vox populi small thumbnail'How to bite the master that feeds you? A well-trained dog would never do that. They are trained only to attack the enemy.'

'EC has teeth, but refuses to bite'

KSN: Promising something in return for something is not corruption? Say you give me the RM5 billion Menara Warisan tower contract and I will give you 10 percent. Is that not corruption? No cash transaction has taken place, remember?

Now talk about the Election Commission having the powers under the laws but no guts to bite. Is that not the sad story of all our other vital institutions like the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), judiciary, AG's Chambers, and other civil services?

Dingy: How to expect Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof to charge his boss from whom he receives instructions?

EC can only be independent if it is answerable to Parliament and not the prime minister. The EC chief must be appointed by Parliament, not the Agong on the advice of the PM. This should also true for the chief justice, attorney-general, etc.

Anonymous_40a7: "EC has teeth, but refuses to bite". I have a more suitable headline for Malaysiakini. "EC has false teeth - only bites opposition with them on, but removes them when biting the government."

Ma'arip: Election Commission will bite but they choose who to bite. Definitely, they will not bite their paymaster, BN. So, EC would have to ignore all those corrupt practices by BN and, slowly and surely Pakatan Rakyat will do the same.

EC wants to bite Pakatan but they can't because it will look bad on them for practicing double standards. At the end of the day, it is free for all. Sad isn't it?

Sarawakian_3ff9: How to bite the master that feeds you? A well-trained dog would never do that. They are trained only to attack the enemy.

Docs: The EC and its chairperson Abdul Aziz have teeth but they are dentures - looks good but can't bite for nuts.


Curious case of ex-minister's 'lesser charge'

Cala: What is a paradigm? Can a fish describe water (Drake and Jonson-Reid, 2008, p. 9)? Can a crook label another crook as necessarily bad?

Actually these are problems of political agents and the way they view things around them. Put it simply, if the culture is such that accountability and righteousness are traits which are given the lowest standing, they cease to be the benchmark by which individuals may be judged.

See the contrasting response of Azmi Khalid (Chan Kong Choy's ex-cabinet colleague and Public Accounts Committee chief) and that of Kamaruddin Jaafar (a PAC member and PAS central committee member), one walks away with a better understanding of the concept of paradigm. To Chan, it would be an acceptable culture to behave in certain ways within MCA-BN coalition, something endogenous to him.

In the same way, one finds comments from Chua Soi Lek laughable on the same subject. To Chua, as Chan has been merely charged in court and not found guilty of any offence as yet, hence the case has no material effect on MCA.

But Chua misses the point. First, considering the rampant corruption committed by the Umno-led BN regime, this latest episode is neither an isolated case nor the last. It is very much a part and parcel of the culture condone by the regime at the expense of ordinary people. Otherwise how do you explain the sorry state of condition Malaysia is in despite the rich endowment of natural resources?

Second, look at the number of MCA past leaders guilty of corrupt practices (Tan Koon Swan, Ling Liong Sik, etc). What do they point to?

4th Generation Pendatang: In the Bernie Madoff case, his assets were frozen pending the dispensation of the charges against the defendants. What have our attorney-general done to safeguard the recovery of taxpayers' money?

Mohd Khir Toyo, Chan Kong Choy and other corruption defendants freely leave the country? Is that why we had such a big capital outflow?

Anonymous_5fb: Kamaruddin Jaafar asks why high-profile BN politicians face light charges. To answer you, Kamaruddin, it is because the 'cheated' fund had substantially gone into Umno's pockets. Thus the lesser charges on these so-called BN VVIPs. You can see they can even afford to smile when facing the charges.

Lover Boy: It is so unreal, the man is alleged to mislead the PM and the loss is RM12.8 billion and here he is charged for cheating with the maximum sentence of five years, not taking into account of good behaviour deduction.

So one can screw the country for 12.8 billion and stashed it all away in some countries. No normal man or even professionals in the top echelons can earn that sort of money in five years.

It shows one thing, that for BN members, crime does pay. After five years in prison, the culprit can retire in his farm in Australia and ride into the sunset and say, "terima kasih PKFZ, terima kasih Malaysia".

JBGUY: I can totally understand Azmi's feelings for Chan as he knows that all BN ministers are involved in corruption, perhaps even more so than Chan but unfortunately for Chan, he has been made a scapegoat.
This trial is a mere ‘wayang kulit' and it is likely that it will be a case of insufficient evidence or perhaps a light sentence which does not commensurate with the crime committed.

If the government is serious about corruption, it should be looking into the Sarawak chief minister's case immediately where proof is in abundance.

Anonymous_3f1f: Azmi said, "It is sad to see my colleague like that. Personally, it's not something I would like to do."

I would suggest that Azmi resign from PAC if he feels sad for his former colleague. Azmi, your crooked friends robbed the taxpayers. After charging and jailing your friends, they must return the money.

3f35: We have a case where about RM13 billion of the rakyat's money has been stolen (how else can it be described?) and PAC chief Azmi Khalid said the committee did not have power to investigate, etc.

The question raised by the PAS MP Kamaruddin Jaafar is simple: Why is such a heinous crime deserving of a slap-on-the-wrist charge? Khalid cannot provide a straight answer.

Anonymous_3e86: These "cheating" and "misleading the PM" charges against Dr Ling Liong Sik and Chan Kong Choy won't stick. In any case, who is the prosecution? Their very own friend, the attorney-general of course.

Why not ask Karpal Singh to come up with the charges and lead the prosecution? Even if they are found guilty, they will not be sentenced to the full extent - after all, it's their first offence. At most, it will be a one-year jail sentence and they get to keep the loot. Crime does pay in BN-Malaysia.

Malaysiawatch4.blogspot: This is what happens when the entire justice system has been compromised and corrupted for the benefit of the ruling party. It also indicates the width and the depth of corruption in Malaysia when the powerful and corrupt move freely in the corridors of power abetted by a compliant attorney-general.

 

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