Who’s selling whom in rising Umno imbroglio?
Terence NettoPublished: Jan 20, 2015 4:25 PM | Updated: Jan 20, 2015 5:11 PM
COMMENT “Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me.”
The refrain is familiar from the narrative of mutual betrayals in George Orwell’s 1984.
COMMENT
Signs are Umno is convulsing; throttling it entails making deals to...
COMMENT “Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me.”
The refrain is familiar from the narrative of mutual betrayals in George Orwell’s 1984.
The betrayals were forced by Big Brother, the party that is monarch of all it surveys. Even couples are forced to tell on each other.
That ‘Big Brother’ (Umno) is in one of its periodic convulsions - the kind that is supposed to ring in changes in leadership - is unmistakable.
The indisputable sign of turbulence is when party-owned media attack a target hitherto regarded as untouchable.
Daim Zainuddin, once czar of the economic realm, is in the crosshairs of media outlets owned by Big Brother.
You can gauge the gravity of the attack from the attackers’ willingness to cite Daim foe, Anwar Ibrahim, in support of the hypothesis of the former finance minister as robber baron.
This is equivalent to the western powers now supporting the notion that Bashar Assad is no longer persona non grata to them in Syria’s post-civil war future.
Until now, Anwar had been persona non-mentionable by the same media outlets that are attacking Daim.
That reality has changed so suddenly that even Saiful Bukhari Azlan (right in photo), the complainant in the Sodomy II case against Anwar that the Federal Court will decide on soon, has decried the coverage that the alleged sodomist is getting.
Why does the media attack dogs’ sudden penchant for Anwar distress Saiful? Is it because Saiful fears that it is a sign he won’t get the verdict he wants from the Federal Court?
As one who has sworn on holy writ that he is telling the truth about Anwar, whose ‘truths’ the same media outlets have swallowed hook, line and sinker, his distress is understandable.
Not so comprehensible is Anwar’s willingness to cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation on Daim’s ownership of banking assets abroad, allegedly illicitly obtained.
What can happen to 'solid evidence'
Anwar claimed that he has “solid evidence” of Daim’s alleged financial misdeeds.
No Malaysian oppositionist politician worth his salt can doubt what can happen to “solid evidence” - such as he may possess - that will incriminate an ‘untouchable’.
Like that hapless Mongolian damsel, Altantuya Shaarribuu’s (right) immigration records, that “solid evidence” can just dissolve into smithereens.
Presently, a retired journalist who only recently was vociferous in denouncing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had decided to clam up.
Zainuddin Maidin - the man who in 2007, while he was information minister, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that if they wanted to know what was going on in Malaysia, they should advert to him rather than to Anwar Ibrahim - has uploaded his last posting on his blog.
Zainuddin said as an old man, he much prefers the serenity of retirement to a sentinel’s lot at the political barricades.
His change of heart is sudden; speculation is rife that it is involuntary.
Even his compatriot in the battle to hound PM Najib out of office, Kadir Jasin - once a journalistic top flier - said that Zainuddin’s (left) abrupt withdrawal from the attacking fray was unexpected.
Could it be that Najib is flexing his muscles, and all those with skeletons in the closet had better back off?
Hell may have no fury like an underrated softie who suddenly decides he has enough in his arsenal to daunt detractors into submission.
Well, nobody among critics within the Umno fold should be surprised that the office of Umno president-cum-Malaysian prime minister has enough firepower to make people toe the line.
Only one thing can stall - even sink - the juggernaut, and that is precipitate economic failure which a looming implosion of debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) threatens.
If the saga of 1MDB becomes the albatross it could be, what now looks like a strong counterattack against carping critics will become like General Custer’s last and futile stand.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.
The refrain is familiar from the narrative of mutual betrayals in George Orwell’s 1984.
The betrayals were forced by Big Brother, the party that is monarch of all it surveys. Even couples are forced to tell on each other.
That ‘Big Brother’ (Umno) is in one of its periodic convulsions - the kind that is supposed to ring in changes in leadership - is unmistakable.
The indisputable sign of turbulence is when party-owned media attack a target hitherto regarded as untouchable.
Daim Zainuddin, once czar of the economic realm, is in the crosshairs of media outlets owned by Big Brother.
You can gauge the gravity of the attack from the attackers’ willingness to cite Daim foe, Anwar Ibrahim, in support of the hypothesis of the former finance minister as robber baron.
This is equivalent to the western powers now supporting the notion that Bashar Assad is no longer persona non grata to them in Syria’s post-civil war future.
Until now, Anwar had been persona non-mentionable by the same media outlets that are attacking Daim.That reality has changed so suddenly that even Saiful Bukhari Azlan (right in photo), the complainant in the Sodomy II case against Anwar that the Federal Court will decide on soon, has decried the coverage that the alleged sodomist is getting.
Why does the media attack dogs’ sudden penchant for Anwar distress Saiful? Is it because Saiful fears that it is a sign he won’t get the verdict he wants from the Federal Court?
As one who has sworn on holy writ that he is telling the truth about Anwar, whose ‘truths’ the same media outlets have swallowed hook, line and sinker, his distress is understandable.
Not so comprehensible is Anwar’s willingness to cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation on Daim’s ownership of banking assets abroad, allegedly illicitly obtained.
What can happen to 'solid evidence'
Anwar claimed that he has “solid evidence” of Daim’s alleged financial misdeeds.
No Malaysian oppositionist politician worth his salt can doubt what can happen to “solid evidence” - such as he may possess - that will incriminate an ‘untouchable’.
Like that hapless Mongolian damsel, Altantuya Shaarribuu’s (right) immigration records, that “solid evidence” can just dissolve into smithereens.Presently, a retired journalist who only recently was vociferous in denouncing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had decided to clam up.
Zainuddin Maidin - the man who in 2007, while he was information minister, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that if they wanted to know what was going on in Malaysia, they should advert to him rather than to Anwar Ibrahim - has uploaded his last posting on his blog.
Zainuddin said as an old man, he much prefers the serenity of retirement to a sentinel’s lot at the political barricades.
His change of heart is sudden; speculation is rife that it is involuntary.
Even his compatriot in the battle to hound PM Najib out of office, Kadir Jasin - once a journalistic top flier - said that Zainuddin’s (left) abrupt withdrawal from the attacking fray was unexpected.Could it be that Najib is flexing his muscles, and all those with skeletons in the closet had better back off?
Hell may have no fury like an underrated softie who suddenly decides he has enough in his arsenal to daunt detractors into submission.
Well, nobody among critics within the Umno fold should be surprised that the office of Umno president-cum-Malaysian prime minister has enough firepower to make people toe the line.
Only one thing can stall - even sink - the juggernaut, and that is precipitate economic failure which a looming implosion of debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) threatens.
If the saga of 1MDB becomes the albatross it could be, what now looks like a strong counterattack against carping critics will become like General Custer’s last and futile stand.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.
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