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When you should be dead, you cannot live

Establishment cronies are there to plunder and be plundered at will. They also are expendable and disappear into the woodwork as fast as they shot into the mainstream of Malaysian business. This Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli forgot. And pays the price. He was unlucky to be crony to the former finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, who sequestrated UMNO and other assets through cronies, that he is now held to account. He cannot account for the UMNO and other funds in his care, and resigned as finance minister and UMNO treasurer rather than own up to what happened. He had absolute control of Malaysia's fiscal and economic policy. And, it seems, took full advantage. This put the Prime Minister (and UMNO president) in a spot. He protected Tun Daim, and it was he, not Tun Daim, who placated the UMNO supreme council that all would be accounted for. To his horror, the Tun resigned instead. He offers to pay up, but cannot produce the accounts. A deal is made. But it is paltry to what UMNO supreme council was led to expect. That is where Tan Sri Tajudin's travails begin. As of others like Dato' Annuar Musa.

The UMNO supreme council would not let go. As the heat rises, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, offers as human sacrifice others amongst his supporters -- like the former cabinet minister, Dato' Anwar Musa -- but it is too little too late. Dr Samuel Johnson once said when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. Dr Mahathir's does. Tan Sri Tajudin's asset stripping is one. He is not the only one. Others who held UMNO assets in trust are told to return what is UMNO's. A new crony on the block, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhairy, is another. He takes another tack. He takes over those UMNO assets in Tun Daim's control, through cronies and nominees. The transactions are shrouded in mystery, through unlisted companies that need no public accounting or knowledge. But the scale of it, and that he needs no public financing, suggests more than overseas-held assets brought back.

What companies did Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar take over? MMC, Pernas, Tanjong Pelapas Port, minority stakes in Gamuda, IJN. The list is incomplete. He is like many an UMNOPutra a stake holder for some one. He is over-extended, since he could not possibly have the tens of billions he needs to finance them and does not tap capital markets, but continues his acquisitions with abandon and without care. MMC signed an agency agreement in Poland for Polish-made Russian tanks hours before Malaysia agreed to buy them. This former petty rice trader established his connexions with the then deputy international trade and ministry minister, Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin. The latter went on to be mentri besar of Johore. And Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar became his alter ego in business. He came into the Prime Minister's orbit when he built, gratis, a mosque in Kedah. He claims connexions with Central Asia but he is, like most of Arab descent in Malaysia, from Yemen.

Dr Mahathir must deliver. If he cannot, he must put Tun Daim, and those of his sidekicks, including Tan Sri Robert Tan, in the dock. The UMNO anger, especially on the ground, is unconcealed. Tun Daim has not been seen in public since he resigned last year. Tan Sri Robert, who is building a house reputed to cost RM70 million, was so arrogantly certain he is untouchable that he told a friend his fool-proof protection would see him through. And made the same mistake as Tan Sri Tajudin: that he is as strong as his patron and protector.

What brought Tan Sri Tajudin was double the price he got for MAS. Since the government had the golden share which equally 51 per cent of control, it could have just taken it over, and sent him packing. It did not do that. Instead it bought his share at double the price. That angered everyone. And set the chain of events that led to his losing control of his listed vehicle, TRI, now in Danaharta's tender loving care. He fights a rearguard action to save it, but he is now forced out. Cronies are expected to say sorry, give back the assets, and depart quietly. He fought back. For that he must pay the price. What that is depends what happens next. But he would have an impossible time to survive in business, let alone return to what he hitherto was accustomed to. The fate of many an UMNOPutra business high flier. But they went quietly.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my