Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely!
In the last few weeks we have seen a very public display of the sorry state of our nation. Zooming in on one incident and one person's display of unsustainable appetite and the lack of integrity in dealing with public office, one wonders how many more have gone unpublicised and hence unchecked.
In reality, the Zakaria Mat Deros problem is widespread. In reality, the Government has to account the cost to our ailing nation. Malaysia is drowning in greed.
To plead ignorance of our sorry state would be irresponsible. This country is not one that is lacking in wisdom and bright intelligent citizens. Those heading our public service are not fools. Many have been and are still being trained in INTAN and overseas organisations and universities with a variety of courses on the process of accountability, governance, management and transparency.
So why have we become a nation of sufferers of selective hearing and chronic blind spots?
Journalists in the government-controlled morally crippled mainstream media are not fools, as they proved their worth in Zakaria's case. Surely there are thinking people amongst UMNOputra who can see that the country's resources cannot sustain the National Coalition of big appetite. Greed and obesity in its most tragic form.
Lord Acton, a 19th century British historian, observed that a person's sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases.
He wrote that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
How very relevant to modern day Malaysia. Pause a while and think about these two quotes:
"In the regulations it does not say that people who break the law cannot be appointed councillors. We appoint people according to their party positions. I will follow the orders, which say appointment of councillors has to be according to their party positions. So if there is any problem we will refer to the party management", said Khir Toyo in reference to why the teary Zakaria Deros held on to office.
"The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has no powers to initiate investigations on reports and charges of money politics and bribery within Umno", said the de-facto law minister Nazri Aziz.
Shameless in their lack of integrity and absolute in their lack of morality these two public people were quoted saying this publicly.
The real message is that UMNOputra is above the law.
Fifty years of National Coalition power in Malaysia has resulted in an endemic selective hearing, blind spots and a tiered social structure. Tier A: the blue blood National Coalition members who are above the law; Tier Z: the likes of you and me, who have to put up with repressive laws and regulations. It is both tragic and a great example of Lord Acton's "absolute power corrupts absolutely"!
When are we as a wholesome Malaysian society - not just as Malays, Chinese or Indians, but as a society regardless of party politics going to insist on things being done with integrity, professionalism and with management accountability?
When are we going to insist that all local councils are elected by the people they are supposed to serve, not appointed by political parties?
After all, local councils are service organisations and not political organisations, therefore we should insist on council members being service orientated and not merely political hacks.
To have a political hack who blindly follows political instructions will mean that we have a replica of Khir Toyo blindly saying that he was merely following party orders that said it is OK for “people who broke the law†- in other words criminals - to sit in local councils!
It is the role of councils to plan and run essential services, and through that, manage taxpayers money. It is not a small job, it is a job that requires great integrity to ensure social justice and vital services to the people, regardless of race and creed. It holds the power to ensure the rakyat gets the level of services that they need; it means planning for the poorest of the poor, managing equality from the haves to the have-nots.
Hence those who wants to be elected as local councillors must be able to demonstrate their capability, expertise and values such as basic human decency.
When are we as a society are going to demand merit-based appointments in our local councils and beyond that to our public service?
The fact that the Prime Minister had refused to ask Zakaria Mat Deros to publicly declare his assets is in itself a sad indictment of our nation. How much did his mansion cost? And what has been his salary? Has he had a big inheritance? If not, where did the money come from? Apparently, not only are we not entitled to know, the ACA shouldn't even ask!
When is our society going to have a healthy cynicism?
By any standards, in the wake of this Zakaria Mat Deros incident, you and I are entitled to expect the ACA be boosted with more resources. Only a properly resourced ACA, staffed by competent non-corrupt people and allowed to investigate all breaches of the law and corrupt acts, will allow the beginning of a long journey to fight corruption.
It will require a Coalition with a political will bigger than the greed and appetite of its members. It will require urging and movements from the public to demand a stop to intergenerational transgression of public resources.
On top of that, the public must be continuously educated to not vote for clearly corrupt people, regardless of their party, race, religion, colour or status.
At the end, you and I - the public - have to change our attitude of high level of tolerance to corrupt behaviour.
If we continue to give away our power to a coalition of the corrupt, we deserve nothing more and nothing less than the Zakaria Mat Deros of this world.
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7 comments:
Reading this article leaves a very sick feeling your stomach!.....and it is a frightening legacy fro our children to inherit!
Assalamualaikum,
Nenek Kebayan,
It is not difficult to understand the conditions that we are in. The answers are in the Al Quran:
"But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e neither believes in this Quran nor acts on its taechings) verily, for him is a life of hardship,...( Ta Ha 20:124)
When we don't follow ALlah's guidance, we easily fall into the traps of our enemies. The Protocol of the learned elders of zion states thus:
1. Use of corruption: 'Therefore we must not stop at bribery, deceit and treachery when they should serve towards the attainment of our end. Protocol 1 pg 28)
2. The types of leaders choosen:
i.The administrators, whom we shall choose from among the public with strict regard to their capacities for servile obedience, will not be persons trained in the arts of government and will therefore easily become pawns in our game in the hands of men of learning and genius, who will be their advisers, specialists bred reared from early chilhood to rule the affairs of the whole world.'( Protocol 3 page 31)
ii. 'And the weapons in our hands are limitless ambitions, burning greediness, merciless vengence, hatreds and malice.' (Protocol 9 pg 58)
iii. 'Our triumph has been rendered easier by the fact that in our relations with the men whom we wanted we have always worked upon the most sensitive chords of the human mind, upon the cash account, upon the cupidity, upon the instiabiality of material nedds of man...' (Protocol 1 pg 30)
2. False knowledge:
i. 'We have got our hands into ....education and training as being the corner-stones of a free existence. We have fooled, bemused and corrupted the youth of the goyim by rearing them on priciples and theories which are known to us to be false although it is by us that they are been inculcated.' (Protocol 9 pg 60)
ii. 'This is the reason why it is indispensible for us to undermine all faith, to tear out of the minds of the goyim the very priciples of Godhead and the spirit, and to put in place arithmetical calculations and material needs.' (Protocol 4 pg 43)
If you analyse what has happened and is happening in Malaysia, you will realise that what were planned in the 1900s are taking place in Malaysia now.
How can this happen?
Ex-Primier Moshe Dayan was once reported to have told The Knesset (Israeli parliment), when asked why he openly spoke about Israel's plans, that there was nothing to worry because the Muslims don't read, and if they read, they don't understand, and if they understand, they don't act and if they act, they are not persistent.
A survey by UPM some time ago showed that, the Chinese read most, followed by the Indians. The Malays read least and if they at all read, they read light readings like 'Mad' magazine, 'GIla-Gila', Sukan, URTV etc. Yet ALLah's first command to man is "Iqra'" (Read!) And the most important reading material is Al Quran.
Funny enough, the enemies of Islam are aware of the strength of Al Quran:
i. "Dan Gladstone bekas Perdana Menteri Britain berkata: 'Selagi mana Al Quran kekal di tangan orang-orang islam, maka selama itu pula Barat tidak akan berupaya menguasai Timur.' (Ustadz Jalal Al-'Alim : "Seruan Barat: Hancurkan Islam, Hapuskan Pemeluknya. Dewan Pustaka Fajar. 2003 ms 37)
ii. Seorang penguasa Perancis di Algeria pernah berucap di hari ulang tahun ke seratus penjajahan Perancis di Algeria dengan berkata: '... kita berkewajipan membenteras al-Quran berbahasa Arab itu dari dunia ini...' (Sama ms 38)
Jadi, hairankah kita bila orang Melayu berada dalam keadaan sekarang: hidup segan, mati tidak mahu?
Saudara Salmanulfarisi,
Corruption is simply wrong. Be it in Malaysia or Indonesia. As thinking citizens, I believe, to not do anything about it, is equally wrong.
Saudara Abu Abdillah,
Waalaikummusalam.
One practical question - how can we make these corrupt malay muslims embrace religion and live the values Quran teaches?
with kind regards
Assalamualikum,
Nenek Kebayan,
ALlah has shown the way.
The Arab jahilliyah was at the pit of human destruction. Yet, when ALlah sent Nabi Muhammad saw to them, they were saved and they rose to be the best man of all times in the history of man.
The methodology used is ALlah's and anyone who wants to rise to the same level of excellence must take the same road. How?
1.Allah changed the leadership. He brought Nabi Muhammad saw as a new leader.
In Malaysia who do you think can take this role?
2. Nabi Muhammad saw trained about 1,500 Arabs to become the hard core group with whom he s.a.w hijrah to Madinah. Together, Nabi saw transformed Madinah into an Islamic state within 10 years.
What is happening to Malaysia 49 years after independence?
3. The transformation of Madinah was based on the work done in Mekah for 13 years. This is the basis of any reformation that must be done by anyone who wants to succeed.
What did Nabi Muhammad saw do in Mekah?
"Sesungguhnya ALlah tidak merobah keadaan sesuatu kaum sehingga mereka merobah keadaan yang ada pada diri mereka sendiri?"(Ar Ra'd 13:11)
Sheikh Salman al-Oadah| commented:
"In contrast to this, the Qur’ān clearly guides us to the fact that the true beginning of any reform must come from within. A person must start by reforming himself, and then he can turn his attention to reforming others. This is the way the change will be a “change within ourselves”, which is what is stipulated by the verse.
Reform starts deep within the individual and then stretches out to the vastness surrounding him. Many people, contrary to this fact, target their surroundings without dealing with themselves first. Their feelings of historical power and glory continue to be an obstacle to their understanding, defining, and determining their priorities."
We see that Nabi Muhammad saw began with himself then slowly spread outwards.
The same thing are happenning now. Two examples:
1. There was a white British family who reverted to Islam. One day his best friend came to stay with him for two weeks. During that time, he did not mention anything about Islam. All that he did was to live an Islamic way. At the end of two weeks his friend reverted to Islam.
2. My friend married a Chinese convert against the wishes of her parents. At one stage, the family was searching to kill her.
Now, the parents have accepted her and her family. The rich parents allocated a separate floor for her family during her visits. Why?
One of the reasons was that her children are well behaved and doing well in studies and in life as opposed to her nieces and nephews from non-Muslim marriages who are involved in parties, womanising, alcohol etc.
So, if we want to change others, we must follow the example set by Nabi Muhammad s.a. w : Change ourselves first anbd people in our zone of influence like our family, friends, neighbours, colleagues etc.
Believe me, people are seaching for internal peace. Like in the West, where Islam is the fastest spreading religion, making people leave the churches (this is the real cause of terrorism among the non-Muslims like Bush et al), people will return to Islam only when they see the living Islam around them or if they read Al Quran with an open mind.
As some Muslim thinkers say: "The creation of an Islamic state begins within oneself."
Walalah hua'lam
Salam.
A'kum
In the context of Malaysia to check UMNO greedy appetite for power and money, is not easy. UMNO and its strong allies in BN control every means; media, civil servants, economy, education, you name it, by doing so they continue to win every election and control our government. Not enough with that they also use various laws such as ISA, OSA, the list goes on and on to intimidate rakyat from voicing ther voices. Power and money in UMNO is synonym. For most UMNOputras if not all, 9 out of 10, they will use politics to accumulate wealth for their families and cronies not to serve for the betterment of our country let alone to help needy ‘rakyat’ who are still suffering with lack of education, better housing, proper job, poor infrastructure all these problems yet to be addressed even Malaysia is a blessings country with oil, gold, timber, fertile lands and so on. The gap between the haves and have-not is widening day by day in Malaysia. The richer got richer the poorer got poorer. Under corrupt system where no check and balance mechanism of those in power who greedy for money and influence, the have-nots always at the disadvantages. Datuk Zak case is only the tip of iceberg. We are not shortage of examples, Muhamad Taib brought RM10 million in a suitcase in his visit to Australia many years ago is one case in point, ISA Samad’s case corruption during UMNO party election and Osu Sukam Gambling case are also in the list. But what happen to them? nothing, no serious action being taken by UMNO top leaders. The answer is simple, they are also the same, the other side of the same coin.
Yaacob Saman
WCY
Yes the question is how do we ( the minority) deal with the seduction of corruption and the fact that corrupt money buys power and is currently in control of the minds of the masses.
Simplistic views such as living by example, as much as I want to believe it, I doubt has the force to manage the power that corrupt people have garnered in Malaysia.
It is money, money, money and it is buying and retaining a corrupt system at the expense of us the rakyat!
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