YOURSAY | Corruption scandals must not be forgotten

YOURSAY | ‘Let’s hope these cases are not swept under the carpet and forgotten.’

COMMENT | Have the LCS, MACC chief’s shares scandals been forgotten?

OCT: This hot potato cannot be exposed as it involved several high-profile politicians. RM6 billion paid without any ship delivered is a world record. Our contract payment is often very beneficial to the contractor. Twenty percent of the mobilisation cost of RM9 billion is already RM1.8 billion upon signing the contract without doing any work. 

Consultation fees, technical drafts, design and operations, and maintenance will take another 20 percent. All these billings don’t require deliverables but signs of work in progress. Forty percent of RM9 billion is already RM3.6 billion paid for vapourware. The rest of the payments are for hardware and software that are not fully tested and not needed right away.

There is dubious payment when the details of payment are backed by the invoice for work in progress. The contractor is laughing all the way to the bank while the rakyat suffers. No contractors had gone to jail for unfinished business. The government will reallocate the project to another new contractor. Money paid is money gone. No repayment or recovery. The contractor always wins when he is not punished. No way to punish government-linked companies as they are ‘adek beradek’.

Very concerned citizen: Thanks for the timely reminder, veteran journalist R Nadeswaran.The year 2022 is coming to an end and a new year will begin soon. Let’s hope these cases are not swept under the carpet and forgotten.

I am sure that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Economic Affairs Minister Rafizi Ramli know that they came into power because of their strong anti-corruption stand. 

They know the rakyat will not forget their promises of going after the corrupt. Let us give them some space to settle down as the new government is still new. We hope to see some action during the first quarter of 2023.

BOBBYO: Who came knocking on Pakatan Harapan’s door, when they did not have the numbers to form the government? Umno.

Who are those said to be involved in the littoral combat ships (LCS) scandal? Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi together with his partners, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussien.

So, it has turned into a sensitive issue. It can mean the collapse of the relationship between the powers that be, leading to those waiting on the sides quickly grabbing power.  

How do you handle this issue? What is the best solution?  Well, let us wait and see as this elephant in the room just cannot be swept under the carpet.

Along with MACC chief Azam Baki, it has to be dealt with. Will we see a new MACC chief in the near future?

MS: It will be the same as in the past because it has now become an integral part of the dominant culture, entrenched in the system of governance and tightly interwoven with Ketuananism.

And what is also significant, it is not proscribed by the faith - a point articulated by the likes of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. With no pushback from those clustered as “professors” and “scholars”.

This is also why most Malaysians and the media which informs them forget. And why moving against the corrupt with the force it requires will spook the flock.

WhiteWhale3947: Nadeswaran, you are the conscience of the nation. LCS and Azam have not been forgotten and will never be. It is a question of priorities and we don’t want Anwar to be accused of going on a witch-hunt.

Let us all be patient without putting undue pressure on the government. As it is, with people like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad around and the fact that it is a coalition of partners with different ambitions and focus, Anwar is already under lots of pressure.

We waited so long for Anwar to be prime minister. So let’s give him some time to sort things out. I see so many positive signs and am prepared to be patient. Hopefully, more will be achieved, and the country moves in the right direction.

Pocoyo: Patience is required. Let us not be like Mahathir when he was appointed prime minister for the second time and people were complaining that reforms were not being done even though he was at the helm again only for a short while. 

Anwar has to walk a thin line dealing with those scandals that involve those who have backed him in Parliament. Stop putting unnecessary pressure on him. He has five years to do something about it.

Newday: Nadeswaran, just like what you have done, we must keep talking loudly about these issues. I am prepared to give the new government a bit of leeway as they have only been in power for a very short time.

Once they get to their sixth month in power, and the silence remains, then it becomes a major issue.

Zahid, who is now deputy prime minister, was up to his neck in regard to the LCS scandal. Is that the stumbling block now?

Lionking: Trying to fix many things at once is not feasible. The entire government machinery seems rotten.

They just removed all political appointees, closed down the National Recovery Council (NRC), and transferred some of the departments. So things are moving.

Trains and escalators are being looked into. We should give a bit more time… but yes, the urgency is there.

Thunderbolt: The government must never and should not forget about Azam’s share-owing case. He is the head of MACC and he is supposed to investigate and prevent corruption, but he is tainted. The worst part is that he is still the head of MACC.

How can he perform his duties to the highest professional standards expected of him? How can he carry out his duties without fear of favour? He will always be painted with the same brush as those who committed offences that he is supposed to investigate. How scary is that?

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