The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) withdraws its investment funds from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand for reasons as varied as poor human rights record and money. Malaysia decided it damns her, though she would not spell it out, for the travails of that unheard, unseen man forcibly whiling away his time in a lonely cell in Sungei Buloh Prison. Now, Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, the retired civil servant and corporate worthy, in a letter to the New Straits Times today (04 March 2002), insists US investors should not dabble in politics, and fears other countries could follow the US lead and skew the international financial structure. He does not say how, but says Calpers investment strategy would make nonsense of the long-term interests of the US and of "free and fair international trade and finance".

Malaysia's finances have been in a mess since one Tun Daim Zainuddin became finance minister when Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed became prime minister in 1981. He made it an adjunct to his corporate empire while impressing upon the country and, for a while, the prime minister himself, it could not be in better hands. Tun Daim made certain no one could disturb the cosy arrangements in place in the finance ministry and economic policy via the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's department -- he was also minister of economic policy -- and it enabled his cronies to get businesses and contracts without the world knowing anything about it. When the newly appointed deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, wanted the finance ministry and got it, that chain of events led him to his lonely cell in Sungei Buloh prison. He questioned, wanted answers, changed what he could. This made one short man frothing in the mouth.

Newspapers highlight Malaysian criticism of US wrongdoings in the Carribean Gulag points to a confidence crisis within. The newspapers, a mere government voice, leave clues all over its pages that my first information of political developments often is buried in a long story on, say, horticulture. Sometimes it is more direct. The high level talks between representatives of the two men who matter today in Malaysian politics, one in self-inflicted imprisonment in Putra Jaya and the other in court-ordered imprisonment in Sungei Buloh, is denied.

If anything unsettles the Malaysian government, it is the sudden death of its star prisoner, the former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, in intense pain and a wheelchair. So, the Sungei Buloh prison authorities understandably panicked when he refused food after the Federal Court postponed his appeal for the third time, and summoned his lawyer to persuade him to eat.

The government is put on notice because its cronies saw only the money they could make of this privatisation, not the service it was to provide. And that the houseowners are cannon fodder for their greed. But the worm turned. This highway robbery was seen for what it was, and political problems intruded into the Malaysian conscience after one man was forced to remove his residence from Damansara Heights to Sungei Buloh prison. The new consortium now wants a government guarantee that people would pay the rates. In other words, it wants a free ride. It would not individual contracts with its "customers" as it must, but it wants government guarantees they would pay as it demands. The government is caught in a cleft stick. Because it allowed the highway robbery, it is forced to come to terms with the resulting bad debts. The papers reported that its debts mount and insist its "customers" owe them hundreds of millions of ringgit. They do not explain why it did not collect the dues, and it now talks of legal action to recover it. In other words, nothing has changed, the losses would continue, and the government would have to bail it out again in this latest privatisation.

As it is, the Phileo Damansara complex is on the edge of a traffic nightmare. Its developers decided it need not have proper entrances and exists, and expected the Petaling Jaya municipal council to provide them. Since the Prime Minister's son was a significant shareholder in the developer, it worked. But by the time the road came to be built, so many political and business calculations had gone wrong, including the travails of the now invisible but not forgotten man in Sungei Buloh. The road was built not to make it easier to enter the complex but that one had to be built. The new toll plaza adjacent to it only made it worse. All who did not want to be ripped off at the toll booth took this road to Tun Ismail or Damansara Utama and beyond.

What we see is how important politicians are squeezed out of power and office once they fall from grace. This is not the first time a prime minister got rid of one who is now an embarrassment. Dr Mahathir has had much practice: he removed three deputy prime ministers The Malay rules of conduct requires silence and acquiescence when removed, and stomach the indignities heaped on him, and the pressures his aides, friends and business colleagues face. After Tun Daim departed, his business proteges -- Tan Sri Halim Saad, Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli, to name two; there are, of course, others -- found their empires scrutinised so thoroughly that there is now doubt if they could ever be let off without spending some time in the company of the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in His Majesty's rest house in Sungei Buloh.

It is therefore safe to extrapolate that the ADC report, given to Congressional aides visiting Malaysia, was (a) to demonise PAS; (b) to cuddle up to the right-wing, Islamic bashing American political spectrum; and (c) to establish credentials for the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed to show he is one with President George Bush in preventing Islamic fundamentalists from taking over anywhere. One should therefore assume that the Singapore senior minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, visited here also to steel Dr Mahathir with his paranoia of Islamic resurgence and pass on his own to Washington. In other words, has this Islamic fundamentalist paranoia to do with the short term gain to be invited for tea and cookies at the White House and photographs in the Rose Garden? This is unlikely for now. The powerful National Security Council, I am told, has vetoed it until there are changes that the Prime Minister cannot meet without damaging his own political credibility in Malaysia. Among the changes, for one, relates to the prisoner in Sungei Buloh and primary Malaysian non-person, one Dato' Anwar Ibrahim.

And it only compounds the problem. For what he says is the pro forma statement of intent while giving the green light to civil servants to continue to be corrupt. The law requires senior civil servants and politicians in the government to submit their list of assets to the Prime Minister. It is kept secret. Many on that list should be in Sungei Buloh not Putra Jaya. The government does not want to root it out. It encourages it. Indeed it uses it to retain their support. Recently, the SMIs were given a million ringgit in special loans, only a quarter need be returned. How do I know this? Dealers in specialist cars are crowded with people placing orders with cash for imported exotic motor cars. What better way to show that one has arrived than to be seen in a high end Mercedes Benz or BMW bought with money meant as working capital.

The foreign ministry often is clueless and rush to smoothen ruffled diplomatic feathers when the foreign minister commits it to a course it had not ever considered. It was shocked to learn, after a cabinet meeting, Malaysia had recognised Afghanistan and after it had counselled patience: a cabinet minister -- the self-same Anwar Ibrahim who later became deputy prime ministr and fell from grace to be ensconced in Sungei Buloh jail -- forced it.

The Malaysian government cannot get the jailed former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, out of its hair -- from how it sacked him from the party to how it convicted him for sodomy and corruption, the Malay ground angry at how how it did it. Every impediment he faces should have put him to political pasture. Instead, he returns, re-energised, to challenge his political tormentors. From his high security prison cell in Sungei Buloh, to which he is returned after six months in hospital, he turns every petty act against him into a black mark against his political nemesis, the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and his administration. In the three years since his dismissal and detention in September 1998, he took advantage of every government misstep to his advantage, and, amidst the controversy of where he would be operated upon for his back problem, internationalised it. This puts the government into a straitjacked both at home and abroad. Especially when it deals with it contentiously.

Not now. This diversity of races and religions is what makes Malaysia what it is. But Chinese and Indian leaders in the government have a special penchant to ignore the diversity and fall in line with the majority -- to ensure not their community's, but their own, development. So, Dato' Kayveas pitches in to earn brownie points because Tan Sri Lee is a crony of the Prime Minister. The Country Height's managing director is Dato' Seri Mahathir's brother-in-law. Is it not curious that neither UMNO nor MCA rose to support Tan Sri Lee against the MPSJ? Dato' Kayveas should not tread where other politicians fear to tread. He rises to defend the indefensible. If any one should be offended, it is the Prime Minister. And he has said nothing so far. He cannot. Not after that kerfuffle over an infirm prisoner in Sungei Buloh.

Not now. This diversity of races and religions is what makes Malaysia what it is. But Chinese and Indian leaders in the government have a special penchant to ignore the diversity and fall in line with the majority -- to ensure not their community's, but their own, development. So, Dato' Kayveas pitches in to earn brownie points because Tan Sri Lee is a crony of the Prime Minister. The Country Height's managing director is Dato' Seri Mahathir's brother-in-law. Is it not curious that neither UMNO nor MCA rose to support Tan Sri Lee against the MPSJ? Dato' Kayveas should not tread where other politicians fear to tread. He rises to defend the indefensible. If any one should be offended, it is the Prime Minister. And he has said nothing so far. He cannot. Not after that kerfuffle over an infirm prisoner in Sungei Buloh.

When the government firmly decides on a course of action, it is not an act of finality as one would expect, but to find ways to vary it. It does not matter if it has to do the third brake-light on motor vehicles or the return of the jailed former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, from his "luxurious" ward at the General Hospital to spartan quarters at Sungei Buloh prison. After he was brusquely told he would if he did not agree to a surgical option he rejects, the health minister, Dato' Chua Jui Meng, dilly dallies when asked when. "A detailed briefing has been given to diplomats, the Parliament and the media. The records are clear," he said airily and offhandedly. What, pray, has this to do with the ultimatum on his surgery Dato' Seri Anwar was given?

For the Anwar problem is what destabilises the government. UMNO leaders, especially in government, must talk about it, as if to convince themselves that they have done the right thing. But they paint themselves into a corner. It takes decisions that can redound on them. Dato' Seri Anwar's medical condition is serious. He now wears a neck brace to ease the pain which has gone to his neck. He moves about in a wheelchair. Now, the government wants to send him back to Sungei Buloh prison, and would if he does not agree to an operation with a greater chance of being paralysed. And it he does not, he takes full responsibility for what happens thereafter.

But it skirts the issue. Why is the finance minister, at such difficult economic times as we now face, allowed to go on leave, and for two months!, when he should be here setting the economy right? If he is on leave, what is he doing in office looking at papers? If he looks at papers, then he should cancel his leave and spare us the "wayang kulit". There is no rift, of course, between Dato' Seri Mahathir and Tun Daim, as there was no rift between Dato' Seri Mahathir and one Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim six days before the latter was unceremoniously booted out of cabinet and into Sungei Buloh prison.

Instead, he ducked, and left it to his deputy minister to tell the world he knew about it. That gave the game away. Few I asked in the last two days believe the government's version. Most saw it as yet another move to destroy the growing influence of the Keadilan eminence grise, now ensconced in Sungei Buloh prison, in UMNO.

> The UMNO Kelantan division chief, Dato' Fauzi Abdul Rahman, > nettles UMNO leaders so badly that the ACA visits a > cooperative he chairs, and takes away documents relating to > its latest annual reports. No hint of wrongdoing is hurled > at him, but it is to unnerve him. The documents taken away, > in any ACA visit, is returned rarely or not at all, and > throws any organisation into confusion. This is to divert > attention from the main problem: his allegation that the > UMNO secretary-general, information minister and former > mentri besar of Pahang, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, had misused > the state's wealth. It threw UMNO leaders into a tailspin > and the matter is not discussed in public any more. An > internal investigation is ordered, the police and the ACA > react with total unconcern. >
> This one has come to expect. Look at the tens of > police reports filed against the cabinet by the jailed > former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and > his supporters. Not one is seriously looked into. It is > not, in the government's considered view, the cabinet > ministers who ought to be destroyed but Dato' Seri Anwar. > But the inaction is more from fear of political > consequences. Those in the cabinet privately agree that if > investigations are allowed to proceed to its logical > conclusion, there would be a queue outside Sungei Buloh > prison to rub shoulders for a few years with the VIP > prisoner there. The police reports of ministerial and > official corruption helps keep Dato' Seri Anwar on the high > moral ground culturally; and Dato' Fauzi's report questions > UMNO moral standing. That Dato' Fauzi is still close to > Dato' Seri Anwar makes it even more so. >
> The Prime Minister clearly was caught offside when the > crisis blew into his face. Tan Sri Khalil and Dato' Fauzi > married step-sisters. They were close. One supported the > other. Both mounted a solid front to maintain their hold on > Kelantan UMNO. But the Anwar affair unscrambled it. Dato' > Fauzi did not hide his ties with Dato' Seri Anwar, was one > of the first at the house in Bukit Damansara after the > latter was sacked from UMNO and the government in September > 1998. But, in the view of UMNO leaders', pro-Anwar backers > in the party, especially in government, must be > systematically rooted out. This is one such. It has blown > into their collective faces. It does not matter here what > happens to Dato' Fauzi, as it does not matter, in the larger > political and cultural context, what happens to his jailed > friend.
>
> UMNO tells the world it follows rules no one else does. > The law is not to investigate their misdoings, but its > leaders' enemies. The home mininster, Dato' Seri Abdullah > Ahmad Badawi, should have asked the police, not the UMNO > disciplinary committee, to investigate Dato' Fauzi's > charges. For what is at stake is UMNO's, and the > government's, credibility. It is taken in panic, in the > belief that if the mainstream media does not report what > happens, it is all right. But UMNO's right to lead the > Malays is challenged politically and culturally. Every > action its leaders take enhances this Malay belief that > UMNO's time is past. It has descended from the national > movement it once was to another political party. The > political mistakes of its leaders in the past come to haunt > it.
>
> Indeed, the greater threat to UMNO now is what happens > when the next prime minister, whoever he is, takes office. > Yes, in the UMNO musical chairs heirarchial chart, it should > be Dato' Seri Abdullah. But he cannot, in the current > political climate, repair the Malay ground view against > UMNO. He has become, as deputy prime minister, too > confrontational to unite the disparate groups. The > infighting amongst the UMNO leaders comes out into the open. > The relationship between the Prime Minister and his finance > minister is so bad that one should expect a public explosion > soon. What made it worse is the EPF and KWAP bailout of > TimeDotCom share fiasco and the the government purchase of > MAS shares to bailout Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli. >
> I am told of one top secret meeting, in the presence of > others, at which Dr Mahathir questioned Tun Daim about both, > and wanted to know EPF exposure in "this private company" -- > TimeDotCom. Tun Daim did not have the figures, one of those > irrelevant figures that slipped off his mind, and Dr > Mahathir wanted the answers within a week. That deadline is > past, and the figures remain unknown. This could well be > how the two men discuss matters of state, and there is > nothing unusual about it. But then I hear of Tun Daim > telling his acolytes: that whereas once he saw his boss six > or seven times a day, it is now once in six or seven days. > The Prime Minister has come to his senses, realises a lot > done in his name now sinks him. He had had his waking hours > spent on how to destroy his nemesis, when others on his side > spent time and effort on how to destroy him. That is Dr > Mahathir Mohamed's Malay Dilemma. >
> M.G.G. Pillai
> pillai@mgg.pc.my
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