---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 01:13:11 -0400
From: <name deleted>
To: "M.G.G. Pillai" <pillai@mgg.pc.my>
Subject: Non-Thots

Dear MGG,

I was struck by the nonsense in Other Thoughts and Ramon's remark in
Asiaweek? Or FEER that we taught the IMF a lesson !
 

Other Thots - Sunday Aug 22, 1999 --- Rantings of Datuk Kadir Jasin

Once again our greatest journalist out does himself. He proves his
master's assertion that Free Speech exists in Malaysia, provided it's
the latter's minions and apologists that write and say thotless things.
Kadir does it yet again this week on two issues, the PM's China visit
and the matter of the papers implicating key members of the government.

According to Thotless Kadir, the visit was a great entertainment event.
We are told that the PM was so very impressed with the acrobats who
performed that we likely to have them visit us. He has got it wrong
-Kadir should have written about the Tan Sris, Datuks ,alias cronies,
financial jugglers and other clowning entertainers that were in the PM's
entourage. Kadir goes on to wax eloquently about the nature of the visit
-which according to the PM had noting to do with the upcoming election
in which he is counting on the Chinese vote- as a celebration of 25
years of diplomatic relations with China. Was the visit solely for a
tete-a- tete and to drink toasts ? Or was it about one hard pressed
authoritarian finding comfort in the company of other authoritarians ?

It is no coincidence that our system of capital controls had their
inspiration in the Chinese model. It is also significant that Malaysia
faces similar problems both economically and politically as China does - an
upsurge of dissident voices seeking a more open environment; a serious
problem of corruption ( something freely admitted by the Chinese leadership
but met with silence over here); a banking system overwhelmed by
non-performing loans; enterprises weighed down by large losses and an
economy that has slowed down. Both governments seem to be grappling with
problems of credibility with market players and have seen a sharp drop in
the flows of foreign capital which was in the past the main engine of rapid
growth and a contributory factor in creating the bubbles in the respective
economies.

It would appear that the old adage : birds of a feather flock
together, has some real meaning. If the visit was not for electoral
purposes, what then was the purpose? Was it to seek financial relief, given
the inability to borrow in the markets except at penal rates - after all
China has huge reserves ? Or was it to help the Chinese in coping with
their own crisis --- for after all, according to Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam,
our greatest economist and a likely nominee for the Nobel Prize, Malaysia
taught the IMF a lesson on how to cope with a crisis and stage a recovery.
By an extension of the Tan Sri's logic we are now in a position to teach
others. Thotless Kadir would have done a great service by analyzing issues
of this nature rather than regale us with tales of acrobats, the dancers and
the magicians. Interestingly, he refers to the haze in Beijing - a Freudian
slip or was it a remark to hammer home that we are not alone.

Equally, his recounting of the visit of the late Tun Razak to China in
1974 is somewhat revisionist rewriting of history. He does not tell us that
the way had already been paved by trade ties .China was becoming an
important buyer of rubber at a time when the actions of the US GSA was
depressing the market. Trade drove the need for relations. Furthermore, we
as a small nation were merely following in the footsteps of the Nixon
opening via ping-pong diplomacy and Kissinger's visits to China. The fact of
the matter is that the so-called free world had already come to terms with
China. There are few parallels between this visit and the Tun's visit in
1974. Thotless Kadir does not tell this tale as it would reduce the
rationale for the current jaunt and undermine his master's claim that
electoral calculations did not enter into the planning of the trip.
 

Kadir reserves the best of his "Thots" on the matter of investigating Mohd
Ezam in connection with the issue of documents exposing and confirming high
level corruption. He expresses the view that the police are treating Ezam
with kid gloves and showing great TLC (tender loving care.) One is left
wondering if he is suggesting that they should use something like boxing
gloves?! But the bottom line is that Kadir is most irate and urges that the
Official Secrets Act be used against Ezam. It would appear that he has
forgotten that the OSA was enacted to protect government and national
secrets. It was never designed as a shield to protect those accused of
criminal wrong doing.

His call on the government to use the OSA is
tantamount to inviting the authorities to misuse the law to cover up
corruption and abuse of power. Thotless remarks of this nature are an
incitement to break the law and are all the more dangerous when mouthed by
someone in a position as responsible as he holds. These remarks illustrate
rather starkly that he uses his freedom of the press to incite action
against Ezam who as a citizen has drawn attention to an issue of grave
concern to all law abiding citizens , disgusted by corruption. Kadir is in a
position to use that freedom to join in the calls for greater accountability
and transparency on the part of those in positions of power.

One would greatly admire Kadir' if he would only share his Thots on these later
issues, but that assumes that he has independent thots on the subject. What
we instead have is a situation in which his thots appear to be pitched at
supporting a cover up of allegations of seemly illegal actions by people in
positions of power. His position would appear to be - investigate and
prosecute the accuser rather than the accused. His wise thots go even
further when he castigates the "propaganda machines" of the opposition
parties, but conveniently ignores the fact that he is himself no more than a
propagandist for the BN when he puts out Thots of the type commented upon
here.