Azalina Othman must be the most unenviable woman in Malaysia today. Allegations pertaining to her private life have been sprawled on the front pages of our substandard tabloids for months on end, and now even the veneer of sisterhood and camaraderie among the Puteris exists no more, with a handful of disgruntled Puteri Umno, including the vestal virgin Ummi Hafilda Ali, gunning for Azalina's quick and graceless fall from the echelons of impending power.

Not that we are new to sleaze in Malaysian politics. From the corridors of power to the markets in Tampasak, Malaysians are ever-ready consumers and disseminators of rumours and trashy gossip about other people's private lives, especially those that do not concern them.

Some would even go as far as to act as voluntary informants to the religious authorities, resulting in house or room raids, and photographs and news churned out from khalwat-related trials in tabloids like Harian Metro .

For those who have read George Orwell's 1984 , the comparisons are difficult to avoid. Orwell's novel was about life in a totalitarian state where politics had been eradicated and public values were dictated by the propaganda arm of the state.

Linked to this maximalist state apparatus was what was called Pornosec , a shady wing of the 'Ministry of Truth' whose job was to produce the most filthy, repetitive and ultimately boring pornography in order to keep the jaded masses in check and in a state of perpetual dependency on sleaze and gossip.

One wonders if the tabloids here have taken the cue from Orwell's bleak and depressing novel. Even if they did not, they seem to be doing the work of the propagandists quite well.

Lest we fall for the same old sanctimonious line that these 'exposes' are for the protection of the Ummah, we ought to remind ourselves that the real motive is to fulfill the voyeuristic pleasures of ordinary Malaysians who, to put it simply, have absolutely no life to speak of. The editors of the tabloids are laughing themselves to the bank.

Who's afraid of the big bad girl?

Azalina's meteoric climb to power, first handpicked by the Prime Minister into the Umno Supreme Council, then later heading the pro tem Puteri Umno, came as no surprise to many.

This was an admission by Umno that its appeal to the younger generation, especially among the Malays, was waning. Particularly so when the deposed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim galvanised disgruntled student and youth organisations to come out in support for reforms in the country. The 1999 general election results did little to allay those fears and Umno quickly devised new ways and means to improve its image and expand its constituency.

The laborious birth of Puteri Umno was not without its share of teething problems. From the very start, the women's wing of the party seemed deadset against it. The big boys in the party soon put a quick stop to this. Suddenly Azalina was touted as the best thing that's happened to Umno since Najib Abdul Razak's military purchases during his previous stint as Defence Minister.

The Puteris were also credited for delivering decisive votes with their ' anak angkat ' (adopted child) scheme in rural enclaves in several of the by-elections. It has even been confided that PAS' campaigners fear the Puteris more than the testosterone-charged Pemudas of Umno.

And of course as a pink-clad cheerleading squad together with the red-scarved makciks (women elders) of Wanita Umno (" Liwat, liwat... " was a particularly popular chant whenever opposition campaigners walked past them) outside polling centres, they were hard to miss.

Overnight the tables have turned. Just like the previously untouchable Tajuddin Ramli, the chief of the 'princesses' found herself right smack in the centre of the author of 50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Be Prime Minister , Khalid Jefri's latest project. It was Jefri's tabloid that first ran the story about Azalina's alleged sexual orientation, complete with lurid interviews laden with saucy allusions to her character.

Our national lexicon had improved in September 1998 with one new word (not including the English, Tamil and Mandarin version), and one never-before-seen-in-public sexual option, demonstrated by none other than the prime minister on prime time national television. Four years later, we get to learn another one. Azalina's accusers claim she had committed a number of 'offences', but the one thing that's stuck with all of us is the allegation that she was a 'lesbian'.

In the case of Anwar, it was not enough for the powers that be to charge him with corruption he had to be shamed thoroughly and explicitly. So it had to be planted into the national psyche that Anwar was not only alleged to be involved in sodomy, but was also allegedly fond of wearing women's wigs, getting a mate to procure an international array of women and sleeping with other people's spouses.

Similarly with Azalina, it would not be enough to accuse her of abusing her power, but the exposure of her private life would have to precede anything else.

The question that should be asked by all is not whether she is a lesbian, but who actually are the ones behind her probable fall from grace, and why.

Crimes against the 'Order of Nature'

The Royal Malaysian Police Force, in particular the Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent Headquarters, must be credited for its swift response to the police report lodged only last week by the lumpen faction of the Puteris. Even before the ink had dried, they were already taking statements and making enquiries, unlike other reports lodged on police brutality, corruption of politicians and their kin, arbitrary detention, etc.

For those not familiar with the letter of the law, let it be known that our Malaysian statutes allow the police to investigate and possibly charge a person for his/her sexual preferences and types of consensual sexual acts.

As with Anwar and many others, Section 377B of the Penal Code considers a voluntary act of "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" to be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to 20 years and may include whipping, in the case for men. There is no stated definition in the Penal Code of what exactly 'the order of nature' is. Though reading closely one gets the impression that the only type of 'natural sex' allowed by law is that which is solely for the sake of procreation.

In short, these four words effectively criminalise a long list of intimate, consensual and private sexual acts that would occur each and every day and night in Malaysia, performed by Malaysians from all walks of life. They may include anything and everything from oral sex, anal sex, role-playing, bondage, spanking, trampling, masturbation to spreading expensive Italian ice cream all over your body and inviting your partner to lick it off.

If 'natural sex' is only for the purpose of reproduction, then even the use of condoms during sexual intercourse may be deemed illegal.

Now compare the penalties for 'unnatural sex' with examples of punishments meted for other real crimes in the Penal Code:

  • Kidnapping (imprisonment for seven years and fine);

  • Theft (imprisonment for seven years, or fine or both);

  • Making the atmosphere noxious to health (fine of one thousand ringgit);

  • Driving or riding on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life (imprisonment for six months, or fine of two thousand ringgit, or both); or

  • Criminal breach of trust (imprisonment for 10 years, or fine or both); etc.

    • It is ironic if not downright ridiculous that according to the Penal Code, a person who knowingly and deliberately pollutes the environment with toxic waste only has to pay a fine of RM1,000 while a couple engaging in private sexual acts of their own choosing should have to go to jail for a maximum period of 20 years.

    Shouldn't we demand the police to investigate crimes that endanger the lives of our citizens, instead of asking them to poke their noses into people's bedrooms? Do we now need a 'love' patrol to police our private sex lives? Why should anyone be imprisoned just because he or she doesn't want to go missionary or have children? Why should one be dictated by the state as to whom we can love and how we can love them?

    At the end of the day, all of us politicians or non-politicians only want to be left alone, to spend our private moments with the people we love.

    Normalisation of social control

    There are times when the reality of life in Malaysia seems closer to fiction, and vice versa . We now live in a country where self-appointed 'moral guardians' and religious functionaries have the power to enter your home and intrude into your most private activities. Yet liberty ends when the invasion of one's privacy begins.

    Worse of all, Malaysians now consider such extreme invasion of privacy as 'normal'. If the Malaysian government and opposition politicians rightfully condemn house raids of Muslims in Australia, why not of room and house raids of Muslims in our own country?

    One cannot help but make more comparisons with the atmosphere of fear and paranoia in George Orwell's 1984 , where the thought police are always there to root out non-conformist elements guilty of 'thought crimes' and 'sex crimes' against the state.

    Orwell's conclusions are as relevant now to us as when he first wrote his book in 1948: The control of the bodies and sexuality of citizens is the ultimate form of totalitarianism, as it means that the state has entered into the most private domain of the citizen-subject.

    If and when the state manages to control even our most private capacity to fantasise and act on our fantasies, then it truly has total control over every other aspect of our bodies, minds and souls. This is paternalistic despotism at its most intrusive and sophisticated. What is more, it merely adds to a depoliticised culture where love and sexuality are criminalised while real crimes against society are deflected instead.

    Those who doubt the extent to which such controls can go should attempt a cursory overview of developments elsewhere in the world. The Fascists and Nazis of Europe were happy to have their 'sex criminals' gassed or burned in the ovens. In Stalin's time, 'sex criminals' were routinely shot, tortured or sent into labour camps in Siberia.

    The same punishments were meted out upon 'sexual deviants' in Iran after the revolution of 1979, when homosexuals were shot in the streets. In Pakistan the Hudud ordinances introduced during the time of General Zia 'ul Haq declared that adultery was a crime against religion and the state.

    In all these cases, the ones who suffered the most were invariably the most marginalised sections of society: women, children and persecuted gender minorities.

    But the worst thing of all is that the ubiquitous charge of sexual deviancy often detracts us from the real issues at hand.

    Former US President Bill Clinton will never be remembered as the American president who dismantled the public healthcare system or forced millions of needy Americans off social welfare, or for creating a ruckus over the Kyoto Protocol. But he will be remembered as the proud owner of a cigar that ventured a little too far and his liaison with a female intern who didn't wash her clothes.

    Close to home, it would be safe to say that Azalina's allegations of criminal breach of trust will be forgotten in the midst of questions about her sexuality.

    Sleaze, the opium of the masses

    In truth, our obsession with sex and sleaze serves only to gloss over great public injustices that occur within our neo-feudal political system in Malaysia. Corruption, abuse of power, police brutality, breakdown of the rule of law, structured poverty of marginalised communities living next to the capital etc. all these should arouse stronger sentiments among us, but they don't.

    Just last week, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung apologised to the nation and the justice minister and prosecutor-general resigned because one man died while in police custody.

    In the past two months, four men died in our police lockups yet no one has taken responsibility and the NGOs had to fight to even get an inquest heard. These are the stories that seldom get into the tabloid or mainstream press here in Malaysia. Where is the public indignation here? Would the Ummis and Ellys of Umno care to make a police report about this?

    The allegations concerning Azalina's sexuality are frankly contemptible and really none of our business. Nor should it be the concern of the police for that matter. One must maintain that sexuality and sexual preferences have absolutely no bearing on one's ability to hold public office or to perform work duties. This line of argument should not be difficult to comprehend, considering for example, a person's height, ethnicity or choice of dietary delights, doesn't affect one's ability to function in society.

    We claim that ours is a society based on the much-lauded 'Asian values' we have often heard of. Yet one can only wonder what the ethical basis of this value system really is, and whether it is a coherent and logical system of beliefs at all.

    For what is more amoral: the siphoning of millions of ringgit sanctioned by the government or the private and consensual acts and sexual preferences of a person, be it a politician or the girl-next-door?

    Sadly, the public remains sated and opiated, grey-cells willingly numbed by the next installment of the sex life of the next politician. Never mind the 'need' for detention centres, riot police or the Internal Security Act: Malaysian society is well and truly domesticated today, and the best way to keep the masses in line is by feeding them a steady diet of torrid sensationalism and sleaze, dressed up in the garbs of moral rectitude and high-mindedness.

    We have become a nation of neutered and passive hypocrites, and have only ourselves to blame for that.

    ELIZABETH WONG is the secretary-general of the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) and Dr FARISH A NOOR is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist.