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Who is Kamaluddin Abdullah?

IN THREE MONTHS, MALAYSIA has a new Prime Minister. Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, in office for 22 years, finally gives way to Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. It is a regime change no less. The cronies and business men who, towards the end, surrounded Dr Mahathir like vultures must now give to Pak Lah's cronies and business men. The Prime Minister, at the apex of the feudal structure in this democratic nation of ours, dispenses favours, contracts, businesses to his favourites. This is as it always has been, in this country and elsewhere. The only difference is that here it is blatant, and works to bankrupt the nation. If the nation were a human being, it would have had multiple heart bypass surgeries, a federation of near-fatal diseases, and awaiting a heart and, possibly, a kidney, transplant; a virtual cripple who carries on with the good life with no thought of the morrow.

A new heart will be attached to the patient at the end of October. But would anything change? The cosmetic changes would be there. The new doctors would prescribe a new regimen, the cosmetic changes, mostly to highlight the excesses of the previous regimen, would be swiftly put in place. But the patient would ignore the cutting down of his fondness of pleasure and the high life. That in turn would put the life at risk soon enough. Pak Lah has not taken office yet, but the insidious rise of his cronies and business men are already seen. There is a wholesale desertion of the Mahathir cronies to the Pak Lah's camp. They have to survive. They have bank loans to repay and meet the high cost of cronydom. And it is to the Pak Lah cronies and their cronies these people gravitate to.

They need a merchant bank? They rush to the hottest merchant bank on the block: the newly established ECM Libra. Why? They insist that they are the best, and provide a service more personal and more relevant than what is on offer. What better way to get into the Pak Lah inner circle than be brought into it by the favoured cronies? The T. Ananda Krishans, the Tan Sri Francis Yeohs, the Tan Sri Vincent Tans and their wannabes rush to avail of its services. ECM Libra has one advantage in one of its three partners: Dato' Khalimullah Hassan, a media and business adviser to Pak Lah. This former journalist is a crony and behaves like one: cronies are not be discussed except in the hallowest of words, and if you make the mistake of defying that, you must invite trouble.

Look at me. I had written some uncomplimentary words to say of two Mahathir cronies. Both sued me for libel. One was awarded RM2 million in a case which reflected not that justice was served but how he could pressure the courts with judgements without having to prove his case; that still awaits the second and final adjudication in the Federal Court. The other sued me for RM100 million for suggesting that he could not build the Bakun Dam because he had no money. He dropped the case when all I said came true. He does not build the Bakun Dam now, and his most serious problem now is how to pay off the huge loans he took for the contracts and favours from his patron, Dr Mahathir.

The Pak Lah crony, Dato' Khalimullah behaves to form. He has sent word through friends that he would arrange to break every bone in my body if I would not refer to him as God's chosen in the Pak Lah regency. I sent word back that he could not possibly get his wish: several Mahathir cronies are ahead of him who want that honour; there would be no bones left in me after their handiwork, possibly no MGG as well, for him to feast upon. He has also accused me of being consumed in hate that I vent my venom on whoever crosses my path. He suggests here that I do not behave as many a journalist in town who listens to "reason" and the occasional gift for the "right" words written about him. I would be most surprised if cronies do not behave like this. They are the anointed ones and they can only show to the world how powerful they are by lashing at any who suggests the would-be emperor wears no clothes. It offends their new persona that they are not the demi-gods they deem themselves to be.

It is in the nature of politics in unsettled societies that systems like we have in Malaya and other third world countries flourish. The superimposition of an alien system on an settled traditional society will fracture and destroy if a superhuman effort is not made to make it work. We had a good working British super-imposed system which was deliberately dismantled when Dr Mahathir on taking office threw caution to the winds and changed it without another to replace it. He preferred the cronies to do as they liked than the government to do it in the time-honoured way. And they took advantage. Every project of the cronies has brought Malaysia further into bankruptcy. The cronies themselves have disappeared into the woodwork, leaving a trail of corporate destruction and bankruptcy.

Now that he leaves in three months, the detritus of that would be revealed soon enough. Pak Lah who takes over cannot make a clean sweep and set things right. Rebuilding a destroyed system is harder than to create a new one. He needs the base of the old to make way for the new. He ascends the leadership weak. The probability beckons that he could be challenged for the UMNO presidency is the higher if the BN slips in the general election, expected by the first four months of 2004. He has to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, his cronies and business men had jumped the gun and had begun their quest months earlier.

On the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, two companies on the second board, have been star performers: Scomi Group Berhand, in oil and gas; and MTD Infraperdana Bhd, in food, tolled roads and other miscellaneous industries. They have consistently outperformed the stock exchange since their recent listing, often recording the highest turnover on the day, with Scomi Berhad more than three times more higher now. Both are controlled by a Kamaluddin Abdullah, obviously a tycoon on the make. He graduated from Cambridge University, and made a quite splash in the business world shortly after he went down, helping to win a company his uncle owned and controlled the right to provide rations for the armed forces for 15 years and, recently, to take over the catering services of Malaysian Airlines System for ten years.

He now acts and behaves the part of one who should prosper to great heights when Pak Lah is Prime Minister. In Malaysia, he has to be known by the motor cars he keeps. And this year he splurged on a few: a Mercedes Benz 500 SL sports coupe for RM1.1 million, a Mercedes Benz S 320 for RM800,000, a BMW X5 four-wheel drive for RM680,000, and a Volvo S80 for RM150,000. In this society where form supersedes substance, even this man of intellectual substance and good breeding finds it necessary to adhere to the norms of cronydom. He is, by all standards, one who can make a difference. So why does he pander to the general irrelevance by this petty show of unnecessary opulence? But first things first. Who is Kamaluddin Abdullah? I knew him as Kamal Abdullah Badawi. Is he related to the Prime Minister-to-be? Not even a thousand charging elephants would make me reveal he is the only son of his father!

[This is my column in Seruan KeADILan, the official organ of Parti KeADILan Nasional, which merged recently with Parti Rakyat Malaysia to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat. It is on sale from today.]

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