Gutter Politics in Malaysia

Before we begin the thorny subject of politics, let me clarify that I am apolitcal but my ramblings eminate from my searing inability to see injustices done to the weak and average person. When governments are corrupt and citizens are oppressed I feel it is my duty to make some noise irrespective of who or what political party is doing the wrong.

Malaysian politics is anything but boring. From accusations of murder to charges of sodomy, there isn't a day that goes by in Malaysian politics without an attention grabing headline or two.

We have heard of how the current Deputy Prime Minister Najib who is on the verge of becoming the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia is linked to the murder of a Mongolian woman. We have also seen how an up an coming politician was filmed by her boyfriend having sex and the tape distributed to the press. Then there is the allegation against the prominent opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy and what many believe to be false allegations to derail his bid to topple the government. Previously Anwar was charged for sodomy but was cleared of it but still spent 6 years in jail for corruption, in which his supporters claimed were trumped up charges manufactured by then Prime Minister Mahathir. It is interesting to note that in this latest sodomy charge against Anwar, his accuser met with Anwar's bitter rival and the DPM of Malaysia and soon to be PM of Malaysia, Najib before going to the police. Najib later said he was 'giving career advice' to the school drop out and had nothing to do with the sodomy. Does he really think people will buy that? But then again Malaysian politicians are like that, they talk like the Malaysian public are stupid. There is also an independant medical examination performed on the accuser that concluded that there was no sodomy. Apparently, the anus was still in tact. What more, Anwar's accuser is a young 6 foot tall man whereas Anwar is a sixty year old five foot plus man with a chronic back pain. Nevertheless, the police insisted on pressing ahead with the charges. One can only wonder, the motives behind it and who is pulling the strings to manufacture a case on the popular Anwar.

The recently concluded UMNO General Assembly voted in the UMNO persident (went unopposed), Vice persident's post, youth leader etc etc. Many who lost who had more experience and did better in the last General Election accused the winners of money politics. For those who don't know, money politics is actually corruption but they cannot call it corruption as corruption is illegal and money politics is not and is only against party rules, go figure! Anyway the sore losers accused the winners of money politics. I think most Malaysians know 99% of the politicians in Malaysia are corrupt, so no point accusing somebody of money politcs when you are no better yourself. You can pick any politician in Malaysia and dig up dirt on them. It's that easy. In this sense, the politicians will need to tow the party line otherwise they will be investigated for corruption and booted out into the political wilderness.

Then there is the MACC (Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission) which is supposed to mirror their counterparts in Hong Kong. They both have the word 'corruption' in their names but sadly there is where the similarities end. They are the spin off from the ACA (Anti Corruption Agency) which had lost the confidence of everyone because of its ineffectiveness and corruption from within its own walls. So came the setting up of the MACC with the accompanying fanfare that were accorded to most rock stars. However here is the funny part, the people are the same the director is the same. I'm no Einstein, but if you think just by changing the name of the organization, you could get a cleaner more effective organization to investigate corruption in a fair and unbiased manner, one it had never been able to achieve in its previous life as the ACA, then I'm indeed Einstein! There have been allegations that the MACC are swift to investigate opposition politicians with minor allegations like buying cows with public funds but take years to conclude investigations on the ruling elite over millions of ringgit worth of corruption. There were hundreds of reports lodged against the former Chief Minister of Selangor who I think everyone knows is a crook, but todate according to the MACC chief, there is insufficient evidence. The MACC chief likes to say give us the evidence then we'll investigate. I'm afraid if he was given the evidence, then we don't need the MACC, as there is little to 'investigate' and we would be doing his job for him. Unfortunately you get fairly low level calibre individuals like these sitting on top posts in many government agencies, like the Chief of Police, Election Commission, Home Minister and so on. It is an open secret that these people are just the running dogs of the government.

There was the case where an opposition politican was placed under the Internal Security Act 'for her own safety' (The ISA is a draconian Malaysian law that permits the government to detain a person indefinitely without trial). Now the Home Minister who uttered those words should get his head examined. Her life was in danger after she alledgedly touched on sensitive Islamic issues and instead of giving her the protection needed, she was locked up!

When onced asked why an opposition gathering was not given a police permit and a government gathering was, a top police official uttered that the government has certain priviledges and when the opposition becomes the government then they too will be accorded similar priviledges (in Malaysia a gathering of more than 4 people requires a police permit). So in essence this top police officer is saying you can't break the law unless you are the government, confirming what a lot of Malaysians have have known all along, that there is no rule of law when it comes to the government of Malaysia.

While all the gutter politics are happening, Malaysia goes down the path of economic destruction. Only months ago the new Finance Minister Najib proclaimed Malaysia's fundamentals are strong. What a load of bullocks. Not long after he made that comment, thousands of people were retrenched and Najib had to stimulate the economy with RM60 billion worth of government spending. How much of that is going to the ruling elite and their cronies, is hard to tell but if history is to repeat itself, the Malaysian public may never see much of it.

Malaysia is not a thriving democracy, it never was. With the kind of sub standard politicians running the country and the kind of opressive draconian laws that still exist, there is little hope that the country's abundance of natural resources can be fully realised to increase the wealth of the general population. The country has been plundered and raped by those linked to the political power that is called the Malaysian government. They use the draconian laws to their full extend and put those who attempt to expose their corruption in jail. Singapore was born from Malaysia some forty years ago. Today a Singaporean's average income is ten times that of a Malaysian, even without having any of the natural resources that Malaysia has. They buy water from Malaysia at 3 cents a gallon, process the water and sell it back to Malaysia for 3 dollars a gallon! What can I say, the citizens can only blame themselves for not voting off the government in the last General Election.0