SNIPPET

I wish to thank all my readers for their comments, arguments, discussions and views over the article that I last wrote titled “One Malaysia – It is hopeless until we decide to accept change”, posted on August 8, 2009. I wrote the article based on my personal experience; the association that I had with friends of various races during my formative years; the multiracial neighborhood in which I grew up; all these have a lasting influence on me to accept that my Malay race does change my acceptance as friends of the non Malay race. Nothing will change my views of them now, especially of the people that I have grown up with. In fact, when I get to meet them now, our bond of friendship gets even stronger. I know such experience is not felt by those who have grown up within their own kind, and it is for this very reason that I say that the One Malaysia rhetoric is hopeless, if we continue to play the race card; and playing the race card is so rampant among our politicians these days.

All would have noticed that I have laid off writing for almost a week now; not that I fear the internet filtering that Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim had earlier proposed, and was ‘thrown out’ by PM Najib so abruptly. It was just that I needed a bit of rest, and to ponder what need I do when I get 66 in a few months from today. Should I continue writing or should I bow out in grace. Should I keep my mouth shut, eyes and ears close when someone tells me that the corrupt practices among government officials has not abated; but gets even more vigorous.

And it was only yesterday that I read that the billions lost in the PKFZ fiasco gets more entwined in charges of an RM10 million cash being paid to a minister for unspecified reasons by the turnkey developer of the PKFZ project. Is this to bribe the minister for some unknown favors, or is it purely a gift or a donation to fill the coffer of the MCA party. If RM10 million can just be given away, I wonder how much profit is being made from the PKFZ project. The minister has since denied receiving any cash from the developer, and had launch a police report.

It has taken exceedingly long for PAC to get to the root of the problem, and one is not surprise that the deeper they dig into the case, the uglier the case becomes. And I can say with some certainty that some known political figures are at hand in the fiasco. But will they be roped in to face the music? My guess is that they will not, because there is already a perception being formed that the higher you are in society, the lesser you are from being prosecuted. In other words, some kind of immunity is being accorded to such highly privileged people. Proof me wrong in this regards.

And isn’t the CEO Dimensi Sdn Bhd, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, the developer of the PKFZ a politician himself and a wealthy person? And are we not seeing CRONYISM at play. And I just wonder where did the billions go to……..feeding the many cronies I suppose, and with little hope of ever recovering the lost taxpayers money.

And it was also yesterday that a friend called and ask me to view the Sun Daily of a report regarding the arrest of a ‘Datuk’ that is reportedly involved in a Mindef scam. The ‘Datuk’ had somehow managed to fleece a 40-year-old businesswomen of RM500,000, with pledges to secure her a lucrative contract with Mindef.

This businesswomen must be filthy rich to throw such amount of cash, and I just wonder who is she? And how on earth could this businesswomen be so naïve as to be taken by this smooth talking ‘Datuk’. And how easy is it to get a Mindef letterhead to prove the authenticity of the project, and to be taken around the corridors of Mindef to convince the businesswomen that the project offered is but real. And surely the ‘Datuk’ would not dare get into Mindef if he does not have accomplices to make the scene more realistic.

And this takes me to some of my earlier articles where I said that in order for the public service to be clean and incorruptible, the ‘heads’ must sorted first. Isn’t there the saying that the fish rot begins at the head? And I am told that there are many rotten heads within the public service today, and their activities are well camouflage.

Eradicating corruption is not solely my concern, but should rightly be the concern of all Malaysians. Reading from the many comments that I get from my writings on the question of corruption, there is an obvious lack of confidence and faith from among some of my readers of the MACC and the police. This is a perception that the MACC and the police has to shoulder; a perception that is the result of their own doing.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION