A bald farce hits a wall

Note : This article is posted in Malaysian Mirror and its contents cannot be verified , however no names are mentioned neither is its author who posted under anonymous .

Thursday, 26 November 2009

LETTER Most people thought BN component parties had headed into cyberspace only after the watershed March 8, 2008 general election, which saw the opposition making unprecedented gains, largely due to the primary and secondary reach of the New Media.

BN parties were seen leaving the starting mark in the race towards cyber information dominance when Pakatan Rakyat parties were already miles ahead.

But one party had actually attempted to reach out earlier to the Netizens even before anyone had the faintest idea that March 8 would take place.

But then, almost no one knew of the effort by one major component of the coalition that took the form of mylivingwall.com because it turned out to be a disaster mired in corruption, scandal and sheer incompetence.

The idea of a mylivingwall was hatched in 2007 out of one woman’s frustration with her superior.

This lady, Ms X, was working in the party’s think tank organisation but could not get along with her boss, another Iron Lady, formerly from a certain chamber of commerce.

Both have a strong character and soon their daily arguments got too much. Ms X decided it was time to part ways.

But she was not ready to just call it a day in the party without first extracting her pound of flesh from a former and generous party president.

Door of opportunity

A window of opportunity presented itself when the former president (FP) appointed AK to head the publicity bureau.

That's when she sold the idea to FP, through AK, of setting up a portal called mylivingwall.com.

And AK, being the right-hand man of the deputy president at that time, can just about lead FP to leap off the Petronas Towers, if he wanted to.

FP was sold to the idea faster than the dotcom bust of the early 2000s.

But then, Ms X also wanted a good deal for her severance package-cum-platinum-handshake.

And she had a secret weapon: the then party legal bureau head, TC, with whom she allegedly shared a relationship that went far beyond work.

The lawyer, who lacks hair on his head, had close ties with FP and helped Ms X draft a contract that made her CEO of Living Wall Sdn Bhd. The party HQ granted her RM800,000 seed money and a monthly retainer fee of RM65,000 for three years. The contract is due to expire in February 2010.

And faster than a blink of an eye, the party’s venture, to turn over the anti-establishment Netizens, was born in a business arrangement that reeked of high-handedness.

Hit a wall

And what of the "portal" itself?

It remains a one-woman effort to compile bits of information from all over cyberspace.

No one does interviews with ministers or confronts the FRU during illegal rallies, much less brave the crowds at ceramahs. And FP was banking on this woman to turn things around in the face of seething anger from the urban middle-class Chinese.

By the time March 8 took place, it was too late. Well, Living Wall, hit a wall, pun intended.

With its three-year contract expiring soon, Ms X’s fortune does not seem to be all that bright. Neither is the luck of her lover boy who was removed as the party's legal bureau head shortly after a recent EGM for allegedly plotting against the current president.

Bald TC and Ms X go back a long way and are part of a group of English-speaking activists, in a largely Mandarin-speaking party.

But, really, the person more worried than the woman about the party not renewing Living Wall's contract is TC.

Lobbying not to be left out

Having years ago given up his legal practice, from which he made a fortune through the generosity of FP and another former president, he would have no more income if Living Wall tumbles like the Berlin Wall 20 years ago.

Furthermore, he has been reassigned from being chairman to just an ordinary board member of a popular English daily, which leaves him with one leg at the exit door.

Of late, TC, who makes no attempt to hide the estranged relations with his wife, is often seen at the office of the party’s treasurer-general in Cheras, lobbying not to be chopped off as a director of the party's investment arm and another party-owned corporation.

Having loaned RM170,000 to his lover for a new Maserati, TC did not want to be caught deep in debt. Hence, he aggressively pushed for the renewal of Ms X’s lop-sided contract.

Towards this end, TC even cut a deal with a party vice-president. In return for declaring the EGM illegal, the ‘botak’, as he is also known, will be given the post of deputy chairman in one of the party’s division; a much more glamorous post than being the legal bureau head. On top of that, the Living Wall will continue to stand.

But as the party leadership impasse drags on, Living Wall, FP’s baby, continues to be stillborn while Pakatan’s blogs have gone far ahead.

BN parties can lead sites like Living Wall to the sledgehammer, like the Berlin Wall collapse that brought hope and prosperity to Europe.

Otherwise, the only thing "living" thing insofar as the next general election is concerned, is false hope and illusion.

Anonymous, Kuala Lumpur

(Note: The above letter is authentic but edited to meet the editorial requirements of Malaysian Mirror.