No one looks into the broader impact of these incipient retorts, but they exist in every political party, in the National Front and Opposition, except PAS. The long tenure of party leaders produce intractible problems within. Mr Lim himself has headed the DAP for nearly three decades. Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu would soon mark the 21st year as MIC president. Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik remains head of the MCA for more than a decade. The Prime Minister for 19 years. The Gerakan leader, Dato' Seri Ling Kheng Yaik, has outlived his usefulness in his party. But they cling on to office. Nothing grows underneath a banyan tree. The Indian Congress Party's sudden leadership vaccuum can be traced to the dominant hold the Nehru family had on it in post-independent India. The overwhelming power vested in Partly Leader's hands ensures a pliant following, with those who challenge them forced out of the party. This is as true in UMNO as it is in the DAP. The short term advantageous are seen more important than the long term view. This narrow focus reduces the parties to be at the beck and call of its leaders in which dissent is severely dealt with.

I read both reports. I thought the SCMP report was a fair representation, with comment, on what was carried in the NST. Still, I can understand both Dr Lim's and Dr Koh's concerns (as indeed of Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu; there are a few more but I do not Dr Mahathir to be any more upset than he already has to). They are among National Front leaders who have neither come out in euphoric support of Dr Mahathir or condemned his nemesis, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. They fully understand that statesman are failed politicians. They are neither; they only think they are politicians. Any press coverage they get is for pasting in scrapbooks to show their grandchildren. It works both ways: for a beleagured administration grasping at straws, even rubbish in kitchen sinks means widespread support.

The works minister, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is intent on ensuring that the National Front would lost control -- or at least lose ground -- in the East Coast states of Pahang, Trengganu and Kelantan. His announcement over the weekend that the toll rates on the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway would rise by 275 per cent to a total of RM6.60 for motor cars -- RM4.20 at the Gombak toll gate and RM2.40 at the Bentong gate -- apparently without MTD Prime even asking for it smacks both of highway robbery and political shortsightedness. The isolation of the area because of the high toll rates and the absence of alternate roads which was solemnly promised at the time of the privatisation would change the political scene.

Charles Dickens, in his novel on the French Revolution, The Tale of Two Cities, asks if removing one thousand aristocrats would be a calamity to the nation. The revolutionaries clearly thought not, as it indeed it proved. Are one thousand aristocrats more valuable to a nation than one thousand chambermaids? Or one thousand school teachers? Or one thousand newspaper boys? This extends the age-old conundrum on whether society exists to benefit the community or a section of the community. Can a thousand Amin Shahs ever be worth a thousand Indonesian maids? Can a thousand Vincent Tans and Ting Pek Khiings equal one thousand Lin Yutangs? Can a thousand Samy Vellus ever equal one, yes, one, Rabindranath Tagore? Is the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Bakun No-Dam and Putra Jaya worth more than a regular unrestricted supply of clean water or clear traffic or a good health service?

But Dato' Seri Osu is a brilliant Bolehland cabinet minister -- in the same mould as Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, Dato' Mohamed Rahmat -- who will say the most inane, irrelevant obvious with great panache, if only to prevent too inquisitive a look into the statements. In Bolehland, as we all know, we are not to look at gift horses in the mouth. So, Bolehlanders need only know why this pasar rakyat idea is the best since the Seventh Day of Creation: "This system eliminates the middleman, thus making goods cheaper and affordable and affordable for the lower income group." This first site, where he made this indelible piece of gobbledygood, in his ministry's car park.

Standing in the way of this expectedly easy payment is the general view of cabinet ministers that Ekran should not be paid a cent more than what he was spent on the project. The market is abuzz with talk of this disagreement. If this is true, this would be one of the rare occasions when the Cabinet challenged the prime minister's view. Although, it must be added, that he does have much support from those ministers that matter -- Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, Dato' Seri Lim Keng Yaik, Dato' Ting Chiew Peh, Dato' Seri Lim Ah Lek, Dato' S. Samy Vellu, Dato' Law Hieng Ding. It is those UMNO Ministers who appear to be making such a fuss.

The results were interesting. The Malays to a man and woman generally disagreed with the IMF coming in; felt this would upset the NEP, that the NEP was a corrective, not a discriminatory, mechanism; that the government must do much more than it has so far in addressing the economic travails we face; with three suggesting that a new chief at the helm would give the confidence and reverse the malaise afflicting us all. The Chinese, rather gleefully, welcomed the IMF for "it would end the NEP and bring about a level-playing field"; thought the IMF would not be "so stupid" as allow foreigners to dominate the economy; when asked to provide one example where the IMF have actually helped the economies of the countries it restructured, they did not have a clue. The Indians, with their business clout depended on Dato' Seri Samy Vellu, were more balanced in their approach, talking of "trouble" ahead if the NEP is scuttled, or too much power given to foreign companies; one said IMF had a habit of coming into a troubled country and forcibly bring in those very foreign companies who could not have come in before.

The Malaysian works minister, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is out to bat for DIMS, even urging the consortium to withdraw in favour of DIMS and suggesting that Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro, even if they joined hands for the project, would be no match for the likes of DIMS which has "strategic alliances" -- whatever that means -- with leading software companies from the United States. DIMS ebullient chief executive, Mr Dharan, roots incessantly for a "strategic linkage" -- whatever that means -- between our yet unbuilt Multimedia Super Corridor with Chennai's yet unbuilt IT Park. Now, all that Reliance and L&T could promise is to link the Chennai Park to Silicon Valley; only DIMS can link CITP to MSC. Besides, Reliance and L&T should know, if they do not already, that the cutting edge of worldwide computer technology is situated outside Kuala Lumpur.

The party president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, did not mince his words on what ails the Indian community nor of the horrible fate awaiting anyone who disagreed with his prognosis for it or who he selected to shepherd the Indian community into the brave new world of 2020. These speeches we have come to expect every year. There were grandiloquent statements of an MIC-sponsored medical school when the problem is really to raise the pitiful educational standards extent for children of the community. Higher education is important, but is it more important than ensuring that every Indian child can read and write?

Pak Lah (1364)   United States (636)   Straits Times (412)   Samy Vellu (224)   Putra Jaya (200)   Chief Justice (200)   Saddam Hussein (188)   Vincent Tan (164)   Civil Service (154)   Parti KeADILan (148)   Islamic State (118)   Johore Bahru (100)   Sungei Buloh (94)   Bukit Tinggi (88)   Abdul Razak (80)   Pengkalen Pasir (68)   Ting Pek (64)   Armed Forces (59)   Soviet Union (58)

Malay Dominance (58)   Yong Teck (56)   Hong Kong (56)   Human Rights (56)   Syed Hamid (54)   Puteri UMNO (52)   Islam Hadhari (52)   Royal Commission (51)   Hussein Onn (51)   Rafidah Aziz (48)   Indian Congress (48)   Open House (44)   Vision Schools (44)   Shah Alam (44)   Malay Unity (42)   Chua Jui (42)   Abdul Taib (42)   Ampang Jaya (36)   Ras Adiba (36)

Osama Bin Laden (36)   Nik Aziz Nik (20)   Ling Liong Sik (18)   Lee Kuan Yew (18)

High Court Judge (14)   Wan Azizah Wan (9)   Lim Kit Siang (9)   Megat Junid Megat (8)

Mahathir (2960)

Anwar (2399)