Beware the country of the blind

 

“People visit the rich with gifts, but they visit the poor with advice.”

- Proverb

It is often said that in the country of the blind, the one-eyed is king. But how disastrous it will be for that blighted country if the one-eyed who help the blind to “see” are themselves made blind. Not by accident, but by the wilful use and abuse of the law.

Woe to a nation that allows its journalists, writers, and artists to be thus blinded. Widely regarded as the literati, they are the fourth pillar of democracy.

They have the courage of their convictions, and through their work, the other three pillars are made accountable to us, the people. And without them, we are a chair with three legs fit only for the rubbish bin.

And woe to our country if the rich and the powerful succeed in removing this fourth pillar from our democracy for their own ends, as it would appear from a reading of the article published in Aliran by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) dated Aug 10.

The article expressed concern over the legal action taken by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and its executive vice-chairperson against veteran journalist P Gunasegaram, who a decade ago did the nation a huge favour by investigating and writing about 1MDB at great personal risk. Surely we owe him a debt of honour, but that’s another story.

The plaintiffs are seeking RM100 million in damages over allegations that his recent article on the LRT3 project portrayed MRCB as being linked to political patronage, procurement irregularities, and abuse of public resources, all issues which the public are familiar with given our levels of corruption.

Also, the damages sought look like a sledgehammer designed to kill an ant. Malaysians are not stupid. Why this overkill?

Wouldn’t it be better to turn this “why” into a “why not” by putting out the sledgehammer’s side of the story in sufficient detail to let the public judge for themselves where the money went, why the cost overruns were incurred, and the reasons for the long delay?

This will surely assure the public that everything was done above board. Or do we need yet another royal commission of inquiry? Isn’t the court of public opinion sufficient to set the record straight?

Tabung Haji RCI deepens public distrust

Now for a word of caution, not a threat: Malaysians are a forgiving lot, but with the recent release of the damning and extremely shameful RCI report on Tabung Haji, the gloves are off.

More than in the 1MDB debacle, the trust between the rakyat jelata and the government has been irretrievably damaged. The public mood is one of anger and utter disgust. And it is spreading like wildfire across homes, mamak shops, workplaces, surau, and mosques.

GLCs, politically connected corporations, government agencies, and even Bank Negara must take notice that 10 million Malaysian Muslims, investors in particular and Malaysians in general, whose taxes were used to bail out Tabung Haji, now regard corporate Malaysia, rightly or wrongly, as untrustworthy, devious, crooked, and self-serving.

In plain language, they are widely regarded as corrupt to the core.

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It is in this context that we must see the LRT project - a large public infrastructure undertaking which required massive government funding and therefore strict compliance with procurement processes and timelines. One that suffered major cost overruns and long delays.

This has raised many questions, and since it involves taxpayer money, we expect the fourth pillar to scrutinise and comment on these matters. Now more than ever.

I for one, expect them to do so not because of MRCB or its vice-chairperson, but because very few in this country believe our government, its agencies, GLCs, and companies doing “government business”, for want of a better term, have done enough to play it straight and be level with us taxpayers whose money has been used umpteen times to bail out corporate failures to the tune of billions.

And who doesn’t know they have a long history of not keeping their noses clean?

Malaysia needs more Gunasegarams

It is in this context that journalists like Gunasegaram write the way they write. To use an old Malaysian phrase, “I tabik him for that”.

Our corporations should stop being the proverbial ostrich, its head buried in the sand, and get real. The RCI report on Tabung Haji is a watershed event. It is our “the emperor is naked” moment. And never forget it took an honest mind in a fawning crowd to point out that bare fact.

If a sacrosanct institution like Tabung Haji was taken for a ride so easily, what is a road, a train, a bridge, a port, a mega project to the corrupt and the greedy?

Malaysians now will ask only two questions regarding such projects: “Siapa makan?” and “Berapa dia makan?” Who took the money? and How much did they take?

To put right our country, I propose that the courts give more weight to circumstantial evidence and also regard corporate leaders as corrupt unless proven otherwise.

For context, the MACC roped in 115 witnesses when investigating Tabung Haji, yet no one was charged. It is now reported that they may resort to using the services of forensic experts to press charges against certain individuals.

All said, it is not easy to prove wrongdoing and corruption in the courts because the corrupt are experts in covering their tracks. Nods and winks leave no paper trail.

Like it or not, we need more Gunasegarams, if we can find people like him who do not visit the rich with gifts and the poor with advice.

And I’m convinced, now more than ever, millions of Rakyat Malaysia will side with Guna in this ongoing struggle to make a better Malaysia, undeterred by the threat of millions of Ringgit Malaysia.

But make no mistake, it will be a long and difficult struggle. The endlines in F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, a story of moral corruption and great wealth, are instructive: “So we beat on, like boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past.” - Mkini

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MURALE PILLAI is a former GLC employee. He runs a logistics company.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.