But this is the tip of the iceberg. A federal deputy minister is married to an underaged girl -- she was 15 at their marriage, have a child of that union, remains a teenage -- while a cabinet minister is reputed to have more than a handful of children out of wedlock. One born recently causes no end of trouble because the lady, suitably bought off with blandishments others took quietly, insisted on putting his name as father. Like the Profuma scandal that felled the Conservative MacMillian administration in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, the Mahathir administration seem consigned that way. He cannot act, for that would alienate much needed support; nor can he ignore it, without timebombs from his opponents, especially the Gentleman from Sungei Buloh. The Prime Minister does not know where his next crisis comes from. But if he does not look into this more closely, he would be in more trouble than he bargained for. Dr Mohamed Khir is selected not because he is competent, or unusually bright, or has sure political instincts. He is selected because they could not find any blemishes into his character. Surely, that is not why he should be appointed mentri besar. But he is. And that raises more questions about the Prime Minister than Mr Lee Kuan Yew spoke of last week.

Be that as it may, the Prime Minister's further devaluation of the chief ministers and mentris besar have wider ramifications. It comes as the states are more assertive. The total rout in Trengganu that brought the PAS to power in the state on a policy of more Islamisation and a fairer shake for its inhabitants had a greater appeal to voters there than promises of skyscrapers and projects that provide a superficial semblance of modernity without improving living standards. The difficulty several mentris besar and chief ministers have in getting their state executive councils sworn in indicate the growing local problems that can subsume federal intentions. So it is not just Kelantan and Trengganu Kuala Lumpur must pay heed to; its backyards are also at risk. Penang and Negri Sembilan have yet to swear in their executive councils; Negri Sembilan and Johore were the only states which returned only National Front state assemblymen. Chief Ministers and mentris besars, knowing they could expect no more than a parliamentary secretary as a matter of right from now on could (would) decided to build their own base. One fellow in the centre who did that in the centre threatened the Prime Minister so much that he moved from his deputy prime ministerial residence to a specially-built cell in Sungei Buloh prison. He continues to perch on the Prime Minister's shoulders to give strength to those in the states who would want to chart their own course. Tan Sri Ramli and Dato' Seri Abu Zahar just made that inevitable.

Beneath the surface calmness of Malaysian politics rages an unacknowledged but uncontrollable fire: a vendetta that ensures Malaysian politics would never be the same again. The protagonists were once as close as father and son, but today one would love the other to be damned to perdition. The casual visitor and even the long-time resident can only guess, if at all, that much is amiss. The newspapers are of no help. Sycophancy ensures its irrelevance. The best information these days come from the alternate papers, in which Harakah, the PAS organ, is the best read and the most reliable. Amidst this is the David-and-Goliath struggle for the heart of Malaysia led by He Who Thinks He Is Lord Of All He Surveys and He Who Must Be Destroyed At All Cost. Both are invisible these days: one hidden behind a phalanx of security detail and tighter police protection and living in grandeur in a palace that threatens to fall over his head; the other in a cold cell in the hitech Sungei Buloh prison plotting to break out of it; both appear in public when they are required to, one to address foreigners who could help him out of his predicament, the other in court in hope justice could spring him out of his. It is difficult, at this stage, to say who is prisoner and who the free man. But their futures are inexplicably bonded to each other in a struggle in which there can be only one winner.

However much the Prime Minister denies it, this year's UMNO General Assembly is on the defensive, Dr Mahathir's presidential speech underlining it starkly against continued worry about the "Anwar factor". He devoted an inordinately long part of his speech to it, and attacking PAS, to suggest that both have eaten into its traditional Malay heartland. He cleverly diverted the import of his remarks to an alleged "surprise" announcement, which he later modified to suggest that the surprise announcement is that there is no surprice. But the theme of the Assembly is to spout hellfire and brimstone at foreigners who back the former UMNO deputy president, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now serving a six-year jail sentence in Sungei Buloh prison. His speech, as UMNO presidential speeches go, was ho-hum. Nothing new, nothing shocking, nothing brilliant, a restatement of his previous speeches, with special emphasis on what his protege did and does to destroy the nation. That this UMNO general assembly harps on this underlies its insecurity, even if no one believes UMNO and the National Front is about to learn how to behave as opposition members in the next Dewan Rakyat. It could even get its two-thirds majority, but the Malay cultural ground certainly does look for an alternative to represent its interests. In the absence of one, UMNO would remain. The Malay cultural heartland is conservative, and while the Anwar factor has damaged that linkage, it would remain for the moment.

One senior UMNO source insisted the information minister, Dato' Mohamed Rahmat, and the culture, arts and tourism minister, Dato' Seri Sabbaruddin Chik, were dismissed for their gross incompetence in containing the seamless public relations campaign that He Who Must Be Destryed At All Cost waged against an UMNO and government that rushed helter skelter in a campaign that did not make sense. So much so the Anwarians had the tactical and, I dare say, strategic and moral high ground. They had to go. They went. Ministers and senior officials whose careers have been shortcircuited by the jailed man, so far, include the Prime Minister, who had to give up home affairs; the Inspector-General of Police, who was sacked for beating him up, and due to be charged shortly; and these two men. Besides, UMNO and the government establishment are in convulsions to root out the Anwarians amongst their midst, unsure of how many they could have missed. And every move a second guessing of how the man in Sungei Buloh would react. An officer's competence is still irrelevant if he was seen close to him only nine months ago.

So, how is it that a consortium of a company named Ibsul and the Teacher's Co-operative, linked to the high profile resident of Sungei Buloh jail, is given the contract to build the Cameron Highlands hospital? The Penghulu has given Ibsul "Beribawa" status and a Class A construction licence. Why? How? Both Ibsul and the teachers' cooperative are irrevocably pro-Anwar; the Ibsul chairman, in the wake of the reformasi affair, went underground; the Teacher's Co-operative has as its leading light a still-active organiser of pro-Anwar support groups. This consortium has no experience in hospital construction nor has it any experience in building on hilly terrain. So, why is the Penghulu, as finance minister, awarding the contract to a company openly linked to the Prime Minister's nemesis? Is he perchance hedging his bets so that he is free, even if his Prime Minister is not, should the situation turn, as it did to President Suharto, against the Old Man? Or is he already the proverbial drowning man clutching at straws?

When the acting UMNO Youth leader, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, met the press recently, sitting next to him, unusually since he was not a principal figure in the UMNO Youth executive, was a man who could well be the next UMNO Youth leader. This young man, in his 30s, has excellent connexions, runs an empire he built from scratch with debt, believes he is Bolehland's greatest gift to UMNO Youth. The man UMNO Youth elected, Dato' Zahid Hamidi, could not continue on account of the man who changed his residence from Bukit Damansara to Sungei Buloh; his deputy, the wimpish Dato' Hishamuddin, trying to run the gauntlet of enemies and friends, continues to drop clanger after clanger that he would not test the political waters to be UMNO leader in his own right. In any case, with the new leader already decided upon, like Dato' Zahid, he does not either.

But Tan Sri Halim Saad fell into the trap every Bolehland business man fell into while laughing all the way to the bank overseas. Individuals running the company did not lose any money; only the shareholders did. The whole privatisation exercise went wrong when each was given to a RM2 paid-up capital company owned by a crony or sibling, who made hundreds of millions of out it by injecting it, usually in a series of transfers, and then injected into a public company which on listing on the stock exchange sells a portion of it to the public at inflated prices. The public clamour for the shares results in other major shareholders taking their profits out by selling their allocation, buying it back, if at all, after the shares have come crashing down. All work is done inhouse for further enrichment. This is one reason why Dato' Seri Anwar exchanged his residence from 47 Jalan Damansara to Sungei Buloh prison: he wanted an accounting of all this.

So much so, open houses these days gather crowds because of the free meals available. Gluttony has become a national pastime. Those who went to Seri Perdana, PWTC, Damansara went there as much for the food as to shake hands with the host; in Damansara, this was countered by a focussed crowd of thousands who had come sole to lend their support to the man spending his Hari Raya holidays at Sungei Buloh. That focussed attention was not evident either at Seri Perdana or PWTC. The prime ministers's assertions of popular support, because tens of thousands who thronged his residence, missed the point: they came for the satay and ketupat. How does that translate into votes?

Dato' Seri Anwar, from his cell in Sungei Buloh prison, continues to call the shots in UMNO. He has deftly botched every attempt by UMNO leaders to break out from their mishandling of the affair, with the longer the trial the more dominant his role in UMNO affairs. The Sabah elections has already been postponed because of local uncertainties caused by this overdominance. The newspapers continue to full of the court's daily report; and UMNO politicians unable to get any publicity as a result. Not only that, they are forced to explain why that trial goes on. Dr Mahathir did not want a deputy at least until the UMNO party elections in June. But the High Court trial continued to link to a conspiracy involving the prime minister himself, damaging the "carefully crafted" defence -- it looks on reflexion, not carefully thought out, though -- he used to boot Dato' Seri Anwar out of government and UMNO.

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)