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YOURSAY | ‘Ranks for sale’ claim: We need to drain the swamp

This article is 3 years old

YOURSAY | ‘It is infested with alligators of all types.’

Rafidah: 'Ranks for sale' claim highlights need to reset national compass

Mat M Din: It seems that the level of corruption in the police force has gone far beyond toleration. It needs a thorough investigation to eradicate it and an internal investigation is not good enough.

Therefore, it is appropriate for government to engage an international investigator to probe the lifestyle and bank accounts of all suspected senior officers, their immediate families and their properties which are acquired beyond their means.

When it is found that their properties and other items were acquired through fraudulent means, they have to be seized by the state.

As an incentive to the investigator to carry out a thorough and extensive investigation, it is advised that a commission of about 10 percent of the value of the properties seized be given to the investigator.

The police force is tasked to look after the state security and safety, but if it is found to be corrupt, untrustworthy and lacking integrity, it loses its credibility and becomes irrelevant.

Tyrion Lannister: I have never thought that rank or position for sales can ever reach our shore. It finally did. How low can we go?

This is something we used to read happening in neighbouring countries. Soon, we will hear about payment for a job or maybe university intake. There will be a price for anything where discretionary power is involved.

OCT: The whole world knows how corrupted our government is for a long time. Yet the government turns a blind eye to this perception.

When Najib Abdul Razak was named as a kleptocrat, the ruling government at that time didn't do anything. They even accused other countries of sabotaging Malaysia.

Najib was charged only when there was a change in government. Had BN won the 2018 general election, Najib would still be PM.

There has never been any sitting minister charged for corruption. Same goes with the police and MACC. Few high-ranking officers in our enforcement agencies have been charged and found guilty of corruption. Most corruption cases are swept under the carpet.

The government has no shame when the world has ranked Malaysia as one of the most corrupted nations in the world.

BlueFish0451: Former minister Rafidah Aziz, ask your ex-boss, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, about it.

The journey down south began with him. Each and every time when there was a turning towards north, he would make sure that it went south again. He and no one else is to be blamed for putting the country in such a pitiful condition.

Just a Malaysian: ‘Reset’ is too polite a word. We need someone to drain the swamp. It is infested with alligators of all types.

Oriole: It’s not enough for a former minister to speak out. Can Rafidah take the lead on this? Zaid Ibrahim and Charles Santiago have brought renewed pressure to this issue.

It would be ideal if all such good people could come together to put forward a plan of action to the PM and to the home minister whose views and reflections appear regressive.

The police force seems to have lost all public confidence and things appear to be nothing more than a sham. People with clout need to step forward.

Oktoberfest: I believe ex-inspector-general of police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador wanted to clean up the mess before he went, but who stopped him?

Who was the home minister and the PM at that time? They and similar rotten politicians are the ones who should be removed first from the system before it can be cleaned up. The whole regime has to go, including the grand old master.

If there is no place in Malaysian jails, we can rent Bagram Air Base prison from the Taliban. After all, they need the cash. I'm sure Malaysians will be happy to crowdfund to pay to get rid of the ‘piling rubbish’ in the country.

Give them the Taliban treatment or the same treatment they mete to detainees here.

MS: As many have pointed out, a culture of corruption this widespread and deep needs time and the “buat bodohism” of regimes past and present to enable it to flourish and become a way of life.

Short of a total overhaul of the system to flush it clean, (a kind of chemotherapy if you will), it is like cancer that continues to infect cell after cell until no one is spared.

What makes this variety even more toxic and virulent is its foundation in the country’s unwritten rule of governance – ‘Ketuanan Melayu’. Which is the only reason no Malay politician will wage a war against it.

Which is also why that famous MOU (memorandum of understanding between the government and Pakatan Harapan) did not include the IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission).

Exile: The allegation that one needs to buy a position in the police force has brought to the fore again the degree to which ‘money' is the religion of our times. Yet the majority have little choice but to turn to religion to redeem ourselves from the cesspool of moral depravity.

Here is some guidance from the Quran and other sources.

Sura 2, The Heifer (Al-Baqarah) [2:188]: “You shall not take each other’s money illicitly, nor shall you bribe the officials to deprive others of some of their rights illicitly, while you know.”

Ecclesiastes 5:10: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”

Lao Tzu: “There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontent. And there is no greater disaster than greed.”

It is important to remember that there is probably no one who has not at some point offered money to compensate for some wrong. In a sense, we are all guilty.

Kawak: Nasi sudah jadi bubur (Rice has become porridge). It’s too late. Corruption in every form has been too ingrained in our society and public service.

The people in power are enjoying their ill-gotten gains. To remain in power, they divide and rule. They play with racial sentiments and use non-Malays as scapegoats for any failures.

It is obvious there is zero political will to reset this destructive culture.

Cyclonus: Sometimes I think we are living in a "Matrix" where the real Malaysia is crumbling all around us.


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