Matthias Chang Nuked Syed Hamid

Matthias Chang, former press secretary of Dr Mahathir, told foreign minister Syed Hamid not to threaten him with the Official Secrets Act (OSA) of 1972. I haven’t read the part where Syed Hamid threatened Chang but it seems the foreign minister would have for Chang to bounce back a la jaguh (local fighting cock or champion).

Chang said the government should stop bullsh*tting about state secrets to evade explaining the reasons for dumping the scenic bridge project. In other words, Chang is saying too that the ‘sand and airspace’ reasons given by the PM was nonsense, because the real reasons haven’t yet emerged.

This is dangerous talk for a non-opposition Chinese, even though he had previously exempted PM Abdullah Badawi from blame on the basis the poor PM was badly advised. Hey man, any Chinaman's daring - except those from the DAP who are already nerve-dead due to experiencing the delights of Hotel Kamunting and Malacca prison - leads even innocent naïve me to suspect Chang must have an ‘umbrella’ over his tough talking. But then one could argue bloody ole KTemoc is a conspiracy theory fan – hmmm, I have to admit that indeed I am ;-)

Chang gave his reason why the government had been misinforming the Malaysian public about state secrets because Singapore had already released classified Malaysian documents in its book "Water Talks? If Only It Could" published more than 2 years ago, which revealed details of the bilateral negotiations.

Chang said: “Singapore has published classified documents from our side, the whole thing is no longer under OSA. The government should publish all and tell the rakyat [people] the truth.”

“No more excuses. Be transparent. Be accountable. And be responsible. After this, it is up to the rakyat and others to take the matter further to reach the truth.”

In a related incident, late Monday night, Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-At-Large Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak issued a statement to the Malaysian press agency Bernama on the bridge project but for some unexplainable reason, unless it was to prevent its publication in the media, his statement was embargoed until 1 am. Embargo-ed means someone had wanted to optimise a political edge by the late release, which further fans KTemoc's conspiracy theory - hehehe!

Chang seized on that as confirmation of the points he had made at a press conference on April 18. He declared:

“I want to make that very clear. It confirmed everything I said and cited the same documents. It confirms my stand that we’re no longer bound by the OSA because Wisma Putra has brought these documents into the public domain.”

Looks like Dr Mahathir won’t be charged under the OSA afterall. I know some of you may be deeply disappointed but surely you weren't expecting that to happen, were you?

Chang lambasted the media for their disservice in remaining like mutes - the old "act dunno" - and thus shortchanging the poor public who remain confused over the project. But since when has our mainstream media acted otherwise? He demanded for key points of the bridge fiasco to be highlighted as presented by other than UMNO ministers.

Stand by for more tactical nuclear strikes - I am preparing more postings on Matthias Chang enriched-uranium revelations. The USA, Israel and Iran have to wait until our mushroom clouds have dissipated.