By Shamsul Akmar

                  THE way Malaysian politics has evolved of late, paradoxes are glaringly
                  emerging, pushing one to ponder the value system of participating political
                  parties, if not the politicians themselves.

                  The alleged arsenic poisoning, or rather the "un-poisoning," of Datuk Seri Anwar
                  Ibrahim is a very good example of such contradictions.

                  In a similar circumstance involving a downtrodden member of society, those
                  who love the victim suspected of being poisoned would have heaved a huge sigh
                  of relief if the tests proved negative.

                  Only those who truly hate him will wish that the results were positive and that
                  he suffered further or died from it.

                  But this is not the case in the Anwar arsenic saga.

                  Those who are supposed to "hate" him, in this case the Barisan Nasional
                  leaders, are relieved that the tests proved negative.

                  Instead, those who "love" him, for example members of the Opposition parties,
                  are the ones who do not seem happy with the results and want more tests and
                  even called for the setting up of a royal commission to further investigate the
                  issue.

                  For the Barisan leaders, the fact that Anwar is not poisoned gives them fresh
                  ammunition to attack the Opposition which had used the alleged poisoning
                  issue to whip up public sentiment against the ruling coalition.

                  The results also helped Barisan regain some credibility which had been affected
                  by the infamous "black eye" incident.

                  Alas, for the Opposition, without arsenic poisoning, there goes another emotive
                  issue which could have provided them strong political sentiments to bolster their
                  election campaign.

                  Of course, the Opposition has a valid argument when they raised doubts over
                  whether the samples sent for tests were Anwar's.

                  To this, the authorities have a ready answer--how can they be sure that the
                  sample sent to Australia clandestinely under the name of Subramaniam
                  belonged to Anwar.

                  Despite these contradictions, PAS Youth chief Mahfuz Omar should be
                  commended for his consistent stand, at least on the issue of Malaysia-Israel
                  relations.

                  In April 1997, he was one of the leading players in a PAS-led demonstration
                  outside Universiti Malaya to protest Israel taking part in an international cricket
                  championship in Kuala Lumpur.

                  This week, Mahfuz again hogged the front page of Harakah, the PAS official
                  newsletter, for his strong condemnation of the informal meeting between
                  Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and his Israeli counterpart David
                  Levy, during the United Nations general assembly in New York last week.

                  While Mahfuz can be given the thumbs-up for consistency, he must be suffering
                  from myopia when making his stand on relations with Tel Aviv.

                  First, the Zionist regime in Israel was established and continues to exist
                  through the strong backing of the Western powers, especially the United
                  States.

                  Of late, in the continuing series of peace talks involving the Palestinians and the
                  Israelis, the strongest supporters of the Zionist cause are the Americans.

                  In the present scenario they are US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and
                  secretary of defence William Cohen.

                  In other words, the Zionist regime is currently able to dictate terms favourable to
                  itself because it has the backing of the American puppet masters.

                  In that sense, if Mahfuz can be critical of Syed Hamid for meeting Levy, he
                  should be equally, if not more, critical of his ally in the opposition's Barisan
                  Alternatif who had openly sought the help of the American puppet masters.

                  He should be wary of anyone being supported by these people.

                  Mahfuz and the rest of the Malays who are obsessed with the Anwar issue may
                  find it hard to chew but they must always remember that the United States has
                  a track record of only backing those who can serve its interests.

                  But it should not be too surprising if some of the Malays are unable to realise
                  this.

                  This is after all an international intrigue which is much more difficult to grasp
                  when compared with local politics.

                  After all, some of them had shown how naive they are to believe that an Islamic
                  state is in store once the Barisan Alternatif takes over the helm.

                  They will continue to believe this despite DAP secretary-general Lim Kit Siang's
                  public remarks that there is no way an Islamic state can be formed even if the
                  Opposition wins the election.

                  In a sense, they will only believe this if it came directly from the mouths of PAS
                  leaders.

                  But this is something they cannot expect as there is no way PAS will
                  contradict itself after all these years of having built a following among the
                  "believers and the faithful."

                  In day-dreaming about the setting up of an Islamic state, these followers have
                  not remained idle.

                  They have been vigilant in ensuring Malays remain faithful and committed to the
                  cause of Islam.

                  Recently when there were rumours that a certain type of mineral water was
                  filled with Christian holy water, many Malays took it upon themselves to
                  "spread" the information, reminding their Muslim brothers to be careful.

                  They claimed that drinking the holy water will reduce their belief in Islam and if
                  no efforts to remedy the situation are undertaken, the "victim" will end up not
                  being able to utter the names of Allah and Prophet Muhammad.

                  A colleague in Penang said some Malay school teachers had even gathered
                  their Malay students to warn them of the folly in store for them.

                  A professional Malay friend who was also "informed" of this phenomenon had
                  this to say:

                  "Let's say it is true that there is such an effort. To my mind, why should we
                  have any fear if we are true to our faith. Surely drinking holy water is not enough
                  to shake one's faith."

                  Another friend who is more blunt said: "The story is preposterous. To believe it
                  is even more preposterous."

                  However, as many find such a story preposterous, an equal number if not more
                  find it believable.

                  For those who do not believe it, they can continue to lead their lives the way
                  they see fit.

                  But for those who believe the rumours, they should probably not only stop
                  drinking mineral water but also start setting up volunteer groups to keep vigil at
                  the dams.

                  This is just in case these "unseen enemies" of Islam decide to go for the kill
                  and start pouring holy water into the dams.