What’s Worse Than Corruption?


By Zairil Khir Johari

Stealing money from the poor. Seriously.

I have refrained from making direct comments about the mindless cacophony UMNO has been trumpeting about the alleged use of gambling-derived income for state-sponsored aid programmes for senior citizens and the poor in Penang.

In my previous post, I made a passing observation on the issue, which I felt at the time was merely the latest in a long line of ‘baseless allegations of the week’, and that the matter would soon meet its natural demise. In any case, how many times can you tell the same lie and hope to get away with it?

Quite a few times, as it turns out. One, two, three sessions have so far been organized to steal money from the poor.

It all started two weeks ago when UMNO Youth Information Chief Reezal Merican, lately devoid of publicity, mooted the idea that the Penghargaan Warga Emas and Rakan Anti-Miskin programmes could have been funded by a sizable donation from the Penang Turf Club.

Of course, if we lived in a world of facts, where logic trumped lunacy, then the suggestion would have failed to ignite, due to any number of the following reasons:

Failure 1: The donation, as the state government has already clarified, has yet to be touched.

Failure 2: Moreover, the money has been allocated to non-Muslim poverty cases. (Already, on its own initiative, a clear delineation.)

Failure 3: Not a single sen will be/has been used for the warga emas programme.

Failure 4: Notwithstanding the above, even if the money were to be used, as Dr Asri states, it wouldn’t even be haram. If it were, then our federal government’s consolidated fund [a collection of, amongst other things, sin taxes from alcohol, cigarettes and gaming revenue], which funds the government’s salaries, development, etc would also fall into this category.

As we are all too painfully aware, however, we do NOT live in such a world, and thus we have to put up with unnecessary instances of gross stupidity.

The first two sessions, which saw a total of 100 senior citizens return their ‘ill-gotten gains’, were organized over a weekend by (no prizes for guessing) Penang Opposition Leader Azhar Ibrahim. This was followed by a demonstration by a group of ‘conscientious youths’ upon the return of the Chief Minister from overseas.

At this point, I thought the issue, which had absolutely no gas of truth to begin with, would begin to dissipate. But this is what you get for wishful thinking: a third ‘return the money’ session was organized last week, this time graced by Dr Hilmy Yahya, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Penang.

Prior to this, I’ve heard very fair comments about Dr Hilmy. He is said to be a good worker, intelligent, and happy to do his bit for the people. In short, I thought he had some semblance of credibility. Not any more.

It is really shameful and disappointing to see these purported ‘leaders’ perpetuate and encourage blatant lies, and all without a hint of guilt or irony! And the most frustrating part of it all, at least for me, is that I know for a fact that every one I have named in this article knows better. Sigh.

As the veritable Malay poet, Hishamuddin Rais, puts it [excerpt edited]:

Melayu kena tipu gerombolan…

Kesian mak cik dan pak cik miskin…

Sudah laaa miskin… Melayu pulak…

Sudah lah Melayu… kena tipu pulakkkkk…

Stealing from the poor. Seriously??

  1. #1 by dawsheng on Friday, 15 October 2010 - 11:16 pm

    All form of money is haram lah!

  2. #2 by boh-liao on Friday, 15 October 2010 - 11:25 pm

    Malays with conscience n who know right fr wrong MUST speak out against evil UmnoB
    Expose evil UmnoBputras so dat they do not continue 2 poison d minds of simple poor Malays n exploit them 4 their evil purpose
    Shameless evil UmnoBputras even cheated poor senior citizens of their $$$$
    While they continue 2 enrich themselves by sapuing all sorts of haram duit

  3. #3 by passerby on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 12:00 am

    Will the government going to stamp the words “duit haram” on all the unclean money? Can we make a rubber stamp to stamp all our money with these words since all these money in circulation now are from doubtful source and god knows where they have been circulated to?

  4. #4 by grace on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 7:41 am

    A very good article.
    The list of ‘haram’ money goes on:
    1. Earning from Banks, except Islamic Banks.
    Interests earned is haram.
    2. Revenue from restaurants selling liquor and pork. Haram too.
    3. Most corporate and industries source their capitals from bank and paid interests on the loan- haram too. Thus its revenue is haram
    4. MAS serves liquor on board- Haram too.
    5. Taxes from pork sellers – haram
    6. Taxes from non-muslim poultry sellers are haram because chicken not slaughtered according to islamic ways.
    The list goes on and on

  5. #5 by yhsiew on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 8:12 am

    Utusan Malaysia said the Penang government is using Malay land at Pondok Upeh to build a university for the Chinese. Fanning up racial sentiment is certainly no better than corruption.

  6. #6 by Godfather on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 8:13 am

    At the end of the day, money talks and bullsh!t walks.

    The clowns pegged the KL MRT project at RM 43 billion. They will subcontract to the mainland Chinese at RM 30 billion. You would think that stealing from the rakyat the collossal difference of RM 13 billion is haram, but they won’t stop there. They will find variation orders for another RM 5 billion.

    UMNO doesn’t know how to do “business” differently. They are so wed to the Mamakthir style of overpricing just to raise “haram” funds.

  7. #7 by Loh on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 8:59 am

    by Loh on Thursday, 14 October 2010 – 1:41 pm
    Your comment is awaiting moderation.

    Mahathir’s words

    HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR, MELBOURNE
    By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on October 13, 2010 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (36) | TrackBacks (0)

    ///1. I would like to apologise to the students and others for failing to turn up to give the talk I had agreed to.

    2. I would also like to thank those who sent get well messages, fruits and flowers while I was in hospital in Melbourne.

    3. Honestly I feel I have lost an opportunity to meet and talk to what may be the future leaders of Malaysia. For this reason I am writing down here what would have been the contents of my talk.

    4. The suggested topic for my talk was, “Are we ready for 1 Malaysia: Does Race Still Play a Part?”

    5. I will be frank but factual. My only interest is the country we all love. I am past self-interest.///– Mahathir

    There was a person who buried 300 taels of silver for safe keeping. He later thought that others might find out so he left a note on the site stating that “ in here lies not 300 taels of silver. ”

    /// 6. First let me refer to the slogan “1 Malaysia”.

    7. Without the Government spelling out the precise meaning of 1 Malaysia, different people are giving their own interpretations which not only differ from each other but are in conflict with each other.///– Mahathir

    The slogan has the interpretation such as of Ameriacn Aemerica, Singaporeans Singapore or Malaysians Malaysia. But using Malaysian Malaysia might give the impression that the government has at last agreed to forgo Article 153. So 1Malaysia equals Malaysian Malaysia with Article 153 to be implemented in its spirit rather than in the way Mamakthir had done in excluding non-Malays in Mara colleges, for example. Since it is Najib’s slogan, it is up to him to implement. People will forever differ in how they view government policies and their impact, and that is why in democracy people vote for whom they support.

    ///8. The Malays generally interprete 1 Malaysia to mean real adoption of the national language as the home language by every citizen as happens in other multiracial countries. They also expect the abolition of Chinese and Tamil schools and ensuring the private sector has a fair participation of Malays and other Bumiputeras.///– Mahathir

    That is why this country has gone to shit-hole because the person who harbours such racist thought attributes his thinking to that of Malays in general. Anwar Ibrahim is as Malay as others, but he had not said a word that the vernacular schools should be abolished. It is racist to attribute this to the Prime Minister Najib to think that he would go backward trying to discontinue vernacular schools when Najib clearly stated that 1Malaysia would transform Malaysia to become a developed country. The vernacular schools had never been said to cause Malaysia fall into the low income trap.

    Mamakthir implies with the above that Malays generally thought Najib a racist, and so a new slogan 1Malaysia provided him an excuse to implement racist policy worse than his father.

    ///9. The Chinese and Indians interprete 1 Malaysia to mean amendments to the constitution to eliminate provisions for the special treatment of the Malays and their protection by the Rulers, removal of the quota for Malays in the Civil Service, termination of the NEP, termination of the 30 per cent quota for Malays and indigenous people in business, termination of the quota for awards of licences, contracts and Aps. All awards to be on a competitive basis and open to all irrespective of race. They also expect perpetuation and maintenance of Chinese and Indian schools by the Government.///– Mamakthir

    Other than the protection of the Rulers which all Malaysians support, the list was correct. Article 153 was meant to be initially for 15 years, and subject to review, as contained in the Heid Commission’s report. It is now 53 years.

    Malays were placed in the special position by Article 153 based on needs. There are Malays who have their pride slighted by being grouped among those in the special position. But the constitution was drawn up before the advent of computer, and the framers of constitution naturally considered it beyond the means of the government at the time to keep a database of people who needed the assistance. Thus Malays were considered as a group of persons who needed help. Certainly a person who can hold the post of the Prime Minister of the country and his family should not be classed in the special position needing assistance as would an endangered species.

    Malays now formed more than 90% in the Civil service. The quota for them was 75%. What then is the meaning of quota in Civil Service? NEP aims at disassociating economic functions with race, and that is against the spirit of having the quota for Malays in the Civil Service. Besides what are the shares of natives in Sabah and Sarawak?

    ///10. These two interpretations of 1 Malaysia admittedly are by the more extreme groups. The more moderate ones from both sides are milder in their expectations but their minimum intetrpretations still provide irreconcilable conflicts. 1 Malaysia clearly means different things to the different races.///– Mamakthir

    People who hold different views do not have to fight it out. They are expected to be law abiding and their views expressed at the election booths are to be respected.

    ///11. This is the present position and it is obvious that race still play a very important role.///– Mahathir

    If only UMNO government would disband and open its membership to people of all races, MCA and MIC would fold up. Race will no longer be an issue.

    ///12. Question: It is now more than 50 years since independence. For how long do the Malays expect to be treated as special and different from the other citizens?

    Answer: For as long as the Chinese and Indians prefer to be identified with their countries of origins. For as long as they want to keep their home languages and their schools.///– Mahathir

    The Chinese call themselves Malaysians, and when asked for ethnicity, they declared themselves Chinese of a particular dialect group. That is a link to the ancestors. They belong to this country, and the reference to their race somehow links to the country where their ancestors came from. Indonesians have a race called Malays. So Malays do not have to refer to Indonesia. Of course a certain person with two spoonfuls of Pakistani blood conveniently identifies himself as Malay though by Islamic standard where the race of the child takes after that of the father he is not entitled to be called Malay. But then he has been all powerful. Now Mamak can openly claim to be Malays.

    The United Nations Human rights convention recognizes the rights of every citizen to keep his mother tongue and to study any language of his choice. That is human rights, and Malaysia is a member of the United Nations. Does Malaysia want to be an outcaste just so that Mamakthir wins his argument? What advantage is it to Malaysia if Malaysians Chinese do not know and are not proficient in Chinese language? What harm is to Malaysia if Malaysians know more languages? Najib said none.

    Mamakthir has converted the special position based on needs to a demand that non-Malay Malaysians give up their rights. That is bully. Thank God he is no longer in power, and hopefully not be around in the near future.

    ///13. Question: The so-called social contract were made a long time ago. We were not involved and we cannot be bound by it forever. When can we ignore the social contract and draw up our own social contract?

    Answer: When everyone agrees to throw out the old social contract and replace it with a new one.

    This will take a long time. As the new contract will be between races, racial factors would be included. Unless both sides agree to give up their races’ own rights as spelt out in the first contract i.e. the preservation of own home languages and schools etc. the rights of the indigenous races to their special position etc must remain a part of the new social contract.

    It is not certain that each would not demand for more than what they got under the old contract. It is likely there would be no agreement and no contract. Ths would lead to perpetual conflicts.///–Mahathir

    The word ‘so-called social contract’ is just something called by that name, and it has no contractual consequence beyond what has been included in the constitution. The constitution has been amended at will when BN had two-third majority in the parliament. If the country still abides by parliamentary democracy, then votes count. When somebody starts something as extra-parliamentary struggle to have a new social contract, the contracting party might involve sovereign nation other than Malaysia.

    ///14. Question: So there will be no solution. The racial divisions and conflicts will remain.

    Answer: In Vision 2020 one of the objectives is to create a bangsa Malaysia.

    The belief at that time was that if Malaysia becomes a fully developed country, it would become very prosperous.

    This prosperity would be fairly shared between the races. There would be less jealousy between them. There would also be less fear of any race being dominated by any other race.

    The political cooperation between the races would also be made more meaningful as loyalty to the country would override other loyalties. In fact non-racial parties would be the trend.

    It would take a long time perhaps – depending on fair wealth distribution. But once it takes off the pace will increase.///— Mahathir

    If Bangsa Malaysia is not equivalent to Malaysian Malaysia, then it has lost its meaning because there would be no equality of people belonging to one Bangsa.

    It is the government or more correctly Mahathir who claimed that jealousy is the feeling of Malays who started May 13. The sense of jealousy has since been promoted as virtue, and an excuse for NEP excess. No religion has supported the sense of jealousy but Malaysia under Mamakthir took it as a national sport for Malays.

    Wealth is created by those who work for it. Whether it is fairly acquired depends on law enforcement. The distribution is just a statistical fact. The question of fairness in distribution should not arise; though the government should legitimately vary its tax rates.

    ///Malaysians of all races would be so proud of their country and its great achievements that the desire to be linked with other countries would be much diminished if not disappear altogether (as happens in prosperous multi-racial countries like the US – where the German, Eisenhower led the war against Germany. Eisenhower was American first and his country of origin was irrelevant to him).

    The Malaysians at that stage would be Bangsa Malaysia first and always. The thing to do now is to ensure prosperity for the country and its fair distribution. Removing current rights of any of the races at this moment will only lead to racial conflicts which would obstruct prosperity.///– Mahathir

    Nowhere else in the world has there been a government that talks about fair distribution of wealth. If there was any affirmative actions to be implemented, it was to right the wrong of the past. There was no wrong to be right in Malaysia. But having enjoyed the power to play God in dishing out government largesse to family and cronies the excuse of achieving fair distribution, this time of wealth, gives the person time to continue the unfair practises as long as he please. Besides who else can decide what is fair other than the person in power?

    Mamakthir still spreads fear of racial conflicts after he had the hand in the first major one in the county.

    ///15. Question: There are Malays in the opposition who condemn the NEP as unfair discrimination.

    Answer: There are also Chinese and Indians who appreciate what the Malays have done and support the NEP. They are not so vocal for obvious reasons.///

    There are some Indians and Chinese who benefited from Mahathir’s crony actions and are fabulously rich. But are the wealth not held in trust only, one wonders. These people would certainly praise NEP such as one director of SP Setia. These Indians and Chinese window dressers numbering but a few or tens would certainly support NEP. But 10 million others in the country, not including Malays want NEP stop, and now.

    ///One should look at the Malays who condemn the NEP. If they are politicians or supporters of certain parties their views are motivated by a desire to get Chinese support. They assume that they themselves would lead the nation and enjoy power and opportunities through Chinese support. But there will be a pay-back period. The support is not for free. The Malay leaders will be like Nizar (Jamaluddin) when he was Menteri Besar of Perak – mere puppets. ///– Mamakthir

    So now the words are out. Mamakthir admits that when one leads the nation he enjoys power and opportunities. Clearly he called himself Malay so that he would get Malay support despite having two spoonfuls of Pakistani blood, as he said to Barry Wain.

    Nizar Jamaluddin should sue Mahathir for calling him puppet.

    ///The non-politically educated Malays feel ashamed that they have to be helped. They would like to be recognised as people who succeeded on their own. If we study these people almost invariably they have benefited from the NEP. They appear to be ashamed of this.///– Mamakthir

    The late Tun Ismail said that Malays would forgo Article 153, on their own when there is no need of it, out of pride. Mamakthir would only forgo Article 153 after he has extracted an ounce of flesh from the Chinese, knowing that he would not get it. To Mahathir, the pride of Malays can go to hell.

    The Malays who feel the same as Tun Ismail are the pride of the Malay community. Nowhere in science has there been proof that people of any one race is superior, in intelligence, to others.

    NEP gives benefits to all Malays whether they need it or not and whether they want it or not. So all Malays are now beneficiaries of NEP, and he cannot even comment outwardly that NEP is against Islamic teaching. It is like corruption in government departments. If you are not one of them, you will be the fall guy. Mamakthir is now trying to single out the fall guy.

    ///They are ashamed to admit that they were unable to compete with the other races. I am not ashamed to admit that I cannot compete with the Chinese and Indian students when studying medicine. They had much better results than me and the other six Malay students for entry into the Medical College. Even at that time the British promised to the Rulers to help educate the Malays. I had my chance because of the affirmative action then. On pure merit I would not be a doctor today, not because I was not qualified, but my qualification was lower than others.///– Mahathir

    It is very cunning of Mahathir to pretend to demean himself to emphasis that affirmative action for Malays applied to him then. But with that he could distorts fact. First, it gives the impression that the British accepted him as Malay. But it is said that in official record of the Medical College, he registered himself as Indian. Secondly, he gives the impression that affirmative actions have always been the right of Malays. That changes the rationale for the special position from needs to entitlement. But Heid Commission report said otherwise.

    If Mamakthir could not compete with others, it does not mean Malays could not compete with others. That is because Mamakthir as Mamak was not Malay before Article 160 of the constitution of Malaya came into effect in 1957, might later than than Mamakthir was a medical student in the 1940s. He could not be called Malay at that time. Cunningly Mamakthir implied that as the smartest among the Malays if he could not compete, no other Malays could ever compete. Does Anwar agree that Mamakthir is smarter than him? Would Mamakthir admit that any pork seller is smarter than him?

    ///One has to remember that the Chinese civilisation is more than 4000 years old. No other civilisation has lasted that long. Naturally they have developed a culture better able to survive under all conditions. It is my belief that if the percentage of Chinese in the United Kingdom for example is the same as in Malaysia, UK would be better developed than it is now. It is not surprising that the Chinese excel in developing Malaysia (for which they are amply rewarded).///– Mamakthir

    Mamakthir chose now to attack the Chinese after he had attacked the Jews, in a different way. If the percentage of Chinese in the United Kingdom is the same as in Malaysia, the percentage would not go down year by year because of government policies. Whether UK would be better developed under that hypothetical situation can never be ascertained. What is certain is Malaysia would have been better developed had the two million Chinese and Indians who left Malaysian shore since NEP had remained. But now Mamakthir spreads fear among the Malays of the capability of Chinese and so to him the exodus of Chinese since NEP was a blessing for Malays. He is thus against Najib’s effort in trying to attract Malaysians abroad to return. Maybe Mamakthir only wants Najib to selectively offer opportunities to overseas Malay Malaysians rather Chinese Malaysians, to return.

    ///It is not shameful to lose out against them. Simply to catch up with them we need handicaps. To be given handicaps is to ensure fairness, not discrimination. That is why in golf you have handicaps. That is why in all contests there must be equality between the contestants.///

    Ordinary people decide their own agenda to live out their lives according to their wishes, liking and ability. Live is not a contest between one person and the others much less, collectively between one race and another. It is not like a country which has to preserve its integrity and sovereign whereby its relative strength against potential adversaries is important.

    Live is not playing golf, and since in life nobody is ever born equal or not equal, for that matter because equality has no statistical meaning. There is no standard weighting system to be assigned to the characteristics of the person; how many points should be assigned to height, weight, health, intelligence, look and chemical and psychological make up? Only politicians are making comparison of certain matter such as wealth an issue for comparison while forgetting that that was product of the efforts of the owners. Politicians desperately need an issue, and Mahathir has chosen the topic he could champion. He does it not out of love for Malays for clearly he is not so classed anthropologically speaking.

    ///It is selfish if having benefited from the handicaps you want to deny others from having them.

    But when all is said and done, those who are given the benefits of handicaps must make honest efforts to use them properly. If they don’t then they must forfeit the handicaps in the future. ///– Mamakthir

    That is like the oath of the secret society where the mission to rob and gain unfair advantage should continue. That is why Malays who feel that NEP was against Islamic teaching loath to renounce it for the past 40 years. A new generation has now recognised the deceit of politicians who ask Malays to suffer the indignity while they enjoy the lion share of the spoils. In fact in the name of NEP where Malays ostensibly benefited through apparent unfair advantage over non-Malays the bottom line shows they lost out because NEP protected corruption in high places. Thus thousands of billion ringgit of windfall gain from Petronas which could have been more equitable shared by Malaysians have been hijacked by those in power resulting in them losing out despite the special position. It is trite that you can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

    Despite NEP some thinking Malays emerge. But it is too little and rather late.

  8. #8 by k1980 on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 9:24 am

    http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles//2bali/Article/

    SAPP and PKR, please come to a compromise to avoid a 3-way contest. BN must not be allowed to win in Batu Sapi.

  9. #9 by k1980 on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 9:28 am

    Those umno fellas who had undergone blood transfusions obtained from “non-halal” donors please return their “tainted” blood at the nearest hospital. Otherwise it will be like receiving the duit haram as claimed by umno.

  10. #10 by wanderer on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 9:37 am

    These were the fine performances of UMNO Ketuanan Melayu!….macam maca tipu boleh, kerja tidak boleh….
    Haram money, these UMNO faked muslims, Allah fearing will not touch? kiss my toes!!

  11. #11 by sheriff singh on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 10:05 am

    “What’s Worse Than Corruption?”

    Getting phucked by the BN government.

  12. #12 by dagen on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 10:53 am

    “What’s Worse Than Corruption?”

    Umno.

    Obviously!

  13. #13 by boh-liao on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 10:58 am

    Malaysia’s haul of 12 golds, 10 silvers n 14 bronzes at d Commonwealth Games in India
    I-BRAhim n racist MMK want 2 know how many of d medals won by Malays n how many won by descendants of beggars n prostitutes
    They demand dat d medals won by d latter 2 b expunged fr d record
    They demand d latter must not be rewarded cash by d gomen

  14. #14 by cemerlang on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 11:01 am

    Say I have RM10 per day. One economy fast food rice box is RM 3. One teh tarik is RM 1.50. Bus transport to and fro RM 3. I still got RM 2.50. I am supposed to put this RM 2.50 into my coin box. If I could do that every day, for the next one week I can save RM 17.50.

  15. #15 by k1980 on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 11:29 am

    List of First Ladies who attended the Inaugural First Ladies Summit are listed as follows:

    1. Teuta Topi (Republic of Albania)
    2. Ernestina Naadu Mills (Ghana)
    3. Salomea Neves Aim Gomes (Guinea Bissau)
    4. Meme Tong (Kiribati)
    5. Lorna Golding (Jamaica)
    6. Keosaychay Sayasone (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)
    7. Sarojini Jugnauth (Mauritius)
    8. Maria De Luz Guebuza (Mozambique)
    9. Patience Jonathan (Nigeria)
    10. Mercedes Lugo De Maidana (Paraguay)
    11. Natalie Brigitte Nadage Michel (Seychelles)
    12. Sia Nyama Koroma (Sierra Leone)
    13. Sriranthi Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka)
    14. Thandiwe Banda (Zambia)

    Pssst, can anyone tell me why no first ladies from Europe(apart from Albania) , the Americas (apart from Paraguay) and Asia (apart from Laos and Sri Lanka) bother to attend? Afraid of being c4ed?

  16. #16 by boh-liao on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 11:32 am

    MCA wee wee accused PAS as extremist 4 staging a protest against Adam Lambert n demanded 2 know Y PKR n DAP were silent on d matter
    What say U, LKS
    Ai say man, our English sudah jatuh standard lah, must learn how 2 protest correctly mah
    http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39671689/ns/today-entertainment/

  17. #17 by boh-liao on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 11:45 am

    Lots of poor Malays n Bumiputras in M’sia r struggling 2 live a decent life
    Lots of rural folks do not hv basic amenities n infrastructure 2 live a decent life
    $$$$ is needed 2 upgrade their living

    But our Loh Si Mah busy pretending 2 b 1st Lady n use taxpayers’ $$$ 2 entertain her like-minded parasitic female friends
    Such a sinful waste of public $$$ 4 all 2 C, naked corruption @ d highest level
    In some countries, d pepetrator of such naked corruption faces d firing squad

  18. #18 by boh-liao on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 12:04 pm

    Among today’s news:
    Former Jasin City Council president was acquitted of attempted bribery involving a food court project in Merlimau 7 years ago.

    Former Immigration Department director-general has been acquitted by a Sessions Court here of a bribery charge.

    What’s your take on the above news?

  19. #19 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 12:07 pm

    What’s worse than corruption? It is that which is used to hoodwink and to justify and perpetuate corruption! It is the instilling of fears in one group of countrymen against another group. It is the promotion of separateness of one group from another on racial and religious lines. It is the fanning of divisive than unifying tendencies amongst one’s own country men so that elites of the racially/religious favoured group can under the cover of political (racial or religious) legitimacy have an unfair and overwhelming advantage of access to continually benefit from the State’s captive resources, wealth and largesse. It is the hypocrisy of promoting affirmative policies ostensibly for the benefit of the majority of a target group of beneficiaries when the real benefit is actually channeled to and reaped by a very select elite and connected group (drawn from this affirmative target group) acting in concert with friends, allies, associates and cronies who may well be from the same affirmative target or other groups. It is using one’s brains not to grow the wealth of the country on a “win-win” formula of distribution for all but instead to use one’s brains to appropriate and carve out to one’s benefit the lion portion of the wealth pie to the exclusion of the rest on a sum zero basis of either one side wins and wins all or loses all to the other side. It is playing on the sentiments and insecurities of people so that they would forever support one as their champion and overlook one’s excesses, hypocrisy and deviousness. It is the triumph of one’s self interest over national interest and using national interest as a cover and excuse to promote one’s self interest.

  20. #20 by k1980 on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 12:33 pm

    #18 by boh-liao

    What’s your take on the above news?

    They are not members of PAS or PKR, that’s for sure. It pays to know which side of the bread is buttered

  21. #21 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 12:46 pm

    ////One has to remember that the Chinese civilisation is more than #7 by Loh on Saturday, 16 October 2010. No other civilisation has lasted that long. Naturally they have developed a culture better able to survive under all conditions//// – Tun Dr Mahathir (“TDM”) per Loh’s posting #7.

    Malaysian Chinese who feel that they are marginalized and often used as bogeyman by TDM’s way of thinking in justification of race based affirmative policies may ask what has the “Chinese civilization” of more than 4000 years got to specifically do with them, born and bred here, or provide the kind of advantages to compensate for their deprivations of having been to stand behind the line and giving handicap (perpetual) to others?

    If TDM needs “help” to expand on his excuse of 4000 years of Chinese civilisation, I can ‘help’ him by listing another 3 advantages of this civilization to the Hans:

    1. it makes the Chinese think in cross-border “civilisational” and not just national terms bound together by common language “Mandarin” and confucian values;

    2. China whilst suffering its own brain drain is compensated by reverse migration and replacement from brains from the Chinese diasporas.

    3. Chinese pragmatism of:-

    (a) being “Middle Kingdom” to which others are drawn to without need to expand hegemony beyond. It sees from outside the futility of people like Hitler or even the colonialist/East India Co. of conquering others but could not hold on to them….

    Even Admiral Cheng Ho with a vast armada spanning the whole of Straits of Malacca chose not to conquer Malacca as vassal in 14th Century and instead brought tributes and princess Hang Li Po to the Malacca sultan as concubine. Question : why did he do that? The Portugese Dutch & Britrish Colonalists did not do that. They just conquered the weaker! All ‘conquerors’ and invaders of China including Genghis Khan & Japanese either end up absorbed by that Chinese civilization….

    (b) Placing economic dominance as more important than political dominance;

    (c) Placing practical solutions – like ‘One country two systems’ – as more important than ideological purity of either capitalism or communism etc

    Now assuming there’s some truth in the above, could TDM explain how these 3 so called ‘advantages’ translate to particular advantages for Malaysian Chinese born and bred here, proficient in the National Language and brought up by our Malaysian values?

  22. #22 by oct on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 12:51 pm

    In time to come, the Muslim will ask that non-Muslim blood cannot be used for transfusion in the hospital. Only blood from Muslim are used. Hospitals must label halal & non-halal blood.

  23. #23 by boh-liao on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 4:23 pm

    Don’t push too hard on d blood donation issue
    Muslims will say dat our blood can only b used 4 Muslim recipients, not 4 nonMuslims
    N d fact is in M’sia, we hv more Muslim donors

  24. #24 by cemerlang on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 4:52 pm

    Coming soon. 2nd ladies’ meetings on the issue of halalness of blood donation. Ever crosses your mind if the blood is from a lazy civil servant and if you are given it, his lazy genes will make you equally lazy ? Each time you donate blood, each time you are given a sick leave. So good. No need to work. Do good in order to stay out of work. Easy solution. Blood from a Muslim will have a halal chop on the blood pack. Just like the items on the market.

  25. #25 by tuahpekkong on Saturday, 16 October 2010 - 9:20 pm

    UMNO have gone to extraordinary lengths to mislead and deceive the innocent, elderly rural Malays.They are just trumpeting their self-righteousness. This is sheer hypocrisy! If they are really sincere, they should return all their sullied wealth and cause their relatives, cronies and proxies to do likewise.

  26. #26 by boh-liao on Sunday, 17 October 2010 - 12:14 am

    Salute 2 d Philippines 4 wanting 2 probe ex-President’s alleged corrupt activities during her 9 years in power
    Can we do this? Probe MMK’s n AAB’s corrupt activities

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