Raymond Tan Spilled Beans on Prime Minister

Sometimes morons can do some good, it seems. Thought I'd never see the day this would happen. It did, this week. Guess, only in Malaysia, huh?

The Sabah Progressive Party's (SAPP) pull-out of the Barisan Nasional (BN) last week exposed another political blunder committed by BN's pool of incompetent, grovelling, shameless and politically dumb politicians that have been running this country. In a 'hey-you-owe-me-big-time' move on his former boss cum SAPP President Yong Teck Lee, SAPP's disgruntled ex-Deputy President Raymond Tan unwittingly ratted on Prime Minister Badawi when he revealed that it was he who saved SAPP President Yong's behind when Badawi wanted to arrest Yong months earlier under the ISA for supporting a vote of no confidence on Badawi. So, now the whole world knows that in spite of his rhetorics for legal reforms and the rule-of-law, Prime Minister Badawi is the biggest culprit who is not practicing what he preaches. In fact, he is doing exactly the opposite of what he preaches on reforms, democracy and rule-of-law. Yesterday, 22nd September 2008 was a sad day for Malaysia when Raymond Tan so proudly announced, "I Stopped PM from Ordering Yong's Arrest". Waah, so powerful ahh you Raymond! And every newspaper and news websites carried the report similar to this:

The war of attrition continues over the sudden withdrawal of Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) from Barisan Nasional last week as a “shocking revelation” came to light.

MCPX

Its disgruntled ex-deputy president Raymond Tan (left) claimed on Saturday that he had been instrumental in preventing the arrest of party president Yong Teck Lee in June in relation to allegations of corruption.

An English-language daily in Sabah quoted Tan as saying that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had wanted Yong arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA). This was after Yong spearheaded a no-confidence vote against Abdullah’s leadership.

In defending himself against claims of ingratitude by failing to support the Sapp pullout, Tan revealed that he had intervened on Yong’s behalf in June.

He said he had pleaded with Abdullah not to arrest Yong as it would be a bad move, and had even gone on television with a plea to allow the latter to speak up. - Malaysiakini, 22/9/08 - 'I stopped PM from ordering Yong's arrest'
(http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/90153)

Just great! Now we have another made-in-Sabah political blooper! A boast which turned out to be a rat! Haiiayaaa...malulah! Raymond's ex-colleagues in SAPP were quick to criticise:

In an immediate response, SAPP newly-appointed information chief Chong Pit Fah described this as a “a shocking revelation [...] that he can influence the prime minister to stop ACA action”.

“This is an admission by a BN deputy chief minister that the prime minister can interfere with ACA work,” Chong said in a statement issued yesterday.

He also wanted to know if the same influence could be used on other persons such as serving ministers, or similarly abused. - Malaysiakini, 22/9/08 - 'I stopped PM from ordering Yong's arrest'.

This incident and his refusal to support SAPP's pullout apparently have earned Raymond Tan and array of labels - from ingrat to moronic rat to an Independent in BN, the latter is what Raymond called himself ever since the pullout. Is there such a thing - an Independent in BN?! I've always thought that if you are an Independent candidate, you are a stand-alone with no affiliation to any party. I guess this moronic genius has come up with a new definition for an Independent Candidate.

Still, Raymond Tan has refused to resign from all his government posts including the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah and the Minister of Infrastructure Development. Raymond has the blessing of the Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Seri Musa Aman to retain both his government posts (as reported in Daily Express today, 23 Sept 2008, headlined "Tan Keeps Cabinet Posts for Now" accompanied by a huge pix of the CM and Raymond shaking hands with equally huge, wide grins). What this means depend on who one is talking to. To some, this implies hogging and an inability to let go of power; to others, this may mean Raymond is merely 'jaga periuk', loosely translated to 'protecting his source of income'. Of course, that 'periuk' cannot be Raymond's and raymond's alone, Of course, not. It goes without saying that that 'periuk' must be too huge and lucrative to let go (being Minister of Infrastructure, whaaat...) and is being shared by many many around. And you don't have to be a retard to see that the 'many' could include those who gave their blessing....