When Political Hope Meets Incontravertible Fact

The Police want more time to investigate the fire at the Universiti Malaya's Dewan Tunku Canselor last month. The Fire department says, in a technical report, it is frayed wires, not anti-government intent or arson, which gutted the building. But UMNO confidently stated, within hours, it was arson. UMNO Youth chief, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, and Puteri UMNO chief, Miss Azlina Mohamed Said, both lawyers, demanded nothing short of the vice chancellor's head.

Other toothless UMNO rottweillers, including the chief of the Foundation of the Movers of the Vision (Yayasan Pengerak Wawasan), Tan Sri Dr Rahim Tamby Chik, were in no doubt anti-government miscreants in and out of government burnt it to prevent the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, addressing a conference there the next day. UMNO vice president and federal cabinet minister, Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin, said the fire showed student fanaticism and narrow-mindedness. They have not apologised, as they should.

Following the gutting, two undergraduates were detained under the Internal Security Act. DTC suddenly is transformed into a national institution, all of 35 years old, which should be saved because thousands of undergraduates, with heart-rending stories to buttress it, had spent many pleasant hours, met their spouses, fell in love, awarded their degress there. But this failed, as it must. With an independent-minded vice chancellor, Professor Annuar Zaini Mohamed Zain, UMNO and other political parties had little role in its running. The students would not accept the former and the university authorities would not the latter. That is not the "level playing field" UMNO is accustomed to.

But how, and who, caused the DTC fire is shrouded in mystery. One at Subang airport was God-sent to build KLIA at speed. Unseen hands helped, one was sent to jail. KLIA, as we now know, is destined to remain a white elephant, with airlines deserting it to make Changi and Don Maung even more crowded. No one believes the official report on the Subang fire, as no one does the DTC fire. No one believed the anti-government arson as no one the faulty wiring. Is there, as in Subang, a hidden hand? One cannot discount it. UMNO leaders and student posters condemned the arson within five hours of the fire at 3 am. How could that be? A fire at another university, and at an LRT station, we were quickly assured, was not arson. As, now, the DTC is not.

But when arson is suspected, why did not the government act swiftly? The Prime Minister's life was put at needless risk. And it kept quiet. Why? It was the education minister, not the home minister, who took charge. Why? Too many questions beg answers that what the government says, even if the truth, is disbelieved. It could not get Malaysians to pitch in to rebuild the DTC. The Prime Minister contributed RM600. Few cabinet ministers went along. The Malaysia Boleh fraternity of business men and internationally known tycoons of unquestioned repute did not dip into their pockets.

UMNO and the government miscalculated yet again. When it cried arson, the Malays, the thinking ones, praised whoever did it. The void between Malay government and Malay community is so wide that what UMNO and government leaders say is disbelieved. Then the government changed tack: there is enough money left over from the insurance payments to rebuild it without effort. But it would be shell of what it was. Cronies would now build a much larger auditorium, grander and more costly than DTC.

So, we come back to the intriguing question: Is there a dalang behind the fire? Like it is believed there was at Subang? Was it to show that the government is in control of the university? The UMNO youth and puteri reaction suggests it. But the arson probability damaged the government more than it did the anti-government "miscreants". It sought, and failed, to bring the undergraduates, with frustrations beyond the Anwar affair, to heel. It hectors, shouts, rails against the undergraduates which it insists should support it for the education they get, swallow their pride, and root for the greater glory of UMNO.

It kept them on a tight leash, cracking down hard on any who dares raise his voice. A few who dared, including the former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, dared, and were detained. Even the students then said they deserved what they got. Now it is different. Too many undergraduates are of like mind, their grievances more than the political spark taking over. As Martin Luther King said, riots are the language of the unheard. The government sees it as a call to arms. But it read it wrong. As when Political Hope met Incontrovertible Fact met at the DTC.