Pakatan Harapan’s “war against corruption”

What about people like ex-Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz? Why is she being spared? Is it because she is Mahathir’s proxy and the person who helped bring down the Umno-Barisan Nasional government by leaking classified information to a certain blogger in London?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Alwyn Lau’s article on corruption published in the Malay Mail Online today makes interesting reading (READ BELOW).

“That was when we finally broke free of Umno and Barisan Nasional. I’m also reliably informed that numerous Malaysians based overseas even sent money home to support Pakatan Harapan in the heart-felt hope that, finally, some change would occur,” said Alwyn.

This has been the standard DAP line. Malaysia is a failed state. It is a failed state because of rampant and blatant corruption. The country is a kleptocracy. And this is so because of Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Lim Kit Siang promised Malaysians that Mahathir and Daim would be sent to jail if Pakatan Harapan ever formed the government

So long as the so-called “Reformists” mislead Malaysians into believing that the problem is Umno and Barisan Nasional — and that once we remove Umno and Barisan Nasional from the equation the problem will automatically get solved — Malaysia will continue suffering from the disease of the corruption cancer.

It is like blaming the problem of prostitution (also due to corruption) on Umno and Barisan Nasional. Are the Chinese brothel owners Umno and Barisan Nasional members? Are the prostitutes Umno and Barisan Nasional members? Are the clients who create the demand for prostitution Umno and Barisan Nasional members?

Prostitution works on the law of supply and demand. If there is a demand, then there will be a supply. And who is creating this demand? Is it Umno and Barisan Nasional members? And who is providing the supply? Is it Umno and Barisan Nasional members?

It is so convenient to blame everything wrong in Malaysia as the fault of the Umno and Barisan Nasional government.

These three Pakatan Harapan leaders cost Malaysia RM200 billion

Was it the Umno and Barisan Nasional government that appointed Tommy Thomas as the new Attorney-General?

Was it the Umno and Barisan Nasional government that ordered Tommy Thomas to drop all the corruption cases against DAP and Pakatan Harapan people?

Was it the Umno and Barisan Nasional government that ordered Tommy Thomas to drop Lim Guan Eng’s bungalow and Penang undersea tunnel corruption cases?

Time and time again Lim Kit Siang and DAP promised Malaysians that if they ever came to power, they would take action against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Daim Zainuddin, and all those other Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders for stealing an estimated RM100 billion of the rakyat’s money.

Then, in May 2018, they did come to power. And what did they do? They made Mahathir the prime minister and Daim the head of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP).

Why did Pakatan Harapan spare Zeti and family?

What happened? What happened to the pledge to eradicate corruption and the promise they would take action against the kleptocrats?

Okay, they did selectively prosecute some people like Najib Tun Razak, Rosmah Mansor, and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. But that was mainly political. What about people like ex-Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz? Why is she being spared? Is it because she is Mahathir’s proxy and the person who helped bring down the Umno-Barisan Nasional government by leaking classified information to a certain blogger in London?

Pakatan Harapan says Malaysia is a failed state and kleptocracy because of Umno and Barisan Nasional. Pakatan Harapan says Malaysia was saved when Umno and Barisan Nasional were kicked out in May 2018. Pakatan Harapan says a “New” Malaysia was born when Umno and Barisan Nasional were defeated in GE14. And then Pakatan Harapan makes a secret electoral pact with Umno for GE15. Explain that!

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Corruption in Malaysia ‘not yet a pandemic’? Really?

Alwyn Lau, Malay Mail Online

Recently, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Azam Baki declared that corruption in Malaysia is worrying but “not yet a pandemic.”

When I read this, I was reminded of a joke by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek about an exchange of telegrams between German and Austrian army headquarters in the middle of the First World War.

The Germans sent the message, “Here, on our part of the front, the situation is serious, but not catastrophic.”

The Austrians replied, “Here, the situation is catastrophic, but not serious.”

While Covid-19 may have devastated our country this past year, corruption in Malaysian politics has absolutely ripped our nation apart for decades and, even now, continues to rear its ugly head (not least in a recent “leaked phone call”).

“Not yet a pandemic”? Are you kidding me?

We have a former prime minister (who was also the finance minister) who very likely ripped off billions from the country. I suspect it hasn’t fully sunk in, especially among Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters, how utterly shameful and despicable his actions were.

These people will also surely brush aside the fact that, for decades, the government has been characterised by corruption.

But a great light appeared in 2018.

That was when we finally broke free of Umno and Barisan Nasional. I’m also reliably informed that numerous Malaysians based overseas even sent money home to support Pakatan Harapan in the heart-felt hope that, finally, some change would occur.

Why? Because we were all SICK of the “non-pandemic” corruption at the heart of the country.

Millions of us punched our fists into the air with delight when some key people—proven top achievers—were brought into the Cabinet and finally given the reins to our country’s running (especially its finance, infrastructure, science, law courts, etc.)

But this dream collapsed back into a nightmare.

I don’t know what the precise details and machinations were but everybody knew there was some hanky-panky going on. I, like millions of my countrymen, watched in horror as the dream of finally being a nation the world could be proud of slowly but inevitably fell apart and reverted to the age-old rot of money- and race-based politics.

Unfortunately, the whole world knows that the fall of Pakatan Harapan, to be replaced by the highly inefficient Perikatan Nasional (again, amid a ton of soap opera-like power games between old men), couldn’t have come at a worst time.

The Covid-19 pandemic could have been dealt with much more effectively if the government, you know, had a bloody clue about what they were trying to do.

Instead, we have a train-wreck of half-baked decisions which don’t make sense, last-minute instructions affecting millions of businesses, non-compliant VIPs breaking SOPs with impunity and three — now possibly four — waves of infection.

Fast forward and — surprise, surprise — we have a PHONE CALL in which, yet again, it’s shown that ultimately it’s about what a few people want. It’s not about the party, not about so-called ideology or values and it sure as heck isn’t about the country.

Essentially, the politics which matters in Malaysia is about what two or three individuals conspire to get for themselves.

Like most Malaysians, I don’t know how these folks can do it.

It’s not as if you don’t have enough cash to spend on all your bungalows and cars and vacays and weddings and what-not; why can’t you ever put the damn country’s needs on at least as high a priority as your own?

So, I’m curious, does anyone still genuinely believe that Malaysian corruption is “not yet a pandemic”?