Don’t take us for fools

Our country is in hopeless decline, politically as well as economically and I am another angry Malaysian.

COMMENT

One cannot sweep everything under the carpet by comparing the Transparency International Corruption Index with that of other countries and say the situation is not that bad after all.

This is what the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Pemandu CEO Idris Jala was trying to do in his comment “In conversation with an angry Malaysian” which appeared in a local daily last month.

Of course the situation is not bad but worse. Our country is in hopeless decline, politically as well as economically and I am another angry Malaysian.

Idris was just trying to fiddle with the percentages and making a fool out of us. Let us not try to delude ourselves that being in the company of Latvia and Turkey is something we can be proud of! Even Rwanda, Dominica and Botswana did better than Malaysia in the corruption index rating.

He stated that despite there not being much corruption in the United States, Britain, Germany and Singapore these countries still have absolute and relative poverty.

There is absolute and relative poverty anywhere in the world but these governments have governed responsibly and are accountable for what they do.

Corruption is not tolerated or condoned and any abuse by those in high public and political office, when uncovered, will be punished without fear or favour in these countries!

Yes, not everyone in Singapore is rich but even if there was zero corruption in Singapore there will still be absolute and relative poverty there. So Idris’ arguments are self-serving!

There is no corruption in many rural villages because the people are too involved in trying to earn a decent wage to think about corruption. Their beliefs in Allah and Islam will not allow them to be involved in corruption.

Idris said it was the shared responsibility of the people to stop corruption by not giving bribes. As long as there is giving there will be taking! How perceptive of you and how true, but Idris tell me what happens in Cabinet? As I see it there is a lot of taking but not much giving thereI

Illegal outflow of illicit funds

Checks and balances abounds to “manage” the rakyat but for the political elites NFC, PKFZ and Taib in Sarawak are just a few examples when the BN government closes one eye.

When will the Barisan Nasional government share with us the responsibility of not doing the giving to its own political elites and their cronies and when will they not do the taking from who ever is giving?

Idris tells us that Bank Negara has refuted the claims that 80% of illicit capital flow is from the proceeds of corruption. Then do you agree that RM873bil of illegal capital outflow has happen over the last 10 years?

There is something wrong somewhere with Bank Negara’s inability to stem the illicit outflow of capital. Let us not quibble over the nuances of where that RM870bil originates! Why has this Barisan Nasional government not stop the illegal outflow of illicit funds? Is it due to the lack of political will or is Bank Negara acting on instructions of the government – tacit or implied?

Idris said it was totally wrong to say that this was due to government corruption so how would you describe what the Barisan Nasional government was doing to stem the outflow of illicit capital.

He talks of the South Koreans not complaining about not getting government contracts and just getting on with the job of being the best in the world. Maybe you should stop talking and trying to spin away Umno’s and Barisan Nasional’s obvious failings.

Just get on with your own responsibilities within the cabinet. Even if you start doing that now you will still have a long way to go to catch up with South Korea. I would go so far as to say that we have missed the train because its so laden with gravy meant for your peers! The gravy train is too burdened to be able to pick up enough speed to go anywhere!

You say that half the Singaporeans surveyed wanted to migrate for reasons best known to themselves. Let me tell you why Malaysians want to migrate in just two words – Barisan Nasional or to be more precise – just one word – Umno.

Talking about reducing our fiscal deficit from 6.6% to 4.5% last year can Idris elaborate on our mounting national debt that has been steadily mounting in the last 15 years and projected to be RM1 trillion by 2020.

This is without taking into consideration the private debt and part of it that is publicly guaranteed because all this add to the government debt burden.

Idris said it was public perception that the crime rate was is increasing.

He also pointed out that in Britain that crime rate was increasing when in fact it was decreasing.

The British public holds their government strictly accountable for everything that it does, including press freedom.

They made Rupert Murdoch own up for what his newspapers do in Britain and corruption among the police, government servants and politicians are always under the scrutiny of NGOs and independent bodies.

In the name of progress

Idris is no longer that man from Bario in the Borneo Highland isolated from the rest of the world where corruption was non-existent in the village.

Today he is part of the corruption and the arrogance that have become part and parcel of Umno and Barisan Nasional that thinks itself above being accountable and responsible for the foul deeds done in the guise of governance.

And more audacious he has taken us all for fools to explain what this Umno-led Barisan Nasional government is doing in the name of progress and development.

That boy from Bario is now in the cabinet and has the ear of his political masters. What will he now do to earn his place in our history and not fail the ideals that once flowed through his veins?

Or is politics, the Umno way, now flowing through his very soul and already made him of them?

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist. This article is in response to Idris Jala’s article which appeared in the June 24 edition of The Star newspaper where the Pemandu CEO had discussed seven issues affecting Malaysia today.