— Shanker
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 24, 2011

NOV 24 — PAC Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid was reported to be frustrated, when giving his comments on the National Feedlot Centre controversy. “The public is fed up”, he told reporters.

Firstly, I would like to ask Datuk Seri Azmi: why are YOU frustrated? How could you lament at the inefficiencies, wastages and corruption which have become ingrained in our civil service’s DNA, when the nation’s CEO (who by extension, happens to be your boss) went to a by-election with his “I help you, you help me” tag proudly on display? Here’s a management lesson 101 then:- down-liners apply the same principles and work culture that the top adopts. The down-liners are also good at doing going to sleep with their eyes open, when the same top delivers speeches peppered with virtuous sounding jargons, because most of them could pick out a “do as I say, but don’t do as I do” type, when they hear one.

In fact Datuk Seri, I wish to ask you, is feeling frustrated ALL that you could muster? Pardon me, but frustrated sounds a little polite for me in the light of what is revealed, year in-year out, by the Auditor General’s report. Frustrated sounds muted when considering Barry Wain’s revelation that the Mahathir years have wasted approximately USD100 billion of our money.

I do agree with you on one thing, Datuk Seri, and that is that the public is fed up. In fact, they are fed up with a government that continues to tinker with public expectation, leading them to believe one thing and then running askew when the real deal is exposed. Such is the case with the proposed Peaceful Assembly Bill. The prime minister’s pitches by saying that the law is “revolutionary” and an “improvement on current laws”, but all I see is an individual who – together with his party – is simply bent on avoiding another Bersih.

The short end of it, then? He wants to remain in power. Somehow, Umno’s 54 years appears to have given them an illusion that Malaysians are adept to being humoured callously.

The public is fed up because, whilst Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah appears confident that the nation will not be exposed to the euro’s debt crisis, unfortunately our public funds suffer a much more atrocious fate because nobody seems to be able to protect us from exposure to Umno’s greed.

The public is fed up with the hypocrisy emanating from Putrajaya, which has now descended into farcical levels. The public is fed up because the government has seen it fit to ignore the pleadings of the innocent for justice, as seen in conclusion of the Teoh Beng Hock, Ahmad Sarbani and Altantuya cases.

The public is fed up when they apply for scholarships for their children, they are told, “no more allocation”; and yet, they have to put up with lame explanations such as that offered by Khairy Jamaluddin in his defence of the NFC.

The public is fed up that the Inland Revenue Board continues to think of ways and means to impose even more onerous laws upon taxpayers, only to then find that their hard earned income ends up supporting an inefficient and corrupt system.

You know what I think, Datuk Seri? I think this government is inviting Bersih 3 upon itself. Because at some point, our distress can no longer afford to remain content at levels deemed polite. We need to do something to save our nation, and the masses may just decide that another Bersih is necessary to end Umno’s hegemony.