Our house needs to be put in order
Dr Jacob GeorgePublished: Sep 14, 2007 8:19 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
I refer to the Malaysiakini report New law ties hands of Sabah NGOs.
We like to see our leaders smiling from ear to ear in huge Merdeka posters put up at each and every corner and are certainly not averse to having great festivities to celebrate the nation's 50th independence day recently.
But this is a mocking hypocrisy if done in apparent denial of the adverse things taking place in the country which sees the nation's races divided and polarised as never before. The division and polarisation not just in our schools, institutions of higher education and the civil service but even in Parliament where barbed comments are exchanged with strong undercurrents of racism, fanaticism and political greed.
These actions and the inaction over corruption and an abuse of power are discouraging ordinary peace-loving and honourable Malaysian men and women from all walks of lives and leaving them quite disturbed.
It becomes worse when there is an outright denial or attempts to mislead us with half-truths and outright lies when addressing allegations of scandals and corruption in its various shades, forms and colours.
A classic example being this senseless new Sabah law requiring non-governmental organisations to obtain approval from district officers before they can visit and render welfare services to needy people. The introduction of this law makes no sense except that it provides an umbrella for misdeeds and abuse to go unhindered and unexposed.
This new law must be challenged and it is in the interest of the federal government to advise the Sabah state legislators to immediately withdraw this act before any further embarrassment and backlash is felt nationwide by the federal government's inaction.
We also cannot but ask why there has been no addressing of two recent allegations of a senior minister being corrupt and the observation from the nation's former top cop that 40 percent of the police force could be corrupt.
Malaysians wonder why the silence at the financial irregularities in the escalating costs of the new Istana Negara and the phenomenal debts of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) which has got the international diplomatic and business community all over the world talking.
We cannot but be embarrassed that despite all the hype and slogans of corporate governance, accountability and zero tolerance for corruption and abuse of power, new scandals are emerging unhindered while the old ones are still unanswered.
We have failed to root out corruption, to address the rising crime index, cronyism, racism, fanaticism of political greed and the illegal accumulation of ill-gotten gains. So the pertinent question still remains - where we are as a nation heading to?
Will we continue to have our 'party', unperturbed nor disturbed at the rot that has set in and eating at the vary fabric of all that our founding fathers held most dear? Or will we decide to put our house in order? And perhaps, that remains for me as the most pertinent question for this 50th year of our independence.
We like to see our leaders smiling from ear to ear in huge Merdeka posters put up at each and every corner and are certainly not averse to having great festivities to celebrate the nation's 50th independence day recently.
But this is a mocking hypocrisy if done in apparent denial of the adverse things taking place in the country which sees the nation's races divided and polarised as never before. The division and polarisation not just in our schools, institutions of higher education and the civil service but even in Parliament where barbed comments are exchanged with strong undercurrents of racism, fanaticism and political greed.
These actions and the inaction over corruption and an abuse of power are discouraging ordinary peace-loving and honourable Malaysian men and women from all walks of lives and leaving them quite disturbed.
It becomes worse when there is an outright denial or attempts to mislead us with half-truths and outright lies when addressing allegations of scandals and corruption in its various shades, forms and colours.
A classic example being this senseless new Sabah law requiring non-governmental organisations to obtain approval from district officers before they can visit and render welfare services to needy people. The introduction of this law makes no sense except that it provides an umbrella for misdeeds and abuse to go unhindered and unexposed.
This new law must be challenged and it is in the interest of the federal government to advise the Sabah state legislators to immediately withdraw this act before any further embarrassment and backlash is felt nationwide by the federal government's inaction.
We also cannot but ask why there has been no addressing of two recent allegations of a senior minister being corrupt and the observation from the nation's former top cop that 40 percent of the police force could be corrupt.
Malaysians wonder why the silence at the financial irregularities in the escalating costs of the new Istana Negara and the phenomenal debts of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) which has got the international diplomatic and business community all over the world talking.
We cannot but be embarrassed that despite all the hype and slogans of corporate governance, accountability and zero tolerance for corruption and abuse of power, new scandals are emerging unhindered while the old ones are still unanswered.
We have failed to root out corruption, to address the rising crime index, cronyism, racism, fanaticism of political greed and the illegal accumulation of ill-gotten gains. So the pertinent question still remains - where we are as a nation heading to?
Will we continue to have our 'party', unperturbed nor disturbed at the rot that has set in and eating at the vary fabric of all that our founding fathers held most dear? Or will we decide to put our house in order? And perhaps, that remains for me as the most pertinent question for this 50th year of our independence.
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