Ostensibly, these raids are for the good of society - to weed out undesirable elements such as drug abusers and underaged club patrons. However, speculation is rife that the motive behind the PDRM's sudden interest in club crackdowns is the coming elections and the Barisan Nasional's desire to gain the moral highground.

Against this backdrop of police vigilance, it might be worth noting a parallel series of events related to the illegal narcotics industry, this time in the upper echelons of power - the MCA, the second largest party in Malaysia's ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional.

On March 9, MCA Youth chief Ong Tee Keat made the stunning allegation that the party was "infiltrated by triads" and that this had led to "political bribery in various forms, including party positions and other political interests", according to a report in Malaysiakini. He later handed Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a list of names of MCA leaders with alleged triad involvements. The party's top leader has not been spared. New MCA president Ong Ka Ting lodged a police report on May 7 about a poison-pen letter that was circulating amongst party leaders, linking him to triads, when he was still vice-president.

The most damning evidence pointing to a cosy relationship between triads and the MCA was uncovered last month, when MCA Kampar division secretary Wong Lee Wah was arrested under the Dangerous Drugs Act. His arrest was in relation to an investigation into an international Ecstacy smuggling ring believed to have networks in Australia and Europe.

In April, Australian police found that the Ecstacy syndicate was responsible for smuggling RM200 million worth of Ecstacy, weighing in at 170kg, into Australia, using freezers imported from Malaysia. The syndicate's alleged mastermind was a Chinese national with Dutch travel documents, who was arrested during the operation in Australia. His wife, however, was introduced to the boys in blue much closer to home - in Ipoh. A quick geography refresher: Ipoh is the capital of Perak; the state Kampar belongs to. Ong, who originally raised the alarm, was quoted as saying "I can only say this latest case is merely a small part of my claim," in a May 13 report in Malaysiakini.

Given the allegations of drug trafficking and triad links in the MCA, along with police crackdown, it seems odd that MCA Wanita's chief, Ng Yen Yen, is throwing her support behind the Elevation: Peace On Earth Tour. The event, organised by Trilogy Concepts, takes place on May 31 in Genting Highlands, and is endorsed by the Ministry of CUlture, Arts and Tourism, where Ng is deputy minister.

One would be hard pressed to find an event that has received as much publicity as Elevation in the national press. It has been covered extensively by the English-language daily, The Star, with a three-page special devoted to it in Section Two, the paper's lifestyle segment on May 16. The Star even covered the event's signing ceremony, officiated by Ng, as a news item, on May 2. Little wonder, as the newspaper is owned by Huaren Holdings, which is in turn owned by the MCA, according to The Economist's Malaysia country briefing.

Trilogy's budget for publicity seems immense, with the Elevation 'Peace truck' constantly seen making its rounds around Kuala
Lumpur. For those who have not been fortunate enough to catch it in action, it is a large trailer decorated in Elevation's blue and yellow theme with dancers gyrating to blaring tribla house in the back of the moving vehicle. Whether this is in line with road safety regulations is a matter for debate, but it is definitely a very difficult marketing tool to ignore, if only because of its sheer loudness. The publiciity blitz continued with half-page ads in The Star, predictably, and banners at bars and clubs across town, from Cafe Flam to Emporium. One has to wonder how the organisers have managed to increase their advertising budget by such a large margin when the party they did last year with Kent, probably the richest club event sponsor in Malaysia, didn't even have the benefit of a vehicular ambassador for peace.

Given the apparently cosy links between the organisers and Ng' Tourism ministry, perhaps it was no surprise then, that Elevation carried on without a guest appearance by our trusted police, despite the clampdowns left, right and centre elsewhere. Even less of a shocker was The Star's favourable review of the night, which lauded the organisers and revealed that Elevation would be making future appearances in other countries.

While there is nothing wrong with a newspaper that chooses to back a dance music event, indeed, the opposite is true in a global dance industry that's fallen on hard times, the real problem seems to be the hypocrisy with which the powers that be are conducting themselves on the subject of partying. On the one hand, they indiscriminately shut down other parties and clubs and on the other, actively promote projects undertaken by their friends and associates. In short, whenever the powers that be feel like turning a buck by exploiting the party scene, they do so. Otherwise, the nightlife is just an immoral, socially dangerous lifestyle that the police would do well to contain.

If nightlife is a political football, then it's us, the clubbers, who are getting kicked around.

-Joon