Reformasi and korapsi. The war against corruption. Part 2. Sontoloyo series no 33.

1. The legendary Indonesian poet,WS Rendra;

2. in a few verses of his multiple quatrains, Pantun Korupsi, said:-

3. I read it this way. If you want to eradicate corruption , fight it there and here and everywhere.

4. Corruption is corruption is corruption. Big or small. No distinction, needed.

5. Some people mocked when said, corruption will be eradicated.

6. First the big fish , then the ikan bilis. In 3 years corruption will be eradicated. Contributions of these people, irrelevant.

7. You are fighting the culture of corruption. Distinction into big or small is also irrelevant.

8. The mockings are not appreciated.

9. Have you ever heard UMNO saying, it will fight corruption?

10. Never, right? Because corruption is 2nd nature to UMNO. It's embedded in its DNA.

11. When the Javanese neantherthal says UMNO will field candidates who are clean, no corruption, no personal problems, it's incredible!

12. An UMNO person with no history of these, is as rare as a hen's teeth.

13. Have you ever hear of the party of the ecclesiastical warlords,saying it will eradicate corruption?

14. In fact, some of its leaders are dusting the archives looking for obscene Hadith justifying corruption

15. Hearing it talked about tackling corruption is rare like a unicorn.

16. And have ever hear of cocky bersatu talked about it?

17. I don't ever want to believe any party that doesn't have the eradication of corruption as an element of it's political culture.

18. Now we have a government of the day saying expressly, the eradication of corruption as it's agenda.

19. Sure , it will be a promise full of warts, boils, polyps and even fibroids .

20. But as Carl Jung says we judge you not by what you said you would do but by what you actually do.

21. But now we have something to hold on the PM. And I suspect, once the dragnet is released, even the PM can't protect the warts and boils . Society will have something to invigilate him on

22. And the unique thing about corruption, it's an open ended issue. It will never end as long as there is abuse of power and embezzlement. The PM now will always be called into account .

23. Let's not distinguish between jerung and ikan bilis. Corruption is corruption.

24. We like to talk of corruption by politicians. Because they are visible, loud and are in the limelight.

25. The more insidious corruption is that carried out by civil servants. According to Transparency international, the CPI for Malaysia is 40 to 49%. All that can't be accounted by law makers only .

26. That certainly shatters the unfounded esteem we have on these penjawat awam.

27. How do you fucking explain how ex civil servants can own 6 to 7 million ringgit houses? Unless they do business or inherit wealth, there is a strong presumption they are able to do so because of corruption.

28. How do you explain enforcement officers like police, immigration, customs, bandaraya officers owning fleets of luxury cars?

29. With these shenanigans happening would you rather see this reformasi government doing nothing?

30. This war against corruption, society's bubonic plague or black death needs a champion. Who better than the PM?

31. He now needs an enforcer, a justice Bao and a field general to carry out the war .

32. Let's have a ministry of integrity and integrity compliance.

33. Put the DPM in charge. He has the capacity to elicit compliance.

34. As to the civil service,just so you know I am not being mean to them, not because out of spite or envy, let me ' story' you this:-

35. According to Transparency international, Malaysia and Indonesia occupy the top 2 places as the costliest places to start business .

36. The high cost is the result of bureaucratic requirements of overzealous and officious bureaucrats.

37. As long as the doors of approval, licenses, permissions etc are in the hands of these gatekeepers, corruption is most likely to happen.

38. Why restrict the war against corruption to 3 years. It should be a permanent war .

39. Corruption does not go on leave and neither should war on it does so.

40. I can't resist saying something on Malay attitude on corruption.

41. It's both farcical and hypocritical.

42. In general, Malays are always looking to accord leniency to the corrupt.

43. For instance look at the Najib case. The Malays, especially the UMNO people are preoccupied with exonerating Najib instead of anticipating harsh punishment for the plunder.

44. In the case of Ismail sabri, the Malays appear ready to treat the plunder lightly.

45. In both cases,the Malays appear ready to sacrifice principles with convenience.