Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Who Will Eradicate Corruption, then?

According to Dr Chandra Muzaffar, the chairman of the Yayasan 1Malaysia, who is also the former PKR deputy president, changing the government in this country would not solve the problems of corruption within the nation's establishment.

Asides, Dr Chandra also mentioned that not only is BN corrupt but the opposition Pakatan Rakyat is also corrupt in its administrations and politics. It shows that Dr Chandra is not only narrow minded when making such statement but he is not looking at the broader prospect of the proposal made by Pakatan Rakyat in its recently released electoral manifesto.

So, does Dr Chandra mean, since Pakatan Rakyat is also corrupt, why not let BN who is "totally corrupt" to continue governing this nation so that these BN leaders could squander more in billions of Ringgit from our people? In this subject, where does Dr Chandra looking at? It looks like he looks forward for our nation to fall backwards instead of moving forward.

Yes, Dr Chandra maybe right in his thought and we will rate him 70 percent, for now. We agree that whoever is in power would become corrupt because of the materialistic nature of these politicians, especially those who has been in power for decades continuously. The fact here is, BN has already been in power for more than 55 years, while the opposition Pakatan Rakyat had just started to taste the corridor of power in March 2008 when they managed to wrest power in the states of Kedah, Perak, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan.

Let us come back to the case of Dr Chandra's word, "Pakatan Rakyat is also corrupt". Let us help Dr Chandra to understand the entire situation. Combating corruption, be it whether BN or Pakatan Rakyat is in Putrajaya would not be easy, but at least, Pakatan Rakyat leaders has the strong political will to present their effort to our people that they had undertook to combat this negative element in their Common Policy Framework and their recently released Electoral Manifesto. And this is Pakatan Rakyat's strongest political will to combat corruption.

So, Dr Chandra, where is BN's political will in combating corruption? BN has been in power for more than 55 years now. First, the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA), then it was upgraded to Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), even then, until today, these previous and current entities are both under the Prime Minister's Department when the commission-based MACC was supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the parliament.

Since the MACC is still under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department, can we see any clear independence and impartiality of MACC in its effort to eradicate corruption? Why are all those most corrupted politicians in the BN are still in their powerful seats despite so many exposure on their wrongdoings and their millions of Ringgit in fortune which are all doubtful.

Under BN, only those small fries as well as unimportant personalities and leaders with least power within the party and administration are being charged and convicted for corruptions. Most of these so-called convicted ones were merely scapegoats standing out for their big bosses up there.

So, Dr Chandra again, is this call political will on the BN side? Why is MACC until today still being labelled as ineffective in its role in combating corruption? Why are people still having so many negative impression on the MACC until today, despite so many efforts being carried out by the later. Efforts are only educating the public on corruption. What is very weak and ineffective now are on the Enforcement and Prosecution side of the MACC, of which the BN government had until today refused to grant these powers to the MACC.

In this case, Dr Chandra, the BN government has no political will at all in combating corruption. In the lay person's point of view, the BN is not serious in this effort at all. The have created all sorts of transformation programme here and there, making so many announcements and luxurious launching, but in carrying out these efforts, these BN leaders are half-hearted.

Then, does Dr Chandra still wants the monster to remain in control of our nation just because the cat has eaten a teaspoon of sugar? Just think about it. Use your wisdom please!