‘Money Politics’ has ingratiated itself into the fibre of Malaysia’s ruling culture thanks to decades of control by a mafia organisation also known as UMNO.

A confused generation now finds it hard to distinguish between right and wrong or between saying the right thing and doing the wrong thing. The consequences are being played out in court, as jaw-dropping details of theft and kleptocracy have been laid before the public, who are themselves subject to increasingly crushing laws and punishments. They are also playing out in present politics with the tactics of Malaysia’s revanchist coup.

Thanks to exposures like 1MDB an enlightened population booted out UMNO and its cronies at GE14, but noone signs up to a mafia without being ‘blooded’. The gang can’t trust anyone clean. And it was by using this old network that the losers of GE14, all the dirty crooks with their money making schemes reliant on the abuse of power, set about overturning the will of the people the moment they lost control. The fake fakir Hadi Awang even admitted it last week.

The ruined ranks of UMNO set about scheming with former star pupils, such as Azmin Ali and his own network of operatives trained in the arts of manipulation and how to put their fingers in the till. These tainted if rivalling thieves pulled off their coup through the so-called ‘Sheraton Move’ thanks to an abuse of process and the suspension of Parliament.

However, this is not the old days. UMNO has been exposed and heavily depleted. The thieves have lost their numbers and they are quarrelling amongst themselves. Aided by modern media everyone can see what is going on as Azmin, Muhyiddin and their latest frenemies from PAS pull out all the stops to cobble a majority of MPs using bribery and blackmail

The desperadoes have even called a Fake Emergency, abusing the pandemic and the suffering of the people to keep their grip on the levers of power so that they can initiate yet more ‘projects’ to harvest cash and cement what they hope will become an iron grip.

Now they are resorting to their blatant mafia tactics in plain sight to force MPs elected to serve on behalf of a reform agenda to swap over to their side. Azmin’s ‘blooded’ former clique have all been targeted and huge sums are being promised to others to tempt and compromise them. Lists have been issued of those Azmin believes he can pressure… leaving the rest of us to wonder why.

It is now widely known that an early target, the wealthy Larry Sng, owed millions in unpaid taxes. Azmin’s boys had rung him up and threatened him with a ‘jail or jump’ demand. Now, it has been the turn of Xavier Jayakumar, known before the coup to have been in Azmin’s inner circle.

Jail or Jump

Azmin, who learned his own early political lessons whilst previously in UMNO, had plainly obtained the wherewithal to support his network, having snatched the Selangor state leadership from his jailed boss’s wife as an early move in his strategy to usurp the leadership of PKR.

The Sarawak chapter were hugely grateful and named themselves ‘Azmin’s Men’, ready to knife their President (the imprisoned Anwar) and hop to order. However, others, when they discovered the full extent of Azmin’s game were more reluctant. They refused to join the Sheraton Move and that included Xavier Jayakumar. Until today.

Today, Jayakumar finally caved in to the tactics employed by the revanchist coup and left the party his constituents elected him to serve – uttering all sorts of worthy excuses to explain his actions.

However, unlike in days gone by, the brutal desperation of the last ditch tactics of PN’s floundering, found-out bunch of political gangsters have been on display for all to see.

In the case of Jayakumar, just as fellow PKR MPs were widely protesting that they were being approached from all sides with offers of bribery and cash to switch sides, a man most people regarded as the former environment minister’s special aide, MA Tinagaran, (Jayakumar now claims the man was just a family friend) was shockingly arrested just a few days ago.

Corruption charges have swiftly followed, along with the confiscation of RM1.2 million and hints of an extensive enquiry into the granting of concessions by the department of the environment, such as sand quarrying permits.

However, with just one small switch everything can change. Like with Larry Sng, Malaysians can now guarantee that the authorities will refrain from pursuing any further investigations over these matters in the direction of the suddenly PN-supporting MP. Any financial issues to do with his constituency will be likewise smoothed. It’s part of the package.

Yet there is a political price for PN to pay. In days gone by such tactics were the bread and butter of Malaysian ‘Money Politics’, otherwise known as corruption and abuse of power – kleptocracy. But, the all-powerful grip of UMNO has drastically eroded thanks both to greed and rivalry and to the draining of the resources they’ve been stealing.

When thieves fall out the truth comes out and the government no longer controls a propaganda media monopoly to cover up.

As a result the full and horrible extent of the cancer of political corruption in the country has been exposed bare over the past pandemic year. Malaysians can’t wait to cut it out.