mohamed Khir Toyo, is chosen because he is malleable. UMNO's unspoken fear is Selangor, not Pahang, would fall to a PAS-led coalition in 2004. The Selangor Royal Council, which must approve the alienation of Putra Jaya before the state assembly, was told bluntly by the sultan, who is also Yang Dipertuan Agung, it should not question the cession and could question only the quantum paid; when it did that, the Prime Minister bluntly told them the financial terms are non-negotiable: Selangor has no choice but to agree on Kuala Lumpur's terms. With its huge majority in the state assembly, this bill would pass. But it could sink the National Front as well. The opposition would probably ask for a division, and those who voted for it could well face, at the next general election, intrusive public questioning of why handed Putra Jaya to Kuala Lumpur on a platter.

But all is not lost. Several judges, sidelined for not lending their names for this judicial abberation, maintain their respect and behave with utmost probity and judicial discretion. Much dwells upon them to guide the judiciary back to the justifiable reputation in had less than two decades ago. So long as judges believe that they could do what they like, so long as they do not get caught, they cannot be relied upon to adjudicate fairly in their courts. A bent judge, however brilliant and judicially esteemed and thought of, remains a bent judge. This throws into question even the most noteworth of his judgements. Tun Hamid Omar was, by any standard, a competent judge, who removed the cobwebs of the past from the administration, but his friendship with a business man whose empire did not survie his death destroyed his reputation as a judge. His unjudicial alacrity in presiding over the tribunal to dismiss a man whose successor he was, destroyed his reputation for ever. The judicial malaise now results from that misjudgement. Judges could do what they like so long as they are not caught. And woe betide a litigant who, because of these failings want the judge recused.

The Prime Minister, after his wholesome approval of the Malay Rights debate between the UMNO and PAS youth chiefs, has second thoughts, like many UMNO leaders, about it. Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, in his weekly column, raised the black flag of warning. The Prime Minister is horrified that PAS does not UMNO's worldview that UMNO is the only party that can lead the country. So, he worries incessantly that PAS, in agreeing to the debate, wants to make UMNO look bad. Now, why did the UMNO youth chief and grandson of UMNO's founder, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, agree to debate with Mr Mahfuz Omar, if that was PAS's intention? As usual, few amongst UMNO leaders thought about the debate except as a dare. Now reality sinks in. PAS is given an untramelled opportunity to force UMNO to raise issues it would not except on its own terms: the Petronas royalty affair with Trengganu, the "zina" of one mentri besar with his sister-in-law and of another with his mother-in-law, the Apostasy legislation fiasco, the administration of Islamic law, state-federal ties, the Anwar Ibrahim affair, and other issues. What UMNO once thought of as a straightforward debate -- no one else did -- it finds it is not.

The Prime Minister approves. UMNO Youth is ecstatic. The PAS youth chief, Mr Mahfuz Omar, will debate with the UMNO youth chief, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, on Malay rights. What UMNO could not, UMNO Youth could. UMNO, the undisputed upholder of Malay culture and rights between 1946 and September 1998, when the Prime Minister's mishandling of a disciplinary matter made it no more, believed it did not need debates with opposition parties like PAS and Parti Rakyat Malaysia to prove its leadership of the Malay community. Now with that figleaf and confidence removed, it wants a victory over the opposition it could in the ballot box. The November 1999 general elections gave UMNO a three-quarters victory and control of all but two of 13 Malaysian state administration. But that victory also deprived it of its cultural hegemony. Every byelection since confirmed only that it lost the support of the Malay community and remains in power with non-Malay support. PAS, with its Islamic agenda, with its Islamic agenda, does not automatically accede to this cultural hegemon.

The Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, was, until recently, widely tipped to succeed Tun Eusoff Chin as chief justice. Not any more. A former High Court judge, he was chosen five years ago over the president of the court of appeal, Tan Sri Lamin Yunos. He was under 55 and Tan Sri Lamin not, and the authorities did not want to upset the civil service applecart by appointing someone beyond retirement age. The then outgoing Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Osman, had nominated another, but the former Lord President, Tun Hamid Omar, who remains, despite his indiscretions, a powerful figure behind the scenes on matter concerning the judiciary and the legal service, opted for Tan Sri Mohtar. And Tan Sri Mohtar it was. He quickly immersed himself in the perks of office, going off on holidays with such eminent counsel as Dato' V.K. Lingam -- the holiday company of the chief justice who returns the favour by not allowing him to lose a case -- and eminent business men as Tan Sri Vincent Tan. But such actions, which would raise many a legal eyebrow, is commonplace, or was until He Who Must Be Destroyed At All Cost's excoriating diatribe in court against the chief justice and the judiciary in general.

For, in the fractious politics of UMNO in Selangor, he is no more than a puppet on a string. He ventures into the lion's den, that is the Selangor executive council, with every man there, barring the Chinese and Indian representatives who would gladly sup with the devil if they can retain their positions, envious or angry or both at his unexpected elevation. His selection is yet one more reason for political to be even more convoluted in the state. He was chosen after his predecessor, Dato' Seri Abu Hassan Omar, was ousted in a sex scandal. Dr Khir's appointment is one more reason why all National Front controlled states must seek a more efficient method of selecting a mentri besar or chief minister other than by Prime Ministerial fiat. The mentris besar and chief minister are foisted upon the state, often against local opposition, to insist upon the feudal nature of Malay politics in UMNO. But as the federal administration demands total subservience from its state satrapies, this method comes under challenge.

So, the man who would be deputy prime minister would be promoted before long. This would rule out Datin Rafidah Aziz, the international trade and industry minister; she had been talked as a possible to wean back the women upset and unhappy at this demonisation of Dato' Seri Anwar. She cannot as prime minister make some Islamic appointments as the office would require. This was also why Datin Napsiah Omar never did, as was widely expected, become mentri besar of Negri Sembilan: as a woman, she could not, for instance, appoint muftis under Islamic laws. Similar problems would face a woman prime minister in a country where women judges cannot impose the death penalty. Tun Ghafar Baba, if he ever was considered, effectively ruled himself out with his undiplomatic statements in Jakarta. Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak is another likely also-ran; too many black marks against him just yet to have much hope for him. The foreign minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has the best chance to succeed, if the normal methods are applied.

That is all well and good, but his appointment itself has caused enough problems in human development. Many of his principal officers were his former bosses. He had been put on the fast track and rushed into his new appointment. This is caused -- even if no one would openly admit it -- by the extensions beyond retirement of an earlier armed forces chief, General Tan Sri Hashim Ali. The extensions caused several well-regarded officers to consider early retirement, leaving a lacunae when the need for their services the most. The Royal Malaysian Police went through a similar phase when Tun Haniff Omar rose to be IGP after one day as Special Branch chief and another as deputy IGP, and held it for two decades. His capabilities notwithstanding, the longer he stayed, the greater the morale problems among the senior officers that only just appear to be resolving itself.

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