Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📕

practitioner of Malay traditional medicine, whom Halim's wife had asked to cast a spell on him. Halim also had the help of immigration officers, who intercepted his children on a school outing and put their thumbprints on documents for use in making duplicate international passports. Two different lawyers representing his wife quit after being threatened, one physically, the other by phone. "It's difficult to say whether the problems I'm having are political or personal," she observed.[96]

As indicated by the acquisition of electronic and print media by Anwar's backers, the dispersal of UMNO's investments encouraged individual party leaders to cultivate their own business followings. Although Anwar had been a strident critic of entrenched political-business relationships, he ran into the harsh reality that control of resources was necessary to build a power base. Despite Anwar's disavowal of the links, executives identified with him secured more and more listed companies as he prepared to challenge Deputy Premier Ghafar at the 1993 party elections.[97] "Anwar's men", ambitious, younger and long frustrated by the domination of the Malay corporate scene by Daim's crowd, played a vital part as he staked his claim to be Dr. Mahathir's successor.[98]

With politicians cultivating personal ties with corporate captains and assuming control over major companies, factionalism within UMNO sharpened and the scramble for benefits intensified. Elected party posts became passports to wealth and status for which candidates and their supporting networks were prepared to pay on a scale according to potential returns. Businessmen who once shunned politics sought key posts in the UMNO hierarchy. By 1995, the teachers and farmers who once dominated UMNO ranks had long given way to civil servants, technocrats and opportunists; almost 20 per cent of UMNO's 165 divisional chairmen were millionaire businessmen-cum-politicians.[99] The rapid descent on rural areas by urban politicians to cultivate a grassroots base, usually by buying support, led to the further "monetization of politics".[100]

But it was hardly a case of innocent country folk being seduced by city slickers. With the plethora of development projects delivered at village and district level under bumiputra programmes, local UMNO politicians had already captured control of local administrations from bureaucrats. The biggest beneficiaries of policies aimed at alleviating the plight of impoverished peasants were, in fact, UMNO parliamentarians and state assemblymen, with their Malay and Chinese associates. They set up companies and awarded them contracts, persuading themselves they were fulfilling the 30 per cent quota for bumiputra ownership in business and management, even as they became wealthy and used their cash to buy continued support.[101] The internal clash over the spoils was fiercest in the pre-selection of general election candidates, leading to rising violence at UMNO branch and divisional meetings.[102] In the most notorious case, a member of Dr. Mahathir's Cabinet, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Mokhtar Hashim, murdered a rival in Negeri Sembilan state eight days before the 1982 general election.

Although top party leaders repeatedly warned against the evils of "money politics", it spread exponentially in line with general affluence and became institutionalized in UMNO. What had been little more than a free-lunch-and-junket habit escalated dramatically with the 1984 clash for the deputy presidency between Musa Hitam and Tengku Razaleigh. An estimated RM20 million was spent on that contest, setting an example that was followed in all subsequent elections and for all positions, from branch leaders to party president. In the divisive 1993 party elections, in which Anwar deposed Ghafar and Anwar's team of vice presidents outpolled opponents, RM500 million to RM600 million was distributed. The pay-off rate had increased nearly 30-fold in less than a decade.

Among numerous abuses associated with the money ethos were insider trading and the manipulation of share prices to raise funds for political campaigns. Amidst speculation about a snap general election in the second half of 1989, for example, the share price of several UMNO-linked companies rose spectacularly for no other apparent reason. Kinta Kellas PLC, Time Engineering and United Engineers soared between almost three- and eight-fold within six months.[103] As Anwar marshalled his forces to drive Ghafar into reluctant retirement in November 1993, the Malaysian stock market was gripped by a familiar frenzy. Between 4 January and 9 June, daily trading on both the exchange's first and second boards averaged 356 million units valued at RM892.3 million, up from 77.7 million units valued at RM207 million for the entire 1992. Again, stock prices of three UMNO-linked companies, Renong, Idris Hydraulic (Malaysia) Bhd. and Granite Industries Bhd., surged nearly three-fold in just over a month.[104] With UMNO also exercising influence over regulatory and investigative agencies, official inquiries into insider trading went nowhere.

Dr. Mahathir was among the earliest and loudest to decry the use of money to win party votes, declaring in 1984 that if the trend continued "one day only millionaires will lead UMNO".[105] At the General Assembly the following year, he denounced members who distributed cash to be elected divisional chairmen and others who bought votes with overseas trips.[106] After Ghafar revealed that one aspirant was willing to spend up to RM600,000 in a bid for office, delegates "liberally amended the party constitution to deter money politics".[107] The constitution was rewritten again at a special General Assembly convened for the specific purpose in 1994. It banned the giving or receiving of "rewards, gifts or valuable returns in any way or in any form", and armed the Supreme Council with powers to curb corruption.

While tightening the rules might have looked like a reasonable response to the unprecedented display of "money politics" the previous year, in reality it was a public cover for inaction. Delegates had been embarrassed by news reports that Bank Negara ran out of RM1,000 and RM5,000 notes at the height of the campaign leading to the 1993 General Assembly.[108] At the convention itself, participants declared that they had received gifts ranging from pens, radios and watches to foreign travel and cash. Some delegates handed out their bank account numbers to contesting candidates.[109] When the call for reform went up, the worst offenders joined the chorus, feigning innocence. Zainuddin