A Bomoh & Control of Renong; Divorce Battle
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Spellbinding Divorce Battle"
By Raphael Pura, Staff Reporter
At 5.45am on May 20, 1995, Mohamed Zain Abdullah was awakened by
Malaysian police pounding on his door in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.
Roused from bed, the 38 year old, a part-time bomoh, or practitioner
of Malay traditional medicine, was handcuffed and whisked away.
At a nearby police station, officers showed Mr Zain an arrest order
accusing him of deviant Islamic practice. But Mr Zain wasn't questioned
about religious matters. Instead, he was grilled about Puan Sri Norani
Zolkifli and her estranged husband, Tan Sri Halim Saad, Chief Executive
of Renong Berhad, and one of Malaysia's wealthiest men.
Police interrogators contended, among other things, that Puan Sri
Norani had asked Mr Zain to use his occult skills to cast a spell on
her husband. The bomoh, accused of trying to manipulate the tycoon's
wife for financial gain, was banished without trial to a restricted
residence in a remote area of Terengganu state.
Mr Zain is entangled in an extraordinary family feud with a
compelling central issue: How would Puan Sri Norani and Tan Sri Halim
divide a controlling 28.4 per cent stake in Renong valued at about
RM1.9 billion(USD762 million), and other assets held by Tan Sri Halim?
In divorce proceedings initiated by Tan Sri Halim last October, Puan
Sri Norani demanded for RM500 million in cash and 50 per cent of her
husband's assets, which she estimated at RM5 to RM7 billion, as well as
half of a separate 5 per cent stake in Renong which Tan Sri Halim
transferred to a family trust two weeks before filing for divorce.
It's a formidable fortune by any measure. But the Halim-Norani divorce
battle has this added intriguing political dimension: Tan Sri Halim's
wealth is the legacy of a political-money machine created a decade ago
by Tun Daim Zainuddin, the Minister of Finance and powerful treasurer
of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed's United Malays National
Organisation, or UMNO, the lead party in Malaysia's governing Barisan
Nasional coalition.
Renong, which comprises public companies with investments ranging from
toll roads to telecommunications, rests on a corporate foundation
created by Tun Daim. Tan Sri Halim, one of Tun Daim's prize protege,
has run the group's main operating company, United Engineers
(Malaysia) Bhd., for a decade -- at first as a nominee shareholder and
manager for UMNO, and now through Renong, as an independent
entrepreneur.
The Norani-Halim saga is a Malaysian morality tale for the 1990s,
years in which the country's seemingly unstoppable economic boom has
given a society one generation removed from sleepy rural villages a
case of cultural bends. The battle illustrates, albeit in extreme
form, how windfall wealth and the intricate intermixing of business and
politics have generated fortunes and follies undreamed of a decade ago.
The Halim-Norani battle also shows how traditional beliefs in
supernatural possession and other types of "black magic" persist among
some modern-day Malaysians. UMNO political leaders including the Prime
Minister himself are rumoured to engage personal "bomohs".
In an affidavit submitted in the couple's divorce case, Mr Zain
recounts how he used the severed tails of seven black cows to exorcise
demons from a printing plant owned by Puan Sri Norani, purportedly to
capture the evil spirits in bottles, which he then tossed into the
Straits of Malacca. On another occasion, a Balinese maid was sacked
for purportedly trying to put a spell on Tan Sri Halim's socks and
underwear. (Puan Sri Norani acknowledged the incident but said the maid
wasn't acting on her instructions).
The tug-of-war between Puan Sri Norani and Tan Sri Halim, both 42
years old, is studded with allegations of intimidation, wiretapping
and adultery. Among other things, Puan Sri Norani accuses Tan Sri Halim
of using a corporate jet to trail her along a Malaysian highway. Two
lawyers approached by Puan Sri Norani for advice allege that they were
threatened by unknown persons.
Tan Sri Halim declined to be interviewed for this article. Rashid &
Lee, his lawyers, said that he is "not free" to discuss matters
related to his divorce case. They added that Tan Sri Hashim considers
some issues raised in this article to be personal and that he "does not
consider it constructive" for such matters to be the subject of
speculation in the press. In written replies to questions, his lawyers
said the jet incident could not have occured. Tan Sri Halim also said
through his lawyers that he wasn't aware of the alleged threats against
the two lawyers or that his wife had approached them for advice.
Neither the Malaysian government nor Dr Mahathir's UMNO party has any
official link to Renong or to the feuding couple. But at one time or
another, the Halim-Norani battle has involved some of Malaysia's most
powerful figures, including Tun Daim, former Information Minister and
UMNO Secretary-General Datuk Mohamed Rahmat and the then Home Affairs
Deputy Minister, Datuk Megat Junid Ayub, who supervises Malaysia's
police.
"It's difficult to say whether the problems I'm having are political
or personal," Puan Sri Norani says in an interview. She accuses the
government of intervening in the divorce dispute in support of her
husband.
Datuk Megat Junid defends Mr Zain's arrest and banishment, which he
says was based on a six-month police investigation into a complaint
against the bomoh by Tan Sri Halim. In an interview, he also rejects
allegations by Puan Sri Norani and Mr Zain that the police harassed
them in support of Tan Sri Halim. "This investigation was properly
done," Datuk Megat Junid says. "I don't want to do things (so that)
people say I've misused power."
Datuk Megat Junid says that Prime Minister Mahathir "knows this story
from A to Z" and has encouraged Tan Sri Halim to act to protect the
interests of the couple's three children. Dr Mahathir's office declined
to comment on the divorce battle.
Unhappy Marriage
Sudden wealth strained Tan Sri Halim's marriage, according to business
colleagues and personal acquaintainces. They portray Tan Sri Halim as a
lonely man, sometimes shy, sometimes arrogant and hot-tempered. "You
look at his face and you know he's not a happy man," says a longtime
acquaintance.
Puan Sri Norani, in turn, is viewed by acquaintances as an insecure
housewife who didn't keep pace with Tan Sri Halim's fast-changing
fortunes and became obsessed with finding supernatural causes and cures
for the deteriorating marriage.
"The whole affair is getting very messy," says a former colleague of
Tan Sri Halim who knows the couple well. "I strongly believe that power
and wealth change people," he adds. "It changed me and it changed
Halim."
The story of the Halim-Norani battle which follows is compiled from
information provided by some of the principal characters, their
lawyers, court documents and Malaysia's registrar of companies.
Puan Sri Norani and Tan Sri Halim were married in 1979. Tan Sri Halim,
a New Zealand-trained accountant from rural Perlis state, was working
at a local affiliate of Ford Motor Co. His wife, who came from a middle-
class family in Johore state, worked as a junior bank executive. Both
recall those early days of marriage as a pleasant idyll: They were poor
but happy. Tan Sri Halim described the period as "just like a fairy
tale" in a letter to his daughter earlier this year. Puan Sri Norani,
in an interview, describes the early years as "blissful".
Tan Sri Halim wasn't destined to be an obscure accountant for long.
In 1980, he joined Peremba Bhd., a state-owned property developer then
run by Tun Daim, a lawyer and confidant of then-Deputy Prime Minister
Mahathir. When Dr Mahathir became Prime Minister in 1981, Tun Daim
quickly emerged as one of the most influential businessmen in Malaysia
and the strategist behind the expansion of UMNO's business interests.
In 1994, Dr Mahathir named him Finance Minister and UMNO treasurer,
with overall responsibility for the party's finances and investments.
An Aggressive Manager
A key UMNO nominee company was Hatibudi Sdn. Bhd., incorporated in
1984 with Tan Sri Halim and another of Tun Daim's Peremba underlings.
Datuk Annuar Othman, as its sole directors and shareholders. In 1985,
Hatibudi acquired a controlling stake in United Engineers, a moribund
engineering concern. Tan Sri Halim became the dominant shareholder and
chief executive of the reorganised United Engineers.
Tan Sri Halim also began to acquire a reputation as an aggressive,
sometimes harsh and impatient manager, according to several
acquaintainces and former colleagues. His relationship with Puan Sri
Norani deteriorated. According to his wife, the couple began to argue
over Tan Sri Halim's time-consuming business affairs. In June 1987, Tan
Sri Halim gave his wife a hand-written letter, offering her a divorce
if she countersigned; she never did.
Hatibudi's UMNO ownership was hidden from the Malaysian public until
1987, when opposition politicians challenged the prospective award of a
huge highway project to United Engineers. The following month, in an
affidavit submitted in a lawsuit attempting to block the highway award,
Tan Sri Halim acknowledged that he held his shares in trust for
its "ultimate beneficial owner, UMNO."
Then, in February 1988, a Malaysian court -- acting on an appeal by
the losing faction in a 1987 UMNO leadership contest -- ruled that the
party was illegal because of membership irregularities. The party was
disbanded, and immediately reborn under the name New UMNO. Its known
assets -- including Hatibudi and United Engineers -- were confiscated
by Malaysia's Official Assignee for safekeeping.
The ruling posed a dilemma for UMNO, which lost its companies just as
they were poised to reap a bonanza from privatisation projects. What
happened next has never been publicly explained by Tan Sri Halim, UMNO
or the Malaysian government. But by 1990 a complex series of corporate
maneuvers had returned most of UMNO's former assets to the same group
of Daim's proteges that had earlier run the business.
The change in registered shareholders at United Engineers was
striking because it wasn't really a change at all. When the Official
Assignee took over United Engineers' controlling shareholder,
Hatibudi, in 1988, Hatibudi's self-acknowledged UMNO nominee
shareholders were Tan Sri Halim and Datuk Annuar Othman. A year later,
a separate company called Hatibudi Nominees Sdn. Bhd., was disclosed
as United Engineers' new dominant shareholder. Hatibudi Nominees was
owned by Tan Sri Halim and Datuk Annuar, this time as independent
entrepreneurs.
In early 1990, Tan Sri Halim moved to consolidate most of UMNO's old
assets under the umbrella of a listed holding company. He targetted
Renong, then a small property concern, as the vehicle for the deal.
After a series of transactions valued at RM1.23 billion, at the time
the biggest corporate acquisition ever in Malaysia, Tan Sri Halim and
his associates owned, directly and indirectly, more than 50 per cent of
Renong stock.
In September 1990, the Renong purchase was officially completed. Tan
Sri Halim promptly installed his wife, Puan Sri Norani, as a director
of the company. "I don't know why," she says, but adds that she agreed
to take up the post. At the time, Puan Sri Norani had left her banking
job and was caring for the couple's children, Nor Syahadah, now aged
12, Mohamed Taquiidin, 11, and Nor Sabrina, 10, at home.
But as the bonanza of new wealth began to flow, their marriage skidded
deeper into trouble. In court documents, Puan Sri Norani alleges that
Tan Sri Halim left home on December 9, 1991, and went to live with an
air hostess for Malaysian Airline System. Puan Sri Norani says the
incident marked the beginning of a pattern of behaviours that saw Tan
Sri Halim return home briefly, then leave for long periods.
In late 1993, Puan Sri Norani's father, through a family friend, was
introduced to Mr Zain, an ethnic-Chinese Muslim, professed to be able
to diagnose charms and other psychic or physical ailments and cure them
using exorcism.
Mr Zain, in a sworn statement, said that Puan Norani told him that
other bomohs had told her that Tan Sri Halim had been "charmed" to
dislike her and she asked Mr Zain to "cure" him. But when Tan Sri
Halim refused to cooperate, Mr Zain told Puan Sri Norani that he
couldn't cure his patients "through intermediaries", according to
acquaintances of both Mr Zain and Puan Sri Norani.
Still, Puan Sri Norani -- always accompanied by her children, parents
or other relatives -- continued to visit Mr Zain regularly to seek his
help with her family problems.
Conflicting Stories
Puan Sri Norani says that Tan Sri Halim left home for good early in the
morning of May 13, 1994. She says that her husband woke her at 3 am
and asked her three times if she wanted to continue her study of the
Koran translation with Mr Zain. In court documents, Puan Sri Norani
said she did, to which Tan Sri Halim allegedly responded, "Good, now I
have good reason to leave you."
Tan Sri Halim, in a court submission in the divorce case, offered a
different version of the confrontation. Tan Sri Halim maintained that
he forbid his wife from going to Mr Zain's home. He said he told Puan
Sri Norani he would consider them divorced if she insisted on doing so.
According to Tan Sri Halim she remained defiant: in turn, he recited
the words used to declare a unilateral divorce under Islamic law. In a
rebuttal statement, Puan Sri Norani denied that her husband had forbid
her to visit Mr Zain or that he had threatened to divorce her.
Tan Sri Halim didn't contact Puan Sri Norani and her children again
until mid-October. On Oct 18, 1984, the children went on a short train
ride at a school outing. According to Puan Sri Norani, Tan Sri Halim,
flanked by Malaysian immigration officers, was waiting for the children
when they arrived at Kuala Lumpur's central railway station. The men
put the children's thumb prints on several documents for use in making
new international passports.
Puan Sri Norani wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mahathir on Oct. 28,
1994, complaining about the fingerprinting episode. She wrote that she
asked immigration officials why new passports for the children were
being issued to Tan Sri Halim, given that their existing documents,
which were still valid. Officials told her they acted on a directive
from Datuk Megat Junid, she wrote.
Police Investigation
Puan Sri Norani also complained bitterly in the letter that Malaysian
police had been harassing her and her friends. "All my house phones,
handphones, office phones and parents' phones have been tapped," she
wrote. This "interference of Datuk Megat Junid in this matter compels
me to seek for your help," she wrote.
Datuk Megat Junid acknowledges the passport incident and readily
agrees that the police, sometimes working undercover, began
investigating after receiving complaints from Tan Sri Halim. According
to the (then) deputy minister, Tan Sri Halim was increasingly worried
about the impact his wife's relationship with the bomoh was having on
the couple's children. Datuk Megat Junid says Tan Sri Halim wanted new
passports for the children because he feared that his wife might
attempt to take them abroad. He adds that Tan Sri Halim believed Mr
Zain was attempting to exploit his wife's fixation with the
supernatural for financial gain.
Puan Sri Norani, through an intermediary, sent her Oct. 28 letter to
Dr. Mahathir via (then) Information Minister Datuk Mohamed Rahmat, who
was (then) also UMNO's secretary-general. Puan Sri Norani claims Datuk
Mohamed later met with her father and the intermediary and conveyed an
offer from Tun Daim to give her RM25 million and custody of their
children if she agreed to divorce Tan Sri Halim.
In a written reply to questions about the episode, Tun Daim didn't
address the issue of the alleged RM25 million offer, but he denied
encouraging Tan Sri Halim to divorce. "I am of the opinion that
marriage is something which is very private and should not be subject
to public debate. It is highly immoral to advise divorce," he said.
Datuk Mohamed Rahmat acknowledges meeting Puan Sri Norani's father,
who he says was seeking 50 per cent of Tan Sri Halim's assets. But he
says he never conveyed any monetary offer to Puan Sri Norani's family
and that he didn't pass on her letter to Dr Mahathir. "I was never a
go-between," he says.
In November, 1994, Puan Sri Norani arranged through Abdullahilhai
Mohamed, a lawyer specialising in Islamic law, to meet with
a "spiritualist" at her parents' home on Nov. 20. The meeting never
took place. Mr Abdullahilhai wrote to Puan Sri Norani on Nov. 21 to
explain why he wanted to break off contact. Mr Abdullahilhai wrote
that as he approached the meeting place, his van was stopped by "three
burly gentlemen". According to the lawyer, the burly gentlemen
proceeded to beat on his vehicle, while one man "twisted my right arm
several times until I felt the pain cannot be stood anymore." He wrote
that another of the men told Mr Abdullahilhai never to "communicate or
liaise" with Puan Sri Norani again.
Mr Abdullahilhai declined to comment on the incident and said he
considers the incident closed. Tan Sri Halim said through his lawyers
that he wasn't aware that his wife approached Mr Abdullahilhai and
wasn't aware of the incident.
Another Gambit
By 1995, Puan Sri Norani says, she had stopped meeting Mr Zain. She
tried another gambit. Through acquaintances, she approached Datuk Rais
Yatim, a lawyer and a former Malaysian foriegn minister. Datuk Rais
had been a senior UMNO executive before the party split in 1987.
According to Datuk Rais, Puan Sri Norani wanted to help trace the
investments she believed was held in her name and Tan Sri Halim's
name. Datuk Rais agreed to take her as a client. Soon, however, he
says he began receiving anonymous telephone threats warning him to
drop the job. Datuk Rais doesn't know who delivered the threats, but
says, "when you have a family, such messages are unsettling." He quit
the case. Tan Sri Halim said through his lawyers that he wasn't aware
his wife approached Datuk Rais and wasn't aware of the incident.
On Oct. 31, 1995, Tan Sri Halim asked Malaysia's Islamic syariah court
to confirm officially that he was divorced from Puan Sri Norani. Tan
Sri Halim offered to pay maintenance allowances totalling RM6,500 a
month and make a onetime RM30,000 payment to Puan Sri Norani. He said
a property settlement would be arranged through the couple's lawyers.
In early January this year, with the divorce case pending, Tan Sri
Halim was granted a court order placing the children in a private
school owned by a Halim family foundation and giving him custody of
the children from Friday noon until Monday.
On Jan. 24, Puan Sri Norani set out to drive to Johore state with her
youngest daughter. She says she was speeding down the highway at
midday when her car began vibrating violently. She looked about and
discovered that "a jet was flying so low over our heads, so low that
the car was shaking." She alleges that the dark coloured plane was one
of Renong's corporate jets.
Rashid & Lee, Tan Sri Halim's lawyers, said the alleged
incident "simply hadn't occurred." In a written reply to questions,
Rashid & Lee said the only aircraft connected with Tan Sri Halim or
his businesses that fits Puan Sri Norani's description is a Canadian
Challenger jet owned by a private company controlled by Tan Sri Halim.
Rashid & Lee said the Challenger was parked in a hangar and didn't fly
on the day of the alleged incident.
On Friday, Jan. 26, 1994, Tan Sri Halim came to Puan Sri Norani's
home with three bodyguards to collect the children. Members of Puan
Sri Norani's family recorded the incident on videotape. Throughout
the episode, she says, a helicopter hovered over her suburban home.
Going Too Far
On Feb. 5, Tan Sri Halim wrote to his eldest daughter, Nor Syahadah.
In a seven-page letter, he offered his version of the rift with Puan
Sri Norani. "When I married your mother everything seemed so fine,
just like a fairy tale. We were just like any ordinary couple, happy
and excited about starting a family," he wrote. "God gave me good
rezeki (fortune) and willed that I would become rich."
Tan Sri Hashim went on: "As I became richer, your mother became
possessive, like she wanted to control me. I suppose she was afraid
that my wealth would not go to her. Then your mother tried to do
things to me to make sure that I would listen to her and obey her.
She went a little bit too far, she engaed the services of many bomohs
hoping that she could put a spell on me," he wrote.
"One night, I could not stand it anymore. I told your mother that if
she were to go out to (Mr) Zain's home she is divorced. I found out
she did go and when she admitted to me she went, I took my things and
left the house." Tan Sri Halim concluded that Puan Sri Norani "just
wants to see me ruined and humiliated."
Mr Zain, meanwhile, was trying to win a hearing for his plight. In a
November 1995 sworn declaration before a Malaysian commissioner of
oaths, Mr Zain denouced his arrest as an abuse of police powers and
called the charge against him a "complete fabrication" and a "plot
hatched by Tan Sri Halim Saad for his self-interest." Mr Zain made the
sworn statement and distributed it to friends and associates as part of
his effort his banishment reviewed.
On Feb 9, 1995, he wrote to Tan Sri Halim, restating his allegation
that he had been framed, but adding that he believed that Tan Sri
Halim was a loving and caring father. Mr Zain asked Tan Sri Hashim to
consider his predicament and stressed that he had never taken money
for casting spells or performing exorcisms.
A few weeks later, Mr Zain sat down with Tan Sri Halim's lawyers and
offered a new version of his relationship with Puan Sri Norani -- one
that contrasts with his earlier sworn declaration. In an affidavit
submitted by Tan Sri Halim's lawyers on March 27 in the divorce case,
Mr Zain asserts that "he greatly believed" that Puan Sri Norani and
her family "were haunted by the wealth that was owned by Halim Saad
and tried to influence him so that all of his riches can be wrapped up
by themselves."
Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Megat Junid says Mr Zain wrote to
him on March 1, apologizing for his actions and asking that the terms
of his banishment be reconsidered. Datuk Megat Junid says that he has
since approved the transfer of Mr Zain to a restricted residence site
closer to Kuala Lumpur.
According to Datuk Megat Junid, Mr Zain now "will be the prime
witness" for Tan Sri Halim when the syariah court next convenes on
Wednesday to hear the couple's divorce case.
amiromar
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