your say'So the concept of ‘collective responsibility' of the cabinet, which is fundamental in parliamentary democracy, is not important?

Kong Choy charged with cheating in PKFZ scandal

Keturunan Malaysia: If the government doesn't charge the suspects, people would blame the government for not charging them. If they charge them, people would say it is a sandiwara.

Well, the government took a pretty long time to charge Chan Kong Choy. That's pretty understandable, too, because they not only have to get all the facts straight, they must make sure that the charge can stick. If not, it would be a waste of public funds. So far so good.

Now that the charge has been made, it can be reasonably assumed that all is well prepared and ready, right? It won't be another VK Lingam sandiwara, will it?

Ghkok: So ex-transport minister Chan Kong Choy "deceived" the ex-prime minister? Hmmm... So the concept of "collective responsibility" of the cabinet, which is fundamental in parliamentary democracy, is not important? So it's possible for one minister to "deceive" another? Interesting.

Manjit Bhatia: Chan allegedly "deceived" former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi? I think attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail has got this seriously wrong. Anyone who can put up a million dollar bail so easily can't possibly have it in his heart to cheat Abdullah. No way.

I mean, who would even be bothered? Badawi was asleep on the job most of the time anyway. No, Gani should rewrite the charge sheet to indict Badawi for being asleep on the job. Now that's a national crime.

Since Badawi was PM then, the buck had to stop with him, as in all democracies. Except Malaysia, of course, has never been a democracy. It's more like a cowboy town in a very poor B-grade spaghetti Western. Or a Ming Court that passes for Malaysia's version of parliament with a semblance of representative democracy.

Now, who wants to bet that this case will drag on for years unresolved?

Anonymous_5fb: It seems to me our prime ministers were easily cheated by their ministers. Previously Dr Ling Liong Sik were charged cheating Dr Mahathir Mohamad (yet we can see both of them happily together very often). Now it's Chan's turn to be charged, this time for cheating Pak Lah. Are our prime ministers not that clever, then?

Cheated or not should not be our concern as a huge exorbitant sum of money had been spent and more is going to be disbursed as well. Our concern should be - can the government not continue paying to cut its losses, and reclaim back those money supposedly cheated by contractors and related parties?

Steven For Malaysia: Good show! But almost all Umno ministers and menteri besar must also be charged in court for total wealth (in cash or properties under their proxies or family members' name) not matching to their income.

Singa Pura Pura: Going by what the public prosecutor has decided to do, it would appear that all the coffee-shop banter over the years about MCA being a party that specifically preys upon the Chinese in Malaysia - and betrays their rights and aspirations - are not without some basis.

The question is: are we now to suddenly believe that the MCA has ceased selling out the legitimate expectations of the Chinese in Malaysia to Umno just because some charges have been brought out before an impending general election?

Ttloo: No wonder YB Ong Tee Keat was voted out. OTK was digging on this issue when he was president of MCA. He was doing the country a good deed but was voted out by MCA members who had strong interest in PKFZ. Let us see what the Umno/BN master has to show in the end.

Kgen: The charges do not make sense. Is this the quality of the prosecution that we have now? Can they prove that Chan Kong Choy did not inform Abdullah Ahmad Badawi? Can they prove that Badawi would not have approved the contractor if he had known the material facts? In any other country, the charges would be laughed out of court.

KSN: Yes, let us hope that all the charges against the VVIPs do not turn out to be eye wash. Let us wait and see whether they will be convicted and what the sentences will be. There will be many more, on this case alone, who must be involved. What about them? The mess there has yet to be sorted out.

Cala: When one suspects that contractor KDSB (Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd) and ex-minister Chan are alleged to have acted in collusion to cheat the government, how does one handle a situation like this? Why is KDSB not charged?

To an ordinary people on the street, it is ludicrous to believe that the government can be cheated that easily. Where are the original proposals from KDSB? Have they been vetted by professionals such as quantity surveyors, professional engineers, architects, etc? Where are their comments? What do they say?

What about the internal vetting process of the Transport Ministry and the Treasury and their armies of professionals? Can scams be accepted as contracts and be made enforceable? Why are KDSB not charged?

Karma: What about the charges recommended to former minister Rafidah Aziz many years ago? How about charges recommended to the Lingam 6? As ministers, so far the memorable ones are these two. What about ex-minister Azalina Othman on over-priced purchases?

Ferdtan: Lesson One: Don't just be a leader in a party other than in omnipotent Umno (even Umno-friendly like MCA).

Two: Don't retire from your party or government position as you can become irrelevant to the new leadership. We can understand now why people like chief minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud, finds it so hard to retire.

It took so long for the cunning S Samy Vellu to retire as MIC president, and only then he did so with the seemingly direct involvement of Prime Minister Najib Razak himself. He must have obtained some sort of 'safe passage' bargain for himself when he did resign.

Three: Be close - very close - to Dr Mahathir Mohamad; hopefully he may protect his former minions.

Four: Join Perkasa. Then Umno will not dare touch you. The home minister may even invite you for tea.

Changeagent: How incredibly naive is Badawi to be misled not once or twice, but thrice by Chan in the PKFZ fiasco? This is a case of fool Badawi once, shame on Chan. Fool Badawi twice, shame on Badawi. Fool Badawi thrice, shame on all us Malaysians for having an incompetent fool as our former PM.

Jiminy Qrikert: And now shame on all of us for having PM Najib Razak as PM with increasingly positive prospects of being given the mandate to continue as PM come GE13.

Also, if the Malaysian government can be so incompetent in mismanaging PKFZ with ruling party leaders able to cheat and fool even the PM, imagine what could possibly go wrong with the nuclear power plants when BN is returned in GE13, even worse if with a two-thirds majority.

 

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