Zam Zam Alaka Zam

Dato' Seri Zainuddin Maidin aka Zam, is the reason why I love reading Malaysian newspapers. His remarks amuse me to the core on gloomy mornings in Oxford. Zam who is not as bright as he potrays himself to be,started out as a cadet journalist in Utusan, rose up the ranks in ease with his political buttering of leaders of the day, and then was offered a seat in the elections by Dr. Mahathir. The former premier knew that Zam was an incompetent politician, good for nothing but ass-kissing, nonetheless as they were both from Kedah and of Mamak descends, the grand old man of politics made him an MP and later appointed him as parliamentary secretary and then deputy minister. He was never in the first tier of politics, not in second and sadly not even in third. Arguably, the first tiers in the cabinet are made up of the big guns, Pak Lah, Najib, Hishamuddin, Samy, Ong KT, Rafidah, second tiers are like chang kon choy, rais yatim,aziz shamsuddin, tengku adnan and the veterans, third tiers are made up of azalina, shahrizat jalil,and prominent younger blood like khaled nordin. People like zam, and Nazri Aziz are not in the tiers, they are not as important or influential as they claim to be, instead they are peripheral ministers like maximus ongkili, fu ah kiow and other not so famous ministers.Making up for the lack of importance, Zam comes out with amazing remarks in support of everything Pak Lah does. Khairy who constructed the cabinet on behalf of Pak LAH, elevated Zam from being a lowly deputy Information minister, to a full rank minister. By tradition, the Information minister will also be appointed as Secretary General of UMNO and BN, which is a good combination as the SG can dispense party propaganda and news to the public easily as he is in control of the media. This tradition was broken in Pak Lah's tenure. Why? Firstly, he appointed his old close friend, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad as the SG, but he did not appoint him as Information Minister.Zam was promoted and made the Information Minister but not the SG. This was a very smart move indeed, of Oxford education political degree worth. Khairy wanted someone who would butter Abdullah and close every flaw and weakness in the prime minister and make red, blue in the eyes of government controlled media? Radzi would not do a good job of that, he is a lawyer, he has his pride, ego and dignity intact. Who could be that faithful servant? Zam was the obvious candidate: even if Pak Lah asked him to eat dog pooh, I bet you he would treat it like rib eye steak from Outback Steak! Radzi on the other hand was appointed SG because Abdullah felt that it is about time to put the position in a dignified place in politics. It has been tainted with many yes-man before, if Radzi was to make any critical remarks at least his wings could be clipped, he is Abdullah's close friend. Thus, Zam landed with the job, and everyone was happy. Well yes everyone, he provides us with good laughs and allow us to reflect upon ourself just for one moment- are Malaysians that stupid? Zam will continue making eye-raising remarks which are comical in the quest of showing his undying love for Pak Lah. After all these are the days of Islam Hadhari- when you love your leader more than yourself!