Najib and Samy are Martians

Najib and Samy Vellu must have come from Mars. From their starry-eyed reaction, one would have thought that they had been shocked to the roots of their being by the things said at the “Integrity in the Construction Sector” forum two days ago, for instance the statement by Datuk Roslan Awang Chik, the Malay Contractors Association president that corruption is choking the construction sector.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Najib and Samy are not Martians. Samy Vellu’s tenure as Works Minister had spanned 26 years – serving in this post for two full decades, starting from 1979 till now with a six-year break and stint as Minister for Energy, Telekom and Post from 1989-1995. Najib’s 31-year public life started as Deputy Minister for Energy, Telekom and Post, Education and Finance from 1974 to 1982, Pahang Mentri Besar till 1986, and Minister for Culture, Youth and Sports, Education and Defence and now Deputy Prime Minister.

Both of them are completely unaware about the rampant corruption in the construction sector or in country as a whole? Then they are great pretenders. Worse, they don’t even listen to the Prime Minister’s speeches.

Najib asked for more details on allegations of corruption in the construction sector. It is hard to act on a general statement, he said.

Samy Vellu said those who made the allegations should put everything in writing and see the Anti-Corruption Agency. And he issued the challenge: Do that first and talk later!

These are the stereotype attitudes and answers of Cabinet Ministers about corruption in Malaysia for the past two decades and more, resulting in corruption going from bad to worse, with Malaysia’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) plunging 16 places in ten years, i.e. 23rd ranking in 1995 to 39th placing in 2004.

Is there the political will to stamp out corruption? This is still not visible or tangible after almost two years of Pak Lah’s premiership.

If there is the political will to root out corruption, the first manifestation will be the abandonment of the stereotype and complacent reactions to allegations of corruption such as those made by Najib and Samy Vellu yesterday.

Pak Lah said in New York that he had not lost the momentum in the drive against corruption. How can there be any momentum when the real battle against corruption in Malaysia – as distinct from the rhetorics – has yet to begin?