Steve Oh • Nov 23, 11 8:16
The road to democracy let alone the 'world's best democracy' is a road far less travelled when it is peppered with potholes of corruption and the authorities are selective who they prosecute.
The unfailing flow of public corruption scandals involving government politicians has reached a crisis. The government cannot afford to brush them aside in the face of compelling evidence of improper , even culpable conduct, and risk eroding its credibility further.
They say the devil is in the details and the Auditor-General has provided the smoking guns of financial misfiring that should provide the leads to successful prosecutions.
It is this failure to bring those culpable to court that makes the Auditor-General's reports appear like a serial horror show as similar irregularities recur year after year.
Malaysians no longer are fooled by the dangling carrots of jaw-dropping projects and pie-in-the-sky promises that are pure spin and as unreal as an mirage in an Arabian desert mirage. They believe in concrete results.
Even the devil can tempt and make false promises.
Malaysians have to stop short-changing themselves because the corrupt politicians won't desist from cheating them.
I qualify 'the corrupt politicians' because not all politicians can be tarred with the same broad brush. Not all politicians or law-enforcers are corrupt.
They should know bad company corrupts good character unless they purge the corrupt whoever they are from their midst.
Those who are exposed for their wrongdoings but tell fibs to intelligent Malaysians or those who cover up for them are not very clever or honest.
I am reminded of the noble Malay man who dobbed his son's illegal activities to the police. He was a simple villager but believed in the age old adage that 'honesty is the best policy.'
We need more honest politicians and more honest law enforcers.
The police and MACC can start enforcing this ethos among their troops and go after the big fish and we will believe they are sincere in seeking public feedback.
The public will stand behind them. Otherwise they will be accused of false pretences and passing the buck to the public or desperately running out of ideas when they have refused the Royal Commission's sound recommendations.
Not long ago Idris Jala warned of the country's impending bankruptcy only to tell Malaysians today that the country will now not go broke.
Maybe we should export this 'miracle cure' to Europe. Jesus can change water into wine but can a country change imminent bankruptcy into a high-income country overnight? Perhaps the government can for the select few.
Politicians say too many contradictory things and confuse the people.
They should just stick to the truth even if it is a bitter pill because truth never hurt a good cause. Malaysians love the truth but the politicians keep telling them lies.
You can't say 'we will abolish the ISA' and then jail some people without trial and damn them as 'terrorists.' The late Colonel Gaddafi said 'everybody loves me' and called his people 'rats' but instead of leading at the front he died like a rat.
Doing the opposite of what you say is too much like the the lying and delusional dictator.
The Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 is yet another anomaly for a country on its way to being the 'world's best democracy.'
If it sounds like the usual hyperbole the facts back it. Delusion, deception, hallucination, they all belong to the category of lies because they are far from the reality.
The moral and political awakening taking shape in the country may not be enough to see structural and regime change unless those that prop up the leaning tower of a dishonest demagogy seen in practice, within a democracy promulgated in theory, realize that what awaits is not the Promised Land for every citizen but a plundered nation misappropriated by the thieves that you put into power.
Sadly I am preaching to the converted but I can vote.
And no one distorts everything as well as the man history will record as the Father of Lost and Stolen Opportunities besides other ignoble epithets, who continues to poison his country with his venom despite having done it for longer than any leader, from the dark shadows of his vain, wasted and tainted existence.
It is like a Shakespearan tragedy. The country lay at his feet to make great but instead he trod on it and still parades like the Emperor with no clothes and no scruples.
When the elections are drawn along the battle lines of truth, justice and morality, in the light of the exposes of corruption and abuses of power, it should not be hard for conscientious voters to realize who has the antidote and who has been making them drink from the poisoned chalice.
Make your vote count, fellow Malaysians.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
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