http://www.malaysia.net/aliran/monthly/2001/5j.html

Thinking Allowed - An Exemplar?

'At a time when people in other multi-racial countries are still clawing at each other, Malaysians have already advanced' said Dr Mahathir.

'The diversity in the races making up Malaysia can give the country a competitive edge over others in the globalisation era', Ling Liong Sik remarked.

'The ISA, far from detracting from efforts to strengthen national unity had contributed much to making the country what it is today', added Pak Lah.

The occasion was a conference held in mid-May to showcase Malaysia as an exemplar of inter-ethnic relations. Many would dispute Pak Lah's rationalization for the need of the ISA. But Dr M and Ling are right. There prevails ethnic harmony in Malaysia. And our multi-ethnic make-up could work to our advantage.

What about intra-ethnic ties?

Well there's also some improvement on this score. MIC factions do not resort to fisticuffs and throw chairs at one another anymore. But the struggle between Ling and the 'Gang of 8', and the widespread protest against the MCA's takeover of Nanyang, suggests that there's lots of room for improvement. What about the on-again, off-again Malay unity talks between UMNO and Pas? Indeed, what is one to make of Dr M's comment - 'We are not at war with one another' - when asked about his relations with Daim after the latter's resignation from the cabinet?

Kuch Kuch Hota-hai

For you non-Hindi speakers, that means 'something is happening'. Yes, something is happening in the PPP. It used to be said that the PPP, one of the smallest BN parties, got more media coverage than many of its bigger BN partners. But it was not the sort of publicity that would make Malaysia an exemplar of inter- or intra-ethnic relations. For it appeared that the chair-throwers had moved from the MIC to PPP. Subsequently the party's leaders matured: they began to take their quarrels to the courts instead.

Then came Kayveas. He introduced a whole new approach in getting the PPP into the press. By all accounts he gave the MIC president a good fight in toadyism.

Before you could say kuch kuch hota-hai Kayeas was appointed senator and then deputy minister. The PM must have recognized his potential.

And now the PPP has acquired a plot of land in a proposed Bandar Universiti, in Seri Iskandar (near Tronoh), and announced plans to launch its own university. This is no Bollywood joke. Why, Kayeas has also given notice, presumably to the warring BN parties, that he intends to ask for 8 parliamentary and 18 state seats in the next election. Either PPP imagines that it is the party- exemplar, or, this is the latest approach that Kayeas has dreamed up on how to maintain steady media coverage for himself.

An Academic Exercise

Imagine, 'there are some RM40 million worth of unsold books authored by local academics collecting dust in the DBP'. That's Pak Lah speaking. The deputy PM was commenting on Education Minister Musa Mohamad's remark that Malaysian academics were publishing too few books compared to their foreign counterparts. 'If there's no market for their books, how can you expect them to keep writing ?'

Freedom Under Executive Power in Malaysia, written by Rais Yatim is not one of these DBP books. It is too scathing a criticism of the executive and the DBP would not have published it. Lim Kit Siang has decribed Rais' book as 'the most powerful denunciation of the ISA'.

Asked to comment, Rais said: 'I don't stand by what is studied academically'. The book 'was merely an academic exercise'.

If all authors were like Rais, it is small wonder why Malaysians do not wish to read, let alone buy academic books. On the other hand, if Rais does not stand by his book which he spent so many years researching and writing, where does he stand? One wonders how this born-again UMNO leader, who as Semangat 46 deputy leader condemned Dr M unceasingly, can now wax eloquent about the same person? Maybe Rais is simply communicating that he's being propped.

Send in the clones

'Follow the leader' is not just child's play. In politics it can be a most tiresome game to play if you're not the leader. In fact if the leader is 'No. 1' and you're 'No. 2', the game could get rough. Rules can change halfway in the game and leave you resigned to your fate. Horses can be changed midstream so that you'd have to retire. Once annointed, you can be twice disappointed, if not worse. If you don't follow the leader closely enough, you can be damned. If you follow too closely.?

Let's see now. Once when No. 1 was asked, 'What kind of a person can best be your annointed successor, he, with no trace of irony, replied, 'Someone like me'. Since then reporters and party members and investors and everyone else have been worried about succession problems. Since many Malaysians feel snubbed if they think the universe isn't paying attention to their problems, you could say the whole world has been asking, 'Is there someone like him'?

Be Insecure No More. End your search. Follow me.

When an ex-No. 2 was bashed up in prison, No. 1 was not disturbed by the famous 'black eye'. But 'maybe it was self-inflicted', No. 1 infamously hinted. Too bad, this historical statement had to be erased because there was an Inflict-er who was himself No. 1 in the police force during the material time. (Latest, though, the convicted Inflict-er was out on good behaviour, an interesting reason for keeping him in jail for a shorter period than ISA detainees who hadn't inflicted anything on anyone ... except perhaps a defeat in a small town called Lunas).

Then came No. 2's turn. A High Court judge announced that a 'mystery caller' had telephoned to direct him to strike out an election petition. Election petitions involving phantom voters can be ghastly affairs. Houses can be strangely inhabited by non-resident permanent residents. Fully loaded outstation buses can actually arrive on time. This time, No. 1 kept quiet. He'd learned when not to sing a tune such as 'The Call Was Self-dialled'. Safer to stick with the old favourite, 'My Way'.

But No. 2's singing lessons were just under way. So he sang, 'The Call Was a Hoax'. Tough luck, dodo. There was a Call-guy and he was not a Crank. He was then No. 1 in the judiciary.

Question: Why does 'follow the leader' end in a joke? Answer: Because everyone wants to be his own boss, every boss wants his own man, and every man wants his own clone ... so every clone becomes a clown.

Labouring under a misconception