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.

If Tan Sri Khalil does not review his decision, UMNO could well win the debate and lose the ground. For more than Malay Rights, it is PAS's rare chance to prove its worth to the Malay cultural heartland. Its Islamic worldview, complete with an Islamic government, makes it unacceptable to many rural Malays, who given a choice between UMNO and PAS these days would lean towards the latter but would not, yet, give his cultural loyalty. Parti Keadilan Negara (Keadilan) had a chance to be that, but it did not take off as its supporters expected. PAS is about to consider a volcanic political change -- to move from its goal of an Islamic government to one in which Islamic principles dominate -- which could put pressure upon UMNO more than ever. The debate proves nothing. UMNO stands to lose more than PAS. PAS, therefore, would not reject any opportunity to state its views.

As the MIC slept through the momentous changes in the country since independence, the Indian community transformed itself outside the party. The professionals and others distanced themselves from the MIC's patronage politics to grow into a force that evinced the Prime Minister's threat and Dato' Seri Samy Vellu's fear. Try as it might, the MIC cannot arrogate itself as the political party of choice of the Indian community. The Indians have been well represented in the opposition benches of parliament since the first general elections in 1959. The MIC's tendency for only the president's men as candidates ensures both sycophancy and indifferent representation. But Indian professional and middle classes come into national politics in a big way. It is not without reason that they gravitated towards Parti Keadilan Negara, KeADILan, that they are now its second largest racial group. The MIC now pays the price for that earlier neglect, and for its insistence of eternal gratitude. If it does not mend its ways, it would be the Indian community's turn to be eternally grateful that the MIC no longer represents it.

The Senators Club of Malaysia's secretary-general, Senator Rosli Mat Hassan, is clear in his mind that senators are appointed for their contribution to UMNO, not the National Front or the nation, and demands Senator Hamzah Mat Zain's resignation from the Senate since he switched his party affiliation from UMNO to Keadilan. "He was appointed a senator for his contributions to UMNO and if he has not stepped down, I suggest that he do so for he no longer represented the party," he said. Is he saying that his appointment was for his contribution to UMNO? Could he point me to the Malaysian Constitution where it says this? The Senate is composed of two senators elected by each state legislatures, and other appointed by the King for a maximun of two terms of three years each. An UMNO membership is not a requirement. In theory, senators are not appointed for their political affiliation, although in practice it invariably is. Senator Rosli's is one such. Senator Hamzah "defected", according to the Bernama report, in contrast to the two Parti Bersatu Sabah state assemblymen who joined UMNO in Sabah recently, to Parti Keadilan Negara on 12 June.

UMNO lost the public relations edge once again. Promising a surprise, and not producing it, appears to be an attempt to keep the UMNO ground waiting for it. The Prime Minister has -- at last -- brought the Tengku Razaleigh faction into the centre of the party: they can now be considered for posts in the government and as candidates in the coming general elections. The Tengku, like Dato' Seri Anwar, had independent support within UMNO, and whose opposition has dogged and almost derailed the Prime Minister. Numerous UMNO stalwarts told me yesterday that the Parti Keadilan Negara factor would not impact upon UMNO, and that it would be a matter of time before they returned to the fold. But the Tengku Razaleigh revolt in 1987 was a revolt of a chief who could easily be contained. The Anwar revolt ignored the chiefs and went to the Malay ground for support, and hence more serious. The Tengku represented the second generation of UMNO leaders and Anwar the third. The Prime Minister wooed the second generation back into the fold, but the Anwar supporters, with a view of UMNO as a political party and not a movement, is less amenable to blandishments that their elders would heartily accept. Dr Mahathir's hurt comment that he, and not Anwar, is the victim of a conspiracy unfortunately remains unbelievable to most. And he understands only too well he needs the Tengku Razaleigh crowd to protect him from the Anwar crowd.

Into this state of affairs, the Attorney General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, puts his foot in. He deems it seditious to accuse the Attorney-General's Chambers of selective prosecution. He threatens to prosecute these miscreants under the Sedition Act or under the Penal Code for criminal defamation. Why does Tan Sri Mohtar have to threaten, when he could go right ahead and commit the fellow for trial or sue him? Would he? His retort came after the Parti Keadilan Negara youth chief, Mr Ezam Mohamed Nor, filed a police report, in which he accused Tan Sri Mohtar and DPP Dato' Abdul Ghani Patail for not taking "appropriate action" against the Minister of Finance, Tun Daim Zainuddin, for corrupt practice. Tan Sri Mohtar said on Tuesday, that "I want to deny ... (Ezam's allegations) ... that I and one of my senior officers had protected a minister from being prosecuted for corruption practice," he said. "The allegation made by Ezam in his police report is baseless, false and slanderous. It has also gone beyond the allowed freedom of speech in the Federal Constitution," he added. Stirring words indeed, especially if he can show why he did not prosecute the several cases of ministerial corruption brought to his attention, and decided discretion is the better part of valour. But if he choses to act against Mr Ezam, the odds are that the Malay community would be polarised yet again. He does not seem to realise this is not a legal, but a political, issue.

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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