Must Sarawakians wait for Taib to step down before he is charged like Khir Toyo?

Apang

By any stretch of the imagination, the arrest of former Selangor Mentri Besar, Khir Toyo, is long overdue. Furthermore, there has been too much backroom negotiation, wheeling and dealing, before it even got to this stage.

Malaysians are not surprised and by and large, Malaysians will certainly not buy into the real implied message. This message is not that Khir Toyo was involved in corrupt practice, but that Najib, the Malaysian Prime Minister, is ‘serious’ (sic) about fighting corruption.

Coming immediately after the just concluded Barisan Nasional (BN) Convention and the predictable praise of Najib’s ‘reforms’, Khir Toyo’s prosecution is merely an example to justify the applause heaped on the premier by the congress. The other recent high-level example was the arrest of the former President of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Transport Minister, Tun Ling Liong Sik, also for corruption.

Many remain corrupt and immune

But consistency is completely lacking in Najib’s sandiwara show. There are simply too many corrupt political figures still free to steal public funds. Why do they remain immune from arrest and prosecution? Those involved in corruption are neither magicians nor geniuses who can cover their trail of self-enrichment.

Certainly, the unprofessional Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has ‘professional’ officials given enough training to dig up evidence to enable successful prosecution of corrupt people, especially those entrusted by the public to hold public office. Yet the MACC continues to fail.

Najib’s hidden message

The paradise for corruption and abuse of power that is Malaysia is not short of laws against abuses and corruption. The refashioning of the Anti-Corruption Agency into the MACC ought to involve more than a change of name.

In any accountable, transparent and democratic society with respect for human rights and equality for all, the Commission would be able to hold its head high and carry out its roles and duties as entrusted by law.

There would then be no need, as in the Malaysian case, for the Prime Minister to approve or reject any arrest and prosecution. The MACC would then be consistent, as laws are consistent, against all those involved in corrupt practices, irrespective of race, religion, gender, class, status, and – most tellingly – political party membership.

But with the latest few arrests and prosecutions, it seems that the message to those in BN, including current and former members, ministers, and party officials is clear – you are all expendable!

Beyond Najib’s publicity-seeking fanfare to the rakyat is a hidden message to all BN leaders at all levels – any one of you may be next. The real question all you BN leaders should be asking is who is more or less likely to be the next. It would be foolish to think that the only escape for you is to be Najib’s blindly loyal followers!

I am developing a urine self-test kit for all you BN leaders to predict your likelihood of being charged. I only hope you all have the time to wait for my test-kit to be ready: I promise you can buy it online, anonymously too!

The show is politics, period

Whenever a public political show is inconsistent, as it obviously is in the BN’s latest ‘anti-corruption’ sandiwara or play-acting, then it must be dissected and laid bare, for the public to digest easily.

Malaysians are smart, even though they endure a daily nightmare to get to work through either the already awful Klang Valley traffic jams, or the increasingly congested Kuching city. Malaysians struggle to earn enough from the corrupt politicians’ leftovers, to put quality food on tables for their families; this tends to make people tired of Malaysian political shows.

With the key UMNO and other BN component leaders’ reputations at stake, with corruption ranked high among the major evils in our country, the arrest and charging of Khir Toyo signals his useless status in Najib’s UMNO. This is, of course, in contrast with Mahathir-cum-Muhyiddin’s and others’ UMNOs.

We wonder if Mahathir, Daim Zainuddin and the likes of these ex-political tycoons, will be jittery. Mahathir must think he would be safe from any arrest and prosecution, since he worked so damn “hard” to prepare his defences before he left office, including the sacking, arrest and then imprisonment of his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.

Perhaps this explains why Mahathir still needs to be hard at work behind the UMNO scenes, and also front-stage, even after relinquishing his premiership to Abdullah Badawi. He may not be feeling too safe after all!

In Sarawak, Chief Minister Taib Mahmud is becoming more expendable – to Najib, that is. So Taib, you should know by now that your protector Mahathir cannot save you now.

Rumours of you trying desperately to get your Tun-ship in order to avoid prosecution may also be proven to be useless, since a Tun in the shape of Ling Liong Sik was recently charged.

courtesy of Hornbill Unleashed