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THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Raja Petra Kamarudin I just heard, however, today, Soi Lek called a press conference and confessed to the porno movie and said he had met the Prime Minister who forgave him and told him he need not resign from his Cabinet post. I am yet to confirm this story though.
I was asked what I thought 2008 is going to look like. My reply was: no change over 2007. It will be more of the same shit, just different days, that's all. In fact, there was more shit in 2007 than what Malaysia Today reported. I know, you thought you had seen and heard everything. Well, you did not, really. There was much more which Malaysia Today did not report. And the reason we did not report all these things is because although we trust the source of this information immensely, nevertheless, in the event we are dragged to court and made to prove what we wrote, we would be hard-pressed to do so. And that is why Malaysia Today decided not to publish all those many stories that we heard -- in spite of the fact those relating the stories are absolutely reliable and I have no qualms about trusting them. Let's take the newest shit of all to hit the fan, the porno movie currently circulating the country. It seems this 'home' movie shows shots of Chua Soi Lek doing what all of us do all the time. The only thing is, most us do it with one whom we are 'legally' allowed to do it with and we very, very seldom record it on camera. Don't these politicians ever learn? 15 or 20 years ago another politician, unmarried though, shared this same passion of recording his sexploits on video and, invariably, it fell into the wrong hands. However, instead of it ending his political career, the video just made him more popular with the women who went, “Mmmmmm,” and started asking around for his phone number. I suppose it worked like a sort of PR video for him. Someone contacted me yesterday and asked whether I want a copy of the latest porno movie. He said this would help prove that the man in the video is Soi Lek. I turned down the offer though. The last time someone sent me a video of that Vijendran chap and promised that it was in colour and very clear, I found he had lied. I called him up and complained that not only was it not clear but it was also in black and white and not in colour like what he promised. He gave me this very lame excuse that it is in black and white because it was Vijendran in the video but I felt it was not a convincing enough explanation. Anyway, I decided that the Chua Soi Lek porno movie story may be quite hard to prove so I decided not to run the story. So that is one story Malaysia Today did not carry in 2007 and I feel, unless it can be proven that it is really him in that porno movie, we will not be running it in 2008 as well. I just heard, however, today, Soi Lek called a press conference and confessed to the porno movie and said he had met the Prime Minister who forgave him and told him he need not resign from his Cabinet post. I am yet to confirm this story though. Earlier that same week was the story about the 72 year old woman in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, who was found dead in her home. According to the mainstream newspapers, the woman, who is unmarried, lived alone since her mother died five years ago. The newspapers also said that 18 suspects had been rounded up to 'assist' the police in the investigation behind her death. I actually got the story a day before it hit the mainstream newspapers but decided not to carry it. What this source told me was that the woman was Khairy Jamaluddin's cousin. But if she was a victim of a break-in and was killed in a robbery, what makes this story so special? Many break-ins and murders occur in Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia is suffering a crime wave. And Malaysia Today never carries such stories even if the victims are related to someone important. And Khairy is not quite someone important in that sense. He is merely the son-in-law of the Prime Minister. The 'special' part of this story, my source told me, is that this woman was living alone and she died without anyone realising it -- and she could have been dead for some time before they realised she had died. Okay, so what? I still do not see this as an interesting or important story. Look, my source argued, she is 72 years old, has been living alone for the last five years, is the cousin of Khairy Jamaluddin, and died without anyone realising it. Okay, so what? I still could not see what was so important about this story. Look, my exasperated source continued, this means she had been neglected for five years. Can you imagine what people would say if they knew that Khairy's cousin had been neglected for the last five years and died a lonely death, murdered, without anyone being aware of it? I did not share my source's enthusiasm for linking the death of this woman to Khairy and blaming him for neglecting her. Hey, I got thousands of nephews and nieces from hundreds of cousins merely because my grandfather had ten wives and 44 children. I don't even know the names of many of them or know where they live or even whether they are dead or still alive. My source gave up. He couldn't convince me that the death of this lonely and abandoned 72 year old woman could be linked to Khairy and that the man who would be Prime Minister at the age of 40 could be discredited for what happened. I never ran the story in 2007 and would probably not even talk about it in 2008 either. Anyway, the mainstream newspapers never said that she was Khairy's cousin so it would be very risky to mention Khairy's name unless it had been reported so. Yes, those were two stories, so-called shit that hit the fan in 2007, that Malaysia Today never carried in 2007 and would probably never carry in 2008 as well. Then there was this story from a most reliable source whom I had known for 20 years or so, a one-time big man in Malaysian politics who has since retired. This source told me the story as follows: One day, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called the head honcho of Gerbang Perdana, the company that was supposed to build the 'Crooked Bridge' to Singapore, for a meeting in his home. When the man arrived, Abdullah asked him whether anyone had seen him or followed him. Abdullah was relieved when told that the Gerbang Perdana head honcho had sneaked in unseen. Abdullah told the Gerbang Perdana head honcho that he (Abdullah) wants to help him (Gerbang Perdana head honcho) to get the Cabinet to approve the plan to build the 'Crooked Bridge'. Abdullah explained that the Cabinet is opposed to the bridge and would probably block it at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for the following day. But he (Abdullah) would push it through and try to get the Cabinet to reverse its stand. As they were talking, Abdullah's secretary came in to announce that the Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, had arrived. On hearing this, Abdullah panicked and asked the head honcho of Gerbang Perdana to jump out the window. Abdullah did not want Syed Hamid to know that he was in a meeting with the head honcho of Gerbang Perdana. The Gerbang Perdana head honcho did as instructed but unfortunately when he jumped out the window he came face-to-face with Syed Hamid. He quickly ran off and pretended he did not see Syed Hamid but he knew he had been seen and he felt quite silly for jumping out of the Prime Minister's window and then stumble into the very man he was supposed to avoid. I almost fell off my chair laughing when my source related this story. If anyone else had told me this story I would never have believed it. But this is one man I have absolutely no doubts about. I told my source I would never be able to run this story because no one in Malaysia would ever believe such a stupid thing. I mean, stories about the Prime Minister sleeping during meetings, dinners, functions, etc., even sleeping standing up, are all supported by mountains of photographs. But how can we prove this story? So I did not run this story in 2007, not because I did not trust my source (so I hope he will not take offense and will still invite me to dinner), but because I just do not know how to convince Malaysia Today's readers that this really happened. The story does not end there though. It seems, after the Gerbang Perdana head honcho left, Abdullah told Syed Hamid to raise an objection at the following day's Cabinet meeting and oppose the 'Crooked Bridge'. Syed Hamid did just that and immediately after the Cabinet meeting Abdullah phoned the Gerbang Perdana head honcho and told him that he (Abdullah) had fought hard to get the Cabinet to agree to the bridge but it was fiercely opposed by the Cabinet, in particular the Johor members of the Cabinet such as Syed Hamid. Nevertheless, said Abdullah, he will compensate Gerbang Perdana by awarding them another contract for the maintenance of all government assets. Since this will be a negotiated contract and at a lucrative price, the profit they will make will more than compensate the losses incurred in the infrastructure work on the now abandoned 'Crooked Bridge'. Another source, however, told me that this story is not true. He said that Syed Hamid was actually in support of the 'Crooked Bridge' because the deal had been packaged with the contract to supply sand to Singapore. Syed Hamid's brother stands to make billions from the supply of sand to Singapore if the 'Crooked Bridge' proceeds, said this second source. In fact, my source reiterated, everyone in Johor knows this and one day, when Syed Hamid had an audience with the Sultan of Johor, His Highness asked him (Syed Hamid) to remove his songkok (black cap). And when Syed Hamid removed his songkok, the Sultan uttered, “Penuh pasir (full of sand).” This contradiction about whether Syed Hamid supports or opposes the 'Crooked Bridge' is the second reason why I did not dare run this story in 2007. Okay, even without this part I would still find it difficult to convince Malaysia Today's readers that the jumping out the Prime Minister's window episode is true. But the contradiction concerning Syed Hamid opposing or supporting the 'Crooked Bridge' and the tie-up to the billions of Ringgit in supply of sand makes the story even more difficult to fathom. Many stories from reliable sources ended up in my rubbish-bin in 2007, not because I did not trust my sources, actually I do, but because I was hard-pressed in offering the proof to support these stories. Malaysia Today's readers are a very critical and skeptical lot. They will not simply swallow any story hook, line and sinker unless you can prove it. So better I just ignore all these stories than face the risk of losing our credibility by publishing stories that can't be proven. For example, I was told that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is behind K.S. Nallakarupan and is financing the setting up of his new Indian party. In case any of you may have forgotten, Nallakarupan was the one-time tennis partner of one-time Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and was initially slotted to contest the Ijok by-election until Parti Keadilan Rakyat dropped him in favour of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. He then left in a huff and soon after launched his own Indian-based political party. Anyway, it seems Najib is behind Nallakarupan's new party, but then I did not see why Najib would want to back a new Indian party so I decided not to run the story even though it was told to me by someone high-up in Umno. The only reason why Najib would want to back a new Indian party would be because they want to kill off MIC, the leading Indian party in the Barisan Nasional coalition. Then the Chief Minister of Melaka, Ali Rustam, whacked the Indians at the PPP state convention in Melaka. He practically told PPP to get the hell out of Barisan Nasional. Umno has ruled Malaysia for 50 years, argued Ali, and it can rule for another 50 years without the help or support of any of the other races, or even Sabah and Sarawak. And his tirade against PPP and the Indians lasted more than an hour and each time he interjected with the statement that he had met Najib the day before. He repeated this over and over again for reasons best known only to him. Was he trying to say that Najib was behind the tirade? It was all beginning to make sense until another very reliable source told me that Khairy was behind HINDRAF and that Abdullah had found out and took his son-in-law to task for it. It seems Abdullah really lost his temper and gave Khairy a piece of his mind. Then it began to get all cloudy again. If Najib is behind Nallakarupan, Ali (meaning Najib again) is behind the tirade against PPP, and Khairy is behind HINDRAF, how could the stories reconcile? I mean, this can only mean that Umno is trying to kill PPP and MIC in favour of a new Indian party headed by Nallakarupan. But then there is no way Najib and Khairy would work in concert and wouldn't Najib suspect that Nallakarupan is actually still Anwar Ibrahim's man and that the 'fallout' was staged, sandiwara, merely to mislead and confuse? I was very confused by the different stories that I decided there were too many gaps which made the story far-fetched. And it got even more confusing when yet another source told me that Khairy was not behind HINDRAF but behind the move to link HINDRAF to the LTTE that I decided not to run this story in 2007. Well, those are but some of the stories about the goings-on by those who walk in the corridors of power which Malaysia Today did not run in 2007. There were of course many more but maybe not worth a mention at this point of time. Anyway, if somehow some of these stories are later proven true, then Malaysia Today would of course run them. Suffice, for the meantime, we just regard all these stories as unconfirmed and hard to prove which Malaysia Today received in 2007 and which we did not run. Happy New Year and may 2008 be another year full of untold stories of those who walk in the corridors of power. And forgive us if this year we again decide not to run some stories and allow the untold stories to remain untold in 2008 just like what we did on the above stories in 2007.
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