Apr 27, 2001

The national police, acting under directions of the Umno party strategists, have made a number of arrests. The reason given is that street demonstrations were planned, and these were a threat to national security. They were arrested prior to a planned event, the delivery of a memorandum to the Human Rights Commission requesting certain reforms.

The affair happened as planned, even though the men who planned it were incarcerated. The event was a peaceful one, and all present agreed there was no necessity for alarm or peremptive arrests.

Yet the men have not been released. The arrests under the ancient ISA law are very unpopular. The episode is a very costly one for the Umno-BN party-in-power, as it most assuredly has cost them majority support. The question then, is why did they do it?

Politics is another variety of adult game, in which the winner gets money and power. The game must be played under the subterfuge of democratic processes. Games have rules, and good game players learn how to win within the rules.

In politics, however, the game often gets dirty. The rules are twisted until they become unrecognizable. Every effort is made to conceal the fact that unfair advantage has been taken. This is done in an effort to disarm potential opponents.

In general, it is not fair to incarcerate members of the opposing team. To bind him hand and foot. To submit him to various types of torture. To separate him from friends and family. To harass any and all who might come to help. This is the "dirty pool" being played in Malaysia today.

There is great public outcry against the arrests. Yet those arrested have not been released. The event is long past, but the men have not been released. The ambitious well-paid public prosecutors and the poor black-mailed judge have been pressed into action as political pawns again. Justice and the law have been made odorous. All throughout the world are nauseated.

The Umno-BN conspirators employ strategists who do nothing but devise means to play the political game for wealth and power. All share the spoils, though there is great inequity in the distribution.

The strategists are successful, if somewhat heavy-handed. Their moves are too transparent for anything but a temporary advantage. Departure from the rules has cost them the ultimate victory. They know they have lost the long term war, so the present strategy is to wage a rear-guard action. To hold on as long as possible, making plans for all eventualities. All current events thus must be seen in the perspective of a delaying action.

The question arises why the Umno-Bn strategists made plans to arrest these men, and to hold them without trial or counsel. Why have they accepted the loss of all future support? Certainly there is a reason this move was felt necessary.

Why The Arrests Were Made

Look at this picture. It tells the story well.

The picture was taken the day of the election in Lunas. The man in the picture has intercepted a number of buses bringing illegal voters into Lunas. The illegal votes are crucial to win the election, though by fraudulent means.

Umno planners have objected to their illegal voters being prevented from voting. They argue that the passengers are just ardent supporters, volunteering to help in the election. Such help on election day is illegal in Malaysia.

The people on the bus confess they were paid RM50 by Umno officials to cast an illegal vote. The election officials refused to confirm or deny their registration. Both the passengers and those who paid them have committed a crime. Neither passengers nor their paymasters have been charged, though their names are known to the police. The election officials and the police are seen as accomplices in the act.

The man in the picture has caught them in the act. He is telling a senior Umno strategist not to talk nonsense to him. He is saying, "Khalil Yaakob, don't lie to me. You and I both know the truth, because we both have planned many, many of these same operations ourselves."

The man in this picture stopped the buses carrying phantom voters to Lunas. Umno lost the Lunas election. They hold this man responsible. When he filed a police report over the bus incident, alleging electoral fraud, the police ignored it. Instead they filed a police report against him, along with others also active. They have been arrested, too.

The loss of Lunas was a disaster for Umno-BN. The facade of invulnerability was destroyed. All saw an election won by fair means. The fraud of the 1999 general election was exposed. The argument that the party-in-power is the choice of the majority was seen to be a lie.

The power of the Umno-BN is exercised through control of the parliament seats. The candidates have been assured that the seats are safe, and that once Umno-BN choses a candidate, his success at the polls is assured. This is true so long as the electoral process is suborned. The promise depends on the ability to rig the elections. The phantom voters play a large role, alongside election officials who cheat in various ways.

But Lunas showed that victory by fraud is not a guarantee. The candidates cannot depend on the buses anymore. Umno-BN is threatened with wholesale revolt, losing not only parliament but states as well.

Fauzi made the situation plain. His resentment at the Umno-BN attempt to close ranks by eliminating any remaining Anwar supporters led him to threaten a by-election in Beserah. He has brought charges against Khalil, the unseen man in the picture. Khalil has not been charged. The matter is being hushed up within the party.

After the last election the Umno-BN thought they could sit back and rest easy for five years. Fauzi has shown them this is not the case. Now the seats are all in question. The seat holders can now blackmail the party. If the party doesn't pay up, the seat holder will force a by-election, and threaten to join the opposition.

Confidence that an election can be won must be restored. To do this it must be shown that the buses can get through. The men who stopped the buses must be kept in the penalty box. If they can be kept in jail, then the election can be won, and the party can again say, "Look, we can still guarantee your seat." The young men who stopped the buses are in jail. But the issue is still not certain. How many more are waiting in the wings to step into their shoes? That is the great uncertainty. The depth of support must be determined before another election can be held.

Beserah must be delayed as long as possible. Ditto for Sarawak. No election can be allowed until victory is a certainty. That is the strategy. Will it work?

The people have become more politically astute, and many state and parliament seats will certainly fall to the BA in any coming election. The Umno-BN politicians holding precariously to their state and parliament seats, have begun to opportunistically change sides, preferring to present themselves as a BA party candidate in the next election.

Umno branch and division elections have not all transpired as hoped. There are new faces, not dependable, replacing the old. Many who are responsible for the unjust treatment of Anwar were defeated. This is frightening to the old guard at the top. One chief strategist, the finance minister (with much at stake), has felt it necessary to take leave in order to direct the battle. He is on leave from his public post in order to better concentrate his time and energies on the greater battle behind the scenes.

The men are not to be released from prison. They know too much. They are willing to risk all to stop the buses. Any who come forward to help them or their families will also be subject to arrest. The strategy is to isolate the detainees and their families, intimidating the opposition workers into acquiesence and silence.

It will not work. Why it will not work is the subject of another column. There are many reasons. In the meantime, watch the on-leave finance minister. He was named in the Anwar trials as the mastermind behind the conspiracy. He is now free to devote all his attention and energy to the stock market. Beware a low volume rally. He, not the home minister, gives strategic direction for the police force. It is his not-so-hidden hand that grasps the throat of the people.

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