WHY DID DATO' SERI SYED HAMID, the foreign minister, and others in the cabinet, make a fool of themselves days before the Prime Minister, Pak Lah, said the crooked bridge to replace part of the causeway with Singapore would not be built? Why had they not been penalised for making the Malaysian government look stupid? What was the basis for Pak Lah making his decision? Was it because his son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, is reported to be close to Singapore and many believe is its representative here? Why did Pak Lah defy his cabinet ministers? He cannot say he is boss, and can do what he likes. He was a member of the Mahathir cabinet which approved the bridge. Much money has been spent in preparing for it. Just because Singapore says the crooked bridge is unworkable? The public reasons for the crooked bridge is as obscure as against it.

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.

THE NINTH MALAYSIA PLAN causes the spending of about RM200 billion. Yet this is not the major topic in Parliament. A minister's work dress is. It does not matter if the Ninth Malaysia Plan is discussed as it should, so long as the minutea of the minister's clothes is. So Dato' Rais Yatim is forced to explain why he wears the clothes he does. It shows the utter irrelevance of Parliament in today's Malaysia. What the executive says goes. It does not matter what Parliament says or does. The executive administration of elected officials in Malaysia has ignored Parliament since 1970, after the racial riots of the previous year. But that is par for the course. In Malaysia, Singapore, and in almost every country that was once a colonial territory. Professor Cyril Northcote Parkinson, of the University of Malaya in Singapore, in the 1950s, wrote of this phenomenon in his Parkinson's Law, where he described this tendency, Where the matter to be spent runs in the millions, it was settled expeditiously. But when the subject matter concerned the tea lady, it would be discusssed for hours.

There is a shuffling of support in UMNO. Many have deserted Pak Lah for one of the other warlords in the party. Dato' Seri Najib will not move against Pak Lah, strengthened by Mr Khairy's threat. One man who can replace Dato' Seri Najib would not, unless he is invited, but he is popular with UMNO and throughout the country. Those around Pak Lah do not follow Malay mores and ethics to stop their rivals. Mr Khairy is a past master in that. But he fell more often than not, alienating the party and the country that he cannot survive for long after his father-in-law steps down. Whoever is next prime minister will see to that. He was not born with a silver spoon, but has made more than RM500 million in his early thirties, mostly be selling government assets to Singapore, and representing Singapore to buy Malaysian assets. He now tries so that Singapore will take over a local bank, not a local company. He makes mistakes, the latest is ECM Libra, of which he is a director and shareholder, suing Mr Husam Musa, a PAS MP, for asking questions of how Mr Khairy came to his wealth.

THE PEOPLE'S ACTION PARTY created Singapore out of its image, the work of its long-term leader, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. It dismantled the British superstructure in the island colony and put in its place the sinews of a modern administrative state. But in doing so, it created a whole colony of beavers, who worked hard, kept their thoughts to themselves, and did what they were asked to do. Those who did not follow the general trend were severely dealt with, and that included recalcitrant journalists and overseas magazines, The officials assumed a persona of their own, believed they could do no wrong, and looked down upon the people they negotiated with, if they were Malaysians, and got the edge over them by slick public relations. The general feeling in Singapore is that the country across the causeway is their's for the kicking. The one time they clashed over water, in which Singapore assumed it was theirs and did Malaysia a favour by giving it treated water, it took Mr Lee Kuan Yew to see his counterpart, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, in 1986, and gave the Malaysians the upper hand in relations with the island republic.

CHENGARA VEETIL DEVAN NAIR, or C.V. Devan Nair, is dead. Not where he was born – in Malacca, Malaysia; not in the land of his adoption, Singapore whose president he became; but in exile in Canada, hounded to the end by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, then prime minister but now two steps higher as minister mentor, whose colleague he was and who had him elected as President. He was born in 1923, and died in December 2005. He was, of course, a Malayali, a clan Mr Lee was, and is, afraid of, and who gave him his biggest trouble in his march to be Prime lMinister. He regarded them more dangerous than snakes, and did not look upon them kindly. Mr Devan Nair was weaned into Mr Lee's People's Action Party, from the pro-communist Anti-British League, and later, so Mr Lee's supporters said, he sold his friends to be firmly entrenched with Mr Lee. Mr Nair never wrote his memoirs, so we will never know the truth of this. He was an active writer since 1954, but wrote less and less after he was removed as President in 1993. In 1999, he attracted a libel suit from Mr Lee for what he wrote in Canada, but which was thrown out after his counter-claim. He married a Tamil, who died before he did, had four sons and five daughters.

THE HIDDEN STORY OF ECM Libra merging with Avenue Capital is not told. Avenue Capital used to be called Phileo Bank, which got its licence from the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and was said to be his vehicle, but was taken over by the government after his fall, and which is controlled by the Prime Minister. It has in its portfolio the post office, with about RM3 billion in funds. The new entity will rival Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB) as Malaysia's largest investment group. But CIMB. built brick-by-brick and therefore solid, is run by Dato' Nazir Razak, the younger brother of the deputy prime minister. Mr Khairy is the top dog of the rival. It must be noted that CIMB wants to take over Southern Bank, while Mr Khairy wants it to be taken over by a Singapore group. Malaysians are told the confusing pattern of corporate deals, while the political impact of the deal is not explained. Mr Khairy is a young man in a hurry, and the corporate deals he is part of is so that he can be prime minister after his father-in-law. But ECM Libra merging with Avenue Capital, worth over RM280 million, would not have happened if his father-in-law had not allowed it. In other countries, both would have gone to jail. In Malaysia, one could follow the other as prime minister!

DEFAMATION AND LIBEL LAWS prevent political debate in Malaysia. They are used by National Front, especially UMNO, hacks and politicians to get their way, usually in silence. They then ask their critics, even if they are MPs, to apologise or else. They take their cue from the government, which does not bother with such niceties as explaining their actions, but woe betide any who has the right to ask questions. It was Singapore which led the way, bankrupting opposition politicians so that they would be removed from the political scene. The PAP does not have opposition of any note in Singapoore – yet. The National Front thought the PAP's handling of its opposition is what they would like to see in Malaysia. Malaysia, however, has an opposition as vigorous as the National Front, and is reduced over the years by the government passing laws that work to their disadvantage.

Why is ECM Libra threatening harakahdaily.com and the PAS MP, Mr Husam Musa, with defamation? So that its activities are not discussed like other companies. It can only be a major company during the period Pak Lah is prime minister. It is an Ali Baba firm, and its Chinese partners know it can progress if it has the right Ali as partners. They have already made much money, usually be selling Malaysian assets to Singapore firms, and getting a commission for arranging the sale. It has enabled a Singapore firm to buy into Pantai Hospital, and so has a say in foreigners working in Malaysia. Concerned people in Malaysia are concerned at this, because Pantai Hospital has the medical records of people in power, and is available to the new shareholders.

Mr Khairy has made himself a rich man – he bought RM9.2 million worth of ECM Libra shares. ECM Libra is a boutique investment firm that roped in Pak Lah's men to be successful; in other words an Ali Baba firm. Until then, he was only an employee. No one in government, from secretaries general down, will go against Pak Lah's son-in-law. He had played his cards well as long as he was not involved in any company. And he was not as close to Singapore. He is blamed, rightly or wrongly, for selling Malaysian government assets to Singapore. He has thrown his weight around, and many believe the governmet is run by him. He made an early enemy of Tun Mahathir as a result. His heart attack can cause one of two things: he might try his best to unseat Pak Lah's government, because he does not want Malaysia to be ruled by one as close to Singapore as Mr Khairy; or he might retire. His decision will affect Mr Khairy and Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak.

THE PRIME MINISTER'S SON-IN-LAW, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, has bought into that Ali Baba concern, ECM Libra, for RM9.2 million. How did he get that money in his thirties when he has no known jobs or business that would earn him that much in so short a time. He has threatened to sue any one, including me, for bringing out these to the general public. But threatening to sue is a way of life with people at the top, when when they cannot or rather not explain. Look at the chairman of MAS, who would threaten or lodge police reports to stop the emails against him. Mr Husam Musa, a PAS MP, has asked how Mr Khairy got the money to buy into ECM Libra, whether it came from commissions he received for selling off Malaysian government assets to Singapore.

THERE AUSTRALIAN OUTCRY ON Singapore's anticipated hanging of an Australian of Vietnamese origin is expected. There was a similar outcry over Malaysia hanging two Australian Caucasians. There is no difference in the outcry. The Australians have found reasons for the media that the trials were unfair. But they make no such claim when Singaporeans, Malaysians, Thailand, Vietnamese citizens are hanged. Their attitude is they deserved it, and they were not 'our' citizens anyway. There is much wrong in the way death sentences are handed out in these two countries, and many have kept their date with the hangman innocent. So what is special about Western and Australian citizens hanged in Singapore and Malaysia? Nothing, only that these countries are the prostitutes of globalisation and should know their place. They should not upset on the West or Australia by hanging one of their citizens. Malaysia defied that, during Tun Mahathir's term as prime minister, by hanging two Australians and one Englishman. Singapore makes an issue once in a while, jailed an Englishman for breaking Singapore laws, sent an American home when he has sure of being convicted under drug laws and hung. The Australians are not interested if one of their citizens who is not Caucasian, and so he will be hung. As he should be. No country, not even a prostitute of globalisation, should be deterred against carrying out its laws. The death sentences for carrying minute amounts of drugs was put into the law books, in Singapore and Malaysia, at the West's insistence. It is now a problem in these countries, given their unfairness, that death sentences are carried out in secret, and the Malaysians know of it usually only after the fact. It a political issue here so it is kept hidden. In contrast, the Australian leaders are on the defensive that one of its citizens, a model, found with banner drugs in Indonesia, is in fact a Muslim.

The Malaysians were keen to buy an Indian company. The owner's jet was allowed into Malaysia but the owner was not. The immigration thought him an illegal Indian, although he had valid papers and had come to way one of his companies to a Malaysian firm. He and his jet went to Singapore instead, where the signing took place. The only reaction to this was that most Indian business went to Singapore. The Indians are still harassed, although an Indian got the Nobel Prize for Literature, for Physics in 1930, and for Economics in 2003. Malaysia hopes to gain a Nobel Prize in 2020. It has refused entry to Indians although they have the expensive re-entry, or once in, the police make their life difficult. It is true of the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian tourist. Most of them are law abiding, but a few do come in with what they think is a valid entry visit but they are being fleeced by the Malaysian and the agent in their country. It is not said too loudly that local political figures are allowed to bring in foreign workers for fee. But many Malaysians issue false entry certificates. Even the Chinese from China working here is caught in this racket. And this allows the policeman to take money from, and harass, these fellows. They are correct in assuming that most governments will not take any action. This includes China, which will not interfere if the Chinese come here without a legal entry pass but would if their citizens are harassed although their papers are in order.

IT IS FORTY YEARS SINCE Singapore was ejected from Malaysia, on 9 August 1965, less than two years after it was formed on 16 September 1963, though in Malaysia the date is August 31, and the publication two months ago of the late Patrick Keith's book, Ousted. We have different opinions on the affair. We are told, officially and in the history books, that it was a cordial affair. The Star repeats that canard. It was anything but cordial. The two prime ministers - Tunku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore - though were from Cambridge, did not get along. The Tunku, 62 at the time, believed in nature and Mr Lee, then 43, in nurture. Mr Lee upped the ante throughout, let people who were opposed to separation lead the negotiations, did not read the signals from Kuala Lumpur as he would now at 80. The talks were bound to fail. The Peoples' Action Party saw itself as replacing the Malaysian Chinese Association in the Alliance, as the National Front was known at that time. The main Singapore negotiators, which included the then culture minister and later deputy prime minister, Mr S. Rajaratnam, did not want to leave Malaysia. Neither did Mr Devan Nair, the PAP MP for Bangsar later President of Singapore and now living in exile in Canada. Whatever the history books might say, the fact is the Tunku took the decision in London while he was recuperating for shingles in the London clinic. It took Mr Lee and his cabinet by surprise when Tun Razak, then Malaysian deputy prime minister, informed Mr Lee about it. There were furious negotiations between Malaysia and Singapore in the run up to the negotiations. The then Singapore deputy prime minister, Dr Toh Chin Chye, wrote to the Tunku and saw him, but he was told Singapore could stay if Mr Lee was out of the picture. Dr Toh's decline in Singapore politics began then in independent Singapore.

Journalism depends today on reporting facts. But facts, as you can see, is flawed. What are facts today is given the reporter by an official who could not be telling the truth. As the Bush imbroglio makes clear. When does the journalist trust his judgment and say the facts fed him are wrong? He does not for fear of other journalists, and Administration officials, attack him for lack of sources. We know, in Malaysia, it allows officials to do what they like. Journalism is to report what the government of the day wants it to report, and find creative ways to support it. But that is what do journalism schools teach these days. I did not go to a journalism school, as many of my ilk did not, and I insisted that my son who is a journalist took other than journalism at university. But education these days is becoming fractured because employers, at least in Malaysia and Singapore, will not employ a graduate who had a degree in other than the work he is applying for. A religious graduate in journalism is, to put it mildly, a pig in a poke. And since newspapers, in Malaysia certainly, are adjuncts of individual parties in the National Front, the reader is given a false picture of what happens in his country. They look to alternate information, in the Internet for those who can afford it, is universal.

Money has taken the place of service as governments routinely hand over what has been in its preserve to friendly business men so they could take money. It has become a cropper in every instance. Former government assets are traded on the market by these business men, and the service usually has dropped. This idea that government services must be privatised because the government should not be involved in money making exercises took root around the world in the '80s and '90s. Privatising government assets means corruption. It is so in the United States. It is so in Singapore. It is so in Malaysia. Government assets are transferred in a hurry, often without enabling legislation. Today, news laws are planned so that the privatised entitly can make the people pay, as it was intended. There is nothing wrong with privatising government assets, but it must not be transferred. As it is in Malaysia, it is given often to a RM2 company of a billionaire tycoon, which makes money by transferring it to one of his companies or selling it to others interested, making his first killing. He makes his second, and often third, killing when it is listed on the stock market.

But tensions have risen since Malaysia declared itself a Muslim state and internationalised the problem in southern Thailand. It is not Thai Malays but Thai Muslims now. Malaysia has translated the constitutional definition of a Malay to a racial definition in a foreign country. But by this definition, Kuala Lumpur has lost control of southern Thailand. What makes it worse is that Malaysian agents are more interested in money than in getting the job done. Pak Lah is not interested, and vaccilates. Unlike Tun Mahathir, his predecessor who was decisive. "It was a joy to work with him," said one agent on another matter, "You briefed him, and he asked for options, and once the decision was made, you went and did it. He never forgot it either and asked you about it when he next saw you." In Pak Lah's regime, you did not know who was in charge, or if the officer who was designated to receive your report was on the take - by foreign countries mostly - that would put the agent at risk. Do we place agents in foreign countries? Of course we do. I have met these agents from countries as disparate as New Zealand and Burma. And so other countries, both over and under cover. The Thais have their agents here. So do the Singaporeans. and every nation which has in intrest in Malaysia. The British. The Americans. The Chinese. The Russians. The Singaporeans. The Indians. The Middle Eastern nations. The Indonesians. With the embassies, or with private concerns. The is the way that the nations find out what a particular nation is doing, recruiting local citizens, both civil servants and private individuals.

The Tengku made sure that Singapore was expelled from Malaysia, because the Tengku had moral scruples, personally and for his government, while Mr Lee, in his 40s then, did not understand the imperatives that drove the Tengku. And he lost out. People on his side wanted Singapore to be independent, and he, in his arrogance, did not know it, and sent them out to negotiate with Malaysia. Now the only war Singapore can be with Malaysia is as an appendange to Johore. What will bring Singapore down on its knees will be water. Singapore spins out to the world that it gives Johore treated water. But the water it treats is taken from Johore, and the state had asked that it should get a share of the water it sold to commercial enterprises. Singapore has refused. But the water agreement is due to be negotiated in 2061. In the meanwhile, Singapore had given publicity to seawater and sewage water made into potable drinking water to show its independence from Johore. Malaysia and Singapore today has lost its moral scruples, and the Tengku is now blamed by UMNO for not behaving them what they would approve of. In the short term, Singapore would win. Even the Malay in Singapore is now in praise of its government vis-a-vis Malaysia. They look upon Malaysia only as a place for retirement. But the youngman of today will be an old man in 2061. And he would feel more comfortable in Malaysia.

THE EMAILS AND TELEPHONE CALLS I received after I wrote the piece yesterday (3 October 2005) led me thinking about the Bali bombings three years ago. I did not have the guts to write about it then. It remains a theory, as what I wrote yesterday is, but they remain plausible theories. It will be years before they are proved right, by someone looking at the causes of the Bali bombings. Historians, and journalists, looking for what happened miss the causes, often lie. They look at the dominant event, and interview people of their recollection of it, and miss the larger story, which is why it took place. If you read Patrick Keith's book, Ousted, the story of an insider's account of why Singapore was ousted from Malaysia in 1965, you get the impression that it was wholly the Tengku's fault and Mr Lee Kuan Yew was blameless. Much like the Iraq war, where the Americans are blameless and insurgents are guilty of fighting their invader. But the two men represented two different points of view. Singapore would have remained in Malaysia had Mr Lee Kuan Yew behaved then as he behaves now. Patrick Keith, who left Malaysia for Australia forty ears ago, wrote the book, which is pubiished in Singapore and (not yet) released in Malaysia - the Special Branch has not cleared it for distribution) as a senior government official involved in the drama. But Singapore would have left Malaysia in 1965, because Mr Lee did not understand the Tengku, and it was the Tengku who held the cards. And he put in charge of the negotiations those who wanted Singapore to be out of Malaysia. All this remains a theory, although books are coming out by historians and journalists who suggest the Tengku's raison d'ete was correct and Mr Lee's wrong.

IN THE LATE 1930s, the then governor of Singapore, Sir Shenton Thomas, would drop in at the Raffles Hotel barber shop to have his hair trimmed by the popular Japanese owner, who was so discreet and obsequious that he was regarded a harmless fellow. Caution was thrown to the winds, and talk flowed freely when senior officials met there every month. Along Jalan Ibrahim, Johore Bahru, in the 1930s, the Five Cent Store occupied the spot where the K. Abdul Wahab news agent, stationers and general merchants now does. Every item in the store cost five cents and less. The amiable Japanese owner attracted much custom from the British civil servants and estate managers, Malay aristocracy, Chinese and Indian business men, and it became a frequent meeting place for all who mattered in pre-war Johore society. Even Sultan Ibrahim would on occasion drop in.

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