Looking back, Merdeka’s Golden Anniversary Year (2007) was a year of scandals of all shades and dimension.

At the apex of the scandal pyramid, were allegations of political corruption. (Political corruption is defined as the misuse of public office for private gain). In terms of sheer monetary amount, the scandal relating to the country’s main port authority PKFZ took the cake, committing the nation’s coffers to RM4.6 billion debt because some senior public officials issued letter of comfort without Ministry of Finance’s approval and had such ultra vires acts ratified by the the govt. We also hear of Agency (ACA) senior officer Ramli Manan making allegations of the top director general making us wonder whether, if true, who would be watchdog of the watch dog.

Similar questions were raised on the outbreak of another scandal – the Lingam Video clip relating to possible fixing of judges’ appointments – and the composition of Haidar Panel, then the Royal Commission in its place and now the Special Complaints Commission versus Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission debate even as Altantuya murder trial jugged laboriously along under swirling allegations of cover up.

Somehow the public is desensitized to the fact that for high level political corruption, the officials implicated are retired off than made to face the music.

But corruption in public sphere is somehow inextricably linked also with the private corporate sector. For examples, the corporate scandals of major accounting irregularities at Transmile Group Bhd and Megan Media reporting accounting fraud at subsidiary, Memory Tech Sdn Bhd. There were other cases (not so high profile) : Securities Commission investigation into similar allegations relating to Nasioncom and GP Ocean Food ending with SC charging three persons for submitting false information in NasionCom, in all cases with shareholding or directorship allegedly linked to some politician. Here too, many wonder whether culprits would be punished; we hear of past cases where they were let off relatively lightly – in the cases, of examples, involving Perwaja Steel and Omega Securities.

To be sure there are minor scandals in 2007, if ‘scandal’ is appropriate to describe these: the “bocor” scandal involving BN MPs of Jasin and Kinabatangan; sexist remark of a senior minister comparing the dilapidated state of 43 year old parliament with a 50 year old women requiring maintenance; and lately a Deputy Minister challenging a female Opposition MP in Parliament to a “fist fight”.

Scandals involving Public Morality are also mixed with those relating to private sexual morality of public officials in 2007.

Amid the usual swirl of rumours throughout 2007 of which political bigwig is having an affair with whom and how there was cover up for one exiting by back door when religious officers raided from the front, the end of 2007 brewed a sex video scandal which surfaced in Johor two days ago that allegedly involves a national politician from the state.

The scandal plagued 2007 forces us to reflect on a few issues:

First, we realise our public officials are very human after all committing the same foibles of greed, lust and abuse of power which they try very hard to conceal, or if exposed, to secure protection to spin it away, an endeavour which is increasingly difficult in the present Information Age with a plethora of camera phones, hidden microbes etc to catch their peccadilloes and shenanigans. Once so captured the evidence is disseminated far and wide and instantaneously vide the Internet and YouTube. Not that officials during TDM’s administration had higher personal or public probity: it is just that public figures are nowadays subject to new electronic forms of visibility (video camera, camera phone etc) disseminated instaneously by the Internet to form ‘instantaneous’ public opinion!

With this heightened visibility and prospects of instantaneous public opinion, we are faced with perhaps even more scandals, as the year 2008 goes forward, and we have to exercise power of critique and reflect what genre of morality exposed in scandals should we demand action being taken against the offender – should it be just public morality as in political corruption exposed or even private sexual morality (as for example cavorting with a sweet young thing in a hotel room watching a porno on a note book)? Can a public figure have a private life? Will his personal morality or his sexual profligacy have an impact on his discharge of political or official duties? Do we cut him some slack if his testosterones are by biology and birth raging?

There is something else beyond scandals from breaches of public morality (as in political corruption)or private morality (as in sexual scandals). I refer to something less dramatic but quite subterranean relating to broader of issue of morality – that of common decency, good conscience, fair play and common sense.

In 207 we have Lina Joy being denied her freedom of choice of religion; we have M Revathi, who wanted to apostate and who said she suffered coercion in a religious rehabilitation centre. We have R Subashini having her children taken away for conversion; we have farmers including women and children stoically standing up against enforcement officers determined to cull their pigs and livelihood; we have women and children to splayed with chemical laced water canons in the Bersih and Hindraf’s demonstrations. The rights group Tenaganita highlights human rights violation and slavery of foreign domestic workers among a migrant workforce – both legal and undocumented – huddled in a quiet dormitory behind the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur! – see malaysiakini report by Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Dec 31, 07. Are these not scandals relating to integrity politics that we have to address too?

Since politicians ask us to entrust them with sweeping powers and dominion over public funds, with laws to buttress the same, it can be argued that their conduct in terms of (i) public morality, (ii) private morality and (iii) good conscience vs abuse of power shall be subject to intensified public glare and scrutiny as the manifold scandals of 2007 revealed and those that would surely unfold in 2008 would provide us the opportunity to do so.

Happy 2008 to all.

This much I say : I respect Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek for being very courageous and forthright under the very shameful circumstances in admitting openly that he was the politician in the sex DVD circulating in Johor. Compare him with those caught in the other video clip on judicial fixing, pussyfooting around with silence or protesting their innocence via proxy! I think his public response here was the best he could do : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/1/nation/20080101161931&sec=nation&focus=1
Dr Chua said he will not resign over the sex DVD. He will leave that up to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to decide. How shall PM or MCA take the matter?

Having said that, having a clandestine extramarital tryst is not a vice typical of him only. Other public officials do it all the time but were lucky for not having caught on tape with pants down. I ask for an understanding that he was caught for being human only.

Speaking for myself only – and I dare not foist this point of view as being particularly right on others – I would personally like to see us Malaysians being able to look beyond a public official’s private morality.

His infraction is only a matter between him and his wife and family to resolve.

By all means we are justified to support the PM to remove him as minister if he fails in his public duties or morality. We can ask him to go if it is due to (say) his insensitive comments on baby Yok Shan’s issue; bungling the packaging of Private Health Care Facilities & Services Act 1998 & Regulations 2006 or running a health care system where ambulances could not run for not having petrol etc! Etc…

But for having a consensual sexual relationship with a woman other than his wife? – Who are we to judge and what has it got to do with his competence in discharge of his duties as Health Minister?

I say that to force him to go by this episode alone is to indirectly reward and encourage by results dirty politics and tactics of bringing one’s political opponents down by illegal video tapping of their private lives including sexual relations, which is by itself an act that brings Malaysian political morality and contestation to new depths! Have we not had enough of our fair share of Altantunya Sharibu murder accompanied by swirling rumours of hypocrisies and cover up?

What we need today is more transparency and openness in politics and politicians and I cannot say that I am that disgusted by the Health Minister’s act of private sexual indiscretion to bray for his blood for that reason alone when I damn well know that many other politicians of respectability are no better or any less susceptible to such human foibles and temptations of the flesh except they have had the protection of power to cover up their shenanigans so as to remain as so called “role models” for the unsuspecting public.

His admission and refusal to resign on his own accord poses a particular novel challenge to his boss Pak Lah. If he allows him to continue, people will ask what is this talk of Islamic values within the administration? If he sacks him, we will ask why are Islamic values imposed on non muslim minister who hasn’t the benefit of religious permission to take more than one wife? This is especially in wake of the government backtracking recently on requiring the use of “Allah” by Christians in Bahasa version. Like the controversial “conversion” cases, it is this perennial unresolved issue : are we an Islamic or secular state, the latter being based on rational secular principles? Should a non muslim official be forced to submit to Islamic values? One can’t raise the parallel issue of Bill Clinton forced to go in a secular state like USA based on these differences from Dr Chua’s case : (1) Bill Clinton conducted his tryrst within White House descecrating the sanctity of his high office whilst our case was in a hotel; (2) Bill was not forthright and honest; he indulged in subterfuge bearing false oath in his deposition to Congress that he did not have sex because fellatio was not sex, so he construed. Dr Chua made a clean breast of everything (3) Dr Chua was video taped without his knowledge, so to rely on such below the belt, and I must add, illegal surveillance to sack him from office is to indirectly reward and encourage such despicable act of invasion of privacy!