TDM is expected to support Biro Tata Negara (BTN). He will support the racial architecture of Malaysian politics – after all it is so much an integral part of his political legacy – never mind it fosters the divisive values of making more than ½ of people feel entitled to dominant say and control of the country’s affairs and wealth and the substantial rest, also tax paying citizens, feeling like hewers of wood and carriers of water in the back woods and backwaters of the country’s mainstream…For he knows that if his legacy survives UMNO will maintain dominance and Opposition Pakatn Rakyat will not win, and Anwar Ibrahim will not become Prime Minister and for so long as that is the case, he and his heirs and friends and their heirs will avert in their life times full accountability in respect to whatever he had done (whether good or bad) during his long 22 years at the helm, a tenure second in terms of length, by world standards, to only Fidel Castro’s!. It may well be the case that he is scared stiff of the prospects off Anwar ever becoming PM. No matter the prostestations by Anwar to let bygones be bygones TDM neither believes him nor feels secure. If TDM were to criticise the rulinbg parties/leaders on specific issues it is only to make them not do or continue to do things that will undermine their own traditional support and lose power to Opposition PR – at least within Anwar’s lifetime….

“Asked on Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s call for independent observers from Australia to monitor the next general election in the country, Mahathir said: “If it is the white man, he will trust. If it’s Malays, it is otherwise.” – source Malaysiakini Dec 6, 09 4:11pm under Caption “ Dr M sees nothing wrong with BTN courses”.

The comment came from a man who does not see the irony in his administration paying American Jew Abramoff (a white) for his lobbying services in 2001 and 2002 to arrange for an opportunity for TDM to have a photoshoot session with Big White Chief US President Goerge Bush (whom he obviously does not trust!)

It is natural that any political elite in power will not want to give it up. Our elite (UMNO) in 1957 had it easy. British colonialist (after being depleted by Hitler) granted independence and handed over power to elite on a silver platter without fight. The elites then had experienced no intellectual renaissance. They had not a clue of what formula would work best for the country. They even allowed the British (Lord Reid Commission) to write the Constitution; they copied colonial model of governance, and adapted it to local conditions as we went along. adapted. Hence we see relics of colonial control strictures and control surviving till today : the ISA, divide and rule in relation to races. On issue of who has legitimacy to rule, the adaptation, in replacement of Colonial rulers, is elite of the original inhabitants as distinguished from immigrants based on bumi/non bumi dichotomy justified on philosophy of the Social Contract/Special Privileges – later extended to the NEP. [Biro Tata Negara (BTN)’s role is to inculcate this philosophy amongst civil service and students who are the future leaders]. Again the elites copied British colonialist in exploiting wealth of the country. As we followed British Party system of electing PM from party that won elections, so the paramount leader here (PM) is elected by party leaders and warlords of the party that won election and not directly by the electorate like the American/Indonesian presidential system. This means the leader here has to pander to party’s warlords. If party’s warlords are OK, country will be Ok and if corrupt, the country habis lah! Problem here is that given that there was never any intellectual renaissance amongst elites to give rise to an alternative enlightened national formula, again they copy the colonialists on how to exploit the country’s economic wealth. When Britain introtroduced privatisation of Utilities to make more efficient delivery of public service, our elites here also copied except it was not to make more efficent service delivery, bit how to give contracts to cronies, so that gravy train was put in place to ensure the continuous supply of money from national resources to buy votes and keep the elites in power. Hence the rise of money politics and corruption, which is convenient because there’s a national platform of NEP to afford the pretext under which this mechanism can run smoothly. It has worked well, spread largesse amongst elites of other component parties and one could maintain façade of racial representation and yet maintain national ideology of Ketuanan against which majority votes are assured. All one has to do is to draw election boundaries to give more weightage to rural areas and less weightages to towns and cities where the unprivileged are greater in numbers. (This explains why one’s political subordinates are loyal to Money and Positions and plot inecssantly for one’s overthrow). Then came an unexpected development (not from ex-colonial power) but from Middle East: revival of Islamic fundamentalism by Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iranian revolution. Elites led by TDM/Anwar invested enormous public resources in building up a network of Islamic institutions. If one cannot control winds of change from Middle East, so it was thought they could control the institutions that do the interpretation (in favour of elites agenda) rather than let PAS have the votes. It hasn’t turned out quite as expected. The accompanying Islamic lobby / bureaucracy is, after 22 years of TDM’s administration, now so powerful that it can challenge even the national parliament and get defence of cabinet : eg Kartika’s whipping that shocked the PM! The elites have woven themselves in the corner that to stay in power they hacve to juggle between conflicting demands of the powerful Islamic establishhment on one hand and demands for economic performance and investors confidence on the other hand. The net net result is the exacerbation of polarisation of the country along racial and religious lines. Now how to compete on international stage against outsiders in cliamb up value added chain when own people are divided? Singapore, when it left Malaysia, should be subject to same constraint of copying colonial model with no intellectual renaissance amongst elites with one major difference: the intellectual there (Harry Lee) knew that S’pore was just a bare rock with no natural resources, hence survival/prosperity depended on Meritocracy/human capital without corruption. By default Harry got it right and the rest is history why Singapore $ surges ahead of Ringgit. Indoenesian elites had more intellectual renaissance – they fought the Dutch colonialist – and came up with the Pancasila Constitution embracing of all races and not promotive of any particular ethnic group based specifically on religion. Hence they hold greater promise to struggle with the problems and improve themselves.

From the above historical perspective, one can understand why many of our elites (including ex premier) defend Biro Tata Negara : it propaganizes values that hold them together in a seamless web since May 13 1969 which they hope will hold them together in power till at least 2069! It could have if TDM did not sack insider Anwar so that he went over the other side to galvanise and fight on platform of greater multi racial inclusiveness (in contradiction of national ideology of Ketuanan) and fight against corruption proven successful in 308 tsunamy. So present elites have to now do some cosmetic changes, talk of re-inventing, by 1 Malaysia to hijack/neutralise Anwar’s main leitmotif (inclusivist Malaysia) and stop the Opposition march to Putrajaya but its not making progress when party wordlords having vested interest in the existing system and who determine whether the Number stays and leaves keep resisting change and fighting for retention/perpetuation of the system and its propaganda mouth piece (Biro Tata Negara) perceived and proven beneficial to their personal selves, never the country’s higher and longer term interest…