You don't ask a plumber to do a doctor's job

"What is happening in Malaysia?" a friend asked me recently. He rattled off news reports of the daylight killings and kidnappings and so on.

I said, “You meant to ask, ‘What is happening to Malaysia, didn't you?’"

He looked at me with a wry grin that spoke volumes for what was in his mind, about what's not right in the country of his birth for which he showed an uncanny concern but unmistakable consternation despite having lived abroad for many years.

The recent appointment of a non-accountant to the very important post of auditor-general gives another clue to the country's slippery slide. Has the government made another serious political faux pas that some may call another blunder in making the appointment?

After summarily dismissing the 1MDB scandal while foreign authorities are hot on the criminal trail, and successful convictions in Singapore, life is becoming more unsettling for more and more citizens in a country that once was the model of progress and diversity.

Someone sent me a video of an evidently impassioned Malay woman speaking out to a group in public against 'Hadi's Islam' in a bill to implement hudud. She cried out for all Malaysians, not just Malays to protest Hadi's 'unIslamic' 355 bill.

The metamorphosis of PAS from a ‘party for all’ before GE13 under Nik Aziz Nik Mat's leadership into a parochial and narrow and myopic Hadi-minded polity is another tragedy in Malaysian politics. PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang wants to decide the punishment before catching the thief. He is nonplussed about the corruption but obsessed with the collusion with a sworn political enemy.

Like new DAP member and former law minister Zaid Ibrahim, who has criticised the appointment of the non-accountant auditor-general, many also think it is a wrong decision.

The most important aspect of an auditor's role is to lend credibility to the published statutory financial reports. How will a non-accountant auditor-general lend any credibility to the auditor-general's reports? Audit is a specialised field. You don't ask a plumber to do a doctor's job, do you? It makes a mockery of years of professional training.

Were there no more suitable candidates with the pertinent qualifications for this very important post? Why was Madinah Mohamad, who graduated with a degree in political science, chosen? I think the public has a right to know.

Little credibility

In scandal-prone Malaysia, a highly respected and credible auditor-general will make all the difference in making public accounts trustworthy. The job demands an understanding of auditing. General knowledge is not enough. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing as the saying goes.

The auditor has also to be seen to be independent. The independence of the auditor adds to the credibility of the role. How will it help the independence aspect in the role of the new auditor-general, she being the wife of an active Umno politician?

The heavy cost to the government and the auditor-general's office will be their credibility. Whatever the auditor-general does will be cast with doubts and accusations of cronyism, and that's the last thing you want with published audit reports and financial statements. The role of auditor-general cannot afford to be bogged in controversy.

The government risks coming under a cloud if the auditor-general is not seen to be independent. Like justice, independence must not only be real but be seen to be real. That is why judges recuse themselves if they cannot be seen to be independent in a case before them in court.

The training of an auditor takes many years. Auditing is both an art and science. A basic qualification in accountancy is a requirement and a government auditor must have the professional qualities of the proverbial hound dog and watchdog. The incumbent must be one of proven impeccable moral character in public and capable of acting without fear or favour in a very important role and specialised field.

It is unlikely a non-auditor will have the technical expertise, the professional acumen and auditor's DNA to do a proper job, even with the best of intentions and nicest other attributes. You cannot simply transplant anyone to be an auditor-general.

If non-accountants can be auditors, it is an insult to the auditing and accountancy profession. I am speaking from my past experience as a public accountant with an audit licence, and knowing how stringent the rules and requirements are in getting an audit licence.

If it is hard for accountants to become company auditors (who must have the requisite auditing qualifications and experience), why is it possible for one without direct audit experience to take up the role of the country's highest audit office? Will we then expect airline stewards to pilot aircraft?

The role of auditor-general is not a rubber stamp but a formidable check and balance so vital in ensuring the financial integrity of governance and indirectly, the proper functioning of democracy. An accountable government is a democratic government.

In light of the humongous scandals of 1MDB and other scandals involving corruption in government departments, I would have thought the government, if dead serious about strengthening the role of the auditor-general as an exigent move to curb the many inherent financial scandals within the government, would have appointed a more appropriate and less potentially controversial person with the relevant and requisite professional qualifications and experience.

A credible auditor-general must not be a political appointee per se but a meritocrat and appropriately qualified technocrat.

National quagmire

The country, if it fails to make wise appointments, is like a vehicle stuck in the mud and the harder the driver accelerates, the deeper it gets bogged down. The nation's path into the national quagmire of corruption, political abuse of power and increasing bloody violence and murders was laid during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure.

However some may argue its genesis began with the purge of the country's first prime minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, not long after the political conspiracy of May 13, 1969. Many older Malaysians do think the 'chromosomes of regressive politics' were passed on then, though former premier Abdul Razak Hussein was serious about uplifting the economic plight of the more economically backward Malays.

No one doubts the Malays as a demographic bloc needed help but I doubt even Abdul Razak had envisaged the high level of 'bastardisation' of his policies caused by huge losses of public funds from catastrophic scandals seen in the Mahathir years and the more recent 'greatest kleptocracy case in history' in the 1MDB scandal.

The late creator of Malay nationalistic economic programmes should be rolling in his grave, figuratively speaking, if he could see the subsequent corruption that destroyed the spirit and original intent of the New Economic Policy he initiated and the humongous scandals that occurred after his passing. Good intentions without good governance in a country like Malaysia is to allow the political gluttons unlimited access into the country's pantry.

A vigilant and no-holds-barred auditor-general unafraid to step on big political toes in doing his or her job is a must-have officer within a transparent and accountable administration. A weak or compromised person, not seen to be independent, must immediately be disqualified from the crucial post.

The problems of Malaysia are as clear as day to the true believers, whether certain enlightened ones in power and the opposition, the civil activists and others. But the solutions they proffer will not see light of day. Sadly, the country is mired in a political quagmire undergirded by personal greed and selfish ambition. The corrupt hold utter contempt for the welfare of the nation.

No one can serve two masters. If politicians serve self and money, they will not serve the people, let alone God and country. Religion and race suffer, yet the emperor parades on without shame or scruples.

And when only the opinion of those who hold power matters then the country will unavoidably slide into the state of uncertainty, lawlessness and violence and gradual fossilisation.

While the self-motivated business and national community advance, there is a countervailing and counter-productive force holding back progress. Such obstacles extend beyond money matters into politics, religion and other arenas.

The warning that Malaysia may morph into a Philippines during the lawless and murderous Marcos years is not to be dismissed lightly. Then and there, I saw the breakdown in public safety and the strange thing to me then of seeing privately employed armed guards standing outside offices and other premises. Is Malaysia becoming the old Philippines?

The most typical instance of a retrograde development is the PAS push for hudud and slide into a regressive way of life they promote that is incompatible with the economic needs of the people and the Merdeka DNA of the nation. The nation was born to progress but so far, despite the proud slogans and aspirations of the politicians in power, the touted prosperity has been elusive, and the nation is sliding into a worsening state of public anxiety, despair, consternation and sadly, pathetic resignation.

When once the nation was ruled by now former country leader turned Mr Opposition, the enigmatic Mahathir, it was still a relatively safe place and the sorts of happenings, especially the brazen daylight killings, were not common. These days reading about daylight murders is as common as the daylight robberies and white-collar crimes of civil servants and politicians.

A failed leader

We speak of failed states but what about failed leaders?

A failed leader is someone who can make the difference because they hold the power to get things done. But they have not used their power to redress the wrongdoings, to punish the guilty and to establish law and order so everything works by the book, and their decisions are couched in truth and justice and people get relief. Instead, the people are divided, confused and take the law into their hands. These are symptoms of failed leadership.

The silence over the kidnapping of Pastor Raymond Koh more than a week ago is unacceptable and symptomatic of uncaring leadership. Media reports of the professional and highly organised abduction of Pastor Koh raises the question if religious persecution has escalated and dragged the country into uncharted and perilous waters?

The police have to work overtime to solve the mysterious abduction of a man, a committed Christian, and do-gooder who is an asset to the community and has helped many Malaysians of all races. It is an insult to the police that such people can kidnap anyone in broad daylight and still remain at large.

The longer the authorities remain in silence and apparent inertia instead of demonstrating they are leaving no stone unturned and no CCTV footage unseen (there must be some that would have recorded the SUVs and the Alphard as reported) their credibility is undermined.

In contrast, as writer Bob Teoh has poignantly written in his Malaysiakini article, the police were quick to make many arrests in the death of the North Korean. The police must restore public confidence that everyone can act and move about freely regardless of their work and if threatened or abducted they will be rescued by the police. This kidnap redefines the notion of work safety for religious workers. The official silence is indeed deafening, unbecoming and unhelpful.

The Christian community will do well to hold a public prayer and candlelight vigil for Pastor Koh until he is safely re-united with his wife and family. We must not allow such a brazen act of cowardice and criminality against a law-abiding citizen to go unpunished.

The police must be seen to be relentlessly going after the culprits. Who do they suspect? What is happening in their investigations? The public and Koh's family and friends want and need to know. There is no trace of the hijacked car. There is no word on what has happened to Pastor Koh while every day there are loads of articles and news on the murdered North Korean.

Koh's disappearance and other acts of violation of individual freedom of safety with brazen gruesome murders, like another woman shot dead in Penang in broad daylight, should sound the alarm that no one is safe from hidden hands anymore.

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STEVE OH is the author of the novel ‘Tiger King of the Golden Jungle’ and composer of the musical of the same title. He believes in good governance and morally upright leaders.- Mkini