He had a lot of blood on his hands. A mass murderer. But he was held in high esteem by Western leaders (and Asean leaders too: they were practically falling over one another to pay tribute to him). Why? More than 500,000 – perhaps close to a million – were massacred in the mid-1960s, as a result of a purge on suspected communists and sympathisers, which also targeted peasants. The CIA even chipped in by supplying a list of people it wanted eliminated, as John Pilger describes: The US embassy in Jakarta supplied Suharto with a “zap list” of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members and crossed off the names when they were killed or captured. Roland Challis, the BBC’s south east Asia correspondent at the time, told me how the British government was secretly involved in this slaughter. “British warships escorted a ship full of Indonesian troops down the Malacca [Read more]
Malaysiakini has just reported that Vincent Tan has denied that he had much influence under the Mahathir administration: He also said that it was a “real joke” to suggest that Mahathir consulted him on the appointment of judges as indicated in a video clip which featured lawyer VK Lingam. “If I am so influential, I would have gotten many government projects but I didn’t,” he said. Little influence, huh. One thing comes to mind: the privatisation of Sports Toto. Take a look at the Berjaya website: The history of Sports Toto began in 1969 when it was incorporated to run the Toto betting business. It was essentially the Government’s effort to raise funds to promote and develop sports, youth and cultural activities. Sports Toto was privatised in 1985 when its Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, through his private company acquired 70% of the paid-up [Read more]
So far, Malaysians have been entertained by the almost farcical proceedings of the commission of inquiry into the Lingam tape. Come on, we all know the real state of the judiciary. But the joke of the week must be in the Malaysiakini headline just now. I burst out laughing when I read it. “Dr M fears corruption in general election“ Apparently, he fears money politics and vote-buying tactics will be deployed to stem the ruling coalition’s losses. He cannot be serious. I remember some serious splashing out of “development” grants and announcements of development projects during election campaigns of the Mahathir era. Absolutely no understanding of how a caretaker government should behave in the run-up to the polls. So pardon me while I try to stop laughing. But of course, the Abdullah administration is unlikely to be any better. Just look at how much money was splashed around during the [Read more]
