When both BN and Pakatan will fail us

Corruption is the mother of all problems which neither Barisan Nasional nor Pakatan Rakyat want to sort out, says Zaid Ibrahim.

COMMENT

By Zaid Ibrahim

In the coming general election the people have an excellent opportunity to elect good and responsible governments at both the state and federal levels. But regrettably, the people will probably continue to be disappointed after the election euphoria dies down.

If the Barisan Nasional wins, there will be more of the same: there will be no institutional independence and integrity; corruption will still be rife; wastage and senseless over-spending will continue; the national debt will keep on rising; and EPF will still lend money to the government regardless of the risks involved. Malaysia will be bankrupt in 2020.

If the Pakatan Rakyat wins and Anwar Ibrahim is the PM there will not be any meaningful reform either. We can expect them to espouse generalities like “Justice” and “Fairness for All”.

In fact the first violation of institutional integrity will take place.

For Anwar to be PM, Pakatan will need to appoint an Attorney-General who will play ball to help clear Anwar of the crimes he is charged with.

For this, Pakatan will not have a truly independent inquiry because they want Anwar exonerated at all costs. They cannot allow “God’s gift to Malaysia” (or so Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail describes him) and the “man touched by God” (as Chua Jui Meng calls him) not to be the Prime Minister.

For them the ends justify the means. This is exactly the sort of questionable ideology they have always accused BN of obeying.

So, the first thing they will do is to violate the integrity of the Attorney-General’s Office.

They have already said they will not do anything about the bloated civil service. They will not reform the education system—they have said this as well.

They are against the Goods and Services Tax and they have said so. By that they probably mean to do nothing to make fiscal polices more progressive and attractive to increase government revenues.

Of course they say they will reduce corruption and wastage, but this is something easier said than done.

Doling out taxpayers’ money to Pakatan assemblymen is corruption, and yet they are proud to match the BN’s political strategy in this.

Handing out cash to win votes is also corruption but both the BN and Pakatan do this routinely.

Why Kita?

So the people of Malaysia need to vote Kita for one simple reason.

We will deal with corruption like no one else can. Corruption is the mother of all problems in the country.

Only when we have no corruption can reforms and change will take place. Kita will jail those corrupt leaders, corrupt businessmen, corrupt civil servants who have squandered billions of Ringgit from this country.

Stolen moneys will have to be refunded. Those ill-gotten assets will be confiscated. Laws will be passed so that any corruption and abuse of power of more than a million but less than RM10 million will attract mandatory five-year jail sentence.

Those guilty of corrupt practice of more than RM10 million but less than RM100 million will receive a minimum 10 years mandatory jail sentence.

Those who plunder and steal more than RM100 miilion will get a life sentence.

Only Kita has the will to minimize corruption in the country; and only without corruption can the country be saved from bankruptcy., which I think will happen sooner than you think.

The Auditor-General’s Report under Kita rule will be so different from what we have today; it will be a pleasure to read.

Zaid Ibrahim is the president of Kita.