This was at least a year ago. I said nothing in defence of Malaysia or any other Asian country. I merely pointed out that the United States is very corrupt as well.
For those of you who couldn't care less about the USA, it is currently election season, and the Republicans and Democrats have been slugging it out. They have had the primaries, which allows party members to elect the candidate of their choice.
Despite Bernie Sanders being the more popular candidate for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton was nominated.
A ridiculously high amount of money gets splashed around, and particularly flung at candidates, so that they would take up policies friendly to the donor. These donors are usually big corporations who want permits and tax reliefs.
I particularly find it offensive, because I volunteer with Homeless Shelters and I know how many poor, penurious people there are, who live in the same metropolitan area that I do.
The injustice makes me think about what the world has become and wonder how it is that a bigger number of people don't find it all as revolting as I do.
But I am not going to talk about the USA, despite the fact that the 1MDB fiasco has emerged again because of the actions by the US Department of Justice. Or that the Wall Street Journal was one of the first to report on the scandal.
The WSJ, despite its current ownership by News Corp (Rupert Murdoch, by any other name, is still as filthy), has always been reporting about Malaysian corruption, even back in 2012.
The point I am trying to make, my dear fellow Malaysians, is that we are not going to be able to rely on the US Department of Justice to deliver us from our evil, heartless, avaricious and profligate politicians. From what it sounds, they are going to confiscate the money and assets and then "return it to the rightful owners", the government of Malaysia.
Seriously? That's going back to square one. Besides, it would be like the blind leading the blind. The Americans need to sort out their problems and we need to sort out ours.
The Wall Street Journal, exposing our Prime Minister's embezzlement, isn't going to make everything alright.
It just exposes our politics for what it is, and brings shame to the nation. It diminishes our reputation.
It does our world-class Malaysian professionals a disservice.
Our media is mostly owned by the government and it reports false news to us. They make us think that everything is fine and dandy when it is clearly not.
The irony of this situation at the moment, is that most nations have reported on Malaysia's 1MDB scandal, while it barely makes any news back home. This means that the masses who don't bother to read international news on the internet have no clue what is going on under their very noses.
No clue at all.
And then you wonder why BN keeps getting voted in time in and time out. Their list of sins are numerous, and not exhaustive. But people either don't know or don't care.
And that surprises me, because it's not like the average joe on the street isn't being affected by the government's overt and blatant embezzlement. I mentioned GST in a previous post, but I hadn't mentioned property taxes, especially in KL, where most urban citizens are well-read, and did NOT vote for BN.
How about the new two hour parking limit? The increase in public transportation costs?
We pay a lot less in income tax than the rest of the world does, but is it going to the right channels? Is it truly improving our lives, or just the lives of a select few?
Why are we putting up with that? Why would you think that these select few are entitled to a much better life than we are?
Why haven't things changed for so long? Back in 2007, I listed the top 3 on my Corruption Hall Of Fame. Some of those people have since died, but someone else just shows up and does exactly the same thing. In fact, Najib's scale of embezzlement has dwarfed all other attempts.
And no one objects. Not outwardly, at least.
People, we need to change.
No comments:
Post a Comment