MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Pak Lah and the Ali Baba firm

THE PRIME MINISTER'S SON-IN-LAW, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, has bought into that Ali Baba concern, ECM Libra, for RM9.2 million. How did he get that money in his thirties when he has no known jobs or business that would earn him that much in so short a time. He has threatened to sue any one, including me, for bringing out these to the general public. But threatening to sue is a way of life with people at the top, when when they cannot or rather not explain. Look at the chairman of MAS, who would threaten or lodge police reports to stop the emails against him. Mr Husam Musa, a PAS MP, has asked how Mr Khairy got the money to buy into ECM Libra, whether it came from commissions he received for selling off Malaysian government assets to Singapore.

But first things first. ECM Libra is encouraged by Pak Lah's government and the Chinese running the firm knows that. Of the the three Malays on its board, two are close to Pak Lah – his son-in-law and the former group editor in chief of the New Straits Times, Dato' Khalimullah Hassan. It came into prominence after Pak Lah was sure of becoming prime minister. With so many impediments for non-Malays in this country, they take steps so that their firms can flourish. Otherwise it would be just a ho-hum firm. Look around you, and the firms that succeed are those with connections. The Malays on its board is well connected, the close they are to the centre of power, the better placed the firm is.

The Malaysian media, all owned by National Front or its members, have described ECM Libra as a boutique investment firm in which, it is alleged, the Malay investors are on the driving seat. It is far from the truth as possible. Companies get into difficulties once their patron prime minister leaves the scene. As has happened to companies owned by business men close to the former prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed. It gave the companies a fillip, the x factor (if you like), during the premiership and difficultures when the great man departs. ECM Libra did not make it to the top before Pak Lah and revels in that relationship. But ECM Libra is someway involved in foreign, particularly Singapore, firms taking key states in Malaysian government firms.

But it still does not explain how Mr Khairy got his money. His father-in-law encouraged transparence, but the man does not believe in it. He got a PPE (politics, philosophy, economics) from Oxford and took a masters elsewhere for the Oxford degree was not good enough. He knew how to marry well. He was squiring Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim' s daughter, but switched attentions to Pak Lah's daughter, and married her. when the former deputy prime minister was arrested. There is talk of Dato' Seri Anwar would rejoin UMNO. But that is unlikely. UMNO politicis would not allow it. He had risen to the top the first time around, by discarding those whose backs he used to be deputy prime minister. When he was arrested, others moved in in the vacuum, and would have to vacate if that happened.

The UMNO leaders are against him. Tun Mahathir, who had him arrested, is no more in office, but, active in retirement, runs a campaign not to allow Dato' Seri Anwar to rejoin UMNO. For all the changes to Malaysia he has presided over in his 22 years are prime minister, he will known now as the man who arrested Dato' Seri Anwar. Pak Lah, when he became foreign minister, was intent on one thing: remove the man from his perch as deputy prime minister. Though distantly related, he did not want Dato' Seri Anwar around: both are from neighbouring constituencies in Penang, and dangerous to the other's future if one is top.

But Dato' Seri Anwar rejoining UMNO is spread by Mr Khairy and his acolytes. His future in politics is finished if Dato' Seri Anwar is not in UMNO. But Dato' Seri Anwar has ruled out rejoing UMNO. The man who succeeds Pak Lah as Prime Minister, most probably deputy prime minister Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, would not want him around when he became prime minister. There is already anger that without any experience and with connections he has risen to the top. When he has to stand for election, as for the UMNO Youth deputy head, the opponents know why way their bread is buttered, and he was returned unopposed. After all, his father-in-law is Prime Minister, whom he meets regularly and thinks the world of him.

The UMNO leadership is in shambles, bought to that position by a man who bought his way to the top. He is said to be a political and business genius. Dross becomes gold whenever he touches it. So he attracts UMNO members who hope to make a profit, in politics and/or business. His drumbeaters in the Malaysian press, who cannot ignore the prime minister's son-in-law, tells Malaysians he is a figure to be reckoned with. The Pengkalen Pasir byelection in Kelantan was described as Khairy's triumph. But he should remember what happened to that other UMNO's rising star, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Mr Khairy Jamaluddin did not start life a rich man. He was the son of a diplomat, educated at government expense, even in Oxford. He tried too fast to be in Parliament, but he stumbled badly. He was not an UMNO candidate for elections to Parliament from Rembau. He has too many enemies in the state, one of whom is the former mentri besar and federal cabinet minister, Dato' Isa Samad. His behind-the-scenes work enabled that man to be removed from the cabinet, but he remains a power in the state. But he does not know the Malay or Malaysian ground. But he believes he can survive at the top by his connections and his less-than-honest acquisition of wealth. It has led to questions on how he got that much in so short a time. He believes he can get to the top without explaining anything, threatening legal action against those who has a contrarian view, and by being close to those in power. But he cannot, unless he explains himself as a politician, business man, and what he does for a living, and how he came to all that wealth.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com