Oleh Ibnu Hakeem

30th September 1965 shall remain as a Day of Infamy in Indonesian history. The significance of that day is akin to the Deepavali of Hindu mythology – which still provides an integral part of popular religion in Indonesia – whereby good triumphed over evil. But who was good and who was evil in 1965 may still be the subject of debate in Indonesia.

That day is remembered as 'Gestapu' or 'Gerakan September Tiga Puluh' where an attempted coup against no one really knows who was thwarted by General Suharto and some friends – resulting in Suharto becoming ruler of Indonesia for over 30 years until his ouster in 1997. In the process more than a dozen Generals, the cream of Indonesia's military leadership, were massacred in the infamous Lubuk Buaya incident, leaving only Suharto as the sole survivor and heir to the throne. The Generals were murdered and thrown into a well.

Suharto imposed military rule, suspended various freedoms, and ruled by decree. He also had a freehand to get rid of opponents and restructure Indonesian politics with his cronies and supporters. The 1965 coup was indeed a great bonus for Suharto.

Latter day Indonesian analysts have traced the tainted hands of the CIA in manipulating an already tense situation at that time to install another pro-American regime during the US's Vietnam-War paranoia in South East Asia. Indonesia had been in the pro-Soviet orbit. The coup changed all that overnight.

According to an Indonesian PhD researcher, the catalyst for the coup of 30th September 1965 was disturbances and fires set around the capital city of Jakarta by the 'Abang Beca'. Then, the tens of thousands of 'Abang Beca' also blocked off certain roads and streets in Jakarta, making it difficult for police and troops to be dispatched (for example to save the doomed Generals). The 'Abang Beca' had been carefully organised by unknown persons as street gangsters or 'shock troops'. They were the Mat Rempits of the day – being able to get around Jakarta very quickly and capable of causing major havoc if needed.

Fast forward to Malaysia today. Just like in Indonesia during 1965, there is a kind of orchestrated tension in our country now. There is a constant harping about religion, racial issues, education and also political tension. And everything seems to be concentrated in Kuala Lumpur. The 'Church' that was maliciously rumoured to be handing out Malay language Bibles is allegedly in Kuala Lumpur – not in Tanjong Tualang. The Lina Joy case has been drawing fiery religious sermons in Kuala Lumpur – not Kuala Kangsar (although I must admit I have not been to the Kuala Kangsar mosque lately). And we now have the thousands of Mat Rempit being organised to serve their masters. If anyone has noticed - whether by coincidence or not - the lights are on until late at night both at the US Embassy in Jalan Tun Razak and the British High Commission in Jalan Ampang.

Even Ripley's may not believe this but, yes, it is strange but true, that some time around 10th November 2006 - after the expected overheated UMNO General Assembly - 50,000 Mat Rempits are supposed to assemble in Bukit Jalil where the Prime Minister and also Minister of Home Affairs Pak Lah will award the Mat Rempits official recognition as 'Mat Cemerlang' - completely going against the total disapproval of the Police, UMNO Youth (Hishamuddin Onn Wing), Wanita and Puteri UMNO, and also the larger UMNO.

Can the Mat Rempit cause havoc in Kuala Lumpur? They most certainly can. 50,000 Mat Rempits on 'pil kuda' can most certainly get anything going. This is why the Police (and every right thinking citizen) are totally against mobilising the Mat Rempits under any banner. If even non-Oxford graduates can understand this danger, definitely Oxford graduates would be even more informed. Yet it is the Oxford graduates who are pushing so very hard to mobilizse the Mat Rempits. What do they know that we do not?

The last time havoc got going in Kuala Lumpur was in 1969 where Parliament (and democracy) was suspended and the country was ruled by a National Operations Council or NOC with Emergency powers. This would be the right thing to do in emergencies but it is always important who holds the Emergency powers. In 1969, the rather lame Tunku Abdul Rahman was eclipsed by the more capable Tun Abdul Razak. Today, who is much more capable than the Prime Minister? No prizes for the correct guess. But imagine such a situation. All the expected succession-to-the-throne equations will be thrown into the bin. There will be an entirely new pecking order.

Back to the present. There is a story making the rounds that UMNO Youth Chief Hishammuddin Hussein recently chided Khairy Jamaluddin as the "Oxford boy" and goaded Khairy to challenge him. This story is so obviously false. There is no way the almost limp-wristed Hisham (Aau! according to Pas) would do any such thing. For all intents and purposes Hishammuddin is the sidekick or 'tonto' to Khairy who is the de facto head of UMNO Youth. Hishammuddin cannot wait for UMNO to hold party elections where he will go for broke to run for a Vice President's post. It is not that Hishammuddin wants to be a VP. He just wants to get out of this embarrassing position of being Khairy's sidekick in UMNO Youth. The false story is just a weak attempt to bolster Hisham's image. It also indicates serious dislike in UMNO Youth towards Khairy. The Youth Wing is certainly not in favour of the whole Mat Rempit idea either.

Hishammuddin's fate is reflective of the Abdullah Badawi style of Khairy's misgovernment. After bootlicking Bush, Badawi left Syed Hamid Albar dangling like a fool when he said he had accepted the former Nazi soldier and currently Catholic Pope's apology over his anti-Islam remark. Just the day before, Syed Hamid had told all and sundry that the Pope's apology was not enough. Understandably, Syed Hamid is now resting from the embarrassment.

This is also not unlike Mustapa Mohamad suffering embarrassment when the PM said the controversial material used about the race relations course in universities should be withdrawn after having Mustapa defend it in public. Cabinet Minister's are getting short-changed - to make the PM look good - or so is the idea.

But other than Hishammuddin Hussein, Idris Jusoh, the Menteri Besar of Terengganu, suffers the most as Khairy Jamaluddin's 'office boy'. At a speech in Kemaman on 22nd September 2006, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad clearly accused "Datuk Seri Abdullah of allowing his son-in-law and a businessman friend to 'rule' Terengganu state" (Straits Times). Idris Jusoh has been completely sidelined. Despite being a son of Terengganu and a Menteri Besar, Idris has to take orders from Khairy and friends.

There is much money flowing in Terengganu - usually to build useless and stupid projects like the 30 units of RM1 Million Bungalows on Pulau Duyong (unsold), the RM250 million replica of the Taj Mahal and other useless buildings on Pulau Wan Man and the RM300 million Monsoon Cup whereby Patrick Lim is a beneficiary. The money comes from the Terengganu Oil Royalty Fund or Wang Ehsan Terengganu. Not surprisingly, the Prime Minister personally chairs this committee that manages these funds - now approaching RM1 billion a year.

Tun Dr Mahathir stated that Khairy Jamaluddin virtually 'rules' Terengganu with his businessman friend, Datuk Patrick Lim. More than one person has quoted the story where, while driving the Prime Minister, Idris Jusoh had to stop his car and see the Prime Minister getting into Patrick Lim's car instead. Idris just went home and went into standby mode, ready to receive more pizza delivery instructions over the phone.