The Khairy Chronicles: The most powerful man in Malaysia

http://www.malaysia-today.net/Blog-e/2005/07/khairy-chronicles.htm

THE KHAIRY CHRONICLES
The most powerful man in Malaysia

Political journalist Yahaya Ismail recently wrote a book called Khairy
Jamaluddin: Bakal PM?. While the book contains many facts and educated
guesses on the future of Khairy, the title itself is in gross error.
Khairy Jamaluddin is not a future Prime Minister. He is already the de
facto Prime
Minister.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is legally the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia,
having taken office in November 2003. However, even before he assumed
office, it was quite clear that Abdullah Badawi was not his own man -
that all his thoughts, actions and deeds were heavily influenced, if not
directed by his then 28-year old son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, and his
coterie of friends. While some talked of the three Ks being the power
behind Pak Lah, namely Khairy, Kalimullah (the Group Chief Editor of the
New Straits Times) and Kak Endon (Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood Ambak,
wife of the Prime
Minister), there is no doubt that the first K is the most powerful, having
appointed the second K to his post and having married the third K's
daughter
at a time when the third K was and is fighting breast cancer, an illness
that has already claimed the third K's twin sister.

Many say that this is not unusual. After all Nixon had his Kissinger and
the Tsar of Russia had Rasputin. There are similarities between these
figures and Khairy. For one thing, all seem to act as puppet-masters,
pulling the strings of the wooden characters who are the rulers of the
country in name. All came from rather obscure backgrounds to emerge
suddenly upon the national scene in a blaze of glory. Yet all had the
fatal flaw of a congenital defect which led them to believe that they
were immortal, invincible and all-knowing. In the end, all succumbed to
the temptations of power. Will this also happen to Khairy?

The signs of discontent are quite clear. The person who perhaps is most
wary of Khairy is former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. While Dr
Mahathir himself at first warmed to Khairy and his friends, appointing
for example Khairy's bosom buddy from Oxford, Dr Vincent Lim Kian Teck,
as his second Chinese political secretary, he eventually found Khairy an
overbearing presence upon Abdullah. But at that time it was already too
late. Mahathir had announced his retirement and Abdullah Badawi was the
heir-designate.

For whatever bad that Mahathir had done, he knew he could not afford to
change his mind on the succession after the crippling failure of the
removal of Anwar Ibrahim.

So Khairy was kept on in the Deputy Prime Minister's office in spite of
Mahathir's misgivings. Mahathir turned red when Khairy Jamaluddin asked
him in a Pemuda UMNO gathering whether he was really serious about
stepping down. He thought it discourteous that Khairy insisted Mahathir
send
Abdullah for an overseas tete-a-tete meeting with the US President, even
when Mahathir had dismissed the idea as "premature" and "unnecessary".
Mahathir rankled when his former political secretary, Matthias Chang,
reported to him that Khairy had mentioned in an informal student
gathering in London that both Mahathir and Daim deserved to go to jail
after Abdullah Badawi takes over.

But like all of Khairy's enemies, Mahathir underestimated "the boy". He
thought that as leader of the country for 22 years, and the most powerful
man in the country, Khairy could be pushed off the scene as and when
Mahathir likes even when he was no longer in charge. Mahathir trusted
that his immensely strong iron grip on UMNO could be utilised behind the
scenes
to bend Khairy to the Mahathir whim. But it was not to be. Mahathir's son,
Mukhriz found himself humiliated when he tried to challenge Khairy for the
deputy leadership of UMNO youth. In spite of Mahathir's monetary support,
several large gatherings to pep up the Youth voters and the far-reaching
tentacles of ANSARA (the former Mara students alumni group headed and
funded by Mukhriz as a closet political tool), Mukhriz found that the
rising son-in-law was more powerful than the fading son. He humiliatingly
lost the
UMNO Youth Head position in his father's own constituency and got pitiful
support for his national ambitions.

Mahathir at last realised that he had stepped down in November 2003, the
most powerful man in the country, only to be replaced by a 28-year-old.
Khairy is now and for the near future the most powerful man in the
country.
Even more so than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Tun Razak or anyone in the
UMNO Supreme Council who are mere tadpoles in Khairy's big pond.

Here is how he influences decisions that affect you and me.

First, Khairy is the main gatekeeper in Abdullah Badawi's office. No
letter, fax, proposal, document, appeal, communication, correspondence or
presentation lands onto Abdullah's desk without first going through the
screening of aides Datuk Wan Farid and Zaki Zahid. Both Wan Farid and
Zaki
Zahid act as Khairy's eyes and ears. When any proposal comes through to
them, they immediately make copies for Khairy Jamaluddin. Copies are
necessary because Khairy is no longer officially with Abdullah's office.
Yet, official or not, he is still the gatekeeper and needs to see all that
comes to Abdullah's office.

Wan Farid and Zaki Zahid together with Khairy also vets the appointment
list
to see Abdullah. In spite of the existence of the post of Chief Private
Secretary held by Dato' Thajudeen Abd Wahab (a long-time Abdullah Badawi
loyalist and civil servant), those appointments made through Dato'
Thajudeen's office inevitably get copied to Khairy and get vetted by him.
Make no mistakes. Though Dato' Thajudeen is annoyed by this unorthodox
arrangement, his long-time friendship with Abdullah is not strong enough
to overrule his boss' son-in-law.

Of course it is not cheap to get an appointment to see Abdullah. The
gatekeepers also act as toll-collectors. And UMNO is rife with mutterings
of dissatisfaction, due to the high price (some say up to RM50,000)
exacted
by people close to Abdullah merely to secure an appointment with the Prime
Minister. While this "custom" has always existed in varying degrees
throughout the rule of all five Prime Ministers of Malaysia, it has never
been so thorough and blatant as it is now. This is because payment of
RM50,000 alone is not sufficient to secure an audience. There must also be
promises of involving some of Khairy's companies in eventual projects if
such audiences are to be successful.

Some may argue why this happens in spite of Abdullah Badawi's image as Mr
Clean. But that image is merely a perception. Compared to other ministers
Abdullah is relatively clean, but this was not because of want of trying.
Abdullah was in charge of ministries with little "opportunity" to exact
"tributes" such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and for many years he was out of the government. His
political position as a former Tengku Razaleigh-Musa Hitam supporter was
always very precarious and Abdullah Badawi was too fearful to drink from
the poisoned chalice of corruption.

However the situation has now changed. Abdullah Badawi is all-powerful as
Prime Minister and relies on Khairy to prop up that position. Khairy
Jamaluddin knows that it is not long before Pak Lah will be challenged by
Najib or anyone else backed by Dr Mahathir. Thus he must make hay while
the sun shines.

The second method by which Abdullah is controlled by Khairy is through
Khairy's insistence on appointing key personnel at the decision-forming
level within Abdullah's office and also in other powerful ministries. No
less than ten of Khairy's friends from his university days who are all in
their late twenties or early thirties currently occupy posts equivalent to
chief executive in many of the ministries (more will be detailed in later
parts of this report). Abdullah Badawi cannot function if these figures
do not function. In other words, he is completely reliant on their
actions.

For example, let us say that Abdullah goes for a foreign trip to Venezuela
for a trade mission. The person who prepares the itinerary is a Khairy
appointee (a fellow ex-student from the UK). He submits the paper to
Khazanah's Director of Investments (another Khairy appointee) for
discussion. It is discussed with people from Ethos Consulting (a
Khairy-related company) and finally gets approved by a meeting of Foreign
Ministry civil servants which willy-nilly is often attended by Khairy
himself in spite of him having no official position in government. When
Abdullah comes back from Venezuela, discussions with President Hugo
Chavez is discussed with the private office of the Prime Minister (headed
and made up completely of Khairy's appointees) and decisions are made by
Abdullah Badawi after a night's discussion at home with Khairy himself.
Little wonder that Khairy Jamaluddin has such an extensive control on
Abdullah - and this was exactly how the Venezuelan trip of the Prime
Minister took place!

Thirdly, Khairy Jamaluddin controls Abdullah Badawi through his insistence
on exerting his unofficial role as the Prime Minister's closest advisor.
An incident that took place in the foreign ministry shows it all. A
meeting was
called by Minister Syed Hamid Albar. It was a top-level meeting, a
briefing
to the Prime Minister in a closed session. In attendance were the Prime
Minister, the Minister, the Deputy Ministers, the Secretary General of the
ministry and his deputies - and Khairy Jamaluddin, at that time neither in
the Prime Minister's office nor holding any official post. Syed Hamid
insisted that the meeting be closed to Khairy. Abdullah demurred, partly
out of fear that if Khairy was not in the room he would be ill-advised.
So Khairy stayed. Such a situation shows not only how strong Khairy is,
but how weak Abdullah can be.

Therein lies the danger of Khairy Jamaluddin. He is an unelected person
within the government, yet his influence outweighs that of the whole
cabinet; even that of the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. As long
as Abdullah is in power and Khairy is married to his daughter, Khairy
Jamaluddin will continue to be the actual ruler of Malaysia. Whether
knowingly or not, democracy in Malaysia has been reduced considerably
since Khairy Jamaluddin came to the fore and there is no longer any check
and balance within the government.

Surely the people of Malaysia should know about the phenomenon of Khairy
Jamaluddin since their lives now so much depend on it. Malaysia Today will
chronicle the rise of Khairy, how he influences UMNO and the government,
name his allies and enemies and how he interacts with them. More
importantly, Malaysia Today will try to lay bare the mystery of Khairy
and
identify the tentacles he uses to reach for power.

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