THE CRUMBLING EMPIRE STRIKES BACK! (reprise)

The euphoria that swept across the nation one day after the 12th general election created a ripple effect of unmitigated optimism that carried us through Anwar Ibrahim’s triumphant return to Parliament as Opposition Leader right after he trounced Arif Shah at Permatang Pauh on August 26th.

However, the road to Putrajaya appears perilously booby-trapped.

September 16th came and went and suddenly the political atmosphere just got denser and duller and heavier. How did I feel about 916? As an unabashed and unapologetic admirer of Anwar Ibrahim’s extraordinary intelligence, political savvy, oratorical skills, effortless charisma and, above all, his amazing wife Azizah and their lovely children (though I’ve only met Nurul Izzah thus far), I would have rejoiced wholeheartedly at Pakatan Rakyat’s successful takeover of the federal government – along with, I think, at least 25 million other Malaysians.

The actual date was immaterial. I believe Anwar came up with September 16th to emphasize and include our brothers and sisters in Sabah and Sarawak. As a meme, 916 has undeniable power because of its association with 22-karat gold, the purest form in which it can retain its solidity; the number also reads the same upside-down.

It’s been a little more than a month since the mammoth Malaysia Day Rally at Kelana Jaya stadium on the eve of 916. The seeds of hope and a powerful desire for genuine reform were undoubtedly planted amongst the 30,000 who attended – and the millions more who viewed the speeches on YouTube or read the blog reports. Anwar says he requested a private meeting with Abdullah Badawi to negotiate terms of a peaceful Pakatan Rakyat takeover but was refused. Instead we witnessed a spate of ridiculous and infuriating ISA arrests. Raja Petra, Anwar’s most outspoken ally, was forcibly removed from the scene, while 50 Barisan MPs were shipped off to Taiwan to experience earthquakes and typhoons.

Anwar then requested, as Opposition Leader, that the incumbent PM convene a special parliamentary session to establish if the Pakatan Rakyat had enough MPs to form the next government. Again, Anwar was rebuffed. All hopes now revolved on Anwar being granted an audience with the Agong. That didn’t happen. Instead, there was talk that the Agong was doing an umrah in Mecca.

October 13th was the day Parliament reconvened after a long break. We waited to see if anyone would propose a vote of no-confidence against the PM. Nobody did and Anwar himself opted to focus on Badawi’s 2009 Budget, criticizing it as irrelevant in the face of ongoing tectonic shifts in the financial world. At a press conference, Anwar insisted he still had the numbers to form a new government, but added that the Pakatan Rakyat had decided to move slowly rather than risk triggering a violent reaction from Umno loyalists who have mastered the martial art of pre-meditated mengamuk (running amok).

Anwar’s detractors would like us to believe “the moment has passed,” and that the window of democratic opportunity is once again shut tight. Just ban Hindraf and Makkal Sakthi will fade away. Arrest RPK and resistance to tyranny will wilt. This is the first time I’m doing it in print but I just have to go bwahahahahaha.

Meanwhile, things that resemble overfed maggots have been stirring within Umno. The hidden hand of Mahathir can be seen behind fractious factional splits (he’s not exactly a subtle despot). Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin is rumored to be quietly funding Najib’s bid for Umno presidency. Indeed, it’s safe to speculate that the Umnoputera billionaires’ club has rallied behind Najib, to protect their own vested interests.

And, going by the inscrutable utterances issuing from the Conference of Rulers, the monarchs, too, appear to be wary of radical change. After all, apart from having some of their constitutional powers pared down by Mahathir’s amendments, they have all been fairly comfortable under Umno/BN. Most of them have directorships in a variety of businesses and they never have to pay a single phone bill. Even so, they aren’t entirely immune from the vicissitudes of life. One was recently faced with bankruptcy proceedings.

The fact that the Agong meekly confirmed Zaki Azmi’s appointment as Chief Justice hardly reassures reform-minded Malaysians that any significant changes are about to occur. After all, Zaki is up to his eyeballs in Umno business - which doesn’t necessarily disqualify him from doing a laudable job as CJ, but given the murky circumstances surrounding Lingamgate and the absolute refusal of the grotesquely compromised Attorney-General to hang his head in shame and resign – this is yet another indication that “business-as-usual” is the only reality some folks know.

In effect, it would appear that the crumbling Umno Empire has struck back, and that the future is now bleaker than ever.

Is it? I’m not buying that perception at all. I’ll concede that the joy of witnessing a national rebirth and transformation may have been delayed somewhat – and the most painful aspect of this postponement is having to endure our feeling of helplessness and frustration over the fact that the ISA detainees and their families will be unable to celebrate Deepavali this year, perhaps not even Christmas, who knows about the Lunar New Year?


In our jubilation at the prospect of seeing a Pakatan Rakyat government with Anwar Ibrahim as PM, we have overlooked a particularly influential segment of society – the moneyed, privileged class (in effect, the Sadduccees, for those biblically inclined). These are the ones who live comfortably insulated from the nitty-gritty world in their gated cities and superluxury condos. Most have benefited from lucrative contracts or clever investments made during the Mahathir era – so they were never too bothered about silly things like the ISA and police harassment and water cannons. So why should they bother now? One despot behaves pretty much like another – whether his name is Herod Antipas, Constantine, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, George Bush, Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, or Najib Razak. In any case, despots are known to throw lavish parties – they’re certainly funkier hosts than semi-ascetic leftwingers like Nik Aziz, Karpal Singh and Lim Kit Siang.

No doubt, most despots have blood on their hands (or they wouldn’t qualify as despots, would they?)

You and I may rankle and rant at the idea of a moral degenerate ascending to power as PM – but morality, as the privileged class knows full well, is all so very... relative, isn’t it? No vegetarian, non-violent contemplator-of-navels ever attained the world-conquering status of a Genghis Khan, as far as I know. So why make such a big fuss about a few billion ringgit vanishing into this or that offshore account, a few troublesome mistresses snuffed, a dozen greasy Indian heads bashed in by police truncheons, and a few hundred loudmouths locked away in dungeons of iniquity?

Well, I see these turbulent days as the build-up to a quantum shift into a whole new octave of being wherein our hardwired survival programs and reptilian fear conditioning will no longer apply. If you’re a devout Muslim or Christian you’ll probably call it Khiamat or Judgement Day. A Hindu might think of it as the end of the Kali yuga and the arrival of Maha Avatar Kalki (or perhaps the conclusion of the 7th manvantara); while a Buddhist may anticipate a Maitreya incarnation that will facilitate planetary enlightenment.

The more eclectic and esoterically inclined will call it the dawning of the Aquarian Age, the advent of the Water-Bearer - who symbolizes dissemination of true knowledge, leading to the decentralization and democratization of sovereignty and power.

In short, Ketuanan Rakyat as preached by Anwar Ibrahim.

Astrologer Stella Woods reports that Pluto moved into Capricorn on January 26th, 2008 – and will remain there until 2024. She believes “there will be a backlash and rebellion against [authoritarian] control, with people refusing to conform, leaving the system and insisting on the ethical use of power. Scandals and corruption in government and large corporations will come to light and the reputation of many of our cherished institutions will be tarnished. In fact many old forms of government and ways of doing business are likely to disappear altogether.”

Go on, Pluto, move your ass, good dog!

[First posted 22 October 2008]

Return of the Son of the Incurable Dr M? (recycled & updated)

TRICK OR TREAT? Saying "Hallo" To Changes On Halloween

ON OCTOBER 31ST, 2003, I awoke with a big bellyache – something I rarely experience as my guts are pretty resilient. I had to skip breakfast, my favorite meal of the day, and meditate on where the problem might have originated. Was it something I ate? I recall feeling a slight unease in the stomach area as early as yesterday morning but it subsided enough for me to ignore it.

Then I thought about the incurable Dr M. He’s scheduled to “retire” today... isn’t he? Hard to believe he won’t still be calling the shots from behind the curtains, he’s such a power junkie, we’ll have to watch this space.

And I remembered that not so long ago, a large number of us were real mad at him for sending his goon squads out to intimidate, beat up and incarcerate all those clamoring for political change by going out on the streets. Things got so heavy national laureate Shahnon Ahmad felt compelled to publish a novel called SHIT – a sort of post-colonic polemic against stubborn old turds that won’t make way for younger hotshits. I didn’t make it past the first chapter but the book was indeed a provocative artifact documenting the acute constipation of our political process. [Umno backbenchers raised a big stink and Parliament quickly passed a motion to revoke Shahnon Ahmad's national laureateship, which led to his joining PAS.]

Uneasy stomachs are an indication that something’s not quite right. Could it be simple greed? Did we eat too much junk food too fast? Perhaps the buffet wasn’t all that fresh? Did we eat the mussels – they looked so tasty – maybe they were a bit off? Did flies lay eggs on the sambal belacan? Did someone slip some arsenic into the nasi lemak?

The stomach is the seat of the solar plexus, home of the ego. When someone complains of sakit perut, the cause is often ego insecurity. Why should we be egoically insecure, just because our Great Leader has announced his departure from the prime ministership? Isn’t the ship of state in capable hands? Surely, the tragic tale of the Titanic isn’t about US?

Is it possible that a sizeable number of Malaysians support the status quo because we see in Dr M the sort of chest-thumping alpha-male gorilla we secretly want to be? He has been performing all his daredevil feats on the nation’s (or at least his sons’) behalf – frogmarching the economy out of the IMF’s way through the fiscal crises of 1997-98 while singlehandedly beating back the angry mobs marching out of mosque gates and into the streets, scaring shopkeepers, tourists, and Umnopotentiaries.

This sort of acrobatics certainly takes a whole lot of gall and sheer guts to pull off. Indeed, one is reminded of the Baobab in St Exupery’s Le Petit Prince which sucks up all the nutrients from the soil, so nothing can grow in its monstrous shadow except the most unscrupulous weeds.

Perhaps there have been moments when the indomitable Dr M was forced to wear adult diapers so no one would notice his nervous diarrhea: bringing Anwar Ibrahim to trial was indeed a hairy and scary affair. True, Mahathir had 17 years of political incumbency in his favor – plenty of time to create a whole generation of bureaucratic drones. Still, you had to have skin as tough and thick as a rhinoceros to call yourself a judge or attorney-general or the chief of police in Dr M’s regime. Even playing head of medical services required a stiff shot of Chivas three times a day after meals, what more being assigned the unenviable task of editor-in-chief of a national daily?

Never in the nation’s memory since 1969 has the horizon of decency been so totally obscure – and this isn’t something like the annual smog we can pin on the Indons. The moral murk simply won’t blow or wash away, despite disastrous flood-bringing monsoons. It’s something every proud Malaysian has had to accept and live with – if he or she isn’t particularly keen to have PAS rise to power and separate the sexes by hudud and turn the country into another Iran – thereby replacing a secular tyranny with a religious one, O the Irany of it all!

Then along came Dubya and the Neocon White House in 2000 - even as the world sighed in short-lived relief that we had rolled over into Y2K without apparent mishap or a cybernetic apocalypse. In very short order, the astonishing behavior of the world’s remaining superpower, New Rome aka the USA, began to eclipse financial and political improprieties closer to home.

But soon it began to dawn on a sleepy-eyed humanity that carpetbagging and skullduggery are as pivotal to power plays as Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lerner and Loewe to musical plays. With the benefit of hindsight and increased historical insight, we recognized that the inheritance and maintenance of earthly power has been an outrageous scam from the Year Dot, regardless of what costumes the players wear. Politically, the rakyat are still wearing balls and chains in Plato’s Cave, mesmerized by the wayang kulit extravaganza put on by a wily priesthood of black magicians, today known as doctors of spin (because they love making the masses dance to their tune).

Dr M’s pointed tirades against the Bush push for Global Empire were excellent PR. They served to distract local yokels from the stench of unwashed urinals at home and unify them against what was clearly seen as a larger threat – the Return of the Ugly American.

“We must outlaw war on earth,” the Brilliant Statesman declared to the international press on the eve of the barbaric bombing of Baghdad. And a week later he would mollify his discomfited generals with a fresh order of jetfighters or submarines.

“The Jews rule the world by proxy,” he would remark at the OIC conference with stunning political incorrectness, while throwing another rubber bone to the baying Ketuanan Melayu faction, to keep them from burning down the Chinese Assembly Hall (where industrious little yellow Jews are manufactured under licence from the Awakening Dragon).

And once again we have to admire, even if reluctantly, his absolute foxiness and firm grasp of statecraft. What better way to win hearts and consolidate the Islamic world at a time when most of us are speechless with horror at Ariel Sharon’s unimpeded Palestinian holocaust. For the first time in more than two decades, I find myself feeling almost proud that our beloved country has spawned such a feisty uncrowned monarch.

Now if his final act as prime minister is to unconditionally release Anwar Ibrahim from wrongful confinement in a gesture of clemency and reconciliation, even his worst detractors will soon stop calling him Mahafiraun Zalim (the Cruel Pharaoh) and regale his reign as one of monumental achievements amidst tumultuous uncertainties.

The good news is that I sometimes see myself in all these strutting and fretting manifestations of Macbeth – and therefore cannot persevere in my righteous indignation at their perceived misdemeanors. At the end of the day, they are no more inhuman than any of us who has ever been irritated to the point of destroying a particularly troublesome ant colony. For these are colossal, demiurgic egos who view the great unwashed as only good for casting ballots or shooting bullets at official enemies.

Well, here’s more good news: modern incarnations of ancient gods are a dying breed and will soon become extinct – unless they evolve into ethical aesthetes and use their innate charisma for artistic purposes, to produce beauty and truth – instead of more fear and greed and ecocide.

This Halloween, I make my peace with Dr Mahathir [again!]. For all the unsympathetic judgments I have passed on his actions as a prime minister - and for all the unkind thoughts I have held in my heart as regards his well-being - I privately and publicly apologize.* He has only tried, like his precedessors, to be a Father to the Nation; and, as is inevitably the case within every family, there will always be a rebellious son or daughter to contend with, who won’t buy Bapak’s little lies and who can see only his feet of clay.

My own dad used to think fluorescent tubes are a wonderful idea – I vigorously disagree. Some of my best friends are convinced that the 3D Matrix is all there is to existence – I absolutely disagree. Most of the world still believes that Time is Money and that Money is the Bottom Line. As for me, I stubbornly believe (like José Argüelles) that Time is Art and the Bottom Line is Truth – Truth tempered with Love.

There comes a time when every prodigal son or daughter becomes a parent in their own right – and we are suddenly confronted by a thousand grey areas, a million-and-one anxieties, an infinitude of conflicting agendas to balance and juggle against a tidal wave of unforeseen changes. Suddenly, we see the futility of blaming our parents for the way we turned out. We stop hating them for having been overly harsh, heavy-handed, too busy, too ignorant of or totally indifferent to our emotional needs.

Who we are and what we shall become are entirely in our own hands.

But it certainly helps to first reconcile, redeem and heal our past with compassion, understanding and non-judgmental love. Then it would no longer seriously concern us who’s steering the ship, driving the bus or piloting the plane – unless they happen to be power-drunk on duty and their bad performance puts us at risk, in which event it should be a simple matter to get them sacked at the earliest opportunity. Just as you don’t normally want to know the cabbie’s name unless he cheats you or is unacceptably rude, why should we worry whether the prime minister’s name is Anwar, Archibald, Balbir, Chee Cheong Fun, Dorairajah, Delilah, Elijah, or Nurul Izzah?**


Happy Halloween, folks! Don’t be so easily spooked. Remember, politics is just a bunch of rowdy kids in scary costumes out for some tricks or treats.

Antares
31 October 2003

-----
* Hard to keep my promise. That Metallic-voiced Megalomaniac is so goddamn irritating, I'll have to deliver one more tight slap before I apologize all over again.

** Notice I deliberately omitted the name Mukhriz. No way this land can survive being ravaged by TWO Mahathirs. And that smug-faced Son of the Monster Magnet doesn't have a single original idea in his head anyway.

[First published 31 October 2008, reposted 17 August 2013]

FLASHBACK ~ Did I read this in The Star or NST? NOPE!

In view of the recent reappearance of Balasubramaniam Perumal (a private investigator hired by Abdul Razak Baginda to keep Altantuya off his back) and a rash of accusations posted by maverick blogger RPK undermining Bala's credibility - and hinting that he may be more deeply entangled in the sordid murder than he has let on - I'm prompted to repost this excerpt from Asia Sentinel which first appeared on this blog on 23 June 2008...

Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor at a press conference (pic:NST)

An influential Malaysian blogger alleges that Najib’s wife was present when the Mongolian translator was murdered in 2006

Asia Sentinel

One of Malaysia’s most prominent bloggers, in an explosive statutory declaration to a Malaysia court, has alleged that the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as well as a Malaysian Army officer and the officer’s wife were directly involved in the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu on October 19, 2006, and that people at the very top of the Malaysian government are aware of the fact.

The declaration, by Raja Petra Kamarudin, who edits the web publication Malaysia Today, has been ignored by Malaysia’s government-linked mainstream media. However, it threatens to finally break open the case. Even if it doesn’t, it adds considerable chaos to the country’s political mix. The Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition, is reeling from the loss of its two-thirds majority in March elections.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, taking the brunt of criticism over the loss, has already promised to step down at some future date to cede the premiership to Najib. District elections are due in July in the United Malays National Organisation and there are suspicions that the verdict in the Altantuya murder trial is being delayed until the elections are completed.

Raja Petra wrote that Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and Acting Colonel Aziz Buyong and his wife, Norhayati, Rosmah’s aide-de-camp, were present at the scene of the murder and that Aziz Buyong was the individual who placed C4 plastic explosive on Altantuya’s body and blew it up. Both Najib and his wife have repeatedly denied any involvement in the case although top society in Kuala Lumpur has been buzzing for months with rumors of their complicity.

Shaariibuu was executed by two shots to the head and her body was blown up with military explosives in a patch of jungle near the suburban city of Shah Alam. One of Najib’s closest friends, Abdul Razak Baginda, once the influential head of a political think-tank, and two of Najib’s bodyguards, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar of the elite Unit Tindak Khas or Special Police Action Unit, have been the subject of a marathon murder trial that got underway more than a year ago.

Neither Najib nor his chief of staff, Musa Safri, has been questioned nor summoned as a witness despite the fact that Baginda in a sworn statement in November 2006 said he had contacted Musa for help in dealing with Altantuya, his jilted lover. That has raised widespread suspicions that the court – prosecution, defense and judiciary – have all been struggling to keep the case under wraps. It has been subject to numerous delays for reasons that are unclear.

Raja Petra himself is due to go on trial in October on sedition charges that were filed against him for writing an article titled “Let’s Send The Altantuya’s Murderers to Hell” and accusing Najib, his wife and others of complicity in the murder. He amplified the statement considerably in his statutory declaration, made last Wednesday, in which he also said that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been handed a full report by military intelligence on the involvement of his deputy premier’s family. Badawi gave the intelligence report to his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, for safekeeping, according to Raja Petra’s statement.

Raja Petra, a member of the Selangor royal family, also wrote that one of the country’s sultans had been given a full report on the matter. He didn’t identify the sultan, but that raises additional implications, presumably that there is at least one member of royalty who can back up his declaration, which was made under oath, if he is subjected to additional charges over the matter.

From the time Altantuya’s body was discovered, there has been widespread suspicion that not only figures at the top of the government were involved but that the 28-year-old translator and mother of two may have been involved in a much bigger controversy than a jilted relationship. She made several trips to Kuala Lumpur to attempt to confront Baginda, at one point standing in front of his house and screaming “Razak, bastard, come out.” The last time she was seen alive was again in front of his house, when she was bundled into a car and taken away.

She accompanied Baginda to France when he was involved in negotiating the purchase of two Scorpene submarines and a used Agosta submarine produced by the French government through a French-Spanish joint venture, Armaris, for the Malaysian defense ministry, which was headed by Najib. The submarines were bought through a Kuala Lumpur-based company, Perimekar Sdn Bhd, which at the time was owned by yet another company called Ombak Laut, which was wholly owned by Abdul Razak Baginda.

The €1 billion (RM4.5 billion) contract to buy the submarines was non-competitive and netted Perimekar €114 million. Although Najib has sworn an oath to Allah that he had never met the woman, he was in France at the same time one of his best friends was there, dealing with matters over the submarine. A cousin of Altantuya's testified at the trial that she had seen a picture of Najib together with the dead woman, but she was quickly hushed up by both defense and prosecution lawyers about the matter.

Altantuya, by her own admission in a letter discovered after her death, wrote that she had been blackmailing Abdul Razak, presumably to keep his family from finding out about their relationship. But in his cautioned statement to the police, Baginda said he had already informed his family of the relationship and said she was pressuring him for US$500,000. Her father, Setev Shaariibuu, a psychology professor in Ulan Bataar, has said she was killed because she "knew too much," although he has never elaborated on that statement.

Given the close relationship between the two men, and that Najib was reported as presenting jackets made available by Perimekar to the submarine crews training in France, and that Altantuya was along with Baginda, it is difficult to believe they had not met.

It is also difficult to believe, given the wealth of published reports, plus the fact that Azilah Hadri, and Sirul Azhar Umar, were members of Najib's own bodyguard unit, that neither has been questioned about how the bodyguards came to be involved in allegations of Altantuya's murder.

READ THE REST HERE.

NEWSFLASH! THIS APPEARED IN THE STAR 23 JUNE 2008...

KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) has submitted a notice calling for an emergency motion to discuss allegations by online news portal Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin over the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

In his notice, Lim said the credibility and legitimacy of the Government would suffer a mortal blow if the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and those named in the allegations remained silent on the matter.

Copies of the notice were distributed to reporters in the Parliament Lobby.

Lim repeated the statutory declaration by Raja Petra who claimed that he was reliably informed that three people were present at the scene when Altantuya's body was blown up.

"He (Raja Petra) said these three people have thus far not been implicated in the murder nor called as witnesses by the prosecution in the ongoing trial at the Shah Alam High Court.

"He was aware that it is a crime not to reveal evidence that may help the police in its investigation of the crime,” Lim said.

- The Star

THE CRUMBLING EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!

The euphoria that swept across the nation one day after the 12th general election created a ripple effect of unmitigated optimism that carried us through Anwar Ibrahim’s triumphant return to Parliament as Opposition Leader right after he trounced Arif Shah at Permatang Pauh on August 26th.

However, the road to Putrajaya appears perilously booby-trapped.

September 16th came and went and suddenly the political atmosphere just got denser and duller and heavier. How did I feel about 916? As an unabashed and unapologetic admirer of Anwar Ibrahim’s extraordinary intelligence, political savvy, oratorical skills, effortless charisma and, above all, his amazing wife Azizah and their lovely children (though I’ve only met Nurul Izzah thus far), I would have rejoiced wholeheartedly at Pakatan Rakyat’s successful takeover of the federal government – along with, I think, at least 25 million other Malaysians.

The actual date was immaterial. I believe Anwar came up with September 16th to emphasize and include our brothers and sisters in Sabah and Sarawak. As a meme, 916 has undeniable power because of its association with 22-karat gold, the purest form in which it can retain its solidity; the number also reads the same upside-down.

It’s been a little more than a month since the mammoth Malaysia Day Rally at Kelana Jaya stadium on the eve of 916. The seeds of hope and a powerful desire for genuine reform were undoubtedly planted amongst the 30,000 who attended – and the millions more who viewed the speeches on YouTube or read the blog reports. Anwar says he requested a private meeting with Abdullah Badawi to negotiate terms of a peaceful Pakatan Rakyat takeover but was refused. Instead we witnessed a spate of ridiculous and infuriating ISA arrests. Raja Petra, Anwar’s most outspoken ally, was forcibly removed from the scene, while 50 Barisan MPs were shipped off to Taiwan to experience earthquakes and typhoons.

Anwar then requested, as Opposition Leader, that the incumbent PM convene a special parliamentary session to establish if the Pakatan Rakyat had enough MPs to form the next government. Again, Anwar was rebuffed. All hopes now revolved on Anwar being granted an audience with the Agong. That didn’t happen. Instead, there was talk that the Agong was doing an umrah in Mecca.

October 13th was the day Parliament reconvened after a long break. We waited to see if anyone would propose a vote of no-confidence against the PM. Nobody did and Anwar himself opted to focus on Badawi’s 2009 Budget, criticizing it as irrelevant in the face of ongoing tectonic shifts in the financial world. At a press conference, Anwar insisted he still had the numbers to form a new government, but added that the Pakatan Rakyat had decided to move slowly rather than risk triggering a violent reaction from Umno loyalists who have mastered the martial art of pre-meditated mengamuk (running amok).

Anwar’s detractors would like us to believe “the moment has passed,” and that the window of democratic opportunity is once again shut tight. Just ban Hindraf and Makkal Sakthi will fade away. Arrest RPK and resistance to tyranny will wilt. This is the first time I’m doing it in print but I just have to go bwahahahahaha.

Meanwhile, things that resemble overfed maggots have been stirring within Umno. The hidden hand of Mahathir can be seen behind fractious factional splits (he’s not exactly a subtle despot). Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin is rumored to be quietly funding Najib’s bid for Umno presidency. Indeed, it’s safe to speculate that the Umnoputera billionaires’ club has rallied behind Najib, to protect their own vested interests.

And, going by the inscrutable utterances issuing from the Conference of Rulers, the monarchs, too, appear to be wary of radical change. After all, apart from having some of their constitutional powers pared down by Mahathir’s amendments, they have all been fairly comfortable under Umno/BN. Most of them have directorships in a variety of businesses and they never have to pay a single phone bill. Even so, they aren’t entirely immune from the vicissitudes of life. One was recently faced with bankruptcy proceedings.

The fact that the Agong meekly confirmed Zaki Azmi’s appointment as Chief Justice hardly reassures reform-minded Malaysians that any significant changes are about to occur. After all, Zaki is up to his eyeballs in Umno business - which doesn’t necessarily disqualify him from doing a laudable job as CJ, but given the murky circumstances surrounding Lingamgate and the absolute refusal of the grotesquely compromised Attorney-General to hang his head in shame and resign – this is yet another indication that “business-as-usual” is the only reality some folks know.

In effect, it would appear that the crumbling Umno Empire has struck back, and that the future is now bleaker than ever.

Is it? I’m not buying that perception at all. I’ll concede that the joy of witnessing a national rebirth and transformation may have been delayed somewhat – and the most painful aspect of this postponement is having to endure our feeling of helplessness and frustration over the fact that the ISA detainees and their families will be unable to celebrate Deepavali this year, perhaps not even Christmas, who knows about the Lunar New Year?

In our jubilation at the prospect of seeing a Pakatan Rakyat government with Anwar Ibrahim as PM, we have overlooked a particularly influential segment of society – the moneyed, privileged class (in effect, the Sadduccees, for those biblically inclined). These are the ones who live comfortably insulated from the nitty-gritty world in their gated cities and superluxury condos. Most have benefited from lucrative contracts or clever investments made during the Mahathir era – so they were never too bothered about silly things like the ISA and police harassment and water cannons. So why should they bother now? One despot behaves pretty much like another – whether his name is Herod Antipas, Constantine, Napoleon Bonaparte, Mahathir Mohamad, Saddam Hussein, George Bush, or Najib Razak. In any case, despots are known to throw lavish parties – they’re certainly funkier hosts than semi-ascetic leftwingers like Nik Aziz, Karpal Singh and Lim Kit Siang.

No doubt, most despots have blood on their hands (or they wouldn’t qualify as despots, would they?)

You and I may rankle and rant at the idea of a moral degenerate ascending to power as PM – but morality, as the privileged class knows full well, is all so very... relative, isn’t it? No vegetarian, non-violent contemplator-of-navels ever attained the world-conquering status of a Genghis Khan, as far as I know. So why make such a big fuss about a few billion ringgit vanishing into this or that offshore account, a few troublesome mistresses snuffed, a dozen greasy Indian heads bashed in by police truncheons, and a few hundred loudmouths locked away in dungeons of iniquity?

Well, I see these turbulent days as the build-up to a quantum shift into a whole new octave of being wherein our hardwired survival programs and reptilian fear conditioning will no longer apply. If you’re a devout Muslim or Christian you’ll probably call it Khiamat or Judgement Day. A Hindu might think of it as the end of the Kali yuga and the arrival of Maha Avatar Kalki (or perhaps the conclusion of the 7th manvantara); while a Buddhist may anticipate a Maitreya incarnation that will facilitate planetary enlightenment.

The more eclectic and esoterically inclined will call it the dawning of the Aquarian Age, the advent of the Water-Bearer - who symbolizes dissemination of true knowledge, leading to the decentralization and democratization of sovereignty and power.

In short, Ketuanan Rakyat as preached by Anwar Ibrahim.

Astrologer Stella Woods reports that Pluto moved into Capricorn on January 26th, 2008 – and will remain there until 2024. She believes “there will be a backlash and rebellion against [authoritarian] control, with people refusing to conform, leaving the system and insisting on the ethical use of power. Scandals and corruption in government and large corporations will come to light and the reputation of many of our cherished institutions will be tarnished. In fact many old forms of government and ways of doing business are likely to disappear altogether.”

Go on, Pluto, move your ass, good dog!

[First published 22 October 2008]

Remember the euphoria... post GE12!

Three years ago today the nation almost voted Barisan Najis OUT!

Had it not been for the large numbers of voters in Sabah and Sarawak who continued voting for the devil they know - not to mention the usual gerrymandering, outright bribery, and vote rigging - Malaysia would have found herself liberated from over 50 years of progressively more corrupt and arrogant misrule.

Think about the glorious feeling so many of us experienced on 9 March 2008, when we awoke to a brand new day in Malaysia - with the prospect of a fresh new government just within sight - one that would be responsive to what the people desire, not what a small handful of plutocratic families dictate.

Think hard about it when you next go out and cast your vote!

ZAID IBRAHIM: NAJIB CAN'T BE PM

"If truth be told, Najib can't be PM"
Zaid Ibrahim | March 18, 09 1:51pm

Full text of former law minister Zaid Ibrahim's hard-hitting speech at the Royal Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur on 18 March 2009.

This is the second time I have been invited to address a Rotary Club. Thank you for the honour. Given the times we live in, perhaps it might be appropriate for me to speak about the leadership transition that has been foisted upon us Malaysians.

I say ‘foisted’ because neither me nor anyone in this room had any role or say in the choice of the person who will lead Malaysia next. We were mere bystanders in a political chess game. And yet the transition is a subject of great consequence to the nation, one I would say is of great national interest.

Leadership is definitive; the individual who assumes the mantle of leadership of this nation, whomever that may be, is one who for better or worse will leave his mark on us. His will be the hand who guides us to greater success, or possibly gut-wrenching disaster.

Save for the dawn of Merdeka, never in the history of this country has the choice of prime minister been so crucial: Malaysia is in crisis. We are facing tremendous economic challenges with unavoidably harsh socio-political consequences. Our much undermined democracy is once again being assailed by those who would prefer a more autocratic form of governance.

Our public institutions are hollowed out caricatures, unable to distinguish vested party interests from national ones, unable to offer the man in the street refuge from the powerful and connected.

Our social fabric that took us from colony to an independent nation and on through the obstacles of nation building has reached a point where it sometimes feel like we are hanging on by a thread. This is the Malaysia we live in.

PM’s resignation ill-fated

This is the Malaysia which Abdullah Ahmad Badawi leaves behind. Our prime minister will resign later this month - an ill-fated decision. I say ill-fated not because he has been a great prime minister and we would lose irreplaceable leadership, that is regrettably not the case as all things said and done Abdullah could have done much more for Malaysia.

Rather, I say that his resignation is ill-fated because his departure will expose the country to forces which may take us down the road of perdition faster than ever. Much has been said of Pak Lah being a weak leader. However, what his critics have not adequately addressed are the consequences of replacing him as prime minister with the anticipated incoming president of Umno, Najib (Abdul) Razak.

It is an undeniable truth that the average Malaysian is anxious about the anticipated transition. Many would prefer it did not happen.

There are two reasons why this is so. The first has to do with the reasoning underlying Umno's demand for the transition itself. The second has to do with Najib personally.

We must recall that after the 2008 general election - a great success for the nation but a fiasco for Umno – one of the chief complaints by the powers-that-be within Umno was that Abdullah’s feeble leadership led to the concept of Ketuanan Melayu being challenged and ultimately undermined.

His critics also lashed out at him for the latitude given to civil society, a move which they believed weakened a key aspect of Umno's political leverage. It followed in Umno's mind that in order to regain lost ground, it was necessary to reassert its ideology with greater strength.

There was nostalgia for Mahathir's heavy-handed style of leadership and a return to the times when the party cowed many into subservience and submission. The conservatives in Umno yearned for a return to Mahathirism, hoping that it would become a cornerstone of the leadership transition plan. There has been much speculation and punditry on whether a return to the Mahathir era would be good for Malaysia.

Difference between then and now

Let me offer some of my own insight to this debate. The major difference between then and now is this: in most instances, Mahathir was harsh and dictatorial if he believed it was good for the country. But an authoritarian style of government under anyone else would be dictated by the need for self preservation and very little about the country’s interest.

The evidence is all around us. After March 8, (2008) when the prime minister ceased being the home minister, the threats of reprisal have escalated and a climate of fear re-cultivated. The detention of Raja Petra Kamarudin, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoong Cheng exemplify this turn for the worse, this appetite to use the sledgehammer.

The shameful power grab in Perak and wanton disregard for public opinion over how BN wrested control of the silver state make many people shudder at the prospect of a return to the dark days. If that was not depressing enough, we have had to bear witness to the police and the newly-minted Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) displaying their allegiance and support to the BN when all we needed and craved for were honest brokers.

It stands to reason that in the mind of the average Malaysian, having suffered a significant loss last March, Umno is on a rampage to regain what it lost by any method available and the man who is expected to lead it to victory is the man who succeeds Abdullah: Najib (Abdul) Razak.

A prime minister must have the confidence of the majority of the rakyat. In order for this to be the case, his integrity must be beyond question; not only must he be such a person character, he must be seen to be such a person. The office of prime minister is one of great trust, he who holds that office cradles the nation in his palms.

For this to be the case, there cannot be anything in the mind of the greater public that, correctly or otherwise, associates him with matters of criminality, wrongful action, improper conduct or abuses of power. In short, he must be beyond reproach in his dealings both official and private.

Without intending any accusation, it is regrettable that in the collective mind of the rakyat, Najib is not such a person. If a referendum were to be conducted on the subject or if the prime minister was to be elected directly by the rakyat, I do not think Najib would succeed. The reason for this is obvious: the rakyat has doubts, fuelled by the unanswered allegations against him and his unwillingness to confront these allegations.

It is not a mere trifle in the minds of the rakyat that despite a direct challenge from a member of parliament in the august House recently, the deputy prime minister remained silent, not even denying the implicit accusation made against him and demanding that it be repeated outside the chamber in the tried and tested method of refutation employed by parliamentarians throughout the world.

It has not assisted the cause of the incoming prime minister that the MP concerned was suspended for a year on a motion tabled by a fellow minister without the member having been afforded an opportunity to defend his position.

Evidence of SMS text-messages

Consider this. Commissions were paid to an agent for the procurement of submarines through the Defence Ministry, Najib (then) being the defence minister. It is unthinkable that he had no knowledge that the agent was his adviser and aide, Abdul Razak Baginda. The commission paid out was exceedingly large, in excess of RM500 million.

The defence minister was dutybound to direct enquiries to see if there had been any impropriety in the way the contracts were awarded when news of the commission surfaced; after all the price of the submarines would be considerably lower without the need for such commissions.

Taxpayers, you and I, have paid for those submarines at a price that in all probability factored in the commission. Taxpayers are yet to be told of an inquiry let alone the result of such an inquiry.

Consider the Altantuya Shaariibuu affair. A young woman was brutally murdered, her corpse destroyed by explosives.

These explosives are not the usual type of explosives, yet no inquiry was held to determine how they were available to these killers. Those accused of her murder are police officers serving in the Unit Tindakan Khas, a highly specialised unit who amongst other things serve as bodyguards to the prime minister and the deputy prime minister.

Amidst evidence that the accused were employed to protect the PM and the DPM, they were directed to (Abdul) Razak Baginda through the aide of the deputy prime minister. Amongst other things, we have heard of the senior investigating officer admitting that the deputy prime minister was an important witness and yet no statement was taken.

It is not unreasonable to think that this is irregular, more so when evidence of SMS text-messages from the deputy prime minister concerning material matters have surfaced. The text-messages cannot be ignored, proverbially swept under the carpet.

Even if they do not establish - or are not capable of establishing - any culpability on the part of Najib, these issues must be addressed.

The air must be cleared, it is thick with accusations and doubts which can only undermine the office of the prime minister if he were to assume it. The deputy prime minister's cause has not been aided by the fact that charges were preferred against (Abdul) Razak Baginda only after public outcry, the manner in which the prosecution was conducted and the decision of the High Court acquitting (Abdul) Razak Baginda not having been appealed.

Power grab an unmitigated disaster

The Perak affair was an unmitigated disaster for the nation. It is no secret that Najib led the charge there and is still overseeing matters.

In the minds of Malaysians, Perak is synonymous with the deputy prime minister. They now equate him with the high-handed tactics that were employed to seize power, tactics that included the disappearances of the three crucial assemblypersons and the blockading of the legislative assembly by the police.

In doing so, they equate the DPM with the hijacking of democracy, the only persons saying otherwise being those persons who have associations with Umno. In their minds, no responsible leader would allow for the undermining of the institutions of state and the constitution of this nation.

They ask, rightly so, whether this is the kind of leadership that Malaysians can expect from Najib when he becomes the prime minister.

With all of this, and more, how are we not to feel anxious? How are we to sleep peacefully at night? I know that I cannot. The situation is desperate and the air is pregnant with tension. We need the state of affairs to be resolved in a way that is in the best interests of the nation and the rakyat.

To an extent, this is a matter for the Barisan Nasional. I urge its members to put politics aside and think things through. We all want a better future, a safer and more prosperous life for our children, all of them, a Malaysia where our children can reach for the stars with the certainty that there is nothing to stop them from being the Malaysians they want to be.

Let the king be kingmaker

I do not believe that the Barisan Nasional will do what is necessary. Politics has a tendency of making those who embrace it cynical. The answer lies elsewhere, with His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

In this case, His Majesty plays the role of ‘kingmaker.’ The discretion to appoint the prime minister who succeeds Abdullah lies with His Majesty. Though His Majesty is required under the constitution to appoint the person who commands the confidence of the majority of the members of parliament, it is a matter for His Majesty's judgment.

Never before has such a heavy burden been laid on His Majesty to make a brave and correct choice.

For King and country, I urge His Majesty to take into consideration the prerequisites to appointment and the concerns of the rakyat. There is no constitutional obligation on His Majesty to appoint the president of Umno as the prime minister. There are still well qualified members of parliament from Umno who can be appointed PM to bring us back from the brink.

Malaysia needs someone whom the rakyat can throw their weight behind without reservation. Someone they can trust and respect. Someone who has no scandal to distract him and thereby gain respect from the international community.

These are difficult times and be prepared for worst times to visit us. Malaysia needs a leader who will unite the country in the face of the adversity. Divided, we are weak. I am loath to say it, but for the reasons I have set out am compelled to say that Najib will most certainly divide us and in doing so, will nudge us closer to the edge.

Some of you may say that all efforts to promote the national interest are at this stage an exercise in futility. If truth be told, I am tempted to slip into cynical hopelessness too. I am fighting the temptation to give up for one simple reason: Malaysia and all that it represents. This is a blessed country, a country too valuable for us to turn our backs on.

ANWAR'S THE ONE!

In the aftermath of Najib's underhanded overthrow of the Pakatan state government in Perak, many debates have been raging as to whether Karpal Singh was justified in demanding that Anwar Ibrahim step down as leader of the Pakatan Rakyat. Anwar has hordes of vociferous detractors, all of whom claim to know things about Anwar the public doesn't - and yet they obstinately refuse to divulge what terrible secrets they're privy to that would instant disqualify Anwar Ibrahim as our next Prime Minister, if the information were made public.

Well, unless Chandra Muzaffar, Anas Zubedy, KTemoc, Ghani Ismail and other "anti-Anwaristas" come up with irrefutable evidence that Anwar Ibrahim has ordered out-of-favor mistresses to be cruelly murdered, or has billions stashed away in the Bank of Israel under Paul Wolfovitz's name, or is in truth a Singaporean covert operative assigned to oversee the systematic dismantling of Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP... I'm going to stick with Anwar as our first and most obvious option for PM for the following reasons:

1) He has the most experience in government (not just in politics); and while some might say that being the Sorcerer's Apprentice for 16 years is reason enough to disqualify anyone, I'd say his overt rebellion against the Evil Sorcerer has redeemed him in my eyes;

2) Anyone who has read the Tao Te Ching, The Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Rabindranath Tagore, Kahlil Gibran, the Complete Works of Shakespeare (5 times from cover to cover, I hear) and who can articulate a coherent thought on his feet is worth negotiating with;

3) Anwar has been consistent in voicing his concern for humble folk since his student days, except for a few years when he was rising up the ranks of Umno and he consciously groomed himself to become a self-confident global statesman by joining a riding club (at least he avoided golf, which would have revealed an utter lack of originality :-);

4) It's an asset to be able to communicate easily with the humblest as well as the most lofty segments of society - and Anwar has that gift firmly in his grasp;

5) Having been at the receiving end of Mahathir's gross abuse of repressive laws and misuse of the police force against all political threats, Anwar is unlikely to succumb to the temptation to be just another tinpot despot;

6) Anwar has fulfilled, in my book, all the identifying marks of a culture hero (pity not many have the required mythological understanding to perceive these criteria as significant and valid, but I personally live by these ancient codes and, just as an example: every mythic redeemer/messiah must undergo battle with his or her own deep unconscious, experience ego death and be resurrected on an elevated plane the way Gandalf the Grey fought the Balrog, died and was reborn as Gandalf the White);

7) Anwar's intelligence is not rigid but adaptable and flexible; the man isn't bound by dogmatic beliefs and principles (hence his being stupidly labeled a chameleon and manipulator - well, chameleons are NOT inherently "evil," just well adapted to survival!). His effortless charisma and oratorical prowess are a distinct advantage, so long as political leaders depend on speechifying to attract a following.


8) Anyone who has ever met Wan Azizah Wan Ismail or Nurul Izzah Anwar will understand why I say these two feisty women may ultimately be Anwar's greatest assets. When he was abducted by balaclava-clad police from his own house on 20 September 1998, beaten up by Police Inspector-General Rahim Noor, subjected to the ugliest mock trial in memory presided over by that despicable wormtongue Augustine Paul, and then thrown in prison for six years... his wife and daughter were thrust into the limelight and both blossomed into inspiring political warriors in their own right. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Anwar will forever be grateful for the support and strength of these women in his life - and because of that he will always have a healthy respect for the Sacred Feminine.

OTHER NON-UMNO PRIME MINISTERIAL CANDIDATES

Zaid Ibrahim seems like a brilliant, affable person who doesn't need to be in politics but simply can't stay away and I certainly appreciate and admire what he has done by quitting Umno over his disapproval of Hamid Albar's misuse of the ISA. But that's about all I know of the man. Before I can endorse Zaid as PM material I shall have to track his actions a bit more. Anwar I have tracked since 2 Sept 1998 - and in my eyes Anwar Ibrahim's response to political calamity and crisis has been impeccable and impressive. Even while suffering the iniquity of wrongful imprisonment and a painful spinal disorder, Anwar kept a cool head, a forgiving heart, and maintained his dignity like a true king.

Nizar Jamaluddin is the man of the hour, having proved his mettle as Mentri Besar of Perak under duress. So obvious are the man's winning qualities, his being a PAS member seems totally irrelevant - although some may express a wee bit of anxiety that Nizar may prove a tad conservative in certain areas (for example, Nizar made a gaffe when he proposed that HIV-positive citizens be quarantined and received a fair bit of flak from NGOs and the public; however, to his credit, Nizar immediately apologized for not knowing enough about the issue and graciously withdrew his remarks).

Raja Petra Kamarudin has been nominated as potential PM by countless readers of Malaysia Today. Recently, there was even a suggestion that RPK inaugurate his own political party, independent of but aligned with Pakatan Rakyat. No doubt the man commands a massive following of admirers who appreciate his sticking his neck out for truth, justice and freedom. However, it appears to me that RPK is so accustomed to playing the role of maverick he would feel completely claustrophobic in public office, because he would no longer be free to express his feelings off-the-cuff as he is so good at doing. Personally, I feel RPK would be just the man to appoint as Special Adjudicator of the IPCMC, charged with the onerous task of cleaning up the PDRM. It would be a form of national service for him, from which he can be released after he's finished the job, which ought to take him no more than two years.