Tong Kooi Ong runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds

By MT Webmaster Last updated Feb 24, 2016

Anyway, if Kadir’s intention was to sabotage Umno’s deal to take over The Malaysian Insider then that may have succeeded. And if Tong’s intention was to use Kadir to do the sabotaging for him then that also may have succeeded. The issue now is will Tong still get his ‘get out of jail free’ card or is that now off the table? I suppose we will need to wait for that answer a while longer.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In my previous article — Tong Kooi Ong trying to make a deal with Umno — I said that Tong is trying to secure a ‘get out of jail free’ card by giving The Malaysian Insider to Umno.

Initially Tong wanted to sell The Malaysian Insider for RM20 million and when Umno showed no interest he reduced it to RM15 million and then RM7 million and now he is prepared to hand it over free-of-charge for a guarantee that his passport would be renewed and that he can safely return to Malaysia without suffering arrest.

But there is a catch. After taking over The Malaysian Insider, Umno will have to fork out roughly RM6-7 million a year to keep it running and over the next ten years (if The Malaysian Insider stays operational that long) with salary increases, bonuses, and so on, Umno would need to sink in around RM70-80 million or so.

At least that is what Tong told Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s so-called ‘Information Chief’, A. Kadir Jasin, as they both laughed at how stupid Umno is in accepting a white elephant that serves no purpose and only eats and sleeps all day long.

Somehow Tong managed to con Umno into thinking that The Malaysian Insider is going to be a valuable asset to Umno in its fight to win the hearts and minds of the voters, especially the hearts and minds of the Pakatuns and DAP diehards who hate Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Umno with ferocity.

Tong, however, admits in his conversation with Kadir that this is a pipedream because, the instant word gets out that The Malaysian Insider is now owned by Umno, the traditional The Malaysian Insider readers would all disappear in a puff of smoke.

Incidentally, this is Kadir’s response to my earlier article Tong Kooi Ong trying to make a deal with Umno:

1. Selamat wisata saudara. 2. Kalau dikira masuk gereja macam masuk Kristian, maka saya sudah lebih 50 tahun masuk Kristian. 3. Pasal Umno nak beli portal, itu pandai mereka lah. 4. Bila ada jual beli mesti ada komisen atau curi sana sikit curi sini sikit. 5. Beli boleh tapi bila orang tahu orang tak baca lah. 6. Tuan punya portal dapat duit. 7. Budak-budak yang tak mahu makan dedak mereka boleh buat portal baru. 8. Ini bukan isu saluran berita tak berwibawa tapi soal pencetus berita tak diyakini khalayak. Wallahuaklam

Kadir is saying that there are kickbacks involved in the sale of The Malaysian Insider and he is suggesting that those involved in the negotiations are going to make a lot of money out of this transaction. He has, in fact, identified this person concerned although Kadir did not mention him by name.

What Kadir told his close associates is that Tong is prepared to give The Malaysian Insider to Umno for free but then Umno will be paying RM20 million for it. Hence the money is not going to go to Tong. It is going to be sailang by the brokers in this deal, meaning certain people in Umno close to those who walk in the corridors of power.

This is a very serious allegation. And the second part of Kadir’s statement that those employed by The Malaysian Insider are going to just walk out the minute Umno takes over and then they will go down the road to start another portal, The Malaysian Insider Baru, reveals that Umno is going to end up with just an empty shell. Or at least this is what Kadir is saying.

It looks like Tong is taking Umno for a ride. He is going to give The Malaysian Insider to Umno for free (while someone is going to make a lot of money in commission) but Umno is going to be lumbered with a huge monthly cost because the advertisers who are advertising on The Malaysian Insider (because it is anti-government) would all disappear once Umno becomes its new owner.

According to Tong, the advertisers are mostly pro-opposition, in particular pro-DAP, and they would no longer want to advertise in The Malaysian Insider if it is Umno-owned. So that means The Malaysian Insider would no longer be self-sufficient but would need to depend on Umno for their funding.

But why did Tong tell Kadir all this knowing who Kadir is and knowing about his links to Dr Mahathir and the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign)? Well, Tong wants to scuttle the deal but not take the blame for it. He wants Kadir to scuttle it instead, which is precisely what Kadir is trying to do.

The Chinese call this killing your enemy with a borrowed knife. And Tong is lending Kadir his knife to do the killing on his behalf — smart Chinaman.

Secondly, Tong wants to still keep his goodwill with Dr Mahathir and the ANC and not be accused of selling out to Umno. So he ‘confides’ in Kadir and pretends that he is not offering The Malaysian Insider to Umno but that Umno is grabbing it from him for free with the threat of a jail sentence if he refuses.

As the Chinese say, why drink one cup of tea when you can drink two. And in this way Tong is just being a clever Chinaman by drinking two cups of tea, one from Umno and the other from the ANC. This is just how the Chinese did things during the Emergency. At night they supported Chin Peng’s CPM and at daytime they supported the government.

And this is precisely what Tong is doing.

In fact, this is how another Chinese newspaper, The Star, operates as well. The Star is owned and funded by MCA but it serves MCA’s archenemy, DAP. And it tells MCA that it needs to support DAP and not be seen to be pro-government or else its readership will decline and once that happens its advertising revenue would decline as well.

So MCA allows The Star to continue to serve DAP’s interest as long as the money keeps flowing in. The Star is not a political vehicle but a business tool. The Star’s job is not to help MCA stay relevant — or not get totally wiped out in the next general election. It is to help MCA bring in money.

Why did Kadir reveal this ‘secret deal’ between Tong and Umno? If every man and his dog knows that The Malaysian Insider is now owned by Umno would that not make The Malaysian Insider totally useless?

It is estimated that about 60% of The Malaysian Insider’s readers are DAP diehards and Red Bean Army activists. Will they not dump The Malaysian Insider like a hot potato if Kadir announces that Umno now owns it? More importantly, would The Malaysian Insider not now lose all its advertising revenue when the advertisers run away?

For The Malaysian Insider to retain its readership and advertisers it would need to continue to be anti-government, like what The Star is doing. It cannot attack the opposition or any of its leaders. Will the new owners of The Malaysian Insider, Umno, agree to that?

The value of a secret weapon is on it remaining a secret. If Umno was going to use The Malaysian Insider as its secret weapon then that is no longer going to happen. The Star can be considered a secret weapon but it is DAP’s and not MCA’s secret weapon. And that was why Lim Kit Siang told M. Kulasegaran last year that if MCA closes down The Star, DAP will suffer a massive political loss whereas MCA will only suffer a revenue loss.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK