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Once in a while, Malaysian Insider will lace its seemingly independent Op-Ed with mantras for the Fat Cats.

Beware, whenever Op-Ed pieces carry no bylines, it may be the work of media prostitutes masquerading as professional journalists -- something that you see once too many in the mainstream papers has crept into online portals.

This is the latest one I detected on Malaysian Insider, an Op-Ed with no byline that's akin to a blogger who hides behind anonymity. Its job is to say a piece for Malaysia's current Public Enemy No. 1, the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

First, the populist stance to entice the readers:

Call it a disguised flip-flop. Or extortion. Or another example of poor decision-making by the government.

But the government’s clumsy decision-making over the independent power producers (IPPs) issue underlines a deep and more troubling problem for Malaysia — the paucity of talent in the Cabinet and the top level of the civil service to either chart economic strategy for the country or come up with solutions in these challenging times. Or spot a bad policy.

It is not by accident that many decisions by the administration are being challenged, reversed, reviewed or ridiculed.

On the surface, the Op-Ed seems to disparage the Abdullah Administration perceived as being run by a hopeless bunch of nincompoops which, hitherto, is not far from truth. Quote:

Just run through the list of Cabinet ministers from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi downwards. Only a clutch of them have a strong grasp of economics and understand how the market works. Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop. Datuk Amirsham Aziz, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed. Perhaps a handful of others. Perhaps.

The rest are, well, politicians. [...]

Today his Cabinet is loaded with politicians, who sadly would not have made their mark in any other field but politics. The talent drought is not much better in the civil service.

The uncredited Op-Ed continued to lace the paragraphs lamenting the dearth of talents in the public sector that may cause -- rather, had caused -- Malaysia to lose out in global competition.

However, the Op-Ed ends with a staccato two-para, punctuating it with a writing style so uncannily familiar that it DNAs a pathological pattern of the Black Hand.

That's when the fox shows its tail, and a hooker her high-traffic, yawning vagina:

There was crater in the government’s decision to impose a 30 per cent windfall tax on IPPs. Nobody seemed to have tested the idea with the financial services sector, or thought about its impact on the bond market here.

IPPs finance the construction of their power plants through the issuance of bonds, and this windfall tax would have affected their cash flow.

Meanwhile, due to the trademark flip-flop at Putrajaya, the IPPs have got off the hook again. Thanks to this, this and PenjanaBebas.

Now read Oon Yeoh's The inside story on Malaysian Insider (The Star, May 15, 2008). Don't say he hasn't warned you.