Epic Play on the PWTC Stage

This Sunday's Interlude is special in that it's a continuation of Saturday's Viewing Malaysia's Political Landscape, which you must read first as a Prelude before venturing further.

We have seen over the recent weeks several acts that constitute The Play along the lines of The Bard's works -- except the stage is not in London but at the Putra World Trade Centre, where dwell all the UMNOputra-gladiators fighting not the lions, or maurauders from a neighbouring country; no, it's a fight among brothers and sisters, and comrades, and among them are many Cassius and Brutus, "all honourable men".

From "As You Like It" cometh these lines to remind us mortals, of 21st century alike 16th century England or Rome; the times have not changed much, revealing the true nature of The Constant Man.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,..."

On the PWTC Stage is the line-up: Members of Parliament, the Senate, oh, yes, the Cabinet members, current and ertswhile... yes, Prime Ministers, current and ertswhile.

And from Julius Caesar you remember these lines, do you not? ~~

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. "


And the first dagger had already been drawn, prefacing the famous act at the Roman Capitol where the Senators had gathered on the Ides of March.
Adapting Mark Antony's rousing speech, do you say:

"Friends, Malaysians, countrymen, lend me your ears...
I came here not to honour Pak Lah but to protect him..."?

OR alternatively: replace "Pak Lah" with "Dr Mahathir Mohamad"...?

For the moment, they are the main protagonists/actors, a current PM and a former PM, and surely their confrontation would be of epic proportions, yes?

I deliberately put a question mark there because I myself am in some doubt. What stand do I -- as a concerned citizen-- take in the ongoing saga?
Spectators we are not 100%, for when two elephants fight, the little mousedeer like you and me, are caught in between the moving ground...

We have already seen some daggers drawn, followed by well nigh utterances of "Et tu, Brute!" , but still not truly. The scripts are still being written.

The current Sandiwara started about one month ago when ACT 1: Scene 1 saw former PM Dr Mahathir firing the first salvo, centring around four issues. No, I wo't cite the four issues here, for they aren't the foci. These are mere smokescreens from the Challenger spoiling for a fight. What will happen would become the most uninhibited show of force between two brothherly factions, Mahathir-plus-proxies (Camp 1) versus current PM Abdullah-plus-proxies (Camp 2). And the viciousness of it all would be equal to, or even surpass that of the annihilation of then DPM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by Mahathir. And it's no more semen tained mattresses being brought to court.

It's multi-BILLION ringgit suits being exposed in the courts, not too comfortable for the former PM who thought to his dismay that he had a tame 'Mr Nice Guy" for a successor who just won't rock the sampan! But I respect the good doctor that he readily admitted to often "making wrong judgements" of people.

Act 1: Scene 2 saw the present DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak making an appearnce forced on him, siding with his incumbent master. Najib would be the Cassius in Shakespeare's play, though not having the lean-and-hungry look. Nevertheless, equally dangerous -- ask Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who thought, again wrongly, Najib was on his side when he fought Dr Mahathir. Najib represents another major player, and this maketh Camp 3's leader. Can you guess by now who makes up Camp 4's head? No, it's not Khairy Jamaludin as alluded by many quarters -- it's Najib's counterpart arising from a rebirth -- enters Anwar Ibrahim OFF THE PWTC STAGE, but breathing nearby as a maurading potential PM-on-the-comeback-trail.

So Desi has outlined the CAST. Let us look into some intrigues, via a popular storyteller at malaysia-today.net. Yes, Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) is well suited to walk the corridors of power and royalty and plays the "Disinterested Party" -- the racounteur of tales through prose and song...

To be continued later while the scribe takes a tea-break; writ(H)ing through the labyrinth is an energy-sapping process.

Came back from surfing xpyred.textfiend.net and here extracted are some thoughts worth sharing which I presumed permission's given; you see, some jornalists are pretty presumptious, and thickskinned like some PWTC actors:


Reservations on some Bloggers' reliability
~~~~~
"Since everyone's a-buzz about Khairy Jamalludin (the PM's son-in-law), I thought it'd be prudent to check up again on Malaysia-Today's on-going serialized saga surrounding him. And boy, has the drama increased. I suddenly remembered why I stopped reading Raja Petra Kamaruddin's take on Khairy: too much melodrama, tantalizing, Da Vinci Code-like hints, and conspiracy theories rolled into one.

The fact of the matter is, I don't like stories about secret, back-room goings-on because I hate it that there are some bits of information restricted only to those 'in-the-know'. It's just pretty elitist, and, such information being only restricted to some parties, makes its veracity a bit dodgy. If only one or two 'know', then the most logical question is: 'are they telling the truth?'"

xpyred's last question is important -- because RPK's not just a racoonteur, he's also a bit-player having served as Director, Free Anwar Campaign, for several years which ended with the release of the former DPM from prison after serving six years. Also, it's interesting that RPK, like Desi, has asked Anwar to remember the Reformasi supporters, remember Hishamuddin Rais and his universiti Bangsa boys, some blardy stout hearted gals too! and essentially posing the same question I had asked: *Saudara Anwar, Quo Vadis?

(*This term is often used by Anwar, pronounced in his unique way where the first "a" sound is dropped, quite endearing actually, especially when it's the females it's directed at like su'dari.) Airie-fairie, so romantic and cute, I like it.

I share xpyred's reservations about RPK's anecdotes as they seemed to come from pretty "privileged" sources not avialable to the common man. Trace back to Khairy's Chronicles detailing the young man's intrigues with The Negri Sembilan royalty to bring down some politician's heady days in power as he now gets in the way of the Oxfordian's ambitions. But still, RPK's insights do shed some light about the top factions fighting over the country's BOUNTY, and now there are signs of a MUTINY within UMNO's ranks as those caught in no-man's land like ZAM, a Seremban division UMNO head, and some Menteri Besar are making their own discernible moves for survival, and not become the victims of collateral damage flowing from the two elephants fighting on the PWTC Stage.


All these cans of worms are opening up because once the fabled Pandora's Box is opened, many jins and toyols are set free, and the Malays, especially power-crazed politicians, still believe in the power of the Bomoh and other supra-naturals, don't they?

But one gem I gathered from RPK's folksy tales is that he authoritatively related that Malays do not engage in direct combat like taking a first strike ala Karate chop, or Kick-boxing =-- killing theonent in one fell swoop. No. It's dance-like performance on the PWTC Stage -- like doing the traditional Malay Silat or Chinese Tai-chi, hence the Play in many Acts. Many scenes, some obscene.

RPK's Khairy Chronicles, to my mind, make the young man seem larger than life. Yes, because he married the PM's daughter, Khairy was touted by an international press (which enjoys sensationalising the issues anyway, like most mass mdedia...) as the second most powerful person (after the PM) in Malaysia, at age 28 then.

Camp1's detractors, via Hatchetman/Henchman/bit player Matthias Chang, had alluded to Khairy's utilisation of banking facilities amounting to about RM10million to buy into ACM Libra, ow ACM Libra Avenue following a merger, closely aligned with anothher proxy, Kalimullah Hassan, much maligned too by Camp1. Because Kali served some years at the Singapore's Straits Times, there's now some wildfire spread conspiracy between this journolist-turned corporate, yet serving as Deputy Chairman of NSTP,also writing occasionallly, with his former workplace across the Causeway.

The NST, which we all know could not get a new lease of life since the near-fatal Mahathir-Razaleigh Face-Off, briniging UMNO to its knees -- is half-dead precisely because of the perception the dailies in the NSTP stable, including the NST, serve the incumbent PM and UMNO more than the readers. And that's a crippling, one day could be fatal, proposition for a business entity, don't you think?

These two, Khairy and Kali, are of course Pak Lah's chief proxies, but their time is not yet to play roles at centre stage.

So what is the FACE-OFF all about?

Anwar in a recent press interview said Malaysia's main challenge is these interesting times is the country's ECONOMY.
Translated to the ordinary layman's language, It's all about the MONEY..


The Intimate Politician-Corporate Nexus

The real reason why the UMNOputras are going to war is not about the wrongs and abuses of past and present Administrations. It's all about the public purse -- the access to it.

Mega-projects translate into megabucks.
From the 1980s, Malaysia has not stopped talking in terms of billions anymore. To gain that 15 minutes, a tycoon has to be involved in a deal worth at least one billion ringgit.

Yes, RM1,000,000,000. Nine zeroes, see?

Proxy Chang referred to Khairy's use of banking facilities of about RM10,000,000. To buy shares in ACM Libra. It's like comparing ikan bilis and sharks, No?

But does he recall that one MCA youth was granted bank facilities in principle amounting to RM1,200,000,000 in 1997/98 to enable him to take control of at least FOUR COMPANIES ON THE KLSE, among them Rekapacific? Or have short memoried Malaysians all forgotten, or is it forgiven? That earned the borrower the title of "That youngest billionaire-at-27", remember? Then all the mainstream media, especially Hua Ren-owned The Star and MCA aligned Nanyang Siang Pau were singing his praises as a role model to emulate for Y&A, don't you remember?

So leaders of tomorrow, want to follow in Eat, Drink and Be Merry policy, and be handsomely rewarded with millions before you turn 30?

So to me, it's barking up the wrong tree if Camp1 proxies like Chang wish to bring Khairy down pulling at straws. For corporate players with connections, of course they would use such connections, but is that an offence? Yell "corruption"? Don't you recall MISC being bailed out by Petronas, and what were the connections? So a father as PM, or a Father-in-Law, is the "most toppest connection", pardon borrowing The Bard's Poetic Licence!, is it not, compared with like say, a Transport Minister?

Yes, I like what Mave SM analysed in his comment recently: "...But many are not seeing through the smokescreen via MC-guided publicity. It is not about that he is from a political party; it's more to it down under. It's a game, a politically motivated economic game where the commercial benefits are the objectives behind the smokescreen [period].

Yes, the end-game is to get the biggest piece of pie from the Malaysian cake -- do you "SEE" the latest Petronas net profit of RM43.6billion for financial year ended March 2006, up 23% from the previous year's RM35.5billion! An also do you "SEE" the megabucks from the cancelled bridge to Singapore, the latest RM8billion YTL-proposed Bullet Train from Kuala Lumpur to JB, maybe Singapore.

Camp1 represents the eroding Old Order of a past PM not willing to let go.
Camp2 represents the just three-years-in-the-reaping PM, aided by Oxford trained son-in-law, that's not a crime, is it?

I am not condoning either Camp for their Money Politics, for Money Politics is like a cancer that's UMNO speciality. Do you think with Petronas' rising profits every year, they would share it with you -- like lowering the petrol pump prices? I hope you join Desi (Mave too) in saying more prayers at night. I. S. Amen. The predominance of one ethnic group in the national oil corporation's employ plus all the top executives being UMNO-sanctioned servants, means that Petronas is jealously guarded as an UMNO vehicle, not Malaysia's, as long as the richest firm in the country is not accountable to Parliament. And the strange anomaly which must be some "discomfort" to Camp2 is that the Adviser is none other than ex-PM Dr Mahathir.
The question arises is why did Pak Lah approve the apppointment? Or did the current PM have the appointment forced on him as fait accompli?

Now when the Crooked Bridge was aborted, DPM Najib was caught in a no-man's land. He was in a bind.
He owes Dr Mahathir one, just as Dr Mahathir owed Najib's father one for bringing him back from the wilderness into UMNO from which he was sacked by Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bapa Merdeka, who died scorned and deserted by the party he served as Chief from the days pre- and post-Independence.


Many Brutus-asses in the making

Maybe we are seeing the ferris wheel turning --
WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND?

IN true survivalist UMNO politics, Najib was forced into a corner in India, and in a carefully worded statement, he expressed solidarity with Camp2's chief. Yes, Mr Prime Minister. No, Sorry to the good doctor, ex-Prime Minister. Gratitude is of lesser importance to my loyalty to Captain, My Captain. A well nigh "Et tu, Najib!" -- (Brutus ala-UMNO number one) and many more will follow in subsequent Acts that will play, with twists and turns.

And when Anwar was fingered via the MALTRADE HQ BUILDING multi-million ringgit fiasco's link by Samy Vellu, another bit player, it was just a matter of time/dime the other powerful Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin was "fingered". So enter the low-profile second most powerful -- or was it the most powerful? -- man in Malaysia from the Old Order. His holiday in England might have to be aborted in future.

The "dime" man as many Malaysians call him, with some whisper of envy, or is it disdain? -- what an irony for one dealing with "billions" while sitting as Finance Minister and UMNO Treasurer -- made a forced appearance on the PWTC stage a few days ago when Tajudin Ramli, flagged off durig Mahathir's era as the face of success under Malaysia Inc fingered Mahathir as then PM, and Daim as Finance Minister, in asking him (TR) to perform National Service by buying controlling equity interest in Malaysia Airlines using bank facilities of RM1.8billion, then the highest loan given to any individual in Malaysia, with Money-Back Guarantee! (Wow, I don't mind offering myself to perform NS for 1% of the price!)

I quote from theNST report recorded here earlier:"The transaction was a national service but disguised as an arm’s-length commercial deal because the Government wanted it that way to appease the investment community and the public," said the tycoon.

One of the corporate captains nurtured by the Mahathir administration, Tajudin claims he was a nominee of the Government and there was an "Overriding Agreement" covering this whole opaque transaction.

So another dagger has gone into Mahathir's chest. "Et tu, TR!" How many how can an old hand at age 81 take? That's the question.
Maybe Chang or Tengku Mahaleel Ariff may take out a "keris" for a counter-strike?

Or Malaysians wait with bated breath for their beloved PM, and ex-PM, to return from their sojourns overseas. Holiday, or planning more scripts with their hatchetmen or henchmen. Or scribes?

Talking about scribes, Mahathir's FACE-OFF has one fringe benefit -- it opens up a SPRINGTIME OF OPENNESS FOR SOME MEDIA, and the Fifth Estate-aspirants consisting of several just-retired Fourth Estaters like RockyBru and AbdulKadirJasin are getting into the Acts. At the moment, I can't fathom JeffOoi's screenshots or barbs flying in the "right" direction, can you?We must enjoy this springtime of openness and freer airing space for as long while it lasts because I think it is more illusion than reality -- it serves the incumbent more than its adversaries, so freedom in the mass media is loud&allowed. Until...?

Meanwhile, the traditional beat of the Silat drum beats.
The mousedeer watch with fascination from the sidewalks adjoining PWTC.
The scripwriters work overtime at the NST or at Putrajaya and some well-guarded palaces.
I wished I could meet with the late MGG Pillai ("Chiaroscuro" to help me see the light from the Darkness and different shades of grey...)in Brickfields for CON BF tomorrow (later today factually as I'm writing in te wee hours of darkness before the World Cup FACE-OFF for number 3 placing...) to seek his version. He had a mighty network even the arresting RPK would envy. I do, I do -- envy the both of them.

But there always will be fresh faces to fill such vacuum, proving true the dictum: NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM.

The only difference is that some of these fillers (especially ex-GEIC/s of NST, are also players, bit or major, I don't know, in the unfolding drama. We are patient; we'll wait and SEE.


PS: My backside is killing me, typing this for an hour plus; and then stuck to steel-botttom chair for two hours enjoying Germany's 3-1 stomp over Portugal. This gives the lie to many conspiracy stories that Germany would throw the game away. As punters mostly had betted on Germant winning, with 1/2-goal concession gievn some more. So the second last hurrah would be by common folks and punters having the last laugh on the gambling kingpins. Yes, like many of Malaysia's politikus,especially from UMNO and MCA, some syndicates think they can buy up the Players on The Stage. But Germany's footballs and football fields and Players are not Made-in-Kampong Pandan or Jinjang New Village. They call it the Fifa World Cup -- not the UMNO Cup. Or Desi's Cuppa.

I'll carry on this discussion coming week, Insya-allah. The spirit is willing BUT DESI "SEES" NO MONEY FORTHCOMING scribing this script. Petronas, Petronas, where art thou hiding with the RM44billion? 44 in Chinoserie translates as "Sui Sui OR Sie, Sie" -- can be "Water" meaning Money, OR Pretty (Conundrum, remember?), OR can be "Die, Die...!" Wanna take a bet it's more likely the later?