Politics of Retaliation will only destroy the country

By Stephen Ng 

How long will the politics of retaliation go on in the country?

         It is one thing to uphold the law and allow the wrongdoer to be punished if he has stolen money from the people, but it is another thing to find every possible fault with a person or an organisation just out of retaliation.

         This is especially disgusting with people who are elected to run the government. They should be accountable to the people; instead, they are wasting away both public funds and the time of those under them instead of making use of the time to run the country.

         I am speaking of three cases that I am aware of, involving two Menteri Besar and at least one political party.

RCI for Tommy Thomas?

         Tommy Thomas was officially appointed as the country’s Attorney-General in 2018. Already running a thriving legal firm in the Bar, I doubt it was something that he was yearning for, but like most of us, he probably decided to take up the task in order to serve the nation.

         His predecessor Abdul Ghani Patail was sacked by former Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak along with others who were involved in the investigation of the 1MDB scandal, one of the largest scandals investigated by the US Department of Justice.

         Billions of public funds were siphoned out of the public coffers and spent by fugitive Jho Low on expensive yacht, paintings and condominiums.

         Thanks to the work of Thomas, Najib is already in jail but Low is still at large. Instead of carrying out investigations and setting up the Royal Commission of Inquiry, the unity government should direct the police to go after the Low family.

         What Thomas revealed in his book are facts that everyone already knows. All that he did was to establish the facts from his perspective as a former Attorney-General. After all, it is his memoir and I doubt anything he mentioned in his book is “Top Secret” that could jeopardise the country’s security.

         As mentioned by former Bar Council chairman, Ambiga Sreenivasam, the police have to carry out the investigation as instructed. Who instructed them? I always thought Pakatan Harapan was willing to work with civilians like Ambiga and Thomas to uphold justice.

         Where are all the comrades? People are watching.

Menteri Besar of a Northern State

What irks many of us is when a Menteri Besar of the Northern State starts coming out with some controversial statements.

It goes to show that they are not there in their positions because they are good administrators but he hopes to appease his supporters by coming out with all sorts of statements.

This is sad because the state itself is backward compared to other states yet, so much time is spent on dealing with the controversies.

The Menteri Besar should realise that when his state was hit by the tsunami, people from all races and religions came to help the rakyat.

 Recently, when two of the states under the Menteri Besar’s political party, which is now in Opposition, suffered from major floods, one of the Menteri Besar was holidaying when both Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and even his deputy Zahid Hamidi turned up at the people’s doorstep.

Yet, when the holidaying Menteri Besar returned to his home state, and the country’s leader visited the state, the Menteri Besar snubbed him.

Menteri Besar of an Eastern State

         Allow me to make further observations about another Menteri Besar of an eastern state.

         A video had gone viral where an eco-tourist resort operator investigated the logging activities upstream. Being the president of a non-governmental organisation, it was also her job to protect the tropical rainforests which are believed to be the oldest and among the most biologically diverse forests in the world, from being cleared.

         After all, for the sake of the future generations, we expect our governments to practise sustainable development, which is much talked about, but which of the leaders are walking the talk?

         Although I tried to help resolve the problem between the two parties, it looks like the battle will go on, much to the chagrin of the people.

         From my observations, the state government is using all its machinery to strangle the goose which has the potential to lay the golden eggs for the state. If not renewing their license to operate the eco-resort is not an act of retaliation, what about asking them to renew every three months? 

        And the eco-resort's signboard was replaced with the Menteri Besar's signboard. 

        Much time and state funds will be wasted on trying to make it difficult for the owner of the eco-tourist resort to operate, and which will only scare away potential investors who are watching.

Appeal to the Federal Government and the Agong

We are talking about a nation that is torn apart by the toxicity of our country’s politics.

Several Sultans have also expressed their disgust. For example, the Sultan of Selangor purchased a poster showing both chimpanzees and frogs debating in the august house.

The Sultan of Perak had also expressed his concerns about the political climate in the country.

To restore some sanity to the country and for the nation to move forward, I appeal to the Seri Paduka Yang DiPertuan Agong and the Prime Minister to do what needs to be done to restore both investors and people’s confidence in the government of the day.