Going all out to embarrass Eli Wong and PKR: Umno's guy Hilmi now seeks 'political asylum'

As expected, Umno is now training its sights on Elizabeth Wong, PKR's well-respected Selangor state assemblywoman, trying to embarrass her by digging out details of an alleged affair with ex-boyfriend Hilmi Malek, who somehow managed to oblige the Umno-controlled press with an exclusive interview despite claims that he feared for his life.

"It is strange because Hilmi is supposed to be wanted in Malaysia and he has been found in Indonesia. Why don't the Malaysia authorities get their counterparts to deport him," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Targeting Eli and PKR

Indeed, there is something fishy over the entire episode. Firstly, there is little that Hilmi can do to really harm Eli now, except to politically embarrass her and her PKR party.

She had resigned when the scandal erupted in 2009, but amid protests from her constituents who liked her dedication and hard-working ways, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and PKR president Wan Azizah had urged her to stay on.

After a one-month break to recover from the shock and trauma, Eli has not looked back since. She went on to table the country's first ever Freedom of Information Bill. In the PKR 2010 historic one-member one-vote party polls, she won the most number of votes in the contest for a supreme council seat.

Recently, she has been stepping up the water campaign against Syabas, which is controlled by Umno tycoon Rozali Ismail. So it is not difficult to trace from which party her enemies could be from. Eli holds the tourism, consumer affairs and environment portfolio in the Selangor state council. She has in the past also crossed swords with sacked colleague Hasan Ali, the Gombak Setia assemblyman.

But ends up making Malay men look 'cheap' in the eyes of the world

However, her enemies will be disappointed if they had hoped to rock her or to discredit her to her Bukit Lanjan constituents. She is more popular than before. Moreover, few Malaysians think well of such dirty tricks or men like Hilmi, whom the Malays themselves regard as a disgrace to the image of Malay men.

"This is the problem with some of these Umno warlords. Their brains are in their rear and not in their heads but does Umno really care about the dignity of the Malays. Look at they way they persecute Anwar, surely the most talented Malay leader so far. Anwar can command the global stage, even US vice president Al Gore walked out of an official dinner to stand up for him, but jealous people like Mahathir and Najib throw sodomy I and II at him. They are disgracing their own Malay race for political power," PKR veteran watcher Eddie Lee told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It's the same with Hilmi. He's the bimbo and whether he leaked the photos or not, he will be seen as the guy with no class, a kiss-and-tell scoundrel. It's actually a role reversal. Eli is smart, powerful while he - the Malay boy - has to sell intimate photos to earn a living. This is what people are thinking and this is how they will view Malay men - a 'cheap sale' -  thanks to Umno.

Eddie was referring to former premier Mahathir Mohamad and Prime Minister Najib Razak, both of whom have hurled trumped-up sodomy charges against Anwar in a bid to derail his political rise.

Melodrama that doesn't make sense

According to Kosmo, a Malay daily which interviewed Hilmi in Batam, Indonesia, the former PKR worker confirmed that he did have a romance with Eli, but denied leaking photographs of her scantily-clad and asleep to the Umno-controlled press, which went on to paint the town with the scandal in 2009.

“I don’t know who leaked the pictures. All I know is that the mobile phone was long gone by then,” the 36-year-old Hilmi told Kosmo.

Hilm also refused to say if he had taken the pictures, but admitted that many media reports on the controversy were false.

“I didn’t run out of fear. I did not want to muddy up the situation. I also did not want to be turned into a political circus,” he insisted.

Yet, it has been 3 years, why stay away so long and why the rumors that he is afraid for his life. Indeed, it obvious that there is more than meets the eye in the entire escapade, and Umno's hand is clear.

Selangor remains their top state to win the 13th general election and with Prime Minister Najib Razak setting the example by declaring that Umno would retake the state at "all costs", Malaysians do not need a degree in rocket science to put two and two together.

Political asylum? Why not come home!

It is telling that Hilmi also mentioned that he wished to start a new life, was looking for 'political asylum' in Europe and that he hoped the Malaysian police would not charge him.

“I wish to start a new life," he had said.

“My safety is not ensured in Malaysia as a result of threats made against me by Malaysian leaders who may use me as a pawn or political tool for the authorities,” he had also told immigration officers, according to Indonesian newspaper Detik.

If his words are indeed true, the it must be Umno that is threatening his life and not the political opposition. After all, if it was the opposition that was trying to shut him up, then all he would need to do is to return and surrender to the police, who take their orders from the Umno-led government. There is certainly no reason for him to fear unless his enemies are from the government.

Paid to lie?

The other alternative is that he has been paid to "lie through his teeth" to embarrass Eli, the Selangor government and her PKR party.

"Doesn't this remind you the the Datuk T sex tape against Anwar. It is so nonsensical. Not to belittle the incident which is the worst example of gutter politics, but isn't it melodramatic to seek political asylum over such an issue like this, and for something that happened in 2009. If Hilmi had been found guilty and jailed, his sentence would already be over. Look at the Datuk T trio, they got off on the minimal fines," Eddie pointed out.

"As for people threatening his life, my advice to Hilmi is to just come back and report to the police unless it is the police or Umno who are the gangsters going after him. I believe the most plausible explanation is that he is lying through his teeth after accepting a huge gift from people with reason to embarrass Eli and the Pakatan. You can guess for yourself who that could be."

Malaysia Chronicle