These two PKR men are now missing. They have been missing since the last four days and no one knows where they are. But they are not really missing as such. They are safely in the hands of Umno. And Umno wants them to agree to a deal.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Buy them, or kill them! That is the theme for the Year of the Ox. And that is the theme Umno lives by. And if you live by the sword, so will it be that way you die, by the sword. Make no bones about it. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
I remember the story told to me 20 years ago by an Umno stalwart. A certain one-time Menteri Besar of a certain state was on his deathbed. Friends and relatives read his last rites by his bedside, basically reading the Surah Yassin for he who is about to die.
But he would not die. He lingered on and on, not wanting to die and yet barely alive. His mouth would move when spoon-fed with soup. Yes, he who lived a life of makan suap (corruption) was being makan suap (spoon-fed) the last days of his life here on earth.
It soon became very tiring. Here was a man supposed to die whom they were reading his last rites. But he would not go away. He stayed on, neither alive nor dead. How to make him leave?
They called in a religious man, a man most respected by the Muslim community. The religious man told the family to open the safe and take out some of the millions stashed away in it. This was no time for discussion or debate. They did as they were told.
The religious man took out handfuls of cash from the safe and stuffed them into a pillowcase. The pillowcase, now full and bursting at its seams, was handed to the man who would not die, the man lying on his deathbed the last one week, he who was once the all-powerful and most corrupted Menteri Besar of this extremely rich state, the frail and very sick man who was not alive yet would not die.
The once very powerful and extremely rich man hugged his pillowcase stuffed with money, broke into a smile, gave a deep sigh, and closed his eyes and breathed his last breath. He was now gone from this world and entered the next.
Yes, this one-time Menteri Besar lived for money. He would only die with his money gripped tightly in his arms. He lived by the sword. He died by the sword. Money was his ‘God’. From money he came, to money he returned. Not dust to dust and ashes to ashes, but cash to cash. And his heaven was the printing press where they print money. That is where he resides in his ‘next world’.
Umno is not a political party. No doubt that is what it once was. But, that, it no longer is. Umno is now a trading house. It is a business. It is the new-age East India Company of Malaya or the Noble House of Hong Kong. It is what the old British companies used to do 200 years ago in this region.
The old Colonial masters used to buy and sell power. And to buy and sell power you need to buy and sell people. And people who could not be bought and sold would be incarcerated or killed. That is the Colonial game. That is the way the British played the power game. But the British are no longer around. They are no longer Malaya’s Colonial masters. We have a new Colonial master. And that Colonial master is called Umno.
I too was offered a deal. Work for the incoming regime, those who will be the new Colonial masters in March 2009, and become filthy rich. To resist is futile. Power can’t be resisted. To resist would mean to incur the wrath of the new masters who will be so in March 2009.
The alternative would be imprisonment. The two choices are simple: work for the powers-that-be and become rich or go to jail. I chose jail. So, two weeks later, on 12 September 2008, they came to my house and sent me to the Kamunting Detention Centre.
But I had good lawyers. And my lawyers did something never before done in the almost 50 years history of the Internal Security Act. They managed to convince the court that my detention was illegal and that I should not be in Kamunting but instead should be sent home. And the judge in the Shah Alam High Court agreed. So he sent me home.
The government is now appealing the Shah Alam High Court decision. They want the Federal Court in Putrajaya to declare that the Shah Alam High Court judge erred and that I should not have been released. This is the final stage of my fight. If they win, I get sent back to Kamunting. There is no further recourse. There is no higher court for me to continue my fight. The Federal Court is the last stop. It is the court of the last resort. I either remain free or I get detained indefinitely.
I asked for seven judges -- at the very least, five. The Federal Court has refused my application. My fate now lies in the hands of only three judges. Seven judges would have been safer. Five would not have been too bad. With only three judges my chances are slimmer. And three men are going to decide whether I continue sleeping in my comfortable bedroom the next few years, until the day I die, or I get to spend my last days in a hellhole.
I could have taken the money. I could have enjoyed the remaining years of my life in comfort. Now, I face the risk of spending my final days as the life of a detainee. But that is how Umno works. They try to buy you. And if they can’t buy you, they kill you. And if killing is not an option, they at least incarcerate you. That is the only game they know how to play.
When Pakatan Rakyat formed the Perak and Selangor state governments soon after 8 March 2008, Umno quickly offered PAS a deal. If PAS was prepared to form a coalition with Umno in Perak and Selangor, they agreed to allow PAS to become the Menteri Besar of these two states. As a sweetener, Umno also agreed that the Islamic law of Hudud be implemented in Perak and Selangor. Umno will give PAS its Hudud that it seeks.
It was a sweet deal. Not only will PAS be running Perak and Selangor and will hold the post of the Chief Operation Officers of these two states, but PAS will also realise its dream of seeing Hudud as the law of the land where it had failed in Kelantan 20 years ago and Terengganu ten years ago.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Buy them, or kill them! That is the theme for the Year of the Ox. And that is the theme Umno lives by. And if you live by the sword, so will it be that way you die, by the sword. Make no bones about it. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
I remember the story told to me 20 years ago by an Umno stalwart. A certain one-time Menteri Besar of a certain state was on his deathbed. Friends and relatives read his last rites by his bedside, basically reading the Surah Yassin for he who is about to die.
But he would not die. He lingered on and on, not wanting to die and yet barely alive. His mouth would move when spoon-fed with soup. Yes, he who lived a life of makan suap (corruption) was being makan suap (spoon-fed) the last days of his life here on earth.
It soon became very tiring. Here was a man supposed to die whom they were reading his last rites. But he would not go away. He stayed on, neither alive nor dead. How to make him leave?
They called in a religious man, a man most respected by the Muslim community. The religious man told the family to open the safe and take out some of the millions stashed away in it. This was no time for discussion or debate. They did as they were told.
The religious man took out handfuls of cash from the safe and stuffed them into a pillowcase. The pillowcase, now full and bursting at its seams, was handed to the man who would not die, the man lying on his deathbed the last one week, he who was once the all-powerful and most corrupted Menteri Besar of this extremely rich state, the frail and very sick man who was not alive yet would not die.
The once very powerful and extremely rich man hugged his pillowcase stuffed with money, broke into a smile, gave a deep sigh, and closed his eyes and breathed his last breath. He was now gone from this world and entered the next.
Yes, this one-time Menteri Besar lived for money. He would only die with his money gripped tightly in his arms. He lived by the sword. He died by the sword. Money was his ‘God’. From money he came, to money he returned. Not dust to dust and ashes to ashes, but cash to cash. And his heaven was the printing press where they print money. That is where he resides in his ‘next world’.
Umno is not a political party. No doubt that is what it once was. But, that, it no longer is. Umno is now a trading house. It is a business. It is the new-age East India Company of Malaya or the Noble House of Hong Kong. It is what the old British companies used to do 200 years ago in this region.
The old Colonial masters used to buy and sell power. And to buy and sell power you need to buy and sell people. And people who could not be bought and sold would be incarcerated or killed. That is the Colonial game. That is the way the British played the power game. But the British are no longer around. They are no longer Malaya’s Colonial masters. We have a new Colonial master. And that Colonial master is called Umno.
I too was offered a deal. Work for the incoming regime, those who will be the new Colonial masters in March 2009, and become filthy rich. To resist is futile. Power can’t be resisted. To resist would mean to incur the wrath of the new masters who will be so in March 2009.
The alternative would be imprisonment. The two choices are simple: work for the powers-that-be and become rich or go to jail. I chose jail. So, two weeks later, on 12 September 2008, they came to my house and sent me to the Kamunting Detention Centre.
But I had good lawyers. And my lawyers did something never before done in the almost 50 years history of the Internal Security Act. They managed to convince the court that my detention was illegal and that I should not be in Kamunting but instead should be sent home. And the judge in the Shah Alam High Court agreed. So he sent me home.
The government is now appealing the Shah Alam High Court decision. They want the Federal Court in Putrajaya to declare that the Shah Alam High Court judge erred and that I should not have been released. This is the final stage of my fight. If they win, I get sent back to Kamunting. There is no further recourse. There is no higher court for me to continue my fight. The Federal Court is the last stop. It is the court of the last resort. I either remain free or I get detained indefinitely.
I asked for seven judges -- at the very least, five. The Federal Court has refused my application. My fate now lies in the hands of only three judges. Seven judges would have been safer. Five would not have been too bad. With only three judges my chances are slimmer. And three men are going to decide whether I continue sleeping in my comfortable bedroom the next few years, until the day I die, or I get to spend my last days in a hellhole.
I could have taken the money. I could have enjoyed the remaining years of my life in comfort. Now, I face the risk of spending my final days as the life of a detainee. But that is how Umno works. They try to buy you. And if they can’t buy you, they kill you. And if killing is not an option, they at least incarcerate you. That is the only game they know how to play.
When Pakatan Rakyat formed the Perak and Selangor state governments soon after 8 March 2008, Umno quickly offered PAS a deal. If PAS was prepared to form a coalition with Umno in Perak and Selangor, they agreed to allow PAS to become the Menteri Besar of these two states. As a sweetener, Umno also agreed that the Islamic law of Hudud be implemented in Perak and Selangor. Umno will give PAS its Hudud that it seeks.
It was a sweet deal. Not only will PAS be running Perak and Selangor and will hold the post of the Chief Operation Officers of these two states, but PAS will also realise its dream of seeing Hudud as the law of the land where it had failed in Kelantan 20 years ago and Terengganu ten years ago.