It’s not about revenge but accountability

If we want genuine change and transformation for this country, people entrusted with responsibility must be told to account for the things they did.

COMMENT

By TK Chua

I agree that the newly installed Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government would not seek revenge for past transgressions committed against PH politicians, their supporters and many innocent people.

But we must bear in mind that it is not revenge we are seeking. For this nation to be at peace, we must dispense justice for those who were grossly wronged in the past.

We must expect a fairer and more professional civil service, including many appointed by BN politicians through contracts now still enjoying government salaries and perks.

We need to know how some have mysteriously disappeared without a trace. We need to know the status of police investigations and why till today nothing substantive has been found. If need be, the former IGP should be asked to explain.

We need to know how people died while in custody. I remember in particular Teoh Beng Hock, whose untimely death was investigated but till today no one was held directly responsible.

We need to know how people were arrested while making police reports, some businesses were asked to pay “extra” taxes, and some were denied travelling overseas and within their own country to Sarawak and Sabah.

We need to know how government lands and assets were stripped and sold and now have become private properties. How government reserves in pension funds were used to finance projects whose viability was suspect, and how much the government is paying Pemandu, and the work they had done thus far.

We need to know why BNM Malaysia, a government agency, needs to buy lands from the government for more than two billion ringgit. The Bank Negara Governor and the Secretary-General of the Finance Ministry must explain.

All this dirty work was done not directly by politicians but by treacherous collaborators and conspirators now hiding in the civil service pretending to be PH supporters. Some even enjoyed rapid promotions or postings to lucrative positions for doing the dirty work.

These people in the civil service, including many appointed by politicians through contracts, must be asked to account for their deeds. They can’t pretend nothing has happened.

If we want genuine change and transformation for this country, people entrusted with responsibility must be told to account for the things they did.

They can’t blame it on orders from the top. These people are not helpless paupers. They are top officials with education and experience. They ought to know when an act is grossly unethical or criminal.

If they can be easily forgiven, I believe we are destined to repeat the same mistakes in the future.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.