LKY’s Sodomy II remark not food for thought

By Joe Fernandez

COMMENT Now we have heard it all. Senior Singapore Minister Mentor Harry Lee Kuan Yew has grounds to believe that Anwar Ibrahim is not only guilty of Sodomy II, but has committed the “mother of all stupidities” by “knowingly walking into a trap” set by his “political enemies”.

“Political enemies” can only be a euphemism for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and the grand puppet master, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister and the bane of most Malaysians.

It’s interesting to note that WikiLeaks, the source of the so-called leaks on Anwar, doesn’t seem to know who his political enemies are since they remain unnamed. This could only mean that the Malaysian Special Branch (SB), the divine guidance of Lee’s belief in Anwar’s alleged guilt, deliberately withheld information on the opposition leader’s political enemies. (Not that it knows anything most of the time.) This makes its “intelligence work” all the more suspect.

The nature of the relationship between the Malaysian SB and Singapore SB is an open secret. They are said to maintain a close working relationship. But beyond that, there’s no sincerity or genuine cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore. The Malaysian SB tries to mislead – an analyst used the word “bullshit”– the Singapore SB as much as possible and vice versa. This allows both SBs to select what they like to hear, irrespective of whether it’s true. And it’s this information that’s passed on to their political masters.

The Malaysian SB should better spend its time persuading its counterpart in Singapore that “Malaysia is not in dangerous decline, with the Chinese set to flee for the island”, another fairy tale that WikiLeaks picked up from across the causeway via Washington. This is because there are still non-Malays, and Malays alike, who would protect Umno from their own stupidity and the “incompetence” noted by the “competent” Singapore officials.

The Malaysian and Singapore intelligence services are the last places to go to if one is looking for any intelligence. The Singapore government, it is believed, is aware of the historical weaknesses of its SB and may have set up parallel intelligence networks, especially in the diplomatic and commercial fields.

Another big hole in the Lee belief is that Anwar would knowingly walk into a trap set by his political enemies. This is a contradiction in terms unless Anwar is “a glutton for punishment”, a phrase that Lee once used to describe the late Singapore opposition leader J B Jeyaratnam, whom Lee bludgeoned into bankruptcy time and again with the complicity of the island’s judiciary, of which he was once a senior member. Had Lee said “unknowingly”, his belief in Anwar’s “guilt” would have been a little more credible.

Hence, we must discount these leaks from WikiLeaks, which in any case are not always a reflection of the truth but merely messages being broadcast for our entertainment irrespective of their merits. It’s for us to sift through them and separate the grain from the chaff.

We can also conclude that Washington, where the right hand ostensibly doesn’t know what the left is doing, must be complicit in the continuing WikiLeaks exposé.

Calling Washington's bluff

It is time to call Washington’s bluff on WikiLeaks, which can only be part of the former’s naïve hidden agenda in global diplomacy and security. Washington wants to determine the global agenda and dictate how the ensuing debate should proceed and this is where WikiLeaks enters the picture.

As for Lee, who is nearing 90, he must be losing the plot, especially after the recent death of his wife under tragic circumstances which dragged on for so long that it traumatised him no end. Most of the trauma stems from the fact that Lee, who sees himself as God’s gift to Singapore, doesn’t know where his wife has gone. The subject came up indeed between husband and wife as they debated whether there was life beyond the grave. This is the subject that Lee should focus on at this juncture of his life and not whether Anwar is guilty of Sodomy II.

Whether the WikiLeaks exposé on Anwar would play on the mind of the judge in Sodomy II remains to be seen. It certainly adds to the molehills of circumstantial evidence the case has covered so far unless the court has access to the “technical intelligence” the Singapore SB claims to have. They would have shared it with their Malaysian counterparts who would have gloated over such a prize find and run with it to their political masters for a pat on their backs.

The judge would have to discount WikiLeaks in his final summation before throwing the book at Anwar.

Between the paucity of credible evidence, and the continuing political interference in the case, the opposition leader is likely to receive a suspended jail sentence and fine, which will strip him of Permatang Pauh and disqualify him for five years from standing in any election or holding office in any political party. This must be one reason why he prefers to remain as the Ketua Umum of PKR.

In that case, we won’t be hearing the last of Anwar after Sodomy II. We will hear less of him if he is really locked away and not given a suspended jail sentence as expected.

Whichever way Sodomy II goes, the longer it drags on, the worse it will be for BN and Najib – and Mahathir in particular – and the better for the opposition alliance. Sodomy II has become an albatross around the necks of Najib and Mahathir. They can only sink with it, not swim with it as these two arch villains are hoping. That will be poetic justice in an ironical turn of events.

Whatever happens, we can be sure of one thing: there won’t be a Sodomy III, and not because the primary villains will exit the stage, but sequels are the kind of thing that only Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger can get away with.