Archive for category Good Governance
Public Inquiry into DAP CEC elections will prove there has been mass production and regurgitation of hundreds of lies and falsehoods against DAP in the Umno/BN media, culminating in the booklet of lies by the fictitious Father Augustus Chen
Posted by Kit in DAP, Good Governance on Monday, 12 August 2013
Will the Registrar of Societies Director-General, Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman, agree to a public inquiry into the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections in Penang last December to establish that there are reasonable and acceptable grounds for his directive to the DAP for CEC re-election?
He should if the RoS DG believes in the accountability, transparency, good governance, the rule of law and the important concept that public officers should not abuse their powers or act arbitrarily and have a special duty at this stage of national development to ensure public confidence in the efficiency, independence, impartiality and professionalism of national institutions and the public service.
Already national institutions and the public service are facing the worst crisis of confidence in the nation’s history as their efficiency, independence, impartiality and professionalism have been subverted by blatant political interference by their political masters, causing them to be guilty of being very biased and selective in their decisions and actions, whether selective arrests, selective prosecutions and other forms of selective persecution and oppression.
Is public confidence in the national institutions and public service to suffer a “quantum” assault in the RoS case with regard to the DAP CEC elections last December, because the decision of the RoS DG is completely based on lies, falsehoods and deception? Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Not About the Chinese, Syed Ali!
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Good Governance, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 5 August 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo
August 1, 2013
If Umno Cheras division chief Syed Ali Alhabshee thinks he’s reaching out to the Chinese by asking them to tell Umno why they did not support the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) at the 13th general election (GE13) and what they are unhappy about, he’s still missing the point. The rejection of BN at GE13 is not about the Chinese. It’s about governance.
Good governance and an end to corruption are among the things every caring and intelligent Malaysian wants. Why does he single out the Chinese?
True, many Chinese care about the country and therefore want it to do well, and they don’t think that under BN rule, it will, so they voted for a change of government. But then so did a few million others comprising Malays, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans who also care about the country and want a better government.
If Syed Ali can grasp this basic idea, he should instead be telling his own party’s leaders that they need to do much, much better to deserve being in government – in fact, to change. And change drastically. He should be telling them to stop playing the same old politics they are still playing, like exploiting the issues of race and religion to divide the people.
He should tell Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to take back what he said on July 31 and even apologise for it: “Muslims do not insult the religion of non-Muslims such as Christianity and Hinduism. But non-Muslims are insulting our religion.” That’s the kind of inflammatory remark we can expect from an extremist, not from a deputy prime minister. Read the rest of this entry »
Disclose out-of-court deals
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Good Governance on Sunday, 21 July 2013
P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Jul 19, 2013
QUESTION TIME When a ball goes out of court, it goes out of play and play stops. But not so when a case goes to court and then there is an out-of-court settlement. Things are still very much in play, only the public does not get to see the action any more.
Out-of-court settlements are great if the dispute at hand is nobody else’s business but the parties in conflict. It is the right thing when matters are private, for example divorce cases when there is no reason whatsoever why it should become a public matter.
But when it involves the government, it is against the public interest to have out-of-court settlements, and if there are, then it would be best if the full terms of the settlement are made known to the public. Otherwise, who knows what will be hidden from the public eye?
Two incidents earlier this week caused us to be alarmed and relieved in turn. It was alarm when The Star reported that speculations were rife that a suit between tycoon Halim Saad on one side and former minister and government special adviser Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the government and Khazanah Nasional Bhd on the other, will be settled out of court – for RM1 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
Perceptions and cybertroopers
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Crime, Good Governance, IT on Tuesday, 11 June 2013
— conspiracytheor1st
The Malaysian Insider
June 09, 2013
JUNE 9 — “Cybertroopers” is a term I suppose originated from Malaysia. I would rank it as the next best Malaysian invention after err… belacan (did belacan originate from Malaysia?). A short search of “cybertroopers” on Google would yield hundreds of results, all related to Malaysian politics. However, there is no one exact definition of the term from any dictionary or on Wikipedia. Back to the main topic, one might not notice that there is a very inconspicuous but interesting relationship between the term “cybertroopers” and “perception” in Malaysia, both of which have been aggressively propagated by the mainstream media of late.
In Malaysia, everything is due to the problem of perception. The crime rate of the country is low. If you think it is high, then it is the problem of your perception. The police are doing great — so well in fact that our ex-IGP’s KPI score in 2009 was 113.8 per cent, as announced by Koh Tsu Koon in Parliament. A lot of us were wondering how it was possible statistically. Did that mean that the police had solved more cases involving crime than actually existed? Or that they had caught more people compared to the number of times when the law was actually violated like cases of candle vigils (ahem…)? Then again, if you still are scratching your head over how the numbers add up, then it has to be the problem of your perception.
Here, we have the powers-that-be telling us that Malaysia is one of the best governed countries in the world with the best education system that even exceeds the high standards of the US and Germany; the best democratic system; and the cleanest electoral system! The government claimed that corruption in the country is a mere perception and the MACC claimed that their tarnished reputation of being inefficient and inaction against the big shots was also perception. Now, even the EC has jumped onto the perception bandwagon in the midst of the post-election furore. If you still don’t agree with them, heck, you know what again? It is your bloody perception! Read the rest of this entry »
Edward Snowden identified as source of NSA leaks
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, IT on Monday, 10 June 2013
By Barton Gellman, Aaron Blake and Greg Miller
Washington Post
Monday, June 10
Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former undercover CIA employee, unmasked himself Sunday as the principal source of recent Washington Post and Guardian disclosures about top-secret National Security Agency programs.
Snowden, who has contracted for the NSA and works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, denounced what he described as systematic surveillance of innocent citizens and said in an interview that “it’s important to send a message to government that people will not be intimidated.”
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Saturday that the NSA had initiated a Justice Department investigation into who leaked the information — an investigation supported by intelligence officials in Congress.
Snowden, whose full name is Edward Joseph Snowden, said he understands the risks of disclosing the information but felt it was important to do.
“I’m not going to hide,” Snowden told The Post from Hong Kong, where he has been staying. The Guardian was the first to publicly identify Snowden, at his request. “Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”
Asked whether he believed his disclosures would change anything, he said: “I think they already have. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”
Snowden said nobody was aware of his actions, including those closest to him. He said there wasn’t a single event that spurred his decision to leak the information.
“It was more of a slow realization that presidents could openly lie to secure the office and then break public promises without consequence,” he said.
Snowden said President Obama hasn’t lived up to his pledges of transparency. He blamed a lack of accountability in the Bush administration for continued abuses. The White House did not respond to multiple e-mails seeking comment and spokesman Josh Earnest, who was traveling with the president, said the White House would have no comment Sunday.
“It set an example that when powerful figures are suspected of wrongdoing, releasing them from the accountability of law is ‘for our own good,’ ” Snowden said. “That’s corrosive to the basic fairness of society.” Read the rest of this entry »
Sekiranya Najib mahu menang perang persepsi, pentadbirannya harus berhenti mencipta Malaysia yang Kafkaesque
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Election, Good Governance, Najib Razak, Sabah on Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak semalam memberitahu perhimpunan pertama dengan petugas Jabatan Perdana Menteri selepas Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 bahawa kerajaan perlu meningkatkan usaha untuk menangani persepsi negatif dan memberi amaran kepada penjawat awam supaya tidak leka dengan berlebihan bermain politik.
Sekiranya Najib mahu memenangi perang persepsi, pentadbirannya harus berhenti mencipta Malaysia yang Kafkaesque.
Dinamakan sempena penulis Franz Kafka, “Kafkaesque” digunakan untuk menggambarkan apa saja yang tidak masuk akal, tiada warna dan tiada titik rujukan. Ia menggambarkan sesuatu yang sangat rumit tanpa sebab, terutamanya merujuk kepada birokrasi.
Karakter Kafkaesque pemerintahan Najib ditonjolkan melalui ucapannya semalam, memberi amaran kepada penjawat awam supaya tidak dilekakan dengan berlebihan bermain politik sedangkan sesetengah penjawat awam sememangnya bersalah berlebihan bermain politik atas perintah tuan politik mereka pada bulan pertama selepas pilihan raya umum. Read the rest of this entry »
If Najib wants to win the war of perception, his administration should stop creating a Kafkaesque Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Good Governance, Najib Razak, Sabah on Tuesday, 4 June 2013
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday told the first morning assembly with staff of the Prime Minister’s Department after the 13th General Election that the government must intensify efforts to address negative perceptions and cautioned civil servants against being distracted by excessive politicking.
If Najib wants to win the war of perception, his administration should stop creating a Kafkaesque Malaysia.
Named after the author Franz Kafka, “Kafkaesque” is typically used to describe anything that makes no sense, has no colours and has no points of reference. It describes something that is horribly complicated for no reason, usually in reference to bureaucracy.
The Kafkaesque character of the Najib premiership is immediately highlighted by his speech yesterday, warning civil servants against being distracted by excessive politicking when some civil servants have been guilty exactly of excessive politicking at the behest of their political masters in the first month after the 13th general elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Immigration DG Alias Ahmad should be censured for professional negligence and ineptitude for allowing six days to pass before clarifying misquote
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Media on Saturday, 1 June 2013
The Immigration Director-General Alias Ahmad should be censured for professional negligence and ineptitude for allowing six days to pass before clarifying that he had been misquoted about invoking a non-existing law to revoke passports of dissenting Malaysians.
Six days ago on 27th May, 2013, Berita Harian reported that Malaysians living abroad who participate in anti-government activities and activities to tarnish Malaysia’s image may be barred from returning home.
Alias was quoted as saying that his department is obliged to do so under Section 8 of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and that actions that can be taken include blacklisting those involved in such activities and cancelling their passports for a period of three to five years.
Responding to Berita Harian’s question on actions to be taken against Malaysians studying abroad who participated in demonstrations to protest against alleged fraud in the May 5 general election, Alias said: “We are waiting for Wisma Putra’s report regarding Malaysians doing such things while abroad”.
When the Berita Harian report of Alias’ statement was picked up by Malaysiakini on the same day, I checked Section 8 of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and found that the Immigration Director-General was talking rubbish, as Section 8 was about “Prohibited Immigrants”.
I found it totally irresponsible, unprofessional and unethical that Alias never sought to clarify the mischievous Berita Harian report in the ensuing days, not only that Section 8 of the Immigration Act does not empower the government to cancel any Malaysian passport from three to five years of any dissenting Malaysian abroad, but failing to correct the impression that the Malaysian government is cruel, callous and heartless to the extent that it could willy-nilly cancel passports of Malaysians abroad to render them “stateless” in foreign lands! Read the rest of this entry »
TV3 and other TV station should cancel live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless similar facililities are also extended to Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto
Posted by Kit in Elections, Good Governance, Media, Najib Razak on Saturday, 6 April 2013
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will unveil the Barisan Nasional (BN) election manifesto in a speech at 8.30 pm tonight, which is to be broadcast live by TV3 and other TV stations.
This is a gross abuse of power and the latest in the long list of violations of the Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M)’s Election Integrity Pledge to conduct free, fair and clean elections which Najib signed with such fanfare some 45 days ago.
If the Barisan Nasional election manifesto is to be given live coverage over TV3 and other TV stations, similar facilities should also be extended to the Pakatan Rakyat’s election manifesto.
TV3 and other TV stations should cancel the live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless they are prepared to offer similar facilities to the Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Najib to make public all the mega defence and other contracts entered into by the Federal Government in the past three weeks since March 8 when his premiership has “expired” its credibility, authority and legitimacy
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Defence, Good Governance, Najib Razak on Sunday, 31 March 2013
The RM4.2 billion arms deal worth RM4.2 billion entered into by the Defence Ministry at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima 2013), on top of the earlier argument that Parliament could not yet be dissolved as a caretaker government cannot enter into mega-ringgit defence deals at LIMA, has brought to the centrestage the important questions of good governance and public integrity and the issue of corruption in Malaysia – especially what is the proper and ethical conduct of a government which is reaching close to or gone past its “expiry” period.
There can be no contention that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is already the country’s longest unelected Prime Minister without a mandate of his own after taking over the reins of premiership from Tun Abdullah Badawi is already an “expired” Prime Minister leading an “expired” Cabinet and Government in the past three weeks since March 8, when it lost all public credibility, authority and legitimacy as the government of Malaysia.
Why can’t the RM4.2 billion arms deal in LIMA wait until after the 13GE for whichever government, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, to make the final decision? Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t fear the consequences of change
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Economics, Elections, Good Governance, Politics on Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Anwar Ibrahim
Malaysiakini
Mar 12, 2013
COMMENT
The present Umno-BN government of Najib Abdul Razak is living on borrowed time. It doesn’t want to admit it but its legitimacy is now totally in question because constitutionally, its full term has expired.
The people’s patience is tested to the limit here by the audacity of a government that goes on ruling without a mandate.
A number of bogus analysts and self-appointed doomsday prophets, especially those driven by very personal agendas, have warned that Malaysia will descend into political and economic chaos in the event of a Pakatan Rakyat victory.
On the other hand, the more genuine and independent observers have expressed greater optimism. For instance, the original ‘Dr Doom’, Prof Roubini, says that our economy will stay robust even with a change in government.
We know that a mandate for change is not limited to the political sphere though it is true that without that mandate, economic management itself will be off to a false start.
When Indonesia made that break from military autocracy to constitutional democracy, much of the focus of the free world was on how its economy would weather the transition.
And in their case, transition would stretch for years and indeed the fruits of that initial process of political upheaval are for all to see.
In the case of the Arab Spring, the major worry remains the lack of clearly defined policies that would set the road map to economic recovery and growth.
They are still finding their way and it won’t be an easy way but that is no excuse for rejecting freedom and democracy.
Certainly, political stability is a key factor, and I might just emphasise the most crucial factor in setting the direction and objectives of economic management. Read the rest of this entry »
RM160m to solve Najib’s problem?
Posted by Kit in Defence, Good Governance, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 8, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
The object of the whole LTAT exercise seems to be to save Raja Ropiah, people from Mindef and even LTAT – players who may all have a hand in the exercise.
COMMENT
You know how government-linked companies (GLCs) screws us? In order to deceive people, they build themselves a byzantine maze with sister companies, brother companies, son-companies, grandson-companies and great-great grandson companies.
It will take a financial sleuth some time to trace the trail of deception and corruption.
Take the maze of companies involved in the Deepak Jaikishan-Raja Ropiaah Abdullah scam.
LTAT (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera) is the parent company. Boustead Holdings Bhd is the son-company. Baktiwira is the grandson company. And Jendela Hikmat is the great-great grandson company. Then there is Guppyunit
Umno has a system already in place. At every level, an Umno GLC infuses the culture of deception and corruption. Every level it skims off the milk.
The question is, why is LTAT so friendly with Raja Ropiaah? Why is Raja Ropiaah so special to Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and its minister then?
One thing is known. The object of the whole LTAT exercise seems to be to save Raja Ropiaah, the people from Mindef and even LTAT – players who may all have a hand in the exercise. Read the rest of this entry »
Zero success rate
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, Media on Monday, 7 January 2013
R. Nadeswaran
The Sun Daily
6 January 2013
A SEARCH of the archives shows that in the past year, more than 100 columns and commentaries were penned covering about a couple of dozen topics.
Away from the office for a fortnight, there was plenty of time to reflect on what had happened in the preceding year, in between reading opinions and commentaries of fellow scribes regaling what a great year 2012 had been.
On reflection, what was there even to put down as a thought after having written on issues ranging from wrongdoing, inefficiency, insubordination, misuse to abuse of public funds and many more? These were issues of public interest – affecting every citizen of this country.
There is no way or equipment to measure the success of this column. The success rate in informing the public of such nuances and allowing them to draw their own opinions may have been excellent.
However, when it comes to getting responses, let alone results in bringing about such issues to the fore, the rate has been dismal – absolutely ZERO! Read the rest of this entry »
Wrong to bulldoze the AES
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Transport on Tuesday, 11 December 2012
— The Malaysian Insider
December 10, 2012
DEC 10 — The Automated Enforcement System (AES) is supposed to help cut down the number of accidents and road fatalities by making motorists slow down for fear of being caught and having to pay punitive fines.
Everyone gets that bit. Especially when there are enough reports of corrupt policemen or enforcement officials out there. Which leads to continuing mayhem and a loss of revenue for the government.
But that isn’t the reason to bulldoze the AES as the answer to ensuring laws are observed and those captured on film pay their fines and hopefully not continue speeding in the future.
The reasons are simple. Till today, the government can’t explain why the service has been privatised. Read the rest of this entry »
Resistance grows within BN against AES profits
Posted by Kit in Elections, Good Governance, Transport on Tuesday, 6 November 2012
By Leslie Lau and Md Izwan
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 06, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — A whopping 2.72 million speeding tickets will have to be issued in each of the next five years for the two concession holders of the controversial Automatic Enforcement System (AES) cameras to just recoup their reported RM700 million investments.
And considering the authorities had only collected an average of about 25 per cent of all traffic summonses a year — which increased to 65 per cent only after a general discount was offered last year — the two companies will have to issue far more summonses to account for the poor collection.
Such calculations have led to apprehension on the part of a growing number of Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians who are concerned about the profit motive that is built into the concession agreements.
“The privatisation of the AES could be seen as attempting to make profits because some (cameras) are placed in inappropriate places,” Umno’s Seri Gading MP Datuk Mohamad Aziz told The Malaysian Insider.
The two firms awarded the contract to implement the enforcement system — ATES Sdn Bhd and Beta Tegap — will spend between RM300 million and RM400 million each to set up traffic cameras at 831 “black spots” nationwide.
Both ATES and Beta Tegap are entitled to RM16 per valid summons for the first five million issued. They will then split the remaining revenue evenly with the government up to a cap of RM270 million each.
The firms will each receive 7.5 per cent from the remaining revenue and the government will keep the rest. Read the rest of this entry »
I weep for Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, Sabah on Friday, 12 October 2012
by J.C.
As the week draws to a close, I am struck by three events that occurred earlier in the week that would make every educated Malaysian tear his/her hair out.
The first is the allegation surrounding the award of a contract to supply padi seeds to companies that originally failed the evaluation criteria. Does this sound familiar ? My mind goes back to the Ampang LRT extension where a disqualified tenderer got reinstated, and then won the contract despite not being the lowest bidder. Back to the padi seeds case. Apparently the tender process was well crafted, and three committees from various ministries were created. The advertisement was clear enough: companies need to have the requisite qualifications to submit bids for the RM 164.8 million contract. When the successful tenderers were announced, it became clear that at least one company, linked to a Negeri Sembilan exco member, did not fulfill the original requirements of the tender. When asked about this, the Agriculture Minister Noh Omar sarcastically commented that “….it is suprising that when we introduced the open tender…..there were more protests…”. Read the rest of this entry »
BFM interview Koon Yew Yin
Posted by Kit in Economics, Good Governance on Thursday, 27 September 2012
Follow Koon Yew Ying’s BFM interview. Koon said: “There are hundreds of big buildings and structures, can you tell me which buildings or structures are won by Bumiputera contractors through open tender? There are hundreds of K. meter of highway, can you point out the stretch of highway awarded through competitive tender?
“Record shows that it is easy to produce doctors, surgeons, lawyers, engineers and other professionals but it is very difficult to produce competent contractors or entrepreneurs.
“Bumiputeras must be willing to start from the bottom and learn the business. Tan Seri Yeoh Tiong Lay started as a small time contractor. Tan Seri Lim Goh Tong started as a scrap iron dealer in Sungei Besi.
“I, Koon Yew Yin and 3 other small time contractors started with Rm 200,000 capital in 1966. As a result, I was one of the founders of IJM Corporation Bhd.
“I am completely retired from business and I hope you are not offended by what I have expressed here. I trust we will elect politicians who will not simply give out large contracts or concessions without open tenders.”
Speaker Pandikar Amin should overrule Nazri’s interference with parliamentary affairs and order that the Auditor-General’s 2011 Reports should be tabled in Parliament immediately without any delay
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Good Governance, Najib Razak, Parliament on Monday, 24 September 2012
The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, should overrule the blatant interference in in-house parliamentary matters by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and order that the Auditor-General’s national audit reports for 2011 be tabled in Parliament immediately without any delay.
The reason given by Nazri that the government will only table the Auditor-General’s 2011 audit reports about a week or two after the 2013 budget is presented by the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Friday is utterly ridiculous, unacceptable and an outrageous affront to the concept and principle of parliamentary independence and autonomy, even in its most attenuated and diluted form after 55 years of encroachments by the UMNO/Barisan Nasional government!
Nazri said the tabling of the Auditor-General’s Reports are being held up so that “it won’t steal the limelight from (debate on) the budget” is totally misconceived, misguided and a blatant abuse of executive power, especially as the annual audit reports by the Auditor-General are an integral and essential part of the annual budget debate by MPs.
Has Najib given Nazri the “green light” or the directive to hold back the Auditor-General’s 2011 Reports a week or two after his Budget 2013 presentation on Friday? Read the rest of this entry »
Speaking up for Suaram
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Crime, Good Governance on Saturday, 22 September 2012
by Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Sep 20, 2012
When there is no transparency, when everything is evidently opaque, when regime credibility is at all-time low, perception – often based on rumour, kopitiam gossip and the alternative media – becomes all.
Just look at crime. At a time when the people started feeling terribly anxious about their personal welfare and security, the regime started to boast about record crime prevention statistics and the purported reduction in crime.
When these statistics were questioned, when contradictory figures were highlighted, excuses rather than valid explanations were offered.
And then, quickly, the matter was dropped, certainly by the sycophantic mainstream media, in the hope that the people will forget.
But, of course, they haven’t. Their daily experiences of increasing crime make them view official explanations with scepticism.
It’s been the same, too, with the recent detention of young Malaysians for, at worst, petulant, impertinent acts, like the mooning of photographs and for stamping on these photographs. And then being threatened, without much explanation, with charges under the odious Sedition Act. Read the rest of this entry »
BN’s promise: Tribespeople, idiots or citizens?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Good Governance, Judiciary, Police on Sunday, 5 August 2012
— Rama Ramanathan
The Malaysian Insider
August 05, 2012
AUG 5 — Why am I so disgusted with the Barisan Nasional (BN) government?
I take my citizenship seriously. I was born in Malaysia. My siblings were born in Malaysia. My mother spoke only two languages: her mother tongue, Tamil and Malay. My father was a civil servant for decades. I’m a Malaysian.
My school friends are in Malaysia. My parents were cremated here, their ashes loosed in the waters off Port Dickson. My siblings, my wife’s siblings and most of our friends live in Malaysia. I desire to live nowhere else. I am entrenched.
My upbringing and my beliefs cause me to think of everyone as my neighbour. I take seriously God’s command to love Him with my every breath, thought and action, and that I should love my neighbour as myself. I’m a citizen.
I remember daily the story the Messiah told in answer to the question: Who is my neighbour? In the story of the Good Samaritan, the neighbour is the one in need, the downtrodden everyman, to whom I am to show mercy.
I recognise that government and leadership are necessary. Without “people in charge,” such as police, lawmakers and government officials, we’ll have anarchy: bandits will reign; our cities will be like Baghdad, Beirut, or Bogota.
Those cities exemplify what happens in the absence of good government: the strong, the well-funded, and the bigots will suppress the unarmed. Mubarak did it in Tahrir Square. Najib did it in Merdeka Square.
The purpose of a government is to create, maintain and promote conditions of equity, harmony and equality through the right use of authority. A government is judged by how it treats the weak. How shall we judge the BN government? Read the rest of this entry »
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Good Governance category.
