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An UMNO-owned newspaper grovels before a super crony

TWO WEEKS AGO, THE UTUSAN MALAYSIA COLUMNIST, Awang Selamat, had a dig at the Berjaya Group chief executive, Tan Sri Vincent Tan. He had a tongue-in-cheek piece about Chinese towkays and gambling machines. No one was mentioned, but Tan Sri Vincent was right to claim it referred to him. He demanded a retraction and an apology. The article, he said, put Malay business men, especially those linked to him, in a bad light. That, as the world knows only too well, cannot apply to him. He got both. What else could this UMNO-owned and -controlled newspaper do but grovel. Especially when Tan Sri Vincent is the favoured super-crony of the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed. At least until 31 October 2003.

Since his reputation, he insists, like Caesar's wife, beyond reproach, he should demand a similar grovelling from the PAS organ, Harakah. If it does not, defamation suits are in order. It would at least get the issue argued out in the courts. That newspaper has targetted him for turning Pahang into a casino state, and his resorts in the state at Bukit Tinggi and at Pulau Tioman into virtual gambling casinos. Often forgotten he also got 38,000 acres of prime land from the BN government in Pahang on which his Bukit Tinggi resort and casino are sited. He got them by subborning two Malay cronies, both now ministers in the Mahathir government, to alter the official licence as he desired. And yet a Malay in Pahang cannot get a ten-acre plot he is entitled to without money changing hands.

The 250 one-armed bandits the cabinet allowed was mysteriously increased to 420, with a virtual casino at the Bukit Tinggi resort, and these one-armed bandits were all over the place, including in the toilets. Who are the two ministers? One is his preferred politician dogsbody, the former UMNO executive secretary and the cabinet minister in the Prime Minister's department, Tengku Tan Sri Mansor. The other is the second finance minister, Dato' Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, who proved the unkind jibe UMNO leaders hurl at him behind his back: "JJ in finace is akin to Dracula in charge of the blood bank!"

But Tan Sri Vincent does not address how his casino has turned into a full-scale political row which throws in doubt the National Front's electoral chances in Pahang. It was he who turned this casino licence into a full-scale row. He boasted about it, his officers talked to the newspapers, and the world casino websites gave full play to it. That could not have happened without his say so. He should have waited until after the general elections, but he needs to tell the world, even if it kills him, to show he is still in good odour with Dr Mahathir. All he did was to make BN's re-election chances in Pahang in doubt. And he makes it certain that UMNO has to keep him at a distance from now. So far, he does not need to. When Dr Mahathir was putting his finishing touches to his last UMNO General Assembly speech last month, it was to Bukit Tinggi he repaired to. He would probably be the last Prime Minister to do so.

He does not stand on good ground. But he believes he is. How else could he persuade an UMNO newspaper to grovel for a wrong he committed? He did by twisting hands. Whose hands is left to your imagination. Would Utusan Malaysia have buckled under so swiftly if Tan Sri Vincent was not Dr Mahathir's super crony? Besides another Mahathir business crony has just bought half the 42 per cent in the Utusan Group UMNO owned. If Tan Sri Vincent believes his reputation has been besmirched, he must sue Harakah, the PAS MP, Mr Husam Musa, and the numerous political weeklies for writing about his Bukit Tinggi and Pulau Tioman illegal casinos. Obviously all is not well with his illegal casino empire. Otherwise why did the government cancel its licence at Bukit Tinggi without by your leave? And he should reflect on the political convulsions he roused by turning his casinos into a needless political issue.

The BN government could have escaped, if not cut down, the flak if it had reacted in high dudgeon and have PAS run for cover. It could not. When it proclaims it is an Islamic government, issuing casino licences is certainly now to ensure it. It refuses to answer questions in Parliament, although JJ was heard during the UMNO General Assembly saying he would reply to every point the Opposition raised about it. If he did, the newspapers did not report it. He cannot. Nor can any minister. So far, no one, not even the Prime Minister, has. The longer it delays, the more problems it faces on the Malay ground.

The religious ban on gambling is not confined to Islam alone. All religions forbid it. The BN government issues the gambling licences for two reasons: it needs the Chinese votes, and it believes it could obtain it by allowing them the unfettered right to gamble. It needs the proceeds from gambling to balance its books. The second is more important than the first. Which is why so many one-armed gambling licences are issued. But because of the urgent need for funds, it has also allowed two men to control all gambling in Malaysia. There are virtual casinos all over the Klang Valley, in private clubs and in special establishments, including some restaurants. Those who hit the jackpot are paid within thirty minutes, the money coming from the operators of the virtual casinos. It is safe to assume that it is widespread all over the country.

Tan Sri Vincent planned a virtual casino for his Bukit Tinggi resort. Without a casino lincence, it could not survive. He could not wait until after the general election to publicise it. He had run his Berjaya Group to ground and it could not be re-organised without injecting the Bukit Tinggi casino into it. With the political publicity over it, he now cannot. It is unlikely if he could ever get a licence to operate a casino in Bukit Tinggi. He probably does not know but should: many in UMNO are equally disgusted with their leaders for allowing this casino. PAS and even UMNO would watch the Bukit Tinggi Resort like hawks that nothing is possible until after the general elections.

Tan Sri Vincent no doubt cannot understand what this fuss is all about. He believes passionately in the canard he is an international business man on unquestioned repute. A decade ago, he subborned the courts to grant him his right to the fantasy. Then none would dare question it. That and his status as a Prime Ministerial crony would allow him the freedom to do as he pleased. He had no doubt he would get what he wanted. His lawyer went on holidays with the chief justice to exotic locations, and he with the attorney-general, and other legal luminaries, to Italy and elsewhere. To him and cronies before and after him, the courts are there to protect them at any cost. Justice, in their view, is only to the highest bidder.

But he made one serious miscalculation. He sued two journalists, amongst others, for defamation, but they, unlike the others, would not drop dead at his command. In the first case, I lost all my appeals, then got a rehearing of the Federal Court appeal on several grounds including the close relations that existed between his lawyer and the then chief justice. A date was fixed for the hearing but is now postponed: Tan Sri Vincent Tan did not believe he could get a fair trial without a coram of five judges. When my advocate asked for five judges at the Federal Court, it was rejected; there were not enough judges to go around, you see. There are still not enough Federal Court judges to go around, but he got it. No doubt on the time honoured principle that what is allowed Zeus is disallowed the cow. The only difficulty for Tan Sri Vincent is Zeus, in his case, is about to be forced off his perch in Mount Putra Jaya before long.

In the other case, he sued Mr Ganesh Sahathevan, a former Malaysian journalist now an Australian citizen and living in Sydney. He lost one attempt in Sydney. He now wants a permanent injunction against Mr Sahathevan to prevent him criticising him. There is in these matters an urgency. But not in his case. It is months since the application was filed, and as dates are fixed, creative reasons are found to have it postponed. In the most recent instance, it was maxillofacial surgery at King's College in London, for which he had to leave five days earlier. Curiously no one in King College know of such an operation scheduled upon this worthy. In other words, he rather hopes the cases would disappear. It does appear all is not well in the Vincent Tan empire, what remains of it.

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