History will repeat itself when it comes to the war against graft in Malaysian politics.

The only Malaysian prime minister that had succeeded in fighting graft was Hussein Onn. He had successfully created the slogan of 'clean, efficient and trustworthy' government. Hussein Onn had gone all out to arrest Harun Idris despite strong resistance from the Umno Youth and Umno supreme council members. However, Hussein Onn was not carrying heavy political liabilities nor was he facing a strong threat from PAS, as well as an educated civil society.

If we compare Hussein Onn with Pak Lah, the new prime minister is definitely facing a more challenging situation because:

  1. None of his own cabinet minister has made public their full support for Pak Lah's war against corruption. Why? Pak Lah does not even have the courage to name the VIPs in his investigation list.

  • In Shah Alam recently, BN Wanita chief Rafidah Aziz had openly challenged Pak Lah's noble cause by telling young voters not to be to idealistic in having a clean and transparent government, but to settle for a government which is responsible in carrying out its job.

  • Neither Pak Lah nor his cabinet counterparts had made any public announcement in declaring their assets public.

  • Pak Lah does not let Anti-Corruption Agency to be an independent body that is accountable to the Parliament.

  • Pak Lah has not make the financial report of Petronas be subjected to public scrutiny and for the state-owned company be held accountable for the financial mismanagement in the past 22 years.

  • How can the multiple conflicts of interest of Employees Provident Fund board members and its massive RM12 billion in paper loss - about RM900 million of it for the MAS deal involving TRI - mismanagement escape Pak Lah's investigation?

  • What about the involvement of Khazanah Nasional Berhad in bailing out Country Heights Holding Berhad in the creditors-turn-shareholders deal that has no national interests, high technology or national strategic investment?

  • In Pak Lah's crusade against graft, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Daim Zainuddin still remain untouchable despite the many complaints brought against them by Anwar Ibrahim.

  • Pak Lah himself also carries some liabilities over the privatisation of the profitable MAS Catering Sdn Bhd by Sky Chef-Fahim Capital (owned by his brother Ibrahim Ahmad Badawi) consortium and Scope's nuclear component deals with Libya that involved his son, Kamaluddin Abdullah.