PALACE & POLITICS The UMNO General Assembly: To take up the issue of palace involvement'" pohtics. The Politics of Mandela ... 4; Dimensions of Unity ... 6; A Design for A)odhya .. 8; Elections That Split the Nation ... J 0: Letters .. .II ; M'sian Mass Media : Sinking to New Dep.ths .. .l6; Apologists and Eunuchs ... 20; Aliran's OUTSTANDING MALAYSIAN Award ...22; A 'Nice Man' Fmishes Frrst. .. 23; The Child Cannot Wait...25; Coming Home to Find a Smug, Scared America... 30: Analisa Keputusan Pilihanraya ...32; Current Concerns... 34; Exposing US Motives . 40 UMNO Baru Generel Assembly: To discuss Palace involvement in the Generel Elections. he Malaysian public has just As a matter of pnn,lplc, our mount to mvolvement in politics. been tolJ thJt the UMNO SuJ[ans. who are constllUtlonal Indeed, constitutional rulers should T Baru Supreme Counctl hCi.'i monarchs, should not get involved not ..:ven make statements on politi­ accepted for debate at the UMNO in poliucs. Involvement m politics cal issues especially if they arc Baru General Assembly scheduled means supporung or opposing a hnl-.ed to party politics. lor the end of November, a resolu particular political pany ur particu· Staymg out of politics is impor­ 11011 tabled by two or the party's tar candidates in elections. Any tant lo1 the protection of the image d1v1sions in Penang appealing to the form of campaigning for a particu­ of the constilu tional monarchy. Sultans to stay .out of politics. lar party or candidate would tanta- Rukrs should be seen b} e~eryonc 2 as mdtviduals perfonmng pubhc sition party and tned to d1ssuade pohtics reveals once agam the lack roles who are, nonetheless, above them from challenging UMNO of principles m our public life. Cer­ ' party polittcs. Only then will they Raru tam leaders in power try to create inspire fatth and confidence If we are opposed to the involve­ the impressJOn that they are amongst all segments and all ment of the palace 10 polllics, then defending certam constnuuonaJ sections of Malaysian society. Only we should be consistent in our norms and values. In reality, how­ then will they be respected and stand We should not be selective. A ever they are merely giving vent to revered as symbols of unity and wrong is a wrong. regardless who the1r anger and frustration over the harmony. transcending part) afftlia· the perpetrator is. It would be most electoral verdict in a particular lions and poliucal allegian~es. unfair to casugate a Ruler who state. If art} Ruler gets involved 10 allegedly supponed one side, and They wa11t every Ruler to be politics, either directly or indirect­ yet keep quiet about some other 'neutral' on the1r SJde 0 ly, all of us who c.hensh the constt­ Rulers who may have backed one's tutiona1 principles upon which the own party to the hilt. Chandra Muzaffar Malaysian nation is founded. should This epiSode about palace and undertake to remind tum of the importance of walking the stratght and narrow path. But we must fust r----____;__-c!!P­ marshal the evidence. It would be very wrong to make wtld allegations against a particular Sultan. The Sullan of Kelantan, 1t has been alleged O} certain UMNO Baru '• \' leaders and members, supported the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU). co11pnsing PAS and Semangat 46, in the recent general elections. These allegations have been made in various speeches. But where is the c\ldence? So far no UMNO Baru official has furnished concrete proof of the Sultan's Ul· volvement. Perhaps m the party's general assembly, some of the dele· gates may produce hard evtdence to - back their clatms. More important, even if UMNO ,g,. ,. Baru can show that the Ruler was btaSed. what about other Rulers? Have all the other Sultans stayed ,/,, out of party poht1cs 1n the last few ----- ----------------~ years? Isn't it true that lhe Sultan of a particular state when he was Yang di Pertuan Agong- asked the Malays to rally around the UMNO Baru of Dr. Mahatlur Mohamad immediately after the original UMNO was deregistered? Isn't it true that he even offic~ated at a major UMNO Baru function shortly afterwards? Hasn't he continued to ------~ interfere 1n the selection of UMNO Baru and Bans.an Nas1onal candi­ dates in Ius state, as renected in the last elections? And, isn't it also true that sometime in 1988, the Ruler of yet another state asked his sub­ Jects to g1ve their wholehearted support to the UMNO Baru leader­ ship? It IS alleged that he has even called up leaders of a certam oppo- 3 POLITICS THE POLITICS OFMANDELA by Anil Netto Mandel a in K L: A historic event turned into a Barisan PR exercise. ahatlur and Mandela BARISAN PR EFFORT non-evem? ), new~papers dently prctltcted a '"'"• ..,..,. ......,. champtons of racial It wa.s a m<.'dia e."\crcise a crowd of ab\1ut ~O.()()l) M equahty'. That m a nut· Barisan PK effort - becau~c at was obviou~ from our T\ ~hell summed up 1he vistt of \Cteran the level ol the man in the street. antt-ap:lrtheid activi)t. Nelson there was lntJc entlmstasm or that the turnout for 1 Manc,iela to our shores. In retros­ excnement JJ1 evttlence. It is function was e"ncmel) row upon row ol e pect. it was notlung but a medta doubtful whether man} had even which TV ..:amera) n cxerose to r:use Mahatlur's pubhc heard of Manuela before this best to a\ou.l. r6on 'italure to the level ul Mandeb's. visit. One lml nnl} to lake a look to thei:r favourtte tactt But. tn reality, there wa!> no com at the ceramah (not a publtc rally, ·dose-ups· of ~cctaons pari:.on. One wa5 lock.ed up for you understand. because there 27 )Cars for lm pohtica.l wovic· ts a ban on those) held at Statlium crowd. uuns while the other does not \:cgara where Mandela and Mandela hc:.~ta1e 10 detain his poltu~al Mahatlur addre~sed the crowd. from lndw and Ja pan opponents" ithout tnal Before the t!VC!lt (or was it n 4 of the Sharpeville massacre which had resulteu in scores of hlack~ losing their liv~ . TI1e Tunku indtcated that he would only be pre~nt if the Sharpt!Ville mas!k!.:re was on the agenda. As it turned out. the i~~ue was discussed at the meeting. Those present included the South Afncan prime numster Hendrik Verwoed. Briush 1>renuer Harold McMillan and Australian leader Robert Menltes. the latter two being partH.:ularly symoathelll towards South Afncu and Its polictcs Also there were Ayob Khan, the pres1 dent of Pakistan. and Jawaharlal Nehru India's fust pnme mtnister. Under Nehru. lndta had become the first country to adopt sanc11om agam~t South Africa. The Tunku came to the meeting Tunku: A pioneer in the struggle against apartheid. well prepared He had carlter tabled a rc!>Oiution in the Malayan Parlia­ ment a~amst the injustice of apar· had been the focus of adulant Tunku was !.hunted out of the piC· the1d 111 South AfriCa. This resotu. and adonng throng~ ul well ·WI~hers . ture. Mandela , probabl}' not aware lion was seconded b) none other Civen Mahatlur's eagerness to have of local potitical developments in than the then parliamentary Oppo· h1m \isit Malays1a, he would be recent years. recalled in glow1ng )ition leader. Dr Burhanudd in J\J. furg1ven for perhaps ha' mg ex · words the Tunku's efforts tn the IIclmy. who ~a~ also president of pccted a ~imlfar display uf public struggle again~t apartheid much the Pan·Malayan hlamic Party (now appreciation and support for h1s to Mahathir'l> chagrin. Tn be lair. known as PAS) It was the ftrst time uny1elding struggle m South the PM lumsclf did touch bneny t11a1 such a resoluuon had rccetveJ Afric:a . un the Tunku 's wle in the Sll ugglc. the unanimou~ backing of both But then. wa~ no meeung :uranged sides of the House. TIDAK APATHY b~:tween the Tunku and Mandcla But whll t>Jct:tcd him instead Mandela would sutely have been IMPASSIONED PLEA wa!. a pathetil' Ji:.play of indiffe­ delightcu lo meet the I unku. fhat Armed ~,~;ith this resolution and ren~;e Perhav~ 11 wa~ the fauriliar would most ccrtamly ha'e been the the moral ba~:king of the Malayan Malay\lan J 1\ease o I tidal.. apat/ry. high point of his vistl. lmtead. people. the Tunku delivered a Perhap~ It wa~ due lO our mahillty Mandcla was scheduled to vtsit a st1rn11g ami impassioned plea to transcend the bound~ ul cthni­ 1-ELDAscheme. agatmt aparthetu at the Common· city anJ rehg10n ..,. hen Identifying wealth meeting. \;chru was so with the stn1ggle fur freedom and TUNKU'S ROLE impressed with the Mala} an leader's justice in variuu:, parts. ol the world. lt wouW he useful hete to !lash· courageous speech that he imme­ (1 hat wuuld explain why PLO back to the Tuuku':. pioneering role diately took out the rose that was prcs1dcm Ya,..cr Arafat recc1ved an in the international ~;rusade agJinst pinned onto his ~it and pre~ented nuberant welcome at the very apartheid The Tunl\u. tn fa~;t. was it to the Tunku a) a measure of Ius o;ame venue not too long ago largely re~ponsible lor South appreciation. (The Tunku later ..,. hereas Mandela could barely Afrka's expulsion from the Com· qtllpped that he had complimentcd muster a fracuon of that crowd.) mum\ ealth.