How can this be Umno’s fault?

There are many cure-all snake-oil merchants out there who are offering us a one-cure-for-all remedy. HIV, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart trouble, gout, erectile dysfunction, memory loss, asthma, etc., all can be cured with just one pill. Take this pill once a day for three days and all your illnesses will disappear.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I am wary of those who blame everything wrong with the country on the government, Barisan Nasional, Umno, the Prime Minister, the Malays, Islam, Prophet Muhammad, the British Colonial masters, etc.

And why is that? 

Well, the reason is because this becomes a very convenient copout. It allows us to shift the blame and not take responsibility. It enables us to look for a scapegoat (kambing hitam) rather than accept the fact that we are to blame for what is happening and for what is going wrong.

Poor feller. He murdered 25 people because as a child his father mistreated him (denied him ice scream). He is not to be blamed. His father is to be blamed for the 25 murders. His father taught him violence (caned him on one occasion for stealing RM1.00 to buy ice scream) so he grew up into a violent person. That is why he murdered 25 people. In fact, his father should be sentenced to death for the 25 murders that the son committed.

Sounds a bit exaggerated, I know, but when we are allowed to shift the blame for our wrongdoings and shortcomings to someone else then there is really no limit to how far we can go with this. And that is why I am wary about this ‘shift the blame to others’ game.

There are some things we can blame on the government, Barisan Nasional, Umno, the Prime Minister, the Malays, etc. But not all things are the fault of the government, Barisan Nasional, Umno, the Prime Minister, or the Malays.

More importantly, not all ills can be cured by a ‘simple’ change of government because some of these ills are in our heart and in our mind. And if we simplify the problem by thinking that a change of government is a cure-all solution, then we are never going to see Malaysia change for the better.

There are many cure-all snake-oil merchants out there who are offering us a one-cure-for-all remedy. HIV, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart trouble, gout, erectile dysfunction, memory loss, asthma, etc., all can be cured with just one pill. Take this pill once a day for three days and all your illnesses will disappear.

That can never happen and neither will the one-cure-for-all solution of changing the government to turn Malaysia into a Paradise on earth.

Let me relate a story about the time I used to live in Taman Purnama, Kuala Ibai, Kuala Terengganu back in the 1970s (I lived there for around 18 years until 1994).

When we first moved there, Kuala Ibai was not yet under the jurisdiction of the Kuala Terengganu Town Council. Therefore, we were spared the council tax but that also meant there was no rubbish collection.

Taman Purnama, Kuala Ibai, Kuala Terengganu

We then formed a residents’ committee (with me as the Chairman) and called for a meeting to discuss what to do about rubbish collection. It was agreed that we would employ someone at a salary of a few hundred ringgit a month and each house would contribute a couple of ringgit (the price of a pack of cigarettes) to this person’s salary.

We bought a pushcart and every day this employee would go house-to-house to collect all the rubbish from our dustbins and go and bury it at a vacant lot behind the neighbourhood.

There were two Chinese families in our neighbourhood. One was quite wealthy. They owned a hotel and nightclub and were involved in all sorts of businesses. The ‘old man’ of the woman of the house was a ‘Datuk Bergelar’ (not just a Datuk but a titled Datuk) and very close to the then Sultan of Terengganu. When he was still alive he was in fact the wealthiest man in Terengganu.

But this Chinese family refused to pay anything. So, of course, the rubbish man did not collect their rubbish. And when their dustbin was full they would just throw everything over the fence into their neighbour’s garden. And, because of their ‘power’, no one dared reprimand them or say anything.

Nevertheless, I still visited them every Chinese New Year and acted as cordially and neighbourly as I could in the spirit of kejiranan. Eventually, thank God, they left the neighbourhood although that meant we ‘lost’ one of the wealthiest families in Terengganu.

Now, whom do we blame for the attitude of this very wealthy and renowned Chinese family? Can changing the government bring positive changes to Malaysia if we still have wealthy Chinese who act like this and who think that just because they are very close to the Istana they can act like small Rajas?

And this is what I find very wrong with some of the wealthy Chinese. Once they have too much money they lust for pangkat (position). So they are prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of ringgit to buy titles such as datukships and whatnot. And once they have these titles they act worse than even members of the royal family.

And this is why what happened, happened, as reported in the news item below. And it serves these people right. Many rich Chinese have been cheated in the pursuit of these titles. And most are too ashamed to report the fraud because it makes them look silly.

So, if you want to talk about change let us talk about change. But what change do you wish to talk about? Not everything wrong with Malaysia is entirely the fault of the government. We have a serious attitude problem that needs addressing. And this has nothing to do with the government.

Was it not the Chinese in Pakatan Rakyat’s Selangor who threw 600 dogs into the sea to drown off Pulau Ketam? What has Umno or the Malays got to do with that?

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‘I was told to pay RM90,000 for award’

A week after his face appeared in the newspaper, a recipient of the unrecognised Dato Kehormat Undang Naning award has claimed that he was led to believe the award was genuine and he almost paid RM90,000 for it.

Sebestian Koh, 49, said there were over 100 recipients that day receiving one of three titles – Datuk Seri, Datuk Paduka and Datuk.

Koh also refuted a statement by Malacca’s Undang Luak of Naning, Dato’ Seri Raja Merah Dato’ Abdul Latif Hashim, that he did not confer the title.

Showing photographs of him receiving the award at the “balai rasmi” in Simpang Ampat, Malacca, on Feb 16, Koh said: “I think the confusion must have arisen because there were so many people being awarded titles that day, so he (Abdul Latif) might not have remembered me.

“I was told by a friend, who also received the award, that it was recognised by the Government. He said I could even include the title in my MyKad and passport.

“Although I had never heard of the award, I decided to accept it since they were conferring it on me anyway.”

Koh was speaking to reporters at the MCA Public Service and Com­plaints Department yesterday.

The Star had front-paged the issue of questionable titles conferred by Naning chieftains and interviewed Abdul Latif and Ahmad Shah Raja Noor Jan Shah, who claimed to be the “Malacca-Perak Sultan”.

Abdul Latif had said that the investiture ceremony to confer titles was purely customary and the awards were merely customary titles with no connection to those bestowed by the Malacca Government.

In November last year, Koh said his friend, a certain “Datuk” Teoh, had called to inform him about the Datukship and handed over a “surat watikah”.

He said he was also informed about the RM90,000 “standard donation” for the title, which would be “contributed” to the Naning territory.

Abdul Latif presenting an award to Koh at an investiture ceremony at the ‘balai rasmi’ in Simpang Ampat, Malacca, on Feb 16.

Before the investiture ceremony, Koh said he paid RM6,000 for a yellow sash with red stripes, a medal with the words “Dato Kehormat” and a card identifying him as a title holder.

When asked if he knew that the award was dubious, Koh admitted that he did know that the historical state had no sultan.

“The one conferring the title claimed to be a descendant of the Malacca sultanate and I asked around to check if this was true,” he said, confessing however that this was not done thoroughly as whatever information he had, coupled with Teoh’s persuasion, made everything “look very real”.

A few months after he accepted the award, Koh said his friends asked if they could advertise their congratulatory messages, to which he agreed.

“Only after The Star article on the Datuks of Naning was published did I realise that I had received an unrecognised award. My friends are laughing at me for being a recipient of a fake award. It is very embarrassing.” 

When asked about his next move, Koh said he would not lodge a police report but had set aside the award and moved on.

On whether the award might be revoked if he did not settle the “standard donation”, Koh waved it off as a non-issue, adding that “it was not recognised anyway”.