Missing money, missing people, missing integrity
COMMENT | For many years a lot of things went missing in this country.
What went missing first was a government whose stewardship enriched the nation and the lives of the people.
Instead we got “affirmative action” to enrich a growing coterie of yes-sir-I’m-your-man sycophants happy to stick their snouts into the public trough.
An inexterminable virus that kept spreading all over the profusely spreading, overgrown civil service, a new subsidiary here, a new ‘jabatan’ there, the government doing business in many areas where they had no business to be.
From that basic void, the lack of a government, ensued missing money, missing people (both ordinary and criminal), missing accounts for how public funds are being spent, a missing motive for the slaying of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The latter particularly irks. A whodunit is not complete without a reason.
Kidnap her for ransom or to rape? Anger over something? Unacceptable but understandable. Grab a stranger, take her out to the boonies and use explosives? No why? Only who? C’mon.
A person may not have thought of it, but all action is motivated, physically, psychologically. Tell me otherwise, and I will have wasted years studying literature and psychology.
What went missing too, from public discourse was an engagement with all communities, leaders who enlisted their participation, listened to their concerns.
It was replaced by an abrasive assertiveness, unabashed display of paranoia that Malay rights and institutions were under persistent siege, circle the wagons and send out the Red Shirts.
What went missing was the free space for public discourse. Laws were tightened, offence was taken easily, and publishers of alternative views and news, critics and political opponents were harassed.
Over time, finally, what went decisively missing was the trust and belief of many Malaysians in the government and the profligate prime minister adding to the nation’s debt and his own wealth.
What went missing was a belief in the government’s insistence that everything was good, when the GST’s impact on wallets and bank accounts clearly showed otherwise.
Now, every day and week, the new government is filling in missing pieces in the country’s financial picture, and excising some of the bloated parasites.
The first shock of a trillion had people asking about the number of zeros in it, but the figure is too large to think about for many folks.
They focus instead on the daily mounting Tabung Harapan sum of eight figures. It may be a long, long way from one billion, but it reflects the new belief that the people finally have a voice, a share in the...
COMMENT | For many years a lot of things went missing in this country.
What went missing first was a government whose stewardship enriched the nation and the lives of the people.
Instead we got “affirmative action” to enrich a growing coterie of yes-sir-I’m-your-man sycophants happy to stick their snouts into the public trough.
An inexterminable virus that kept spreading all over the profusely spreading, overgrown civil service, a new subsidiary here, a new ‘jabatan’ there, the government doing business in many areas where they had no business to be.
From that basic void, the lack of a government, ensued missing money, missing people (both ordinary and criminal), missing accounts for how public funds are being spent, a missing motive for the slaying of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The latter particularly irks. A whodunit is not complete without a reason.
Kidnap her for ransom or to rape? Anger over something? Unacceptable but understandable. Grab a stranger, take her out to the boonies and use explosives? No why? Only who? C’mon.
A person may not have thought of it, but all action is motivated, physically, psychologically. Tell me otherwise, and I will have wasted years studying literature and psychology.
What went missing too, from public discourse was an engagement with all communities, leaders who enlisted their participation, listened to their concerns.
It was replaced by an abrasive assertiveness, unabashed display of paranoia that Malay rights and institutions were under persistent siege, circle the wagons and send out the Red Shirts.
What went missing was the free space for public discourse. Laws were tightened, offence was taken easily, and publishers of alternative views and news, critics and political opponents were harassed.
Over time, finally, what went decisively missing was the trust and belief of many Malaysians in the government and the profligate prime minister adding to the nation’s debt and his own wealth.
What went missing was a belief in the government’s insistence that everything was good, when the GST’s impact on wallets and bank accounts clearly showed otherwise.
Now, every day and week, the new government is filling in missing pieces in the country’s financial picture, and excising some of the bloated parasites.
The first shock of a trillion had people asking about the number of zeros in it, but the figure is too large to think about for many folks.
They focus instead on the daily mounting Tabung Harapan sum of eight figures. It may be a long, long way from one billion, but it reflects the new belief that the people finally have a voice, a share in the government.
Not all is lost. Money and assets linked to the financial sleight-of-hand plundering of 1MDB, seized in recent times overseas in several countries should be back with the nation at some point.
Pre-loved handbags?
And the police are unearthing caches of luxury goods possibly belonging to Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor. I say possibly because a couple of Umno leaders have laid claim, on behalf of the party, on the haul in Pavilion.
All those handbags languishing in a storage space awaiting a decision on whether they will be evidence in a trial.
If they were, and there is a conviction, what will happen to them?
An auction of pre-loved handbags? Who would want to bid for one, knowing who had pre-loved it? Or is that the cachet, the perverse attraction?
A museum/tourist attraction ala Imelda Marcos’ shoes? It has potential. It would inspire Malaysian designers to upgrade their work for Petaling Street.
Najib consoles himself with the fact that he hasn’t been charged, indicating there’s no case against him.
Enjoy the ketupat and rendang this weekend.
The attorney-general (AG) has received the investigation papers on 1MDB and has signed Mutual Legal Assistance papers with Switzerland, the US, France and UAE. I hear tumbrils beginning to roll.
I would rather the AG’s team take time assembling an airtight case than have the prosecution lose its case and nobody brought to account for the offence, the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) case, for example.
They were told to lose, conspiracy theorists would have it. The scales of justice were fixed.
I am wary of conspiracy theorists – Elvis is alive, JFK was killed by the Mafia, Cubans, and it’s all part of a complex plot for global domination by the Illuminati or aliens from Alpha Centauri.
People who are bored with their lives, who can’t see there are enough mysteries to be fathomed.
Instead of a conspiracy, it could have been sheer incompetence for the lost cases. My evidence: the recruiting of outside counsel to handle Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial. Wasn’t that an admission of duh-can’t-do-it?
It would help the justice system if the police unearthed various people, such as a former chief minister of Sabah, managers of 1MDB, not forgetting my comic relief for dull news days, Jamal Mohd Yunos.
And provide answers for the whereabouts and fate of missing pastor Raymond Koh, Amri Che Mat, Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu. Malaysians are grabbed off streets and the police are clueless?
Prayers and hope too, that one day the nation, particularly the long baffled suffering in suspension of the families of those on board MH370, will know, if not why, where the flight ended.
THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist.
