> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

When the Pahang state assemblyman, Dato' Fauzi Abdul Rahman, alleged, in a police report, the UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, is corrupt, he made UMNO run around in circles. Its president, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, is shell-shocked, cannot understand it. He calls for an internal investigation, instructs the Displinary Commission under the former foreign minister, Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen, to do it. Instead of letting it do its job, the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who after saying the committee had been appointed, now says it would have three or four members. This raises two interesting questions: Is the disciplinary commission allowed to do its work if it is second-guessed, as now? What is the disciplinary commission to do? I spoke to a few members, who tell me UMNO has given it no guidelines on what money politics is. Without it, how could it do its work?

What felled him, Dato' Fauzi says, is a plot to unseat him, who would not distance himself from Dato' Seri Anwar when others deserted him in droves, and accuses the former state mentri besar and now federal information minister and UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, of abuse and power. He also resigns as state assembly man to force a byelection when the government is in mortal fear of one. The Prime Minister orders an inquiry, as he had to, but it afflicts him even more. The Anwaristas dealt a mortal blow. An UMNO apparatchik told me yesterday to expect more such surprises when divisional elections are completed by the end of April.

The Prime Minister even suggests the fellows were opposition supporters. They were not. Ask Mr Mohamed Umar Peer Mohamed. Why did the UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, rush to the station to sort out the mess? The MIC president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is angry with the police. So was everyone in the National Front camp. They were letting out their frustrations at having lost. They could not openly attack the deputy prime minister, so they attacked the police, and by extension its minister, who is one Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The reality sunk in a few days later, and now Tan Sri Khalil believes the polie did a smashing job. His explanation for the turnaround does not convince. The police did a good job, he says, because the crowd was menacing. Was it the hungry 400 or the crowd that was menacing, Tan Sri? So, they escorted the buses out of Lunas. It is more than that. Many who oppose UMNO now were once in its fold. They know how the National Front react in elections, and took steps to stop the phantom voters. Tan Sri Khalil realises that to prolong the discussion is to raise more questions of ill-intent. Meanwhile, if the National Front does not want its electoral practices the subject of a court action, it should tell the holidaymakers to shut up and lick their wounds. Mr Mohamed Umar has lodged police reporters in Lunas and Petaling Jaya. He obviously believes the police would act quicker if more than one report is filed. If it comes to court, he would no doubt be asked to justify his statement that he and his 399 compatriots came there to campaign when they cannot.

Come tha next general election, if they remain in office with no support in the state, they would have to become accustomed to sit on the opposition benches. The Pahang mentri besar, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakob understands this equation better than most: he strengthens his hold by moving away from Kuala Lumpur as quickly as he can. The Selangor mentri besar and the Malacca chief minister are there only for their loyalty to the Prime Minister. The mentri besar of Negri Sembilan has outlived his political influence in the state. As the Gerakan chief minister in Penang and the UMNO mentri besar in Perlis. With the opposition, especially PAS, hard on its heels, the mentris besar must have local National Front support to keep his control. If that could only by moving away from Kuala Lumpur and the Prime Minister, they would.

No doubts existed when Dato' Hishamuddin agreed. The information minister, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, would not allow the debate televised. Why should he, he reasoned, since it is a minor political debate involving two political parties, of parochial interest and of consequence. The mainstream newspapers, controlled by National Front political parties, had no such inhibitions: it reports the UMNO version of the debate in detail, and now leads to suggest its impropriety in the larger Malay communal interest. The Prime Minister says if UMNO refused the debate, PAS would make political capital. Indeed, it would, as UMNO if the tables were turned. Knowing this, why did UMNO agree to it? UMNO, unused to the cut-and-thrust of political debate, cannot meet PAS and other opposition leaders head-on in any debate of consequence. It would shoot itself in the foot first. As it has.

The mentri besar of Pahang, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakob, often has choice epithets, backed with physical signs, for his political opponents, especially in PAS. He is abrasive, brash, foul-mouthed as occasion demands, and, in UMNO's view, a good man to have on its side, when such occasions can grab headlines. But a boor apart, he is also a shrewd politician. Few thought he could carve a political constituency of his own, succeeding a man who in eleven years personified the state and UMNO in it. But he has. He distances himself from the man he succeeded, Tan Sri Khalil Yaacob, now the UMNO secretary-general and information minister. First, he demanded that he be made the state UMNO liaison chief, a post traditionally held by the mentri besar. When UMNO dragged his feet, he threatened to resign and force a by-election. Tan Sri Khalid resigned, he took over. He now blames Tan Sri Khalid for the state's indebtedness, and says, in public, that that means development in the state must take a backseat.

The PAS leaders remain skeptical of this debate. So, it appears, UMNO. The UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, who is also information minister, says the debate would not be broadcast live. It involves only two political parties, and should be confined only to them. His sudden interest in the appropriateness of political bradcoasting is commendable indeed. But for the fact that any UMNO parish pump meeting to which its president or senior leaders appear is, for the purposes of radio and television coverage, not a political meeting but an extension of an important government policy caucus. (PAS is not the opposition in Trengganu and Kelantan; the National Front and UMNO are.) It underlines UMNO's nervousness at the tables being turned. But in not televising the debate, UMNO can lose further ground. PAS would ensure the debate is pressed on video tapes and CDs before the week if out, and distributed through its extensive network within days.

ENGLISH DISAPPEARED from the Malaysian curriculum in nationalistic vengeance. The then education minister and later chief minister and Yang diPertua Negeri of Sarawak, Dato' (now Tun) Abdul Rahman Yaakob, did not consult the cabinet when he ordered it replaced by Malay in schools. The prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak, could not, for fear of a Malay chauvinist reaction, but go along. So, the child who went to school for the first time in 1971 had all his education in Malay, with English only in urban schools and the aided schools. The 13 May 1969 riots ensured not only the primacy of a Malay-dominated government but of Malay nationalist pressures. So, by playing to the gallery, as Tun Rahman did, English disappeared from the curriculum so swiftly that children a decade later would not distinguish the Malay "cat" from the English "cat" -- one is paint (and pronounced "chart". the other the feline animal. English was haphazardly taught, often by those who did not understand it. Those who study overseas now have to prove their familiarity with English. English became a language your children learnt if you were in the upper and privileged class. Everyone else studied it because they were told to. Among the crazy ideas implemented to improve the standard of English, when its disapperance became a national scandal, was to import English school teachers from the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries. It cost too much and made not even a dent. The only ones who was competent to teach English were the Third Formers who went on to become teachers of English in vernacular schools and others near retiring age who were taught in English in school. The Education ministry would not pursue this often because the minister had his own pet profects he deemed more important.

His steadfast refusal to buckle to pressure, especially in retirement when he was critical of the events that dismissed Tun Saleh Abas, now a Trengganu state executive councillor, and the politically motivated events that reduced the judiciary's central role in the administration of justice. He and his late wife were inveterate party goers, present at most diplomatic and other functions, after his retirement. I saw him last about ten months ago, when he came in with friends for lunch at a restaurant where I also war. I join him for a cup of coffee after. His memory and views were still sharp, but he deterioration in his health was clear. He memory was inclemental, often pausing to stare at you as if to recollect who you are. The two or three times it happened, I repeated my name and he continued to talk without batting an eyelid. But he was already a shell of what he once was. Dato' Yaakob and Tengku Sofia regarded him as their surrogate parents, and took him under their care, bringing him home when cancer complicated his old age and he did not want to remain in hospital. It was there he died quietly and without fus yesterday.

On July 28, the UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, allegedly issued a circular to UMNO divisions and branches on what UMNO members should wear to functions the Prime Minister would attend. Three weeks later, he proscribes it a fake. But few believe it is. So, the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, tries to douse the fire: "It is the work of people who have nothing better to do but to slander and tell lies," he intones. Would there be, deputy prime minister, any connexion between these people and the UMNO chaps who go around during the elections and at other times to throw the opposition into the same tizzy UMNO finds itself in? No doubt, the Prime Minister himself must now come in to clear the air. If it was faked, as it now appears, it was a brilliant psywar effort to destabilise the UMNO leadership. Especially, when the UMNO secretary-general decried it a fake only weeks after it had been widely distributed. It is no use telling us that UMNO secretary-general's circular follow a set pattern; not having seen one, how is one to realise that? I heard of this early this month, thought UMNO would not be so stupid. But a group of senior Malay officials, in service and retired, whom I met after their Friday prayers two weeks ago, said copies were distributed after prayers. It is fair to assume that this particular mosque was among many where they were distributed.

If he is, he is in good company. The minister of information, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, believes only the National Front should have access to government media during the coming election campaign. It always has been that way, but in previous elections, some modicum of fairness was present, in which the opposition had some access to the electors to present their manifestors under controlled conditions. But in the past nine months, even that fig leaf of fairness is consciously whittled down in the official media. The government raises the ante without realising the damage it inflicts upon the body politic. The Malaysian government's complaint about the insidious foreign press would have been believable if the local media were not. News is presented in a contested framework, selective and selected for local political impact, which makes nonsense of its function as a disseminator of news. The first one hears of something developing is when some UMNO official attacks an opposition leader; the event sometimes not even making the newspaper. The Prime Minister is proud that the English mainstream newspapers, but not the Chinese, Malay, Tamil newspaper, strongly support government policies. It is this view that is wrong about the local media. When uncertainty about the ground frames government policies, this sends shivers down the line. Which accounts for Senator Rosli's irrelevant outburst.

The new UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, wants to dispel the "profuse" rumours and lies on the Internet. How? "We will have to study all the angles. If they are indeed blatant lies, necessary action will be taken against the culprits based on decisions made by the UMNO Supreme Council," he told the Sun last week. Tch, tch, "blatant lies", "culprits". How do you prove that, Tan Sri? Because someone said something you do not agree with? Or is it a blanket insistence that any criticism of UMNO can only be "blatant lies" by "culprits"? The UMNO Wanita leader, Dr Siti Zaharah Suleiman, is adamant that NGO's should not tell the world about Malaysia's domestic problems. This is interesting. Do we have domestic problems? We have been fed with news that Bolehland does not have domestic problems, it is only the foreigners who say that we have them. So what are the "domestic problems" she talks about? The deputy energy, communictions and multimedia minister, Dato' Chan Kong Choy, expects a code of ethics for Internet users which would not be legally binding to be ready by year end. What would happen to those who "violated" this code? Nothing, said the deputy minister, until a police report is lodged. But his confidence this would end the Internet abuse is touching. The problem is more basic: the government finds its every policy and action subject to intrusive and intense scrutiny on Internet websites and email discussion groups, challenging the official view. What is more, since this comes off the Internet, it is believed more than the official view. And this gets more widespread dissemination in mimeographed and photographed versions than the official media in the remotest villages. That is at the heart of the present exercise to frighten Internet users.

But their replacements were brought in to ensure -- as both deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, wanted -- to ensure the sidelining of the education minister and UMNO vice president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak. The Pahang mentri besar, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, replaces Tok Mat as information minister and the promotion of Dato' Seri Kadir Sheikh Fadhir to culture, arts and tourism. The former has a brief to shortcircuit the political ambitions of Dato' Seri Najib; with his successor ensuring that the education minister is contained in his Pekan constituency. Ostensibly, Tan Sri Khalil did a brilliant job as the National Front operations director of the Sabah elections. Dato' Seri Kadir is another promoted for his Sabah election role. So, we now have three in the cabinet whose reputations are refurbished for their alleged roles in Sabah; the other is the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself. But Dato' Seri Kadir has another plus on his side: he is firmly with Tun Daim. He was one of those dropped as deputy minister in an earlier reshuffle, but got back in by literally crying before the Prime Minister to be kept on; He was, was on his way out when fate struck him a kind blow. The best laid plans of men and mice ... Amen!

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