With Thanks to FMT
The demons lurking within our psyche
Only time will tell if Malaysia can disentangle itself from its own worst enemy – corruption.
COMMENT
I pride myself as someone with the
ability to think, not only as a Malay with a
vested interest in my race to
succeed on the global stage but also as a Malay
who has to live in a world
where we are just one of a multitude of races.
And all I want is to be treated by
those multitudes of others on this earth as how I treat them – do unto others
what you want others to do upon you.
To be able to do this I need to
take cognizance that we certainly need to respect unity in our diversity. This
is easier said than done. It is a work in progress and everyday I consciously
work towards this end.
I try to see people as human
beings and not as black, white or any other shade in between. Gender becomes a
pleasant distraction when they are physically pleasing to the eye but never a
source of annoyance if otherwise.
When I hear people speak around
me, I try not to be annoyed by my inability to understand what they are saying
nor by the guttural or sing-song nuances that is peculiar to each tongue.
When I see people intoxicated,
angry, obnoxious, rude or just being unpleasant I turn the other cheek and walk
away from any unnecessary confrontations. If we want to be citizens of the
world, we have much work to do.
In Malaysia, the swirling mix of
different cultures, languages and ethnicity which makes us all unique collide
eternally as we try to live amongst each other in peace and harmony.
It is hard for a god-fearing
Muslim to walk amongst infidels who eat pork and dress provocatively. Harder
still for a Chinese who has worked hard all his life to be told that he/she is
a second class citizen.
For any Malaysian who loves and
calls Malaysia home, to be told that race and religion will define his/her
place here is devastating. It makes them ask themselves where then are their loyalties
and abode to be from now?
The exoduses by those who have
made the decision to leave Malaysia started many years ago and now number in
the millions. This is a cancer plaguing the nation. And like all cancer it
surely will kill slowly and silently.
But more deadly than the migration
from Malaysia of the finest and most able of our people is the danger already
consuming our country today. One that has been going on for a good three
decades at least!
The danger to Malaysia does not
come from any external threats like the 2013 Lahad Datu intrusion by the ‘Royal
Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo’.
Nor is it likely to come from an
undeclared war like that of the 1963-66 confrontation between Indonesia and
Malaysia.The danger will come from within – widespread corruption. Corruption
that is already embedded in the psyche of the politicians and the bureaucrats.
National secret
Without the bureaucrats who do the
bidding of these politicians, the politicians will be hard pressed to be corrupt.
In Malaysia the bureaucrats and the politicians are in cahoots to pillage and
plunder the wealth of our nation.
All of them are happily losing the
battle against corruption. Today we are spoilt for choices when it comes to
finding tales of people in high places involved in financial misdeeds and abuse
of power.
For the corrupt, all the checks
and balances are already in place to ensure that money meant for schools,
bridges, roads, education and the economic and social well being of the people
are there for them to take with impunity.
These ‘checks’ and ‘balances’ are
made possible with the connivance of politicians and bureaucrats, each
scratching the other’s back and closing one eye while the rakyat is left out of
pocket.
And by politicians I mean
politicians on both sides of the divide.
The people are almost immune to
inane decisions by our politicians. The pity of it all is that our bureaucrats
are now heading south to join these politicians with a gusto that is most worrying.
We, the long suffering public,
will not read of their misdeeds and abuses because there are more ‘checks and
balances’ to ensure that mainstream media, will not publish their misdeeds and
their abuse of our nation’s wealth.
In Malaysia corruption by the
privilege is a national secret. The whole world knows it but this BN government
is of the view that if we are not allowed to speak about it, hear about it or
read about it, it will remain a secret.
And who is to tell these Don
Quixotes that it is not so? The only difference is while Don Quixote believes
that his duty is to change the world and right all wrongs, our politicians
wants their wrongs to remain right.
National interest
Rationalising any expenditure and
any abuse of their executive power does not make it right. The abuse of funds
allocated for beef production by NFC is wrong.
And wrong too is the exorbitant
salaries increment for Selangor lawmakers and the purchase of a Mercedes by the
Penang state government for their CM when a Camry has already been bought a few
months earlier.
The use of the government jet by
Najib’s wife too, is wrong. Anything that is wrong cannot be made right because
you think your reason for doing wrong has been rationalised to be in the
national interest.
Murder can be justifiable but the
murderer is still punished. Our politicians and bureaucrats are getting away
with murder because doing that foul deed and the authority that should punish
that deed resides with the same people.
Wither goes our nation today if
not down the path of those African nations where leaders and children of
despots and politicians buy villas in France, drive Lamborghinis in London,
shop in Milan and holiday in the Bahamas.
These are already a familiar
refrain amongst many Malaysian politicians, their families and cronies.
The dye is already cast and the
only thing that now remains between Malaysia’s fate and the fate of those
tinpot alley African nations are the Malaysian people.
Only time will tell if that is
enough to save Malaysia from its own worst enemy – corruption perpetrated by
politicians ably assisted by the bureaucrats.
CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies.
He is a FMT columnist.
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