Gov't should have been given bigger majority
National KoPi IorPublished: Jan 5, 2010 9:50 AM | Updated: Jan 5, 2010 9:53 AM
Enough is enough. We all, the people and the country, are in deep, deep trouble. The situation had deteriorated progressively over the last five years. Permit me to just list down some of the bad things that we had read and heard of many of which, I honestly believe, are true.
We read about senior politicians, senior government servants, senior police officials and senior army officials being involved in or were caught in the following episodes (I do not want to be specific and personal here; the main intent is just to highlight the gravity of the situation):
1. The son was involved with a group of gangsters to whom the father were involved in giving IT related contracts; in another case a different official’s son was involved in demanding money from poor petty traders around Kuala Lumpur when the father was supposed to prevent it from happening.
In a few other cases, senior officials were found to be multi-millionaires upon their retirement with undisclosed properties in strategic locations - something that they could not have honestly earned in a few lifetimes no matter how good they were in managing their asserts.
2. A senior official was embarrassed when, by accident, more than RM300,00 in hard cash was found stashed together with expensive jewelry hidden under his bed when he knows best to keep them in the bank. In this case, the wife had a pleasant surprise when the workmen renovating her house accidentally discovered more than RM300, 000 in hard cash hidden in the wall paneling.
The husband, on returning from an overseas trip, explained to the wife that it was ‘party's money’ meant to be given out to the ‘rakyat’. Many of these people are also known to be proxies of major tycoons .
3. Public buildings (hospitals, schools, military camps, bridges, flyovers, stadiums and even prisons) were shabbily constructed and not up to specifications. Many of them collapsed or not are not able to be used as intended.
Moveable public properties, vital documents (from passports, identity cards and work permits to documents to be tendered as evidence in courts) were stolen, forged or destroyed.
4. The sending of money by the millions of ringgit to overseas accounts, through money-changers by ministers, government officials and personalities close to the powers-that-be - this is the most telling and blatant evidence of corruption and dishonesty .
Of course, some of them could afford to just smuggle out millions of ringgit by their personal private jets (they had been pointing fingers at each other on this). A few were caught carrying large amounts of hard cash in their briefcases overseas.
5. As if all of the above cases are not enough, recently two jet engines of the RMAF’s F5E interceptor jets went missing and the theft was made public only about after two years. The disclosure came in pieces raising more question than answers.
6. All of these episodes took place in an environment where the ruling party and the opposition are very much engrossed in trying to manage their internal problems while at the same time trying to undermine each other at the slightest possible opportunity.
Both of them have almost diminished due to internal squabbling and loss of confidence from the new generation. This is bad for the country.
7. Meanwhile, the general public continues to suffer from the prevailing economic downturn where the cost of living continues to rise (the urban poor have now been defined as those earning less than RM3,000), there is a high rate of unemployment and a high crime rate.
8. Too much time had been spent on politics and insulting the intelligence of the common people particularly the up and coming generation. Many of them have decided to migrate. At the same time, it had also tarnished the good name of the country.
We must also blame ourselves for not giving a more decisive victory to the ruling government. I personally don’t care which political party runs the government so long they can do it fairly and effectively. At the end of the day, it is the fate of our children and grandchildren that should really matter to all of us.
In a country like ours, the government should be given a majority of about 65%-70%. A government that is too strong would be too corrupt; a weak government cannot rule decisively and too much time would be spent on their efforts to suppress the opposition as what is happening now.
We need to now cry ‘enough is enough’ aloud many times .Blow the whistle hard and demand that all parties go back to their rightful places and play their role honestly and effectively.
Let justice to take its own course and allow the nation to leave its legacies behind. Let the new face of Malaysia, the nation and the people move forward into a better future.
We read about senior politicians, senior government servants, senior police officials and senior army officials being involved in or were caught in the following episodes (I do not want to be specific and personal here; the main intent is just to highlight the gravity of the situation):
1. The son was involved with a group of gangsters to whom the father were involved in giving IT related contracts; in another case a different official’s son was involved in demanding money from poor petty traders around Kuala Lumpur when the father was supposed to prevent it from happening.
In a few other cases, senior officials were found to be multi-millionaires upon their retirement with undisclosed properties in strategic locations - something that they could not have honestly earned in a few lifetimes no matter how good they were in managing their asserts.
2. A senior official was embarrassed when, by accident, more than RM300,00 in hard cash was found stashed together with expensive jewelry hidden under his bed when he knows best to keep them in the bank. In this case, the wife had a pleasant surprise when the workmen renovating her house accidentally discovered more than RM300, 000 in hard cash hidden in the wall paneling.
The husband, on returning from an overseas trip, explained to the wife that it was ‘party's money’ meant to be given out to the ‘rakyat’. Many of these people are also known to be proxies of major tycoons .
3. Public buildings (hospitals, schools, military camps, bridges, flyovers, stadiums and even prisons) were shabbily constructed and not up to specifications. Many of them collapsed or not are not able to be used as intended.
Moveable public properties, vital documents (from passports, identity cards and work permits to documents to be tendered as evidence in courts) were stolen, forged or destroyed.
4. The sending of money by the millions of ringgit to overseas accounts, through money-changers by ministers, government officials and personalities close to the powers-that-be - this is the most telling and blatant evidence of corruption and dishonesty .
Of course, some of them could afford to just smuggle out millions of ringgit by their personal private jets (they had been pointing fingers at each other on this). A few were caught carrying large amounts of hard cash in their briefcases overseas.
5. As if all of the above cases are not enough, recently two jet engines of the RMAF’s F5E interceptor jets went missing and the theft was made public only about after two years. The disclosure came in pieces raising more question than answers.
6. All of these episodes took place in an environment where the ruling party and the opposition are very much engrossed in trying to manage their internal problems while at the same time trying to undermine each other at the slightest possible opportunity.
Both of them have almost diminished due to internal squabbling and loss of confidence from the new generation. This is bad for the country.
7. Meanwhile, the general public continues to suffer from the prevailing economic downturn where the cost of living continues to rise (the urban poor have now been defined as those earning less than RM3,000), there is a high rate of unemployment and a high crime rate.
8. Too much time had been spent on politics and insulting the intelligence of the common people particularly the up and coming generation. Many of them have decided to migrate. At the same time, it had also tarnished the good name of the country.
We must also blame ourselves for not giving a more decisive victory to the ruling government. I personally don’t care which political party runs the government so long they can do it fairly and effectively. At the end of the day, it is the fate of our children and grandchildren that should really matter to all of us.
In a country like ours, the government should be given a majority of about 65%-70%. A government that is too strong would be too corrupt; a weak government cannot rule decisively and too much time would be spent on their efforts to suppress the opposition as what is happening now.
We need to now cry ‘enough is enough’ aloud many times .Blow the whistle hard and demand that all parties go back to their rightful places and play their role honestly and effectively.
Let justice to take its own course and allow the nation to leave its legacies behind. Let the new face of Malaysia, the nation and the people move forward into a better future.
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