By Paul  Chong      Monday 10 August 2015

I am a Chinese by Descent & an Australian by Consent. Though born in a little village town called Matang, Perak, Malaysia, I should rightly call myself a Malaysian. I wish I could proudly called myself that, not for all the headline news Malaysia is making all for the wrong reasons. We have been disowned as “sons of the soil” or urged to go home to our motherland. Now the question is who should be going home?

Beneath all that news splash, Malaysia has been rotting away right down to the core. As a teacher, I had seen the political & social deterioration setting in since 13 May 1969, the year of racial riot & civil commotion when the Alliance ruling party was eroded in its two-third majority. Deprivation of rights was/is robbing deserving citizens clean & dry. Meritocracy flew out of the window to give way to “Malay-democrazy”. Malay special rights & privileges for the “Bumiputras” (sons of the soil – a term reserved only for the Malays) set to roll in tertiary education, jobs, scholarships, business ownerships, government contracts & others. Their rights & privileges supersede all others.

There’s no fairness or justice – it’s a country where anything goes (Malaysia Boleh). Law & order take cue from the Prime Minister Najib Razak, who possesses straight A’s in his credentials . . . greater qualifications than any other great leaders of the world!(Refer to my blog archives for details: “Najib: Straight A’s Malaysian Prime Minister” Thursday 27 November 2014).

With the kind of qualifications, strictly self-conferred, who else can rule over him. As a side-track kick, even his wife Rosmah, got conferred with an honorary PhD from Curtin University, Perth in Western Australia, on what ground it’s difficult to verify. So Najib rules. He rules over the courts, the MACC (Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission), the police & army, the civil service, the press to mention a few. Najib rules with absolute power.

For example, Mahuyidin Yassin was sacked as DPM for speaking out loud in requesting Najib to explain re the financial scandal of 1MDB . . . What a world to be living in? “Malaysia apa pun boleh”! Two other critics in the cabinet were also sacked.

The new reshuffled Malaysian Cabinet is now a poisoned chalice, unpredictable, volatile & explosive. History will be in the making. Najib is desperate & in a do or die attempt he is removing all opposition members who are critical of him & promoting others who are with him, whether it’s legal or otherwise. It’s a political quagmire that he has created and the UMNO camp in the Supreme Council is somewhat divided. Take a look at this cartoon video clip below:

No law or order . . . .

Najib has been known to say that “Cash is King”. It has nothing
to do with the economic wellbeing of Malaysia, but everything to do with political control through financial tyranny – the financial
corruption of the political institutions of Malaysia.

Now in the light of the recent financial scandal related to IMDB (I Malaysian Development Berhad), Najib Razak today said he has been cleared by MACC of corruption claims linked to a RM2.6 billion deposit in his personal accounts. MACC is newly & presently staffed by people who are in his favour. It’s maintained that the sum of money came from private donations & as prime minister, Najib is entitled to receive such donations & no crime is being committed. Even IMDB confirmed that the money didn’t come from it.

As was reported by Sarawak Report & the Wall Street Journal’ 1MDB ran up a debt of RM11 billion & apparently RM700 million was found to be deposited into Najib’s personal account. Najib told the white people to stay away & to stop meddling with Malaysia’s internal affair during the recent visit of British PM David Cameron who was telling Najib to clean up his acts. How can a dirty broom sweep clean a dirty floor? By the way, the founder of Sarawak Report has been threatened with arrest, but it would be a hard act to extradict her from UK. The same goes for WSJ.

There has long been a history of CCN (Corruption, Cronyism, Nepotism) . . . a persistent phenomenon that pervades the nation. It’s all about money & power playing out on the Malaysian stage.

Suffice for me to mention all these in passing to show the mess of the national affairs. Lots of other dirty stuff could be swept under the carpet & it’s only now that we are slowly uncovering them. The people are having their coffers robbed & there don’t seem to be any way out.

There are on-going investigations but they have been subverted by the Prime Minister when he sacked the Attorney-General, the Head of the Special Task Force and corruptly elevated four low-level UMNO flunkeys in the Parliament Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the Cabinet. With his men placed in the right places half or the whole battle is won.

You just wonder how long will the financial saga take to be solved. Now looking in from outside I am glad we made the decision to quit the country which we so love dearly. Life’s good down under where security & safety are concerned & everything is fair & square.

When we packed up our bags to migrate in 1982 we were inclined to think that Malaysia would be sliding down more & more which is what’s happening. Our objective was to secure a better future for our three children. This we have achieved. Our daughter is a PhD holder from Murdoch University. Our elder son is a doctor with specialisation in anaesthesia. Our younger son graduated from the same University of Western Australia with double honours in civil engineering & computer science. It’s Malaysia’s loss but a gain to Australia.

The world is undoubtedly watching Malaysia. It will be interesting to see how the dramatic saga unfolds. Besides this created quagmire there are also patches of quick sand which are dangerous to tread upon.

Hollywood would be interested to shoot a movie & make Najib a notorious hero on the big screen. Such a pity . . . Najib, with his good personality, tall & eloquent, could have evolved to be a national hero. Of course, he’ll play the romantic role with the Mongolian ghost ALTANTUYA SHAARIIBUU. She was allegedly bombed away when things got rough.

Righteousness is a rare commodity among politicians.

Now in the twilight years of my life, I live a contented & happy life. Our object to provide our children with the best education possible was uppermost in our mind when we decided to migrate. All have been fulfilled. We wanted them to have a good start to life’s journey and they are now well established. It’s all so worthwhile, despite having to make initial sacrifices of our own, foregoing a lucrative real estate business of my own & making adjustment in the new environment.

They have a saying in Malay: “Gaya mahu, lain lain tiada apa”.