FEW HAD HEARD OF DATO' MEGAT ABDUL WAHAB bin Megat Abu Bakar. The New Straits Times today recounts in loving detail how this near bankrupt former teacher who drew currency notes as a hobby in his youth now owns the Royal Mint. It tells how he conquered the odds, and boldly asked the Malaysian central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, to privatise the Royal Mint to him. And it did. Without hesitation. From then on, it has been a bed of roses. He does so well that he plans to make it the supplier of currency blanks to the region. Who is he? How did he get the privatisation of the Mint? I dare say it had nothing to do with him. The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, or the finance minister of the time, Tun Daim Zainuddin, would have instructed the Governor of BNM to give it to him. All he then had to do is to ask for it. BNM then gravely informs him it is his. That is how these things are done in Malaysia. He is the crony extraordinaire. Royal Mints cannot be run as businesses are in Malaysia. But Dato' Megat Abu Bakar tells us it can.

Washing dirty linen in public is how political vendettas are resolved. It happens in every political party, but especially in the BN parties. Party members cannot express their views. All those brilliantly crafted humourous and serious speeches that one hears at party annual general meetings, especially in UMNO, are made by chosen delegates who will not criticise the leaders, nor upset the decorum of the proceedings. The last time an UMNO leader tried to go against that now sits in his lonely cell in Sungei Buloh. So, whenever a crisis hits a political party, it is debated in excruciating and often embarrasing detail in public. That the Ling-Ong spat has made it to the front pages of the New Straits Times two days running is proof yet of more damaging revelations in the coming days. Does this mean Dr Ong libelled the MCA leaders? No. Only that proof that can stand in a court of law is lacking. Like corruption.

The New Straits Times editor-in-chief, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, ignored it when he waxed eloquent about the 27th anniversary of Tun Abdul Razak's death, and mentioned it briefly only after Mr Lim's comment. The Tengku was born on this day in 1903, the sixth son of then Sultan of Kedah and his Thai wife. His was a typical wasteful life of a playboy younger son of a ruler followed, until in mid-life, he burst into the Malayan firmament -- by accident, he would tell all those who would care to listen -- and into history.

The National Front (BN) is, as my friend Shamsul Akmar of the New Straits Times writes today (14 December 2002), greater than the sum of its parts. It was once. Not now. If it is, the crisis of the past fortnight would not be. UMNO holds BN in his iron grip, and not let law and procedure stand in its way. If it decides on a course of action, it would not relent until it gets it. One man in Sungei Buloh prison can attest to that. So, when two MCA state assemblymen abstained on an opposition-initiated motion in the Penang state assembly, UMNO decided to make an example of them in high dudgeon and by ignoring constitutional niceties. What UMNO wants, UMNO gets. The UMNO supreme council wants the duo expelled. Nothing less would do. UMNO also wants the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik's head, for setting the two state assemblymen up to abstain in an elaborate but sure-to-fail plan so it would provide the next chief minister of Penang. UMNO, MCA, Gerakan all lost their cool. The two state assemblymen must be sacked. It does not matter if everyone in this sorry episode failed to do their bit. And nine state assemblymen were not even present, as they should have been if the issue was as important as is now made out.

It reflects a larger political malaise: both UMNO and MCA and, by extension, BN know not if they come or go. The leaders of both, and BN, flounder amidst a brave front that they are in control. Every minor problem is blown out of proportion for no rhyme or reason, and egg on the faces is now standard. It does not matter if the issue is relations with Australia or if two MCA state assemblymen should be expelled or if science and mathematics be taught in English. When it has the upper hand, it would, by hook or by crook, take a step to lose it. Dato' Seri Lim says he, as deputy president, was kept in the dark about the MCA's position on its state assemblymen. He told the New Straits Times (05 December 2002, p4) he was kept out of party discussions over it.

When Washington decides what Islam is and plans its policies from that, it creates enemies. A Muslim who prays five times a day is a fundamentalist. So says the United States government. Hundreds of Muslims do without considering themselves fundamentalist. As if to show what good Muslims are, the United States runs full page advertisements in colour to show what a good Muslim is like, and he lives in the United States. This advertisement is carried in the New Straits Times, and many I have asked about it, all US-educated, are so angry at it that it can in the end only be counterproductive.

When the cabinet brings bills to Parliament, as the constitution requires, it is rushed through, on certificates or urgency, in a day or two, with the bills given to MPs a few hours before the debate. And when MPs decide that being in Parliment is a waste of time, the Prime Minister, no less, is quick to berate them for their dereliction of duty. The New Straits Times would not report Parliament debates as it should, but it has a box in its parliamentary coverage which shows the presence of MPs at different times of the session, and occasionally have editorials criticising MPs for their dereliction. The executive have taken full control, insist upon no oversight, and the resulting arrogance is what causes Datin Rafidah Aziz to behave as he did in Australia. And given the proconsular role of cabinet ministers in Malaysia, the Sydney affair is not considered important to make it into the country's mainstream media, all of which incidentally is owned by one or the other of the parties in Dr Mahathir's governing National Front coalition.

The Malaysian Airport Holdings Berhad chairman, Tan Sri Basir Ismail, 'surprised' the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, with a memento from the past: a 1959 Pontiac Catalina, the car he owned when in Kedah four decades ago -- and with the same number plate, K7600. The Prime Minister is pleased; he often is when he is fawned upon by cronies and acolytes and presented by them with baubles he likes. He is pleased as pink with the gift. He took his wife out for a spin, like in old times, and pronounced himself pleased. "I am happy, for sentimental reasons," he said. But nothing in Malaysia is as straightforward as it appears. A 6.3 litre, left hand drive 1959 Pontiac Catalina might cost $12,000 (not RM12,000 as the New Straits Times says - there was no ringgit then), but to buy it in 2002 from a specialist antique shop in the United States, and have it brought here by air, must cost at least 40 times that.

The UMNO president claims he has proof of such electoral skullduggery in Penang and Anak Bukit. "We have proof," he thunders (New Straits Times, 31 August 2002) as muddledly as unfortunately too often these days, "to show that those people who are not born there, not working there, not resident and do not even own a house in the constitutencies ... ang registered in Anak Bukit and Pendang constituencies without a proper address ... just by the name of the kampung, these are the actual phantom voters and they are all PAS people." Besides, 1,359 UMNO supporters could not vote in both constituencies as their names were removed from the "voting list". In other words, the EC conspired with parties unknown to ensure UMNO lost.

Mishaps notwithstanding, the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, would succeed Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed. He needs to clothe himself in heroic grandeur to lift him out of the ordinary to be demigod successor of Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed. So, in an interview with Bernama, he makes the astounding revelation that his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah Fahim, chose the exact time and date, midnight on 31 August 1957, through Islamic astrology, Malaysia would get its independence from Britain. The link is tenuous. He is unsure. As the Bername report says (The New Straits Times, p5), "Abdullah thinks that after hearing about the talks which would be held in London, they may have asked about a possible date for independent. 'What I know for sure,' he said, 'is that when they wanted to set the date, my grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah Fahim's suggestion was accepted as the most suitable date for the independence of our country.'" This could well be true but I am astounded that an important nugget as this is kept hidden during the 28 years Dato' Seri Abdullah has been in government.

Malaysia is, always has been, a good neighbour. She does not interfere in our neighbour's affairs, nor does our mature leaders comment negatively on another's internal affairs. She helps her neighbours by offering tens of thousands of Indonesians over the years. Her leaders would not make scathing comments of a neighbour as the speaker of the Indonesian National Assembly, Mr Amien Rais, did. The Indonesians are terrible people, we give them jobs and they burn our flag. They should be grateful for the honour, as Malaysians must to the National Front (BN) for what it wrought to Malaysia, and any who questions, be it a Malaysian, an Indonesia, a Thai, a Filipino, must be severely dealt with. Mark you, no one should question Malaysia's right to pass any law it deems fit. Foreigners should stay out. This is the gist of a comment in the New Straits Times today (29 August 2002, p12) on the burning of the Malaysian flag in Jakarta. But how should the United States view Malaysia when UMNO Youth, an adjunct of the main party in the governing BN coalition, burns the US flag in front of its embassy in Kuala Lumpur for an act that has nothing to do with bilateral ties -- Israel's treatment of the Palestinians?

Malaysians newspapers and radio ignored the growing scandal which was widely reported in British newspapers and the Washington Post. In Malayais, it was hidden in the inside pages, in the belief that they have not deliberately misled the public by not reporting it. Then on Friday, 23 August 2002, the New Straits Times headlined on its front page YTL Power International Bhd's statement to the KLSE denying it paid a bribe to acquire Wessex Water. "YTL Power has no knowledge of any illegal payment and has offered the (London) police co-operation in relation to the investigation." This was an excellent opportunity to come clean with the consultancy agreement. It did not. It would not.

Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, the editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times, in his alter-ego's NST diary (New Sunday Times, 11 August 2002, p8), draws a tenuous link between shingles (which Malaysia's first prime minister Tengku Abdul Rahman in 1965 suffered as Tan Sri Abdullah now) and major decisions of state. He makes an unfair hint that the Tengku, in pain, ordered the deputy prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak, to prepare to amputate Singapore from the Malaysian federation. Even more preposterous is his claim that Tun Razak, whose political secretary he then was, read parts of the Tengku's letter to him, and how he pleaded with the Tun to persuade Tengku to reconsider. If the Tengku had written that letter, it must have been later for the Tun received his instructions in person from the Tengku then recuperating at the London Clinic in London.

When all hell broke loose, as on Saturday (22 June 2002), amidst the breast-beating and the recriminations of a crying prime minister threatening to resign, one four-year-old saw the crisis in clear terms: he should not resign. His business man father, Dato' Robert Phang, is so touched he took a full page advertisement in the New Straits Times for RM25,000 to add to the sycophantic voices urging the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, to stay on. To Dato' Phang, it is business as usual. The opportunities in crisis must be seized. He wants to be a new crony, so what is a little soap and treacle to make that dream come true?

It is the art of the dictator or a feudal lord in a tightly-controlled society to keep his flock in line. The tedious, hours-long speeches of a Sukarno or an Adolf Hitler at least had the singular advantage of the people incensed to do what the leader wants, whether it is to "Crush Malaysia" or march into Poland. There was a clear purpose behind the bombast. Not at the UMNO General Assembly though. That was once encouraged but not now when enough of the people have a worldview that challenges the Establishment. Every editor of the New Straits Times in the last 25 years lost their jobs because the Great Leader thought they were not loyal: one who protested he was was bluntly told that 100 per cent loyalty was not enough; nothing less than 200 per cent was required of him. So every reporter covering the proceedings at the PWTC knows where he stands. Occasionaly an example brings him back to the straight and narrow. On the first day of the UMNO General Assembly, reporters of a Malay magazine was arrested and harrassed by the police for asking questions they should not have at a self-important UMNO delegate.

Whatever the Prime Minister might say, it was he who wanted the MCA to buy the Nanyang Press stake from a former Anwar Ibrahim business crony, Dato' Quek Leng Chang. Dr Ling did not think twice about it, and when his own central committee rebelled and forced an emergency general meeting to discuss it, he got the approval for it by a narrow margin, his future was in grave doubt. The Star newspaper is flush with cash, is well run, and has overtaken all the UMNO-controlled mainstream newspapers. It is the newspaper of choice, not the New Straits Times, amongst Malaysians. As one respected Chinese community leader told me, the Nanyang Press group would be delisted if the MCA cannot divest two thirds of its shares; the Star could well struggle to repay the loans it took to buy it; with it the frightening possibility that unfriendly sources could well take over the shares if the loans are not serviced. As what happened to Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli's empire. But the Star did not represent the voice of the Chinese community, only of the MCA president. Which is another reason the Chinese community would not rise to save it with the alacrity it would have if it was not.

The MCA crisis descends from tragedy to farce. Its president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, tries to get the country focussed on him as the principled leader of the Chinese community, and a fugitive from justice, hear to face the music, keeps lobbing poisoned darts to unnerve him. Dr Ling says he had had no business dealings with Dato' Soh Chee Wen. "Utter nonsense and total rubbish," counters Dato' Soh. The New Straits Times describes him as a "former rising star who had a fallout with the party president". Dr Ling, he contends, is economical with the truth but is no liar. The MCA president desperately seeks to distance himself from this fugitive business man; indeed insisted on Wednesday (15 May 2002) Dato' Soh's return would not impinge on the party's leadership "as he had nothing to do with Soh and his financial dealings". He must wish if it were only true.

But he sees his political career disappearing before his very eyes. So, like Dato' Seri Rais Yatim, he has decided to be high profile, never mind if to achieve that he should often behave as a fool. So, at this Colloquim on Dr Mahathir Thought (along the shades of Chairman Mao Zedong Thought), he justifies the unjustifiable. Curiously, this colloquim was in Malacca, the press did not report it, the Great Man himself could not attend since he was unavoidably detained in Morocco, Libya and Bahrain. But would he have attended if he was in Malaysia, in between trips to foreign lands? Mercifully, it was not reported. Not even the New Straits Times thought it worth reporting. So, it must have been one to show the Great Man that they back him. Those who praised him once would have had fullpage advertisements in the newspapers to show their fealty to him. Now they must speak unsung and unreported in Malacca.

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