— Douglas Tan
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 11, 2011

SEPT 11 — Ever since I was young, my father has taught me that when you tell lies, it is far more difficult to remain consistent. You have to tell a lie to cover up the original lie, and you also have to remember what the original lie was in the first place.

I believe that once you enter into politics, you should know that the truth always catches up on you, and when you begin to flip-flop, people will hold it against you.

Right now, consumers across the nation using pre paid mobiles will experience a six per cent government tax now charged directly to them. The BN government cried out that the telcos should absorb the cost, but as a government supposedly committed to putting the people first, passing the buck back to the finance ministry agreement places their sincerity to actively manage our cost of living into serious question.

During the whole Bersih fiasco, Najib had promised a stadium for the rally to be held, despite the fact that Bersih is an outlawed entity that happened to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Without going into the legality of authorising an illegal organisation to have a rally at all, Najib went on to claim that he intended for Shah Alam stadium to be used AFTER the rally had taken place in Kuala Lumpur, defies all logic. If you wanted Bersih to hold the rally at Shah Alam stadium in the first place, would you not have announced this BEFORE the date of the rally?

Following Bersih, our Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai, comes out with the absurd statement that Tung Shin Hospital was not hit by tear gas or chemical laced water because he had ”confirmed” with the hospital board that the said incident did not transpire. The pile of evidence contrary to his statement failed to shake his stand, even to the point where he told reporters not to show him photos or footage to the contrary, as he trusted the board rather than his instincts.

When the doctors of Tung Shin came out to condemn his statement, he was left with a red face after being exposed. His promised enquiry never came about with a finding, and his has to live in the humiliation of being called a bare-faced liar for the rest of his political career.

Another issue which is still ongoing is to do with the reform of the electoral roll. Our Election Commission is guilty of saying that they are powerless to do anything, whilst their subsequent actions behind the scenes shows clearly that they do.

Out of everything they said they could not do, one of their major flip-flops was when they claimed that without parliamentary legislation, they were unable to extend postal voting to Malaysian citizens living abroad. Only a few weeks later, they announced that from the next elections, all Malaysians living overseas shall be able to cast their vote at the respective embassies.

The mainstream media screamed this from their front page headlines and there was mumbled praise from several factions. What happened to the requirement for parliamentary reform? How are they suddenly able to take their own initiative to make changes when parliament only reconvenes in October?

I believe the members of the public are tired of the constant stream of misinformation being published online, on blogs and in the mainstream media coming from the government and at times the opposition. Right now, the Rakyat are hungry for real leadership.

The incompetence and lack of integrity which is exhibited by some of our so-called leaders is beginning to strain the trust of even their staunchest followers. Pakatan would do well to remember this if they ever go into power that saying one thing and doing another would spell doom for their political future.

We would all do well to remember the saying “Trust is difficult to gain but easily lost”.