THE WAR ON TERROR, as dictated by the United States, is fast becoming one in Malaysia, as it already is in many countries with fealty to Washington. This is adopted to keep the Opposition away from politics, but all it has done is to keep it alive. In Indonesia, this is more widespread than is reported in the news reports, that getting prominence only when this affects the government or foreign countries with an axe to grind, usually and not exclusively Australia. In the process, President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono is seen against the war of terror, the fine elements of which are Washington's, or Australia's dictates. Malaysia has gone wholly with the United States on this, because its largest Opposition is Islamic, which it wants to say is pro-war on terror, mainly to blame it Islamically, but gets caught in a bind as the National Front's version of Islam – now Islam Hadhari, but that is under the present prime minister, Pak Lah, only; it was not under the former leader – does not cut much ice in the villages.

THE MIDDLE CLASS IS society's, to use a hackneyed phrase, engine of growth. Annoy it, and it is difficult to contain them. In India, the middle class provides the leadership of the masses, and keeps the government, and foreign investors, on their toes. The people do not like their rights or living taken but keep quiet because they do not have middle class leaders. In countries like Malaysia and Singapore, the government brings it into its fold by giving it wealth and privilege with promises that other would in time. This kept them away from politics, anti-government oppposition, leading the masses. The few who led Opposition parties were allowed, to show the government is fair, but the leaders harassed so that others would not follow their lead. The governments are careful not to make them angry. The middle class, when given a choice between wealth without work especially by connections to authority and leading the masses would, invariably, join the former.

So far the Malaysian political leadership has gone around the problems. But it is not out of the woods yet. The ground is seething. The Prime Minister's reaction to that is to warn. Now even UMNO is aghast at what its leaders have done. The Opposition to the government is now strong within UMNO, and their anger is treated with respect by the leaders. But these UMNO members feel they are second class citizens, along with the Chinese, the Indians and other minorities in this country. What should worry the UMNO leaders in power is that these other groups are showing signs of joining hands, preparing the way for a multiracial Opposition to the government. The police have decided that anyone who opposed the government is their enemy as well, and has said it would act accordingly. You saw what could happen, when the government forces reacted violently against the demonstrators in Nepal.

Malaysia is fast becoming like Malta, where businesses, think-tanks and shops come in pairs, one supporting the government, the other the Opposition - with this difference: it is part of life there but part of politics here.

The official media and the mainstream newspapers report to show the government is on the right track. Contrary views are rarely printed or broadcast. But something is wrong. Pak Lah has to threaten the people within a week if they don't accept the government hopes about the Plan as realities. The only discussion is on the Internet, and the government says little about that, as it does not what is opposed by the people. People do not wait for the newspapers to find what has happened; they get it from the Internet. In Singapore, the government not only says its piece on the Interest, but also warns the Opposition from using it. In Malaysia, the Internet is for the foreigners to praise, not to use it to its advantage.

This 30 sen rise in petrol has led to several common items costing higher. Pak Lah has said this should not happen. But how many, particularly the big shots, have been brought to court for breaching his government orders? So far, none. If anyone is brought to court, it is usually the small business man or hawker, who has to raise prices because he has to pay more for every ingredient he uses or sells. The government critises the demonstrations against the rise in petrol since they have at their back Opposition political parties. But it is wrong there. If the National Front is uninterested in raising issues, the Opposition parties will step in. The days when the government could get away by insisting the Opposition parties oppose its plans are long gone. It is no use saying that those who do are in the Opposition. To the man-in-the-street, the National Front forms the government. He thinks it is monolithic as the National Front once said it was. The way out is for Pak Lah as president of National Front and UMNO to admit it is not. But he would not say that, would he?

THE GATHERING OF THE converted met yesterday (12 March 2006) to discuss the inexhorable move in Malaysia to be an Islamic state. No governmnent or official representative was there to give its view. That is not to say no UMNO representative was there. He was, but to chart his own support base outside UMNO, after his suspension as an UMNO member. Would he have said what he did had he been in the good books of the party? He got claps and cheers but did he mean what he said? Would his speech have been different had he been an official UMNO representative? No official explanation is given at the best of times for moves taken about Islam and its role in Malaysia. Every one shies of discussing it, is presumed not to discuss it, especially by non-Muslims. So, Malaysia becomes Islamic by default. The non-Malay political parties in the National Front will not discuss, even with UMNO, and will agree with any moves on Islam that UMNO takes. As they did, as they would do if pesky questions about it are asked by Opposition members of parliament.

PAK LAH SAID the people are angry with the 30-cent increase in petrol but warned the Opposition parties were taking advantage of it. He withdrew the subsidy to petrol companies, a practice started about 40 years ago to keep prices down. The oil companies had not increased the prices, but with the removal of the subsidy increased the price. The government explained that petrol companies have not increased the prices for some time but the government has withdrawn 30 cents of the subsidies! Whatever the reason, the people now pay nearly two dollars per litre in petrol. but It was not he who withdrew the subsidy but his son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, so that the government would have enough money for his projects under the 9th Malaysia Plan. This may or may not be true, but the studied silence in the government and civil service to allegations on the Internet and alternate press that now takes as read that the son-in-law demanded it. That sticks, whether Pak Lah likes it or not and he refuses to say otherwise.

THERE IS A TRITE SAYING that the Indian community in Malaysia must blend with the other races if it is to survive. Trite because the party that represents the Indians here do all it can to separate the Indian community into Tamils, Malayalees, Sikhs, Bengalis, others. The Malaysian Indian Congress, which once represented the Indian community in the governing National Front coalition, has done its job badly in representing the Indian community that the People's Progressive Party – which in its previous life was the Opposition and multiracial Perak Progressive Party led by the redoubtable Seenivasagam brothers, both lawyers and with the younger, D.R. Seenivasagam, the more dominant, particularly in the Opposition benches in Parliament – to also represent the Indians. His death in the late 1960s lead to his elder brother, known as SP, taking over, and subsequently joined the ruling National Front, After his death, it was the vehicle for a Chinese leader at odds with the Chinese party in the National Front, the Malaysian Chinese Association. But the PPP came back into Indian hands, its president being appointed a senator tough he is elected to parliament now. He, an Indian, is a deputy minister, but the party is a pale shadow of its old self.

Mahatma Gandhi in India forced the British to hand over the government to the Indians, and that helped in the decline of the British Empire. It took 90 years – from Mangal Pandey objecting to using lard-encased bullets, which also got the Muslims to side with the Hindus, in 1857 to Mahatma Gandhi in 1947. He had the genius of hitting the establishment where it mattered, not the carrots the British threw to divert his campaign. He refined civil disobedience. He called it satyagraha, and his movement hit at the guts of the British rule of India. He realised early that the British wanted Opposition limited to the non-essentials of its rule. He was clear in his mind that that was unimportant.

But a rise in petrol price affects the living costs of the people. The salaries would not go up 18 per cent, the percentage of petrol price rise, let alone double to meet the additional cost of everday living. The National Front knows this. This is attempts are made after to soften the Opposition, not so that public transport can be improved. The National Front – UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, IPF, the Sarawak and Sabah parties, and others – have assumed they know what the people want, that they can do what they like for the people who voted them into office. The long suffering Malaysians has been gluttons for punishment, will gladly vote the National Front into office election after election. It had an irritant Opposition from PAS, the only other political party which has the wherewithal to become the government of the day, but that day is far off. It did not therefore bother about that. The National Front knew this psychology of the voter only too well. Their aim is power forever, and they will tell any tall tales to ensure that.

But this is not to say the other races are exempt from this mad rush. The Indians, through the MIC, in the National Front, do what they like, and make noises when they shouldn't, so that the MIC President can stay on in the cabinet. He has done so badly that even UMNO decided the Indians needed help, or become the worst of the lthree major races. The PPP, once in the Opposition and whose leaders when it was in the oppposition took the right decision in Perak that the rioting in Kuala Lumpur during May 13 1969 was not replicated there, is largely Indian in its latest incarnation, but it is of no use. The Gerakan Rakyat Malaysa, once in the Opposition, today rules Penang as it has for 36 years. It was brought in to check the excesses of the MCA in the National Front. But like the MCA and MIC, it has no policy except to retain the Chief Ministership of Penang and its president in the Federal cabinet. In Sarawak and Sabah, the parties are, almost each one of them,. beholden to the National Front.

The government has chosen to punish papers that most of the country do not see, and excused those that do. But the offense, in the government's eyes, is serious. Otherwise, why would the NST be asked to explain? If the authorities saw red over the cartoons in the three papers, then they should also on the television stations. The Special Branch is present at every Opposition rally, and their tape recording has formed the basis of actions against the speaker. They are told the truth is in the recording, and are often sent to Kamunting under the Internal Security Act or charged in court. Viewers taped the caricatures and passed them on. The NST has got a few of them. As its mea culpa, it asks why the television stations are not penalised.

UMNO, in the National Front, rules the roost. The New Straits Times is owned by a party conglomerate, its editor is appointed by the Prime Minister. Its editor knows which side his bread is buttered, and acts accordingly. It reports fearlessly on countries and individuals who cannot fight back. It acts as a public relations arm of the government. It used to be the best-selling newspaper in the country but is now third, behind the free newspaper, The Sun. It used to sell more than 300,000 but can only manage about 120,00 now. The decline in leadership can be blamed on its political orientation slavishly with reporters not reporting what should be, and its recent editors, who are mediocrities selected so that the ruling party can be comfortable. It does not report Opposition activities, except occasionly to show its "independence". Like all newspapers, its journalists do not usually write their reports until they have seen the sanitized Bernama version of the event. It does not often, like most newspapers, quote Bernama as the source, and the report would appear in other newspapers.

In Malaysia, the Opposition is seen as a useful check on the National Front. And they have grown in members who are united in hate: they hate a leader in UMNO, and all those who hate him, but not UMNO, rush to swell its ranks. It seems at first sight a party to watch, but it is united in hate. But when the principle hate figure removes himself, and is no longer an issue, whoever takes over UMNO sweeps the board. This is what happened in the 2004 general election. There was a surge out of UMNO as Tun Mahathir Mohamed continued to dominate the party. Those who moved out continued to love UMNO but did not like its then president. KeADILan, now Parti Kadilan Rakyat after it merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia. The reformasi demonstrations were the larger because many of those in it did not like the UMNO president. When Tun Mahathir resigned abruptly in favour of Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before the 2004 General Elections, he deprived the Opposition of an enemy.

However one might look at it, the Christian groups in Sarawak would look upon the episode as a Muslim looks upon the cartoon of Prophet Mahmood. Regionalism takes precedence, when religion is also an issue. And in Sarawak, and in Sabah, Islam got federal approval in Christian nations. But Kuala Lumpur read the signals wrong. It did not realise, until too late, that getting the native tribes to convert did not mean more support for it, but anger at playing second fiddle. UMNO hoped to resolve it by establishing a branch in the Sabah. Now it is faced with an open resolt. In the coming state general elections, many of its personalities and the parties in the National Front my be in the Opposition. It does not help UMNO that many of this group were Muslims converted in the last 20 years. In Sarawak, the attempt to force UMNO in did not succeed. The Muslim parties saw to that. The suspension of the Sarawak Tribune has got the non-Muslim native against the federal Malays as well.

America would have been acceptable if it did not have its political baggage about it. In December 1991, the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front had won handsomely in the first run of the elections in Algeria. It was declared an illegal outfit. It went on an offensive, more than 10,000 people died in the violence, and Algeria would, for the second time, be hostile to the West. In December 2005, Hamas won three quarters of the seats in the Palestine elections. The Western nations saw that as a dangerous trend, but not the people who voted them in. Hamas will rule Palestine, but the West will not have any role because of its Opposition to Hamas, regarded in Washington as a terrorist organisation. But elections are held elsewhere so that it would return pro-Washongton administrations. Hamas obviously has support among the Palestinians. But this is not unusual. The Israeli terrorist group that created havoc in Palestine before the state of Israel was set up was headed by Manechen Begin, who later become the prime minister of Isreal.

Going hand in hand are the mainstream media. They know which side their bread is buttered. He may be prime minister once but not know. He may have once appointed its editor-in-chief. But not now. They will not run him down as they would an Opposition leader, but he would be regarded in the news columns as second only to the Prime Minister, any criticisms he has of the Prime Minister would not be printed, a fate he shares with the Opposition leaders. Malaysia may be a democracy, at least we have regular elections, but the elections rules and officials are so thought of that they represent a hidden agenda. It is never revealed. But that is challenged now. Even the chairman of the Elections Commission now admits that the elections were not fair. The people who believed in the national movement do not now believe in the political party, whatever is name. Even its former presidents died outside of UMNO. Its former presidents never joined UMNO the political party.

Women in the new UMNO are treated badly although they have played a valiant role in the early days. Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in prison, thought up a wing of educated women different from the women's wing. But the Opposition did not agree with him, dilly dallied over it for months. UMNO ran with it, and created a revolution in politics. All political parties, in the government and in the Opposition, are toying with the idea of a special young educated women's wing. In UMNO, they proved to be efficient campaigners. In the Indera Kayangan byelection in Perlis, Puteri UMNO made its mark. Since then, it has been active in all elections. UMNO has found the most important political weapon ever but spoiled it when it founded Putera UMNO which became a vehicle for the UMNO Youth deputy president and Pak Lah's son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, to unseat the UMNO Youth leader, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein.

THE UMNO YOUTH DEPUTY LEADER, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, said in Sabah the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is irrelevant to the politics there. That was the only news in the English language newspapers in West Malaysia, in effect all the newspapers which double as the National Front's publicity organs. But it had the opposite reaction. That he himself is irrelevant in Sabah is of course not mentioned. When the Opposition is irrelevant, and someone high in National Front says it, the coded message, which most Malaysians know, is that it is not. Dato' Seri Anwar had a successful tour there. He gathered large crowds, and what he had to say was reported there, particularly in the Daily Express. The National Front owns all the newspapers there too, and Opposition candidates in the past are known to be locked up or restrained from filing nomination papers so that the National Front candidate can be returned unopposed. But politics in Sabah is also changing.

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