|
|||||||||||||||
|
THINKING ALLOWED
Isa, not ISA
First, Isa. Now, wasn�t it just recently that this MB of Negri Sembilan was the apple of the former PM�s eye. Short though he was - and a little on the mickey-mouse side in terms of his mannerisms - he was the model of loyalty and of how to run a state, which he ended up doing longer than his peers. On those grounds, it was assumed, he was widely respected and so topped the list of aspirants for the UMNO vice presidency in the party�s Sept 2004 polls. Following his success he was a shoo-in for a ministership. Now, it suddenly appears, he�s guilty of breaching UMNO�s code of ethics, having �engaged in money politics to secure votes to contest for the party vice-presidency.� Isa�s breach must be considered very serious for he has been suspended from UMNO for six years, which essentially means he�s finished, politically speaking. In his appeal, Isa is reported to have submitted that he had not held gatherings for delegates but that the delegates had come to see him at his ministerial office in KL City Hall �without invitation.� Nice try, Isa. Blame it on the gate-crashers! The odd thing is that the PM has called upon Isa to resign from all his party posts; with regards to his cabinet position, however, the PM reportedly said �The matter does not arise at the moment because he has to make the appeal first.� A bit of a give-a-way don�t you think. The party has no place for a mickey mouse but the country can have him. Don�t worry. It�s quite all right to talk about this case while his appeal is pending because, severe as the breach was, it is to be dealt with �internally� by the party�s disciplinary board. No fuss therefore about not commenting on the case �while it is being deliberated on� for we are not involved in a court of law. Nonetheless, it was quite ticklish to hear all those UMNO MPs and leaders voicing their opposition to the practice of money politics and supporting the suspension of Isa. Nobody has yet proposed that we ought to go after those who had accepted monetary or material gain from Isa and his aides too. Too many involved (after all, Isa did receive the highest number of votes for the VP-ship)? Too compromising an endeavour that would require that we re-look into the results of the entire party elections? Better to think that the delegates were upright and that they had voted for gain only in the solitary Isa case. Osu, not OSA Then there was Osu; that�s Osu Sukam, one-time federal minister, Sabah chief minister and UMNO Sabah chief. He, too, used to be a favourite of the former PM. It was on people like Osu that UMNO had pinned its hopes in Sabah in the 1994 and 1999 Sabah elections. PBS leader, the then chief minister, Pairin Kitingan had been charged on three counts of graft, which many thought were politically motivated. (Pairin was subsequently found guilty on one charge and fined a meagre RM1,800 indicating, perhaps, the lack of severity of the charge.) Osu and others in UMNO Sabah, on the other hand, were supposed to usher in a �New Sabah� that was �bersih, cekap dan amanah� (clean, efficient and responsible). Didn�t UMNO then suspect that Osu might have been a chronic gambler? Or did he suddenly become one after becoming Sabah CM? Are we sure that there was no money politics involved as he climbed his way up the UMNO ladder? At any rate, he played his way to a debt of RM7.1 mil at the Ritz Hotel Casino in London. Yet there was no pip of this UMNO strongman�s chronic disease until the matter came to public attention via an application by the London casino to the Kota Kinabalu High Court to enforce an English High Court judgement against Osu. OK, Justice Ian Chin dismissed the bid on the grounds that Osu was encouraged by the casino to gamble on credit as opposed to cash, and that Malaysians must be protected from being enticed to gamble on credit. The cheek of it all, Osu actually applied for costs which the Justice correctly rejected. Osu, the good Justice argued �had engaged in an activity his religion frowns upon.� In fact, it is not just Osu�s Islamic religion, but all religions that frown on leaders gambling themselves away, whether on credit or with cash. Yet, all that UMNO Sabah saw fit to comment, initially, was that the RM7.1 mil was Osu�s �personal matter�, �a matter between Osu and the law.� Thanks to Pak Lah�s intervention, Osu has since resigned as chief of his UMNO division. The point, however, is that stepping down from UMNO positions should not be the end of the matter. If Osu was allowed to accumulate a debt of RM7.1 mil, how much did he bring to the casino? And how much did Isa spend to win the highest number of votes in the VP-ship contest? Loads, presumably. As plain old politicians, how did they come by such money in the first instance? Let�s help UMNO rid itself of this money politics by investigating this matter further. Bring in the ACA! Towering individuals Then again, we should not be singling out these two UMNO leaders. For among UMNO�s still active leaders are two other former MBs/CMs, who have also had - how should we put it? - �personal problems�. One of them, who�s not too proficient in English and unable to read warning signs competently, used to carry bags of money around the world oblivious to how money can be transferred globally at the push of a button. Come to think of it, he was also a bit slow. The second had the reputation of being what the Hokkiens call �5-8-4�, or �lecherous� in plain ol� English. Better not complete this well- known story, which got somebody else behind bars for allegedly spreading falsehoods. Yet another MB, still serving in Pahang, was neither a gambler nor 5-8-4. But he was into sign language; not the useful kind that enables the disabled in speech to communicate, but the crude and crass kind. Imagine, this MB, publicly, in foul sign and body language told off some people who had boo-ed him while he was campaigning in a by-election. Yet he continues in high office and holds court in UMNO Pahang. Then there�s Syed Razak, the current MB of Kedah who was down with paresis earlier this year. He took leave for five weeks, is now back at work, but wishes to go on another long break without relinquishing his MB-ship. Is he so selfless � no, more likely, power-crazed � to ignore the fact that he�s not well? Is he so indispensable that Kedah UMNO will fall apart in his absence? Clearly, he needs a long rest. Consider his recent pronouncements. Recovered from his paresis, he called on Kedah assembly members to �stay fit to serve the rakyat�. That�s good advice. But in late June, he pronounced that �elected representatives must pass the acid test of being able to help people in distress; they have to be able to catch snakes, perform first aid and carry out rescue missions on land and water.� �It is mandatory for BN assemblymen�to join the Civil Defence Corps to acquire such skills�. Apparently, Syed Razak had led Kedah�s exco members in joining the Civil Defence Force. Each was accorded the honorary title of major while Syed Razak was made a colonel, of course. Here�s the catch: beginning from July, all assembly members and officials will begin to march together once a month on Wednesdays after the state exco meeting. It appears that his paresis has spread upwards to head level, don�t you think? Not a few assembly members are of the opinion that he deserves a rest � a long, long one. With towering individuals like these current and former MBs/CMs, no wonder UMNO has launched its new Putera wing. There�s a need to inject new blood, new ideas, and new vigour into the party. Not only has money politics and chronic gambling crept into the party, paresis is also creeping in. UUM, and a bit of UM Back to the snake-catching MB. There�s a danger that paresis is spreading beyond the party into the local universities, or at least to UUM which is located in Kedah too, not far from the MB�s place of residence and work. Of late, there has been debate in the mass media about how the administrators of Malaysia�s �oldest and leading university�, located in KL, might have indulged in questionable practices. Attention has focussed on possible irregularities in recent promotion exercises, on fidgeting with student marks without the knowledge of the examiners, and on the loss of highly qualified staff (e.g. Prof K.S Jomo and Assoc Prof Terence Gomez who have both departed for the UN). These allegations come from the university�s own academic staff association. While all this is going on, it�s incredible that the higher education minister goes ahead and appoints the government�s chief propagandist to head another university, in this case, UUM. Having been in charge of Biro Tata Negara (the National Civics Bureau) for seven years, and more generally in the bureaucracy for decades, Dr Nordin Kardi had been out of touch with academia goings-on. He is used to crafting training programmes to instil loyalty and discipline among high school students and civil servants; so how is he to engage in the pursuit of academic excellence and lofty principles like seeking truth? No, we�re not exaggerating the goals of this particular university, which under the late former VC, bless his soul, had self-styled UUM as a �world-class managerial university�, even the �Harvard of the East�. In fact, the old VC�s selling-point was his enduring loyalty to those who appointed him. And he paid back the favour by establishing the world�s largest and biggest - and probably the only - �Institute of Mahathir Thought�, whose mission it is to educate the world about aphorisms like �Vision 2020�, �Prosper thy Neighbour�, �Look East�, �Asian Values� and �Asian style democracy�. But there were also oddities like UUM�s attempt to get into the Malaysia Book of Records by planting the university flag simultaneously at 10 am on 25 June at the peak of seven mountains in the peninsula. Yes, UUM has become well-known internationally but not the way it intended. For in its attempt to get into the Book of Records, a member of the climbing expedition unexpectedly died, getting the wire services excited about why this Harvard of the East was so interested in performing stunts like this, instead of pursuing academic excellence. Like we said, Sintok, where UUM is located, is not that far from where the man with paresis resides. APs, not AB's, certainly not Dr M's APs � that�s Approved Permits. Introduced in 1970, the AP scheme to import cars was initially aimed at encouraging bumiputera entrepreneurs to be involved in the automobile industry. The AP matter captured national attention when former PM, Dr M, called on AB�s government, that�s current PM Abdullah Badawi, to divulge the names of those who had been given APs. There had been rumours of a �king of APs�, that �everyone working in [UMNO] HQ had 10 APs and was making RM8,000 a month selling them�, Dr M stated. To clear the air, he called for clarification on the number of APs issued, who they went to, what cars were brought in, and their costs . As advisor to the national car company, he was especially concerned that these imported cars might threaten the lifeline of Proton. A few days later he claimed that �improper conduct� by some AP holders had caused the country to lose RM1 billion a year. This was done via under-declaring the price of imported cars which meant a lower collection rate of import and sales taxes and excise duties. Dr M also claimed that he had instructed �a minister� to investigate the situation while he was still PM, apparently, to no avail. Dr M was clearly upping the ante. Enter International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, the minister Dr M referred to, who initially replied that it was unnecessary to divulge AP details. In reply, Dr M claimed that 67,000 APs had been issued the past year, 54,000 of which went to 20 companies, and the remainder to 82 companies. Rafidah had forgotten how persistent Dr M can be; after all, he had held the helm for 22 years and had �experimented� with four different deputies until he eased the way for AB. Finally, Rafidah was directed by AB to clarify the matter to the Cabinet and then to write to Dr M too. Hey presto! Before you could say `APs', the list had been made public. Apart from Nasimuddin of Ria cars fame, two of the other AP kings were previously attached to Rafidah's ministry. Hmmm ... Poor Rafidah, she used to be a favourite of the former PM and had rushed forward to protest when Dr M announced his intention to retire: �No, No No�Why Now?� she had then cried out. Perhaps she echoed the same sentiments this past month. In any case, she was brought to tears by the same man, for different reasons, of course. Also, on the first occasion she was crying when he was going to resign. This time the tears came as she was saying �I will not resign!� Going potters
Please support our work by buying a copy of our print publication, Aliran Monthly, from your nearest news-stand. Better still take out a subscription now. If you prefer to read our web-based edition, please support our work and make a donation. Now tell us what you think in fewer than 250 words. Your comments may be published in the Letters section of our print magazine, Aliran Monthly. | |||||||||||||||
On the first occasion she was crying when (Mahathir) was going to resign. This time the tears came as she was saying �I will not resign!�
