Are cabinet ministers confused about light and darkness? Do they really believe that darkness has the same force of truth as light? The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament is among the few standing committees of the Parliament; which is the highest body of/for good governance in Malaysia.
Therefore, what is it that the minister from Sabah does not understand? Does not know that the PAC is the highest body of/for accountability and responsibility of good governance in our nation-state?
So, why are they resisting the ‘wikileak’ of the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB by some unknown person? Obviously, someone who had access, either to a legitimate copy or an illegitimate copy, chose to surreptitiously leak it because they believed that the people of Malaysia had a right to know these truths.
I was a public servant for 32 years; and let me say it clearly, if I were a public servant in this situation and occasion, I, too, would have not just leaked it, but gone to court to make a conscientious objection over this matter.
Why is it that we can all celebrate Muhammad Ali’s fame but cannot emulate his character and conduct? Was he really an Arab Muslim, or was he not more of a real and spiritual Muslim? Did we not hear what the rabbi said about Ali in the eulogy?
To him, internal truth defines real truths in life. There cannot be gaps between faith and action. In Malay we say, “cakap tak serupa bikin”. That light of conscience in the inner beings is given by God for everyone to be able choose between right and wrong; between light and darkness.
Whither Titanic Malaysia?
Malaysia is moving rapidly through stormy seas and bad currents, but nevertheless headed towards the iceberg, as per the movie ‘Titanic’. Therefore, the above is my question to the cabinet of ministers, as the chief executive agency of Malaysia; my intentionally provocative question.
The threat of what I called a slippery steep slope slide of our nation is real. The Pahang mufti spoke up but was not shut up. DAP and Lim Guan Eng are being shut up instead. 1MDB is not corruption but buying a house or home is allegedly using the power of political influence to get a cheap house, as was the case of the former Selangor MB.
These actions appear as an anti-thesis to any move Against Bigotry and Corruption or My ABC. In fact these actions appear to redefine the anti-corruption agenda; as one Twitter note sent to me showed. All the prosecutors are Malays; those charged are Chinese, and all the lawyers are Indians in the Lim Guan Eng case. Really, why are there no Kadazans, Kelabits and Ibans? Or is our serious dialogue always this limited?
‘Abuse’ at my alma mater
It was reported in one of our multi-ethnic Old Puteras (OPs) WhatsApp group that two Chinese boys were instructed to attend a semi-religious event held in a mosque. Now, I ask how could such a thing happen? Usually, at all other times, such ‘kafirs’ cannot go into a mosque at all.
If such did happen, it is not covert abuse of human rights but an overt and explicit abuse propagated by the public system under both the Defence Ministry and Education Ministry. Can we really agree with such an approach in abuse? Can such actions define the nature of our so-called new civility since Merdeka, but at an expense to our constitution?
One way forward - My3M
We need a core group of multi-ethnic Malaysians who can become authentic Malaysians, and who stand up for all other Malaysians. But they need to fully understand their personal faith and cultural truths; and therefore are comfortable with all of them; consequently, they are ready to engage other Malaysians premised upon those truths and realities.
Such can then become our agreed and accepted civility by each of us; Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia. Such public conduct must therefore always meet the requirement of our civil but constitutional state of our human democratic freedoms.
Even the majority of Old Puteras of RMC, in my experience today, do not meet this requirement because they have assumed an Umno-dominated culture of vulgar compromises. Therefore we need a new and fresh group of leaders and voices that are different from all those earlier ones. Most of the earlier ones are allegedly bigoted and corrupt.
I am focused upon such an agenda vide our NGO called Oriental Hearts and Minds Study Institute (OHMSI). We started with some faith-based partners, but have also tried to keep the multi-ethnic tone with most of our co-originators. Now we are seeking to grow it with a group of friends and allies who can work together without personal unresolved tensions for reasons of honesty and truthfulness.
Now, I want to take this collegiality to another level of reality. Therefore, my accountability partner David Bok and I are seeking to grow of group of very close inter-faith group of friends and allies who grow each other with tests of reality, validity, and reliability in relation to all public nature of truths.
Such a group of Moderate Middle Malaysians (or 3M) are usually now urban by growth of the city outwards, have usually been educated in English, are well-qualified and professional in conduct and are willing and ready to uphold all civil values of the modern Malaysia of the last 60 years.
Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia
My parents are migrants and therefore I have no issue in them being called ‘pendatang’. But then, I also want to insist that many of my good friends, and some who held cabinet level posts, also agree with me that their grandparents were also ‘pendatang’; from Indonesia.
The only real non-pendatang I know within the borders of Malaysia are the natives of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak; they are called Orang Asli or Orang Asal. Most of them are not yet fully mainstream and live simple lives without many of the basic needs we take for granted.
Many of them are given a fish a day, and remain rather beholden to the allegedly corrupt and bigoted government of the day.
In my previous column entitled ‘MyExit next’, I rhetorically argued that if the backdoor Islamisation agenda continues as desired by Ustaz Hadi Awang and his hadd bill with the collusion of Umno, I have to seriously consider moving out of Malaysia.
I then stated that my preferred option would be Sarawak. But then again, we have double standards of our Malaysian-ness. If you are a Malayan IC holder, the Sarawak government makes the ultimately decisions on migration or movement into Sarawak. How then can we become one Anak Bangsa Malaysia?
KJ JOHN, PhD, was in public service for 32 years having served as a researcher, trainer, and policy adviser to the International Trade and Industry Ministry and the National IT Council (NITC) of the government of Malaysia. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him at kjjohn@ohmsi.net with any feedback or views. - Mkini
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