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So, you think Ong Tee Kiat is the reincarnation of Justice Pao, the wise brave judge who set things right from the ancient Middle Kingdom, now immortalised in Hong Kong TV series? You think OTK is clean as the Pope and brave like Shih Huang Ti who reunited a China from a land of warlords? You think he's the best thing BN ever had since the ISA?

 

In the tradition of National Geographic Channel, "Think Again". It does not matter what OTK stands for, nor the number of PricewaterhouseCoopers reports he commissions. It doesn't matter how much money he wants the government to recover from Kuala Dimensi (KDSB). Cause no matter what he does, the Hainanese is up against powerful people who's working hand-in-glove with spinmeisters who are plotting his downfall.

 

In a wired world where perception is King and facts are twisted and spun, OTK is up against a formidable enemy. The enemy is not just the Chua Soi Lek-Tiong King Sing alliance, whose ultimate aim is to get rid of OTK and eventually sweep the PKFZ mess under the rug. The evil alliance knew that to get the public on their side, they need the media - a machinery evil enough to repeat lies so frequent, they can pass off as a page from the Holy Scriptures. They need PR magic that spin endless tales about OTK being under seige. Besides, CSL and TKS know The Star is already under OTK control.

 

And in any case, they themselves need PR makeovers like how CSL needs the blue pill to get it up (and the whole world witnessed that). CSL, after all is the poster boy for the illicit stuff people buy the world over. "Malaysian Minister Having Sex" is found in night markets from Patpong, Bangkok to Seoul, Korea. Oh yeah, if anyone forgot, he wanted to become head of the Malaysian Chinese and a minister too.

 

TKS, on the other hand, is the poster boy for entrepreneurship par excellence. Buy land at RM3, sell at RM25. And to boot, get the contract to develop the land  too. But these can't beat the "bill the government for RM1.4 BILLION" for work NOT DONE. Yes, many monsoon drains, perimeter fencing, high-powered cables etc in PKFZ were billed to the govt but none of those were found anywhere in PKFZ.

It did not take long for the duo to realise they have one perfect PR outfit right at their doorstep. It's called Malaysian Insider, but later on how the link came about. Many people mistaken MI for a news portal, but it is not. It's really a PR machine out to prop certain people and tear apart the credibility of others. It's run largely by a group of ex-journalists from mainstream media, tainted by allegations of plagiarism and espionage or were sacked.

 

Those who play close attention will realise that the most controversial articles do not carry the names of the writers. That just shows how much credibility and guts the person(s) has or have. One writer was sacked by his previous employer, only to open up a PR firm. Before the company could even prepare its first monthly balance sheet, it ran into legal troubles. The PR firm had released its client's sensitive information to the press, resulting in the client runing foul of the London Exchange regulations. The company sued the PR firm but that guy fled to Singapore. Another who used to determine what headlines go out, made headlines worldwide over plagiarism allegations, in a high-profile case that deeply embarassed Malaysian journalism.

 

But these are not the point. The point is, MI is being made full use by the CSL-TKS cartel to pit OTK against PM Najib, spin lies about OTK, make a hero out of a porn star and exonerate the villians behind the country's biggest financial scandal, the PKFZ. CSL knows that he does not stand a chance against the incumbent OTK who has the presidential machinery at his disposal. His contacts in the military intelligence has already tipped him off that the scales is tipped in favour of OTK. Otherwise, CSL would not have a problem getting the 800 signatures and swiftly called for the EGM, like how Tan Kwoon Swan did in the 1980s.

 

CSL knew the only way to topple OTK is to use outside interference. After all, he had used Umno and Tiong. What's a little help from a PR firm that was once linked to the then powerful gangters in Umno (that contributed to the coalition's massive losses on March 8)?

 

If one were to believe the lies MI spun, PM's office in Putrajaya would have a gaping hole in the ceiling because 500 times a day, Najib would "hit the roof" over OTK. MI is also fond of spinning about how probe into PKFZ was the worst thing to happen to BN since March 8. And if MI were to be believed, the walls along the corridors of power in Purtajaya had already been filled to the brim with the writing "Umno does not want OTK" (because PM Najib SMSes the MI "editors" his innermost thoughts on an hourly basis).

 

Ok, let's ignore the fact that two editors there had in late July changed new cars - one now drives a S class and another a BMW M6 Coupe (registered under Fox Sdn Bhd). But just how did the supposed "Umno-linked" Insider get drawn into the crossfire between the Chinese (OTK vs CSL-TKS)?

 

First of all, let's address 2 myths: MI is NOT Umno-linked anymore. That link all but collapsed the day Pak Lah unceremoniously got the boot for the massive March 8 losses. Secondly, it's NOT a Chinese battle, because underlying all the powerplay is PKFZ - a project where Umno's fingers are buried deep within.

 

MI is funded using money from Fox Sdn Bhd, (a real PR firm!!) backed by Spinmeister Extraordinaire, Datuk Kali. Datuk Kali, as we all know, is the political father to Khairy Jamaluddin, whose father-in-law is the Father of Sleeping in Public. KJ, as we also all know, is also considered a godfather to many Umno boys during his heydays. And these include Faizal Abdullah, the deputy CEO of Kuala Dimensi and Azim Zabidi, director of Wiramaju Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of KDSB.

 

Being KJ's proxies, both Faizal and Azim are deeply involved in the PKFZ mess.. Faizal is with Selangor Umno Youth and Azim was the political novice Pak Lah named as the Umno treasurer-general. Khir Toyo was also very much in the thick of things with KJ's help (land sold at a massive premium during his tenure) before the KJ-Toyo fallout. And everyone in Port Klang Authority knows that the overseas vacations OC Phang goes each year is funded by KJ and Tiong.

 

To put it mildly, KJ was instrumental in the PKFZ fiasco. He had access to his father-in-law and had him do many things - like getting projects approval signatures, for example just before the ex-PM nods off while listening to the Permodalan Nasional Bhd presentation on GLCs' performance. KJ has every reason to pull the handbrakes on OTK's efforts to recover money from KDSB.

 

Want to know why? Now, KJ no longer enjoys the immunity given by his FIL, nor the clout of being part of the First Family. And after being snubbed from a cabinet post (his counterparts in Wanita, Puteri and even his own deputy Razali were made dep ministers), KJ finds his own supporters ditching him faster than H1N1 cases are rising in the country. And he knew only one way to to regain the clout - stuff `em with cold hard cash. Umno members loves money more than Tiong loves his two private jets. KJ needs money - by the truckloads - to keep his heart pumping in the political Intensive Care Unit. KJ can ill-afford OTK coming after his machais' ill-gotten gains, for he has a stake in them. Gone are the days when KJ can walk up to any GLCs heads, thump the table, and get what he wants.

 

MI, meanwhile, is game for such malicious, unethical power play. Don't forget MI is a PR firm, not a news portal, much less part of the Fourth Estate and their main consideration is the bottom line, not ethics. Faced with a dwindling cash reserves (Fox Sdn Bhd is no longer dished lucrative govt contracts after Pak Lah left), it would do anything to stay afloat. Just look at the dwindling ads there. KJ understood this and had even worked out a plan to make MI the first "portal" in Malaysia, possibly the world to be listed - a plan hatched when Pak Lah was still in power - if his grand design succeeded. 
 

One MI article, "Writing on the wall for Tee Keat, MCA" (as usual, doesn't carry the writer's name), was commissioned by KJ after CSL-TKS hit the panic button upon learning that OTK had revealed their unholy alliance during the MCA roadshows nationwide. The article came out days after police froze RM140 million in KDSB's account and soon after the PKFZ Taskforce briefed PM about the mess. (During the briefing, PM's bodyguards had to restrain him from flying out of the PMO because he couldn't hit the roof anymore because by now, there was a huge hole on the ceiling.) Even Pak Lah weighed in, with a script from KJ, calling for an end to MCA's public bickering. KJ is one of the earliest to call for Umno intervention in the MCA troubles because he knows once Umno sticks its nose in, it could force through a settlement - or at least move OTK to another ministry.