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Tok Mat: "Ignore the Letter I did not Write"

In this present climate when anonymous letters are tendered as evidence in court (How do you get the anonymous letter writer to come to identify what he or she wrote?), Malaysia's misinformation czar and perhaps the most expendible member of Malaysian cabinet-on-the go (literally), Dato' Mohamed Rahmat aka Tok Mat, warns four news organisations that letters bearing his signature are fakes. The letters, to chief editors of two Malay mainstream newspapers and two television stations, want them to be fair in their coverage of the Anwar trial, ensuring that the defence position is favourably highlighted. He says the letter was not on the ministry's letterhead, and his signature probably lifted from his signature on some public document. The intention of this letter, he says, was to "create trouble and tarnish his image". He is "very" sad about it. "The people who sent this letter are those who were willing to stoop so low to spread lies and bring down the Prime Minister and the Government ... The people must unite and reject any form of activity to tarnish the stability of the country."

Several questions follow. Is the chief editors of these, and other, Malaysian organisations so dumb that they would take at face value any document, official or not, bearing his signature? Since this development affects only four organisations, why is the minister libelling the chief editors in public by highlighting something that is of interest only to them? Or is this a conspiratorial scam of his to ensure that should things go wrong, he can place the blame on the letter writers? No one needs stoop to tell the truth about Tok Mat; so why would anyone want to stoop to tell lies about him? How does any letter clearly unofficial and without the ministry head bring down the Prime Minister and the Government? How could an unofficial letter to chief editors do that, unless they are so stupid that they believe anything which bears their signatures? Did the chief editors consider this serious enough to report the matter to the police? If not, why not? Is Tok Mat officially admitting that to be fair to Anwar in his travails is against the national interest?

Or is the minister upset that the focus of media attention is now on the man who would be prime minister, and although the case before Mr Justice Augustine Paul is only on its fourth day, the revelations so far send a chill down the spine, if that is at all possible, of the superanuated minister? With party elections due in seven months, he must be in the public eye for re-election. Is this his way of ensuring that delegates remember his name when voting for their choices. The prime minister and his cabinet can look and seem stupid by such idiocies; that does not matter so long as Tok Mat gets a mention, favourably or not. Is this another self-interested attempt to gain some recognition at the expense of his cabinet colleagues?

He is not the only one. The acting UMNO youth leader, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, the son of the former prime minister, is another who tries to get his two-cents worth of inanities every day about the conduct of the trial. The foreign minister, Dato' Abdullah Badawi, is upset at his Thai counterpart's belief that Malaysia's handling of the Anwar trial upsets Asean unity. Datin Paduka Rafidah Aziz repeats herself ad nauseum that Apec should concentrate on economics since Apec is not a political body. The context of their statements rates a mention in the local media that could tickle the delegates in their favour next June. That is all that matters. That is why Malaysia is in such a mess. Self interest precedes national interest, as the hamfisted attempt to remove the man who would be prime minister from the political scene. His trial rocks the National Front government of Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, with statements like these accelerating the pressures. Self interest alone would ensure that more statements like these are on the way.

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