Politics and Crime, P. Ramlee and Clint Eastwood.

Mario Puzo must be a genius in coining the phrase "Politics and crime, they are the same" for the film The Godfather Part III. For the past few days the main issue in the local mass media is about the accusation of sodomy against former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI). DSAI ia a politician, sodomy is a crime in this country and falsely accusing somebody of sodomy is also a crime. So that is where the two words 'politics' and 'crime' are coined at the moment.

As the police are making their investigations let them be. We should not make any conclusions of our own. But what made me laugh was when Dr. Wan Azizah who is DSAI's wife and also the official president of the party that DSAI un-officially leads claimed that all these are the ruling party's conspiracy. She showed as proof the photo of the accuser standing side by side with an assistant of the supposed government chief conspirator. I asked myself "Have you seen a group of conspirators take a group photograph before committing a crime?". Actually yes. But only in a movie.

The movie was 'Enam Jahanam' meaning 'The Condemned Six' directed by P. Ramlee who also acted in the main role. In the movie six men took a group photograph before raping and murdering P. Ramlee's wife acted by Nor Azizah. Somehow P. Ramlee got hold of the photograph and traced every one of the six, committing his vengeance by killing them in the process. Towards the end he was helped by Yusof Latif who acted as a bounty hunter. As far as I know this is the only time in the Malay movie industry where the role of bounty hunter is used.

The term 'bounty hunter' or 'bounty killer' was first used in the western or cowboy movies. A bounty hunter made a living out of collecting rewards for catching wanted criminals dead or alive. Clint Eastwood made this character famous when he acted as one in the so called 'Spaghetti Westerns'. I think P. Ramlee got the bounty hunter idea from the 'Spaghetti Westerns' which was popular in the late sixties as Enam Jahanam was made during that time.

Clint Eastwood further starred as a bounty hunter in High Plains Drifter and Unforgiven where he won the Best Director's Oscar Award. At the same time he killed bounty hunters in The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider.

So whether DSAI will do like what P. Ramlee did in Enam Jahanam and at the same employ a bounty hunter like Clint Eastwood is left to be seen.

Like Mario Puzo, P. Ramlee and Clint Eastwood are also geniuses.