Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times Barry Wain (grave mercy .TXT) 📖

members sent him a message that they were not happy with him. But in these highly charged and difficult times, the message Dr. Mahathir received was a naked threat, a conspiratorial effort to discard him like Suharto.

According to Anwar, Dr. Mahathir had sleepless nights as the assembly approached, fearing the appearance of organized discontent, such as a no-confidence vote being taken against him, a banner calling for his resignation, or just jeering.[40] Going on the offensive, Dr. Mahathir issued a series of warnings, clearly aimed at Anwar's backers, not to make "unsubstantiated" claims about nepotism and cronyism. In a closed-door briefing the day before the youth and women's wings of UMNO were due to meet ahead of the assembly, Dr. Mahathir said delegates who raised issues that might destabilize the party must be accountable for their actions. He told a press conference, "If you want to bring up such matters, you must have the facts."[41] Daim, the prime minister's long-time confidant, called Zahid and advised him to back off from his tough talk about nepotism and cronyism for the sake of his political future.[42] It came just eight hours before Zahid was to address the UMNO Youth gathering. Zahid went ahead anyway, his attack on the existence of corruption, cronyism and nepotism approved by Anwar.[43]

Although Anwar's own speech to the combined UMNO youth and women's delegates contained no such criticism and he urged an end to factionalism and a united stand in support of Dr. Mahathir in facing the economic crisis, it was too late. Dr. Mahathir, in his opening speech to the assembly, hit back so hard at the cronyism critics that any incipient revolt was quelled. His view, that external forces were responsible for Malaysia's problems, was endorsed in a resolution that was carried unanimously. Dr. Mahathir also turned the tables on Anwar by releasing, without notice, lists of all the Malays who had benefited from privatization and government contracts. His son Mokhzani was listed, but so too were Zahid and members of Anwar's family. While it might have been a "cheap trick", as Anwar later claimed, because it did not differentiate "between projects worth a few million ringgit and those worth billions",[44] the ploy worked. With Dr. Mahathir declaring all Malays cronies because all had benefited from the government's affirmative action policies, kronyisma was wiped from the agenda.

A parallel development, played out in the shadows while the delegates debated, confirmed how seriously and quickly the tide had turned against Anwar. Among the items being peddled by the hawkers set up outside the assembly venue, the Putra World Trade Centre, was a book titled 50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM — 50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot be Prime Minister. The poison-pen letters of a year earlier had been embellished and packaged in a more permanent format, authored by Khalid Jafri, a former newspaper sports editor. Repeating the earlier sexual charges, the book accused Anwar of complicity in a murder, and called him the most corrupt man in the country and an agent of foreign powers who wanted to overthrow Malaysia's leadership. As soon as he learned of the book, Anwar obtained an injunction through a law firm to halt its publication and distribution before the assembly opened. He described the book as "a conspiracy to smear my image and topple me" and called on the authorities to take harsh action against the author and publisher and their agents.[45] Ominously for Anwar, however, in defiance of the court order the book was packed into delegates' souvenir bags by the UMNO secretariat.

Not only did Zahid's salvo fail to ignite a debate on domestic weaknesses and the need for reform, it also eroded any remaining trust Dr. Mahathir had in his deputy. Anwar disappointed some of his own troops by failing to back Zahid and leaving him exposed, or for not leading the charge himself against corruption, cronyism and nepotism. There was no doubt about public disquiet over the matter. In a by-election a week later, the opposition captured the parliamentary constituency of Arau in Perlis for the first time, the first parliamentary seat ever won by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia in the state. The critical factor, though denied by Dr. Mahathir: The UMNO candidate was the brother of the state's chief minister, a blatant example of nepotism that shaded into money politics and related abuses.

Over the next couple of months, Dr. Mahathir orchestrated a series of moves, using both the government and party, to weaken Anwar's position.[46] A few days after the convention, Daim was re-appointed to the Cabinet with the title of Special Functions Minister. Having acquired full ministerial rank in addition to his role as government economic adviser and head of the National Economic Action Council, he was assigned responsibility for coordinating economic recovery, further isolating Anwar as finance minister. The editors of the two major Malay dailies, Johan Jaafar of Utusan Malaysia and Nazri Abdullah of Berita Harian, were forced to resign, as was the director general of TV3. All strong Anwar allies, they were replaced by pro-Mahathir figures.

As police resumed investigations into 50 Dalil, as it became known, they focused as much on Anwar as those responsible for the book. While charges were laid against Khalid Jafri, the editor, also arrested was Nallakaruppan Solaimalai, a businessman and occasional tennis partner of Anwar, who was alleged in the book to have arranged sexual liaisons for him. After police searched Nallakaruppan's house, he was charged under the Internal Security Act with unlawful possession of live ammunition, an offence carrying a mandatory death sentence. The same offence under the Arms Act, more appropriate in the circumstances, carried a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment and a RM10,000 fine. Attorney General Mokhtar Abdullah told reporters there might be more arrests. Anwar was outraged to find himself being pressed to take a DNA test to prove he had not fathered an illegitimate child, as the book claimed. DNA testing of his private secretary and secretary's wife, plus the child in