MGG Pillai Commentary View

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CORRECTION -- For Whom The Bells Toll

I made a mistake in the opening paragraph of this report. The ACA investigates the cooperative whose president is not Dato' Fauzi, as I wrote, but the Kuantan UMNO vice-chairman, Dato' Faisal Abdullah. Despite it, however, main argument holds. As my criticism of the ACA.

MGG

On Sat, 7 Apr 2001, M G G Pillai wrote:

> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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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