Hello, friends.

Yes, I am still in the political scene. I’ve been quiet because I’ve been busy preparing the paperwork for my new party (political).

You know how it is these days – what with the Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg types – we must be really smart to fight back. So, here’s my plan:

1. Form a new party (political).
2. Name it WE Are Green (“Wag” for short).
3. Write a shiny new manifesto (who cares about the constitution, right?)
4. Retain a kick-ass event management company to do the launch.
5. Reveal a kick-ass logo and ACRONYM for the party (political).
6. Have a kick-ass PARTY (non-political).
7. Blog about it.
8. Tweet the blog post.
9. Sit back and wait for Malaysians to sign-up.
10. Awaken the conscience of the people.

That’s it. We’re set.
Let’s do it.

P.S. Remember to Wag
P.P.S. Wag Mission Number One: Confuse Pas members. (See party logo above.) Wear party T-shirts to support Adam Lambert and Lady Gaga at their concerts. And celebrate my birthday (Valentine’s Day) by hanging party flags all around town.

I first met him during the March 2008 general election. He was one of those asked to speak at a ceramah I organised in Brickfields (whilst I was the election agent of the candidate for Lembah Pantai, none other than Nurul Izzah). I had no clue who he was then. All I knew was that somebody up there wanted him to speak on that occasion. So he did.

Anyway, the next time I saw him was when both of us were appointed as deputy secretaries-general (together with two others) after the “successful” election campaign by KEADILAN. I was happy to continue working with Saleh (he was the election campaign manager for Nurul Izzah).

Later, we discovered that Jenapala was an undischarged bankrupt. When Anwar was informed about this, he said someone is supposed to pay off the debt for Jenapala. Thus, Saleh was asked to KIV the matter and keep Jenapala for the time being.

Then, at some point, after a long delay, Saleh quietly asked Jenapala to resign because he didn’t want both the party and Jenapala himself to be embarrassed. Jenapala resigned as suggested. Conveniently, in April or June 2009, when the new deputy secretaries-general were appointed (I was replaced and “promoted” to Communications Director), Jenapala was left out of the new line-up.

Later, for reasons unknown to me, Jenapala decided to agitate against the party and apparently announced the formation of a new party at a press conference. (The new party didn’t take off.)

Nevertheless, the Biro Politik decided in August 2009 that, if Jenapala was really involved in forming a new party, he must be sacked. The matter was not conveyed to the disciplinary committee although they were tasked to act on that decision. So, unfortunately, no one followed up on this decision; i.e. check whether Jenapala was involved and recommend to the MPP to sack him (the MPP is the only body with the authority to sack members). You can see the minutes of the meeting at Malaysia Today.

So, yes, it’s true, there was an intention to sack Jenapala. But not in February 2009. The decision was made only in August 2009, after it was reported in some Tamil newspapers that Jenapala announced that he was forming a new party.

Yes, it’s also true that Jenapala is not fit to be a deputy president of the party. But he is entitled to contest if he is still a member of the party. (He was discharged as a bankrupt sometime this year.)

And, finally, yes, that is Saleh’s “digital signature” on the letter. But it was printed on that letter without authorisation. It was neither drafted by me (as the then deputy sec-gen in charge of disciplinary matters) nor approved by Saleh, the former sec-gen (and my boss at that time).

If there was no forgery, then some tiny people must have cobbled that letter together for the current sec-gen, Saifuddin, to show and tell at the press conference. Jokes aside, it is pertinent to ask why the lawyers for the party attempted to retract the letter as part of the evidence after it was filed in court.

P.S. I am willing to help the party officials, or even the police, if they choose to investigate these “technical” details. Of course, I’d prefer the former to call me first.

Indeed, I know some shrewder politicians ridicule me for not taking the opportunity to make a public statement. Well, the rationale for me is simple. I quit because I found the entire party election to be such a disappointment and it completely lacked credibility. And it gave me neither profit nor pleasure in making the party look worse than it already was. (For your information, I tried contacting the president directly before I wrote my open letter to her.)

Now, I share my true feelings not because I want to embarrass the party but because I sense the presence of foolish arrogance in the voice of the party’s secretary-general. And I simply cannot remain silent in the face of bold-faced lies because I know it will eventually bring the party to its knees. Yes, I am talking about his statements vis-a-vis the sacking of Jenapala.

Before I proceed, let me confess one thing. I am no fan of Jenapala’s. At one point in time, we were both deputy secretaries-general of the party and I came to realise that I did not like the way he expressed himself, which is probably due to the way he thought. Anyway, I digress.

Back to the current sec-gen of KEADILAN. He said that he welcomes the police to investigate the forgery of a letter sacking Jenapala, purportedly signed by the previous sec-gen. (For those who are unaware, I served as the deputy to the previous sec-gen.)

Apart from opening the doors of the party HQ and computer servers to the friendly PDRM, the current sec-gen also says that, “All we did was open our files and found the letter that Salehuddin signed… How am I supposed to know if his signature was forged.” Does he expect members, supporters and the public to just accept this lame explanation and conclude all is well in the party?

Please allow me to share how the previous sec-gen would have handled things if this matter cropped up, i.e. whether Jenapala was actually sacked from the party. One, he would have asked the membership officer to check Jenapala’s membership status. Two, he would have asked me to scrutinise the central leadership council meetings’ minutes for the relevant decision. And, three, he would have asked whether we issued a letter to inform Jenapala, if indeed such a decision was made.

For me, just the stupidity of how this Jenapala issue was handled is enough to tell me that the judgement of the people who are purportedly in charge of the party are seriously impaired.

But what really sickens me to the core of my being is that I know for a fact that someone in the party HQ knows that the letter is a forgery. It was created to cover up an initial honest mistake made by somebody when they said that Jenapala was sacked in February 2009.

For your information, I was the deputy secretary-general charged with the responsibility to assist the disciplinary board in handling cases referred to them by the MPP. When the Jenapala matter first came up during the party election, someone from the HQ called me to ask whether there was a letter sent to Jenapala to sack him. I said there isn’t such a letter and there never was such a decision to sack him. There was only a decision to sack him in principle, if indeed it was found that he was involved in the formation of a new political party.

Then, before I knew it, I saw a letter with the previous sec-gen’s signature, which was purportedly sent to Jenapala to sack him way back in February 2009. I was speechless.

I was speechless because there is no doubt in my mind that the letter is a forgery, and I am dumbfounded that they could resort to such a thing to cover up an honest mistake, for which they could have just humbly informed the media and move on.

Now, in light of the police report lodged by the previous sec-gen, this matter cannot be swept under the carpet anymore; especially not the way the current sec-gen attempted to do it. I’m amazed that he doesn’t see the gravity of the situation.

I know, in politics perception is everything. But I also know, in a court of law evidence is everything. And when the judiciary is not on your side, it doesn’t even matter if they don’t have the evidence. All they need is a good reason to put you away.

If the president still does not take some serious action to remedy this situation, then I’m afraid the party’s days may be numbered, with or without a new line-up. And let me unequivocally state that I am not addressing the de facto leader on this matter because I no longer recognise the validity of that position.

Just as SMS messages are so prevalent these days, I find that a great many people are struck with this other kind of SMS that cripples them.

As one speaker at a talk once said, “even if we gave you free money tonight, you would not know how to take it.” Believe it or not, I saw it happen.

So, what’s the problem? Hmmm, it’s not easy to describe.

I reckon it’s got a lot to do with the social values these days… and the corollary of lack of self-awareness. And awareness of one’s surroundings, too.

From a cosmic/philosophical vantage point, this is not a new phenomenon. People, since ground zero – even before the term was coined – already had the delusion that happiness comes from “out there”, or some such notion that clouds their minds from reality.

Thus, believing that they can only achieve happiness by pursuing this that or other, they end up chasing some cosmic tail, which is even more difficult than chasing one’s own tail.

In the end, people just see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and all they know is what they have seen and heard. And so, not knowing very much, not thinking very much – accepting secondhand opinions as the truth – people get caught up in a vicious cycle that is a spiral down to either depression, disaster or more delusion.

This may sound harsh… It’s just that day in, day out, I see people either ignoring or refusing to contemplate the possibility of a different way of seeing things, doing things – even if it helps them alleviate some of their pain… the pain caused by that Something Missing Syndrome.

The answer? I don’t pretend to be a Zen Master, or even close to resembling the toenail of one, but I guess my previous post does provide an answer, albeit in an obscure fashion.

As one commenter noted, “What kind of story is this?” Well, precisely the point of the Zen Master… If only we had enough attention – or awareness – to what is actually happening around us AND ALSO within us, then we will naturally know what we need to do to transcend our current condition.

Alas, social values today places a great premium on fast, big, flashy whatever. That kind of “philosopy”, we’ve heard of – I call it the “material imperative”. Along with that, we now have the notion that urgency is most important, not importance itself. Tell me, can you tell the difference between urgent and important?

Well, luckily for us, there are actually people out there who can tell us the difference between what’s important and what’s urgent (and not necessarily important). Like old times when humanity had sages to tell men and women how to transcend the human condition, there are personal development and success gurus that can point us in the right direction (at least in terms of being effective and dealing with stress).

Putting aside the skeptics and the cynics, let’s trudge on on this path. Indeed, because of our distorted social values, we have what seems to be unlikely sages that have come to tell us of how foolish we are and how we can regain control of our lives – salvation – and free ourselves from the shackles of materialism and ignorance.

Sounds far-fetched? Well, think back for a while… In their own times, all the great teachers were ahead of their time – Socrates, Lao Tze, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad…

Let me just end on a more optimistic note. We have had many ages… the Ice Age, the Dark Ages, the Age of Reason, the Information Age… well, perhaps the Age of Wisdom is just round the corner…

You may think this is airy-fairy stuff… fair enough, it may be. I’d rather have a positive airy-fairy outlook on life, than one filled with SMSes.

* Previously posted on 13 August 2004 on my old blog at http://man_on_a_mission.blogspot.com/

Please allow me to make one final plea to you for the sake of our Party’s future.

KEADILAN’s current state of affairs, to say the least, is profoundly disturbing and sad. Indeed, not only party members but all our supporters are extremely disappointed by the manner in which our party election is conducted.

No doubt, we had very good intentions when we first mooted the idea of direct elections, where each and every member will be given the democratic right to vote for their leaders.

However, we must remember that we are not judged by our intentions but by the results of what we set out to do. We must do the right thing the right way.

Now, whether we like it or not, the credibility and image of KEADILAN is at an all-time low. This is nothing less than a crisis for the Party.

I understand that it is difficult for you to suspend the ongoing party election. However, no matter who wins the contest, we are all losers in the end. Hence, after some serious thought, I would like to make a humble suggestion to you.

Currently, there are many doubts about the integrity of our Party’s electoral process. I believe that if we can show the public that we are sincere in rectifying whatever irregularities, perceived or otherwise, then we will have taken the first step to salvage KEADILAN’s tattered reputation.

Hence, I humbly suggest that we take the most dubious incident as a litmus test to show, once and for all, that our Party election is free from irregularities. I am referring to the Libaran results, which shows an impressive but incredulous 60 percent turnout of voters.

If agreed by you, Madam President, I will personally help raise the necessary funds to engage an independent and professional audit firm to scrutinise the polling results of Libaran. With the large number of generous KEADILAN supporters who are still hoping that we will do the right thing, I am confident that resources can be arranged to carry out this important task.

If the Libaran results are certified to be free from irregularities, then I will unequivocally accept the Party’s overall election results. I believe all other contestants will do the same. However, if the audit results show otherwise, then a resolution must be passed at the upcoming National Congress to nullify the results of the Party election.

We are now at a critical point in our Party’s history. We must show that KEADILAN is true to its own name. Not only must justice be done but it must also be seen to be done.

Madam President, right now, the Party needs you to take charge and lead us through this challenging period.

Thank you.

Humbly yours,
JONSON CHONG
Member No. B130001542

Hmmm. It’s kinda embarrassing to actually share all the things that I’ve ever wanted to be. Postman, pilot, designer, doctor, prime minister. Roughly in that order. (There was a huge gap between the first and second ambitions.)

When one is a precocious teen, the most wonderous ideas are the big grand ideas. They make you feel invincible, as if you could conquer the world.

Well, it began with a simple idea, stale even: I wanted to help people. I wanted whatever I did to be able to help people. I still remember the little poster I had behind my bedroom door.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
- Confucius

That’s when I figured that I wanted to be a doctor. Saving the world from bad design was not that critical, I thought.

Anyway, I liked extrapolating even as a young boy. Thus, I thought to myself, “As a doctor, I can only help those who consult me.” Then the questions that begged not to be asked but to be answered came. “What is the one job that can help the most people? What is the one position that is most influential in Malaysia?” Thus, I decided I wanted to be the prime minister of Malaysia.

I wonder what Khairy Jamaluddin’s excuse is.

* * * * *

The next part of this story takes me to the heady days when we had to decide what I was going to study in university. Well, it’s a “we” exercise because like all good parents and elder siblings, my mom and eldest brother decided what was best for me.

Sort of. Ultimately, it was my own decision. They didn’t put a gun to my head. Indeed, I rationalised the decision in my head.

My first choice was actually to study psychology. It fascinated and still fascinates me how we humans think. This reminds me of the name of an album I once bought: Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe

Anyway, my brother told me that finance and law would be a killer combination in the jobs market. Well, I wasn’t really bothered about that. Heck, when they asked me what prospects were there for a psychologist, I had not idea.

What tipped the scale for me was that I thought it’d be pretty nifty for a politician to know a bit about money and the law. Killer combination, indeed.

If I had known that I needed to study statistics for a finance degree, I would have not gone with my brother’s suggestion though. In my fourth year of university, I literally rebuked myself, “Why did you take finance? You should have taken either political science or philosophy instead. You could have still combined that with law!”

Yes, I know I’m a bit slow. By the fourth year, my finance degree was over and done with. It was already in the bag. All I had to do then was to just finish off my remaining law courses with flying colours.

I had a fun time studying Islamic law (I studied Shariah under an Indian Muslim who was proud to bear the same name as he who fought the crusaders) as well as human rights (I wrote a paper on it for my Public International Law course).

As for finance, the only time I came remotely close to the finance industry was when I joined the life insurance industry after receiving a career-changing flash of genius. (My first flash is described below.)

* * * * *

Guess what I did when I came home to Malaysia with a double degree? I looked a for a place to start chambering. Yes, I was boring.

Before long, I was retained as a legal assistant by the same firm. (I always thought that title makes lawyers sound like paralegals.)

And before long, I started wondering why I was spending a great portion of my waking hours helping people buy and selll their properties, and banks secure their loans.

The final push for me came when Lim Guan Eng was arrested and jailed. For doing something I would have done if I were in the position to do so. I thought it wasn’t right.

My first flash of career-changing genius came: “How can I sit here doing this when someone in our own backyard is being unjustly persecuted?” That’s how I ended up taking a 25% paycut and started working in Suaram.

I tried to explain human rights to my father. I don’t think he ever understood. Incidentally, my wife told me just the other day that my father was asking if I know of any books on human rights in Chinese.

Hmmm, I must remember to look for some for him. If I can’t buy him a BMW, the least I can do is to get him some books on human rights.

* * * * *

As I was working in Suaram, Anwar got fired. All of a sudden, the deputy prime minister of the country got canned by his boss. Indeed, we heard that the United Malays National Organisation was going to kick him out that night itself.

Being the adventure-seeking political activists we were, Tian Chua, Alison and myself went to Putra World Trade Centre to join in the fun. And somehow we ended up seated in front of Anwar Ibrahim, on the couch in his living room, with all his hardcore supporters seated around us on the floor. Yes, it was surreal.

No, he did not ask me to join KEADILAN then. The party didn’t even exist then. He probably was reeling from the day’s events and have not even figured out what his next step was yet. However, I remember that he was really sharp and on the ball even then.

Unlike many proud members of KEADILAN, I did not join the party in 1999. I joined Parti Rakyat Malaysia instead.

Why? is one of the most common responses when I tell people that I joined PRM. Simple. It had clean and democratic leaders, a people-centric ideology and it was not a monoethnic or chauvinistic party.

(to be continued)

Saya telah menjadi ahli parti sejak PKR ditubuhkan. Saya dan beratus ribu lagi rakyat Malaysia telah memilih PKR sebagai wadah perjuangan politik. Kami telah menaruh harapan untuk PKR membawa perubahan kepada mutu sistem pemerintahan di negara yang tercinta ini. Harapan kami telah menggunung apabila PKR serta PAS dan DAP berjaya mencapai kejayaan yang tidak diduga pada PRU 12. Kemaraan ke Putrajaya kian menjadi realiti.

Walaubagaimanapun perkembangan-perkembangan mutakhir dalam PKR amat mencemaskan saya. Rentetan daripada pemilihan pucuk pimpinan yang sedang berlangsung, parti telah di heret ke ambang krisis. Pada hemat saya, krisis ini ialah yang paling getir pernah dihadapi oleh parti. Besar kemungkinan parti akan berpecah akibat krisis ini dan sekali gus memusnahkan peluang Pakatan Rakyat untuk menang di PRU 13. Kemaraan ke Putrajaya akan menjadi hanya sebuah impian.

Justeru itu, saya merayu dari lubuk hati saya kepada Presiden parti yang telah menang tanpa bertanding pada pemilihan kali ini untuk bertindak mengawal keadaan dan menyelamatkan parti. Hal-hal pemilihan parti tidak perlu dibincang dan diputuskan oleh Biro Politik kerana ramai ahli dalam Biro Politik mempunyai kepentingan dalam proses dan keputusan pemilihan. Budi bicara Presiden memadai untuk membuat keputusan muktamad atas hal-hal pemilihan.

Presiden harus menampilkan kepimpinan yang tegas dan melantik sebuah Jawatankuasa Pemilihan Parti baru dengan mandat penuh untuk menguruskan proses pemilihan secara adil dan bebas.

Ketua Umum parti mesti menghormati kedudukan dan kuasa-kuasa Presiden dan beliau sewajarnya tidak campur tangan dengan keputusan-keputusan yang diambil oleh Presiden. Sayugia diingatkan, Ketua Umum telah terlibat dalam krisis ini dan banyak pihak meragui peranan beliau dalam proses pemilihan.

Jika perlu, sebuah jawatankuasa pemandu ditubuhkan dengan mandat dari Majlis Pimpinan Pusat dan Presiden sebagai pengerusi untuk menstabilkan parti.

Saya doakan Presiden akan berjaya dalam misi ini. Janganlah hancurkan impian kami sebagai ahli-ahli biasa untuk parti membawa perubahan kepada pemerintahan negara ini.

Sekian, Salam Reformasi.

ILLAM KUBONG AK DAGANG
Kuching, Sarawak
No ahli: Q060000568

9 NOVEMBER 2010

What did he mean? Of course, there are contracts and contracts. That’s why we are studying contracts law, right?

Well, basically, he was saying that there all sorts of contracts and, most importantly, some are binding and enforceable whilst others are not.

The idea to have a direct election of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN) leaders through secret ballots both at the division as well as at the national level was motivated, I believe, by several factors.

Firstly, in 2008, the party had just won an unprecedented number of seats in parliament as well as many state assembly seats throughout the peninsular. Not only that, KEADILAN was leading the Pakatan Rakyat state government of Selangor, and our president was then the opposition leader of Malaysia.

Thus, KEADILAN was in the limelight and we needed to strengthen the party to lead the charge towards Putrajaya. The simple logic was that we needed “accelerated evolution” to put new and dynamic leaders in charge of divisions to strengthen grassroots machinery and also at the national level to strengthen the top leadership.

Second, we needed to position KEADILAN as the leading political party that is the most democratic, most progressive and, perhaps, most daring to take on the Umno-BN juggernaut.

Hence, we set ourselves apart by declaring ourselves the first Malaysian political party to institute democratic reforms that will empower all members to elect their own leaders directly and secretly (thus allowing ordinary members to vote without fear).

Third, KEADILAN hastily recruited members to make itself a big contender in the Malaysian political arena. The simplistic logic was that more members will mean we are a better or stronger organisation. Thus, the bigger we are, the better we are able to fight Umno and BN.

Well, unfortunately, organisational development does not quite work like that. Organisations are made of people. And organisations are only as good as the people that they have. They have corrupt people in Umno, MCA and MIC, hence the corrupt practices of their leaders. They have racist people in Perkasa and KKK, hence the racist sentiments and racist mobs.

* * * * *

From the initial discussions we had about revising the electoral process of the party in 2008, we moved on to reviewing and amending the party’s consitution. To cut a long story short, KEADILAN successfully amended its constitution in 2009 to enable the party to hold direct elections through secret ballots.

Coincidentally, the very same day we had an extraordinary national congress to approve the constitutional amendments, Zaid Ibrahim announced he was joining KEADILAN and he was warmly welcomed by Anwar and other party leaders.

Instead of looking at the details of the constitutional amendments, let us look at the basic things that we promised the members of KEADILAN. By the way, the “we” here is the party leadership, which I was a part of from April 2008 (as deputy secretary-general) until August 2010 (when I resigned in frustration and handed my job as communications director to Nik Nazmi).

We promised them (KEADILAN members) democracy. We promised that every single member of the party could—if they joined KEADILAN before the specified cut-off date—vote directly for their preferred leaders both at the divisional as well as at the national levels.

Before I go on to the so-called democracy that KEADILAN is introducing in terms of the direct election of leaders, let me pose a few unasked questions: Who set the cut-off date? Was it extended at any point in time to accommodate late applications from certain divisions? If so, were any of these extensions prejudicial to any of the election candidates?

I leave it to readers to figure out the answers to those questions. Frankly, these are questions that others have asked. I am just putting them in writing.

Now, on to the more interesting question of what democracy means in KEADILAN. I have actually writtten about this before, and my previous writing can be viewed on my blog.

Anyway, the simple point is this: True democracy means all members of a society or an organisation have a say in who leads and how the society will operate. It is obvious in KEADILAN, as at October 2010, our de facto leader is not democratically elected. Will Anwar Ibrahim be re-appointed as de facto leader at the upcoming national congress at the end of the year?

Back to contracts. Isn’t it an implied term of the contract for democracy that members of KEADILAN get to vote for their preferred paramount leader? It should be. Indeed, it must be.

Alas, this issue is being swept under the carpet. Nobody wants to talk about it apart from a few maverick members who dare to speak their minds. And they are prepared to receive brickbats for speaking up. And usually these mavericks have nothing to lose. That’s why they dare to speak up.

Anyway, back to my contract law lecturer. “There are contracts, and there are contracts,” he said. Sir, in this particular instance, can we sue for specific performance?

My first reaction to the 100-storey skyscraper idea—the name of which is so unimaginative that I can’t even remember it—was a question, “What for?!” Then all the funny and not-so-funny answers came fast and furious:

“To give Dr M a long finger.” (But remember that the latter gave two to the world).
“To line Rosmah’s relatives’ pockets so that they can bury her in style.”
“To fill Najib’s war chest so that he can buy all the non-postal votes in Pekan.”
“We need a tall building to ensure that all the crooked politicians die when we push them out the window.”

After laughing for a while, then I realised that our Apco-advised prime minister announced other mega projects too. In the same budget, he announced the massive MRT project which will cost us a staggering amount of money.

Then, I also realised that the new tower and the MRT projects are not the only mega projects that Malaysia is undertaking. Even before the budget was announced, the government has already taken steps on at least two other mega projects: the massive redevelopment of Kampung Baru as well as the redevelopment of the Sungei Besi military airport. Mind you, the prime minister have also been mooting the idea of a nuclear power plant, which I am sure will come with a huge price tag as well.

According to Dr Lim Teck Ghee—the renowned economist and public policy analyst who shot to fame for claiming that the Bumiputeras have already reached the NEP equity target—any project above RM300 or RM500 million could be defined as a mega project.

Before I proceed, let me clarify that I am not against mega projects per se but I have grave concerns about how they are financed—whether we will have the resources to pay the loans taken to finance these projects and, most importantly, whether our potential inability to repay the loans will mean that our political independence and sovereignty as a nation will be compromised.

If you are wondering what I am trying to get at, please google “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”, which is a book written by a former economic hit man called John Perkins. To make things easier for you, please let me quote from Wikipedia:

According to his book, Perkins’ function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows:

Frankly, I don’t know if we are borrowing from any of the financial institutions mentioned in the above Wikipedia entry, but I do know that “fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder” are quite possible, if not already established as fact by some quarters.

Indeed, some say that our sudden capitulation to Singapore regarding the customs and immigrations land deal is a symptom of our prime minister being blackmailed with a particularly rare photograph taken in a restaurant with a Mongolian beauty, albeit a dead one.

Moreover, it is public knowledge that Malaysia is paying millions of ringgit to international consulting firms like Apco and McKinsey to advise our government, not only on media and public relations by the former, but also on public policy and economic development by the latter.

So, the question is this: Is Malaysia the target of international economic hit men or am I a paranoid conspiracy theorist?

Whatever the answer, someone’s got to pay for all the mega projects. Whether the money is coming from EPF, Khazanah, Petronas or from overseas, ordinary Malaysians will have to somehow repay it. More likely than not, we will be paying for all these so-called development projects through our noses whilst the political bigwigs and the Malaysian godfathers (the cronies of the political bigwigs) continue to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

* Original version. Revised versions published elsewhere.