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Wednesday, 04-Aug-2004 12:07 AM Public Enemy Number One Over the ages, many Malaysian personalities have had the honour of making the Public Enemy Number One list. It would of course be impossible to go through the entire list -- as time and space do not permit this. I suppose if I did, this ‘thesis’ would qualify me for a doctorate. Hmm…Raja Dr Petra…does have a nice ring to it does it not? And I am sure my doctorate would be well earned compared to Rais Yatim who got it for his paper opposing the Internal Security Act (ISA), then when he became a minister he vehemently defended the draconian detention without trial law as ‘necessary for defending Malaysia’s security’. When asked why the change of stance, he replied that his thesis was just for the sake of his doctorate and in no way reflects his belief or ideology. The Malays have a word for this, Munafik, an Arabic word for hypocrite. Anyway, back to the Public Enemy Number One list. In the past, Malayan history books were written by the British so many a Malay patriot was listed in the history books as criminals, rebels or traitors. The guys who knifed to death J.W.W. Birch while he was having his morning shit along the Perak River are one example. Birch -- whose ‘crime’ was for not better-understanding Malay culture, tradition and language -- probably confused the word Perak with berak (to shit) and this antagonised the Pasir Salak Malay Royalty, the first Malaysian environmentalists who took exception to Birch polluting the then clean river. Then we had Mat Kilau and Datuk Bahaman of Pahang, avid anti-British freedom fighters who wanted to end British colonialism of the state. Selangor too had its Malay independence fighter, Tengku Musa’ Eddin, son of Sultan Ala’ Eddin Suleiman Shah, the Fifth Sultan of Selangor. Tengku Musa’ Eddin was the eldest child and son from Sultan Ala’ Eddin Suleiman Shah’s first wife, Tengku Ampuan Maharum binti Tunku Diauddin (Tengku Kudin of Kedah, the Sultan of Kedah’s brother), but he was anti-British so the British ‘persuaded’ the Sultan to appoint the younger brother from the second wife, Tengku Alam Shah, as the successor to the throne. Tengku Alam Shah ascended the Selangor throne as the Sixth Sultan in 1938 but, in 1942, the Japanese sacked him and legitimately installed Musa’ Eddin on the throne according to the proper rites and customs as Sultan Ghiathuddin Riayat Shah, the Seventh Sultan of Selangor. The Japanese realised that Sultan Ghiathuddin Riayat Shah was the rightful heir to the throne while Tengku Alam Shah was the son of the Sultan’s second wife, Cik Hasnah @ Cik Aminah binti Pelong, a commoner by birth. In fact, Tengku Alam Shah was not even the eldest son of this commoner wife as he had an elder brother, Tengku Badar Shah, who died only on 30 October 1945 so he could have been Sultan instead if they had wanted to bypass Tengku Musa’ Eddin. When the British returned in 1945, they removed Tengku Musa’ Eddin and reinstalled Alam Shah as Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, who would then be the Sixth and Eighth Sultan of Selangor. Sultan Alam Shah eventually went on to become Malaysia’s Second King in 1960 and the city of Shah Alam is named after him. Tengku Musa’ Eddin was then sent into exile (a sort of ISA detention then) to the Cocos Island in the Indian Ocean -- the first Malay, and of royal blood, to suffer detention without trial for opposing the ‘legitimate’ government of this country. These few names are the tip of the iceberg in the long list of olden days dissenters who opposed the illegitimate rulers of Malaysia and paid a heavy price for it. They were certainly Reformists -- concerned citizens who abhorred the excesses and indiscretions of the powers-that-be and wanted change. And they all had one thing in common; they were all Public Enemy Number One to the government of the day. But they are all gone now, dead and buried in their graves, forgotten by history and unknown to the present generation of Malaysians. And this is because in those days we had no Internet so only the well read knew about them. Today, though, it is not too easy to ‘bury’ these people, especially when they are very much alive and kicking -- and kick hard they do. We all of course know about Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Public Enemy Number One. Though Dr Mahathir has since left the scene, Anwar still languishes in jail for he is still regarded as a Public Enemy by Mahathir’s successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah). But he is no longer Public Enemy Number One. He is Number Two. The new Public Enemy Number One is Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li), the Prince from Kelantan and one-time Bank Bumiputera, Malay Chamber of Commerce and Petronas Chairman as well as Finance and Trade Minister. Today, Anwar Ibrahim’s supporters are no longer harassed or face the risk of detention without trial. The secret police no longer watch and monitor the movements of Anwar’s supporters so closely. Today, it is Ku Li’s supporters who face this predicament. A team of secret police constantly watch Ku Li’s house at Langgak Golf behind the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Anyone who visits the house is photographed and the car or motorcycle registration number is recorded. Sometimes, if the visitor is an ‘unknown’, he or she is followed on leaving the house so that they can find out who this person is. Umno division heads or other leaders who visit the house will receive a phone call from Pak Lah himself asking them what they were doing in Ku Li’s house. The lesser mortals would receive a visit from the secret police or from officials of some other government agency that specialises in brainwashing or psywar such as BTN and so on. Such is the paranoia that goes on in Pak Lah’s office. They are so scared that Ku Li would oust Pak Lah or lead a coup within Umno. The opposition too notices Ku Li’s potency and they would love to have him as the new opposition leader, a man who could probably unite the very fragmented and falling apart Alternative Front (Barisan Alternatif) that the Democratic Action Party (DAP) has since left and which may not exist come the next election Anwar Ibrahim’s supporters are also ecstatic at this prospect though it would be very difficult for Ku Li to leave Umno and head the opposition coalition lest he be branded as ‘sour grapes’ for not getting his nomination as Umno President. For whatever it may be worth, Ku Li is today’s Public Enemy Number One. He is the man the powers-that-be most fear. And let us watch this new Public Enemy Number One give Pak Lah a run for his money over the next couple of years. With Anwar Ibrahim pressuring from the outside (or should it be ‘inside’ seeing he is in prison?) and Ku Li on the inside (or should it be ‘outside’ seeing he did not get nominated for President?) exciting days lie ahead of us.
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