The negative karma of ill-gotten gains (updated)

My blogger friend Donplaypuks requested that I help publicize the despicable show trial wherein the Malaysian Association of Chinese Comedians aka MACC has been trying to inflict pain and confusion on Rosli Dahlan (right) - a lawyer who got sucked into this mess simply for acting as legal counsel for former CCID chief Ramli Yusoff, who happens to be IGP Musa Hassan's arch-enemy and rival for the post of Top Cop. Din Merican has done a great job of providing a blow-by-blow account of the grotesque proceedings, having diligently attended every session at court.

There appears to be no end to the disgusting shit flying around the political arena.


Almost 3 years later, Teoh Beng Hock's untimely death while in MACC custody remains unexplained - and nobody has been charged with culpable homicide. The inquest plodded along at snail's pace, making a complete mockery of justice. And even after a Royal Commission of Inquiry was convened as a result of public pressure, it turned out to be merely a delay tactic - because not one of the MACC interrogators has been convicted of being an accessory to murder or even for gross abuse of power.

All those mysterious deaths in police custody - not only A. Kugan's which received wide publicity but so many others (including the shocking case of a 14-year-old boy shot in the back of his head in a late-night car chase) - and not a single PDRM head has rolled, only a couple of low-ranking patsies scapegoated (as usual).

The RM13 billion PKFZ scandal is in danger of being completely covered in cobwebs, now that the man who initiated an official investigation has lost his job as MCA president. True, Ling Liong Sik is being trotted out to take the rap, but it remains to be seen how his trial proceeds. Will he bare his soul and put all his fellow criminals behind bars?

After more than 5 years, the ghost of Altantuya still haunts Putrajaya - and MACC, as to be expected, chickened out of its commitment to meeting P.I. Balasubramaniam in London. It's clear as day the trail of serious wrongdoing leads directly to Najib Razak's desk. The macabre Altantuya Affair, intimately linked as it is with the disgraceful Scorpene and Agosta submarines scandal, ought to have terminated the present corrupt regime - because they are all implicated in the cover-up.

And, of course, the entire world is still sniggering at Famous Anus jokes and asking why Anwar Ibrahim appears to have been singled out for the dubious honor of being the only Malaysian to be charged with sodomy - TWICE in 10 years! Let's not even mention the disgraceful farce that has passed for a trial - even if his surprise acquittal on 9 January 2012 was an unexpected U-turn, indicative of conflicts within Umno's top leadership.

Meanwhile the defence ministry nonchalantly carries on with the purchase of all kinds of useless and unserviceable ordnance - all at outrageously marked up prices - while RM300,000 jet engines go missing and yet another Indian gets scapegoated.

All this rampant corruption and injustice hogging the headlines leaves me speechless. What can I say (apart from Tak Boleh lah, Bolehland)?

I have friends who still earn monthly salaries working for BN-owned media (oh sure, your kids deserve the best education money can buy, so they can get well-paying jobs after they graduate with Apco Worldwide, Halliburton, or BP).

As for Vincent Tan's deal-gone-sour with Najib, frankly I don't give a shit. I have no personal bone to pick with Vincent Tan (left), even though rumors are rife that he was instrumental in financing the defection of Hee Yit Foong and the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Perak. Just because Vincent Tan looks like a real tough hombre who drives a hard-nosed bargain doesn't mean he deserves to have his bloodline terminated (although I wouldn't protest too vigorously if Vincent and his fellow money-grubbing moguls like Rupert Murdoch swiftly became an extinct species on this planet).

3 years later a banner protesting the gold mine remains in place

Nor do I have a personal grudge against business tycoon Kam Woon Wah, erstwhile MCA secretary-general, whose son Andrew Kam Tai Yeow (left) is the guy behind the revival of the controversial Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of London-based Peninsular Gold Ltd).

But I met some of the Bukit Koman residents spearheading the campaign against Andrew Kam's highly polluting gold mine outside Raub and was inspired by their courage and resolve to stop the operations against all odds. For a start, the Pahang royal house has shares in the venture, which might explain why the police saw fit to arrest and detain overnight those leading the protest against the toxic gold mine. However, the Bukit Koman residents remain undaunted, though at a loss as to what to do next. Word has it that there really isn't as much gold to be found as the investors had hoped, which could put them out of business sooner than they expect. One can only wish such sociopathic miscreants a spectacular failure.

Local residents point out the toxic gold mine

It's the same old tiresome scenario. Whether the villain of the piece happens to be Union Carbide in Bhopal, BP-Halliburton in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bakun Hydroelectric Project in Sarawak, the Three Gorges Dam in China, or Peninsular Gold in Bukit Koman - it's invariably a conspiracy of already rich folks trying to get even richer at the expense of ordinary citizens with no financial or political clout.

A beancurd factory is located less than 200 yards from the gold mine

What can I do about it - apart from keeping the story in the public eye? Just as I can't persuade billions of humans to turn their backs on fizzy drinks, commercialized football, and their pathological addiction to newspapers and TV, I doubt I can wean people off their compulsion to find gold and hoard it. especially not if their surname happens to be Kam (which, in Chinese, means "gold"). Who cares if toxic chemicals seep into the groundwater and the air is polluted with rash-inducing particles?

General view of Bukit Koman, a village just outside Raub in Pahang

It's painfully embarrassing that we have to suffer the grandiose extravagance of so many royal households - each with its grubby fingers in multiple business pies. Surely anyone receiving a generous allowance for simply existing would be well satisfied and refrain from soiling their hands with dubious and unsavory business ventures? Alas, this has not been the case - at least not since the Mahathir Era. Everybody wants to be another King Farouk or live in godly splendor like the Saudi Royals.

It doesn't matter how the money is obtained, how many are made to suffer the deleterious consequences - or what hideous ruin is inflicted on the environment.

Well, I can envisage a time when the only individuals entitled to royalty claims will be those who can produce works of beauty and enduring truth in the form of artifacts like films, music, literature, stimulating dance performances, inspiring murals, public sculptures, and magnificent buildings.

Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd is hidden by the tall trees

Those who have accumulated their wealth through logging, mining, drilling, manufacturing junk, selling weaponry and accepting bribes will be universally marked as criminals and shunned wherever they go. I hope Taib Mahmud's family is reading this. So be it.

[First published 29 June 2010]