In the run-up to the 13th General Elections, Malaysians are seeing the full flowering of the Greek saying, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”.

Last month, former and longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir flaunted his treasonous deeds in the “citizenship-for-votes” scams in Sabah in Project M and Project IC in the eighties and nineties, resulting in true Sabahans becoming a minority in their own land – and who added insult to injury when he alleged that Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman had given one million citizenship to “unqualified” non-Malays before Merdeka.

As if not enough damage had been done, Mahathir has compounded it by advocating a two-thirds parliamentary majority for Barisan Nasional so as to be able to revoke the citizenship of Bersih co-chairperson S. Ambiga for her patriotic campaign for free, fair and clean elections.

Last week, as if the three resounding “Yes for Psy, Noes for BN” at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Penang Chinese New Year bash featuring Korean K-Pop superstar and the indignity of the Prime Minister, former Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers waiting on stage forlornly and in vain for Psy to join them for a “yee san toss” were not embarrassments enough, four days after the event and without an iota of evidence, Penang Barisan Nasional leaders spun the tale that there had been attempts on the lives of Psy and the Prime Minister. At least, Najib had the sense so far to keep mum on the tall tale.

The latest evidence of the workings of the Greek saying, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad” is the 15-hour detention and deportation of Australian Senator, furnishing a national and international confirmation that the Barisan Nasional government of Malaysia is “authoritarian” and Najib a “false democrat”.

The claim by the Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad that Xenophon is on the Immigration “blacklist” because he had tarnished the country’s image, such as calling the Malaysian government “authoritarian” in handling the Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections last April, is most puerile and infantile, as on this basis, Malaysians would be persona non grata to many countries that they had criticized with former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir as the Top Malaysian who could not travel to the most number of Western countries!

But what takes the cake is the deplorable and most questionable endorsement of Xenophon’s detention and deportation by the Election Commission, whose deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said it was unjust to judge the fairness of the 13GE based on Xenophon’s expulsion.

Apart from highlighting its utter lack of independence and impartiality, the Election Commission cannot be more wrong.

The “authoritarian” and undemocratic expulsion of Xenophon has now put the whole question of the integrity of the electoral process, whether the 13GE will be free, fair and clean, on the international radar.

The whole world are now asking – what has the Election Commission and the UMNO/BN government got to hide that they are so afraid of independent foreign observers to the 13GE as having to strain foreign relations and brave international condemnation and opprobrium as to detain and deport Xenophon?

The world is also waiting and watching whether Najib is indeed the “false democrat” as depicted by Mark Mackinnon, the award-winning journalist of the Canadian The Globe and Mail in his article of June 8, 2012, in particular with reference to his definition of a “false democrat” who is one who “hold elections but have no intention of giving up power” and whose “serious political rivals are jailed and their parties are outlawed on legal technicalities”.

The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that DAP had not submitted its party election returns within 60 days as required by law and the Registrar of Societies will start investigations into the DAP.

Yesterday, I had in my tweet asked: “What will Hishammuddin do as Home Minister if DAP can prove that DAP has submitted elections returns to 2ROS b4 CNY?”

May be Hishammuddin and Najib are seriously thinking of declaring DAP illegal and unlawful because they are desperate about the UMNO/BN prospects in the 13GE, despite all the boasts that they can win big in a free and fair elections, even regaining two-thirds parliamentary majority and retake the present Pakatan Rakyat states of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan.

Let them ponder the Greek saying: “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad”.