Bring the miscreants to book

(The Sun) FACT: Thousands of people who do not qualify for low-cost homes own such houses.

FACT: Among them are senior staff of the Petaling Jaya City Council and councillors were allocated such units.

FACT: Such actions were either sanctioned or approved by certain sections of the Selangor government.
FACT: Erroneously or otherwise, the income threshold of RM2,500 was arrived at after deducting household income, which goes against the basic grain of the pre-qualification.

FACT: There is the existence of several lists prepared by some elected representatives and councillors where names of their friends and cronies appear.

FACT: The names of all owners of low-cost units appear in various data bases of local councils and district offices.

FACT: Thousands of low-income earners have been deprived of a roof over their heads because of this malpractice.

These startling pieces of information are now in the public domain through a series of articles and commentaries which this newspaper has published over the past two weeks. Sad to say, there has been little or no effort made to bring the culprits to book. On the contrary the state government has decreed that it “is not legally wrong” for the rich and council staff to own these units. In the interim period, it was announced that the list of owners of low-cost units would be made public.

That was 10 days ago. To date, nothing has appeared.

Is the state government serious about going after mis-creants who have stolen from the poor? Is it going to let those who deprived the poor of home ownership get away scot-free? These questions have to be answered and be done pronto. Enough of talk, let’s see some action. This newspaper will continue to remind the powers-that-be that they owe the ratepayers a duty. They cannot shirk that respon-ibility by couching their inaction in words. They must match it with action.