And what does he have to say of those numerous reports of judges and ministers investigated by the Anti-Corruption Agency without action taken? Or of judges implicated of unjudicial behaviour? Is it his view that since there are no prosecutions the investigated judges and cabinet ministers are clean? That Datin Rafidah Aziz, as minister of international trade and industry did not exceed her powers by allotting concessional shares to her son-in-law, that Tun Daim damages his fiduciary responsibilities when he as finance minister approves projects submitted to him by he as minister in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, that a cabinet minister's son at 27 and without visible means of support could suddenly find himself with a line of credit from RM1,200 million? That it is all right for a lawyer for the plaintiff to write the judgement? When Tan Sri Khalil tries to put his oar into an argument without thinking, he would face more trouble than he bargained for. But first things first: is he now saying that the Malaysian judiciary's fairness and the government not influencing court decision be linked to Azizan's, not Dato' Seri Anwar's, conviction? Does this mean he accepts Dato' Seri Anwar's conviction is faulty? I would have thought that if he wanted to defend the integrity of the judiciary, he would have taken the Anwar case rather than of a man who went out for a dirty weekend and got caught.

The high level of UMNO politicisation of the government continued unabated throughout the past 44 years. But it did not rate any concern so long as the Malay opposition was weak and disorganised. When Tengku Razaleigh, yes the current Kelantan strongman, raised his banner of revolt after he challenged the Prime Minister for the UMNO presidency in 1987, this was, briefly, an issue. It is now questioned virulently by an energized opposition, with a defensive UMNO attacking any who goes against what it considers fair, and absorbs any who agrees with it. So, a routine query from one of those present in a closed-door discussion with an UMNO supreme council member, albeit a cabinet minister, is proof that primary school teachers are politicised! But if Datin Rafidah Aziz thought the remark serious enough, should she not have brought it to the cabinet's, and the education minister's, attention, instead of trying to make political capital out of it? Why did she not do that? Why is UMNO so ready to assume that this practice is widespread when, on what we know, only one primary school teacher is involved? If the problem is serious, what steps does the education ministry take besides politicising the issue?

Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim deflects every attempt by his former mentor, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, to destroy him politically, morally, personally. The vendetta is made all the more vicious, and Dr Mahathir all the more nervous, because every official attempt to destroy Dato' Seri Anwar backfired. The young man fights back with maximum calculated damage. He is now jailed for six years for corruption but not more his trial exposed the utter unprofessional behaviour of the instruments of power and governance: the police, the Attorney-General's chambers, the judiciary, the civil service. The sodomy trial now under way is mired in a procedural quagmire. The strained attempt, during the recent UMNO general assembly, to damn the Anwar cronies simply because the overkill ensured it would be disbelieved. The Anwar riposte was to demand a list of the Mahathir cronies, yet to be produced. Dato' Seri Anwar last Friday forced the Prime Minister yet again into the corner he has become accustomed to. He lodged a police report accusing him, the Attorney-General, and Dato' Abdul Gani Patail, a deputy public prosecutor for failing to press charges against a senior member of the Malaysian cabinet. The Harakah, the PAS newspaper, in this morning's edition named the minister for international trade and industry, Datin Seri Rafidah Aziz, as the minister involved.

He is not the only one. The acting UMNO youth leader, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, the son of the former prime minister, is another who tries to get his two-cents worth of inanities every day about the conduct of the trial. The foreign minister, Dato' Abdullah Badawi, is upset at his Thai counterpart's belief that Malaysia's handling of the Anwar trial upsets Asean unity. Datin Paduka Rafidah Aziz repeats herself ad nauseum that Apec should concentrate on economics since Apec is not a political body. The context of their statements rates a mention in the local media that could tickle the delegates in their favour next June. That is all that matters. That is why Malaysia is in such a mess. Self interest precedes national interest, as the hamfisted attempt to remove the man who would be prime minister from the political scene. His trial rocks the National Front government of Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, with statements like these accelerating the pressures. Self interest alone would ensure that more statements like these are on the way.

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.

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