James Wong Wing On

The freed political detainees and all those who have been struggling for justice must be thankful and grateful, but only to the right persons, or categories of people.

The scramble for vacancies in MCA and the government seems to continue to enfeeble the party with a weak centre and widespread local and regional warlordism.

Although it is said that the resignations of Dr Ling Liong Sik and Lim Ah Lek as the top leaders of MCA has opened a new era for the party, factional dynamics seem to be still obvious in the background.

news analysis Who will benefit and who will lose out? The resignation of the two top party leaders this week may create a new round of instability as contenders jostle for posts.

While the source of the poison-pen letter against o­ng Ka Ting continues to thrill many, public calls are now made by, among others, his nemesis, o­ng Tee Keat to investigate the contents of the letter as well.

Could it be his political challengers in Team B, or agent provocateurs who have a bone to pick with a certain Team B leader whom they know would be a chief suspect?

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's supporters and other opportunists are attempting to deify a man for their own self-preservation - like what the Gang of Four did to Mao Zedong in China's 'Cultural Revolution'.

The debate o­n peace or war in Iraq seems to suggest that the community of opinion-making elite in Malaysia still seriously lacks the culture, ethos, institutions and rules of engagement of democratic debate and decision-making.

Singapore is o­ne of the two Asean countries which supports the US-led strike in Iraq. Why? Defence cooperation between Singapore, US and Britain goes a long, long way.

Despite its diplomatic setbacks in the United Nations and the Franco-German part of Europe, the US has successfully preserved the loyalty of its traditional allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Notwithstanding US unilateralism and alleged hegemony, the US-proposed war o­n Iraq has witnessed a shifting balance of power globally, most significantly in Europe.

Iraq's neighbours share a sense of vulnerability based o­n previous threats posed by Saddam Hussein's regime to countries in the region. This makes a case for war against a known aggressor.

True peace proponents must acknowledge the need to bring Saddam to heel. Problem is, who will do the dirty job and how?

Anti-war movements have debunked the myth of a clash of civilisations, but they still have to convince the world that Baghdad can be held accountable for its many crimes against humanity and will never pose a threat to its people and neighbours again.

It is intellectually dishonest and politically misleading to say that the pending war o­n Iraq as a bipolar struggle between an all-wrong (but all-powerful) US o­n o­ne hand and can-do-no-wrong (but always powerless) non-American states and societies o­n the other.

One positive contribution from the o­n-going anti-war protests around the world is the showing of real democracy and human rights in mature democracies.

France, Russia, China and Germany - the countries which opposed a war against Iraq - have their own vested interests to protect in the Middle East.

'Forward defence' appears to be the latest buzzword popularised by the prime minister, yet its theory and practice are not new and its origin is also quite ancient in both Asian and Western warfare.

Why does Mahathir have to sacrifice the honour and interests of so many in Umno, Gerakan, MCA's Team B and the pro-Umno media, just to appease and pacify Ling's MCA? What are the costs and benefits of Mahathir's appeasement strategy?

Late last year, Malaysia agreed to participate in the Cobra Gold joint military exercise with the US, Thailand and Singapore. But a recent news report revealed that Malaysia has repudiated its commitment. Why?

How can the US fight the entrenched hatred against them that exists in the Third and Islamic worlds, which ironically stemmed from their own doing? The answer in a thought-provoking article by David Hoffman in Foreign Affairs .