When the government drifts, as now, and dissent, in the cabinet, in the party, in the country is viewed as treachery and anti-government, something must give. It is not enough to arrest and jail a few policemen for accepting a few hundred dollars in bribes -- if you offer anything less, you would find yourself charged with corruption instead -- but it should start at the top. Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib has still explain how he came to have RM2.4 million in foreign currencies in Darwin a few years ago, or how he could pay off a former wife, the daughter of his sultan, the equivalent of US$5 million. Or how she, with him, came to own a lucrative piece of real estate in Shah Alam when he was mentri besar. Or is it a requirement of the job that he should not know where forest reserves and wildlife sanctuaries are? The breast-beating now is akin to shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.

This arrogance is now an art form. A High Court judge in Shah Alam orders two opposition politicians detained under the Internal Security Act released because the police in violating the form of the arrest denied the two men their constitutional protection. The de facto law minister, in his retort, ignored this but harped on the judge having no right to tell Parliament what it should do. The home minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, sends four of the remaining eight detained with the two Keadilan politicians to two-year detention terms without trial.

That inherent right should be there, but not to use it, as in the recent ISA arrests, to rein in political opponents of the government. So, when the dust settles, both the High Court judge in Shah Alam and the Federal Court were right, for different reasons, in their orders.

The government believes that its work is best done by the private sector. If it is done with due diligence and one the basis of competitive tenders, it would not be so bad. It seems to me that the contracts are given to those close to the establishment with no experience in handling the work privatised. The cleanup of the Klang River along Shah Alam is about to be privatised, the contractor doing it in return for the lucrative land along its banks. This belief that the contractor would genuinely do a good job is misplaced. He is not a flood alleviation expert. Look at the condition of the stadia Malaysian private enterprise built for the Commonwealth Games in 1998. They were built in exchange for rich land in the Klang Valley. Makeshift facilities were built for the land. Nothing more, nothing less. And so in making money out of the privatisation exercises.

When Shah Alam was planned as Selangor's capital, in the 1970s, the master plan had marked off places of worshipareas for non-Muslim residents. The non-Muslims accepted that they would not have as many as they would have liked, and accepted the reality of half-a-loaf is better than no bread. Shah Alam is now a reality, but the state government, still controlled, the last time I checked, by the National Front, has decided that since Shah Alam is a Malay city, there should not be places of worship for the non-Malays. Since all Malays are, by constitutional definition in Malaysia, Muslim, it in effect does not accept the existence of any religion but Islam. This is not unusual. The National Front's public posture of religious freedom is marked by an illiberality in practice. Even the non-Malay members of the coalition dare not rise up to question it.

So, when the clashes occurred, the National Front and UMNO had no voice in the area. The Selangor mentri besar, Dato' Mohamed Khir Toyo, was heckled when he visited the area. The federal ministers who would rush in to show their concern did not. The Prime Minister was no where around though he did appear at irrevelant functions far removed from the clashes. What embarrassed the most was that party leaders were not welcome. None would dare venture in except under tight security. Dato' Seri Samy Vellu said as much to explain away why he arrived late to succour to the Indians. One gets the odd feeling that there is more to it to what happened than we are told. Now that the clashes are contained, it is time for celebration. Dato' Khir hosts a "muhibah" party not where it is needed most but in the safety of his well-guarded official residence in Shah Alam, six miles away. Muhibah would get a bad name if people demand answers amidst a dinner to celebrate multiracial amity, would it not?

How could it when the Prime Minister accuses the Chinese of questioning Malay rights, insists the Malays can only unite behind him, and presides a policy of deliberately downgrading the other religions. Could he explain why the Roman Catholic church in Shah Alam cannot be built after the foundation is laid and more than a million ringgit spent upon it on land given it for that specific purpose? As official religion, Islam is primus inter pares amongst religions practiced here. But civil servants blunder to ensure other religions are neutralised and its adherents forced to pray in make-shift shop lots.

This is so severe that it frightens Umno and BN, exhilarates PAS and the Opposition and more such must occur. Umno Youth, quick to blame Mahfuz Omar, but not Shahziman Abu Manor, for what happened in Parliament, is silent about the brawl in Shah Alam.

The Anwaristas's brilliant campaign ties into tighter knots the Prime Minister, UMNO and the government; all it can is cry foul feebly, as the proverbial boy cried wolf. The mainstream media forces its credibility into a quagmire with its unthinking hostility towards Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Many view it biased and irrelevant and consequently ignore or disbelieve it. As the government's attacks about the Anwaristas latest "treachery". But when people read the official attacks, the people remember yet again, if they had consigned the Anwar episode to the darkest recesses of their memory, He Who Must Be Destroyed At All Cost is in need of help. Especially when extraordinary precautions to scuttle the opposition Barisan Alternatif gathering in Shah Alam today (05 November 00) suggests nervousness and fright. It denied this gathering to hire the Bukit Jalil stadium, and rejected twice its organiser's request for a permit. Today's is without one.

UMNO could not but taunt PAS for the debate to recover lost Malay cultural ground. UMNO is in crisis, has been since it humiliated its deputy president, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, two years ago. The November 1999 general election is, for UMNO and the National Front, a pyrrhic victory. The UMNO ground talks of a revamped UMNO with the Prime Minister nor the deputy president, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, not leading it. The quiet, unexpected political strength the former Selangor mentri besar and UMNO vice-president, Tan Sri Mohamed Taib, displays catapaults him into potential leadership. The Hermit of Langgak Golf, long dismissed as a court jester, is back in contention. The Prisoner in Sungei Buloh making prisoners of UMNO leaders frightens them all. The Prime Minister throws caution to the winds with his peevish, petty behaviour: after a quarter century of UMNO misuse, he turns the solemnly signed oil royalty agreement between two UMNO leaders -- Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, as Petronas chief, and Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Ahmad, the Trengganu mentri besar -- into a memorandum of understanding; and make Malay Rights a rallying cry to divide the Malays and frighten the non-Malays. For UMNO to debate Malay Rights 45 years into its governance reflects not its commitment to it, but its collosal failure. Insisting upon Shah Alam as a Malay city depresses property values, not strengthen Malay Rights.

Malaysia Boleh!
By Zunar (zunar49@hotmail.com) The Open Press, Shah Alam Price: RM10
Available at all major book stores

Dato' Sri Ram Sharma is a rags-to-riches story of Bolehland, waiting for the next transition to rags. His career began when he made friends with the Selangor state legislative assembly member in charge of the new Shah Alam Library, a former schoolteacher named Mohamed bin Taib. (If you see any connexion between this Mohamed bin Taib and the former mentri besar, Tan Sri Mohamed Taib, you are right: they are one and the same person.) He had a company called Book Craft, which supplied books to the library, which is one reason why the selection is so shoddy and so few. The anti-intellectual tradition in the Malay psche ensures that the best person to select books to widen one's knowledge is one who thinks culture is spelt with a capital K. With the dollops of money he made there, he formed a construction company. He got contracts left
and right, his influence in the state growing as his mentor rose even higher in UMNO and state politics. So, when he offered his services to take the unsellable tickets off Sukom 99, it was gladly expected. He was sure to spread the largesse around. His super efficient publicity machine cranked out breathless prose of this new genius who singlehandedly rushed in to save the nation. So, what if he did this without meeting his commitments? The Royal Malaysian Customs would like a word with him over unpaid duties and taxes over stuff he imported, allegedly for the Games. But when meetings are fixed, like the one today, he flies off for yet another business discussion instead in Ougadougou. At first, he ignored these demands because he had patrons in high places. Now, he ignores them because he does not have patrons in high places.

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