There has been a lot said about Anwar Ibrahim. In 1998, the rumour mill was busy grinding out allegations that he is a puppet of the United States. Some people believed it, some people did not. Although I understood the accuracy of rumours in KL, I also knew that he was being politically ousted at the time. Personally, I gave him the benefit of the doubt as anything can and does happen in politics.
But recent developments have just made it very clear that Anwar Ibrahim is very plausibly, a puppet of the United States. Even if he wasn’t a puppet, he is pretty darn close to one. The moment the recent allegations of sodomy started surfacing, the US has been sending out pretty strongly worded messages (as strongly worded as diplomatic messages can ever be) to our government. To me, this obviously shows that it is in the best interest of the United States to see Anwar out of jail.
But why?
As Anwar is a potential candidate for the position of Prime Minister of Malaysia, this is a more serious issue than his sexual habits. I don’t care whom he screws as long as it is not me. I am not certain if being a vassal state of the US is a good idea or not. It actually depends on what the US actually wants from us if Anwar is put in power. So, I have to put on my thinking cap to see what the US could possibly want with us.
The most obvious answer is oil. Malaysia as a nation, is a very small oil exporter, too small to be part of the OPEC. In fact, we are soon going to be a net importer if current consumption rates continue. However, as a state controlled entity, PETRONAS is another matter entirely. These are the Top 10 of the Top 500 profit making companies in the world:
- Exxon Mobil
- Royal Dutch Shell
- General Electric
- BP
- Gazprom
- HSBC Holdings
- Chevron
- Petronas
- Total
- J.P Morgan Chase
As you can see from the list, 8 of the top 10 companies are oil & gas, which has seen benefit from the rising global oil prices, which means that the dominant profit will come from the sale and export of oil & gas. But of the 8, only 2 are state controlled companies. So, if the US is able to set up a puppet PM in Malaysia, they would effectively have control of the world’s second largest state run oil & gas company.
The second possible answer is for trade and investment. For obvious reasons, our government has not been able to seal a Free Trade Agreement with the US for the last few years. I would think that such an agreement should largely benefit us more than the US, but from the way that the game seems to be panning out, it seems that the benefits flow both ways. Anwar has claimed that he will restructure the NEP based protectionists policies, which is a major sticking point in any form of “free” trade. So, installing him as a puppet, will also smooth that process through.
Please remember that I do not have all the facts and am probably talking straight out of my behind.
So, If Anwar comes to power, will it be a good thing or bad thing for Malaysia to be a vassal state of the US? This is the only important question to answer.
There are potential advantages to being a vassal state of the US in the short to medium term. It can potentially help improve our economy and smooth some other problems. It’s just like having a “taiko” to look after us, but in return, a tithe would have to be paid. However, for the longer term, being under the thumb of another nation is certainly a bad thing, especially for a nation state that may have ambitions of it’s own. So, we may have to sell some of our shares to an external investor in order to gain some positive cash flow before we go under. But we will need to have some sort of plan to buy back those shares again, at a later date, lest we get bought out altogether.
Anyway, this was just some random idea that floated in my head today. I thought that I’d put it out there for you to think about.
Sybreon Ones Nought 