M. Kayveas’ portrayal of BN as a coalition “of the few, by the few, for the few.” correctly depicts the state of crime, economy and corruption in Malaysia
___________________
Press Statement
by Lim Guan Eng
________________________
(Petaling Jaya,
Monday):
Abaraham Lincoln famously
described democracy in
America as a government “of
the people, by the people for
the people”. PPP President
Datuk M. Kayveas’ portrayal
of BN as a coalition “of the
few, by the few, for the few”
not only depicts the state of
BN but also the state of
crime, economy and corruption
in Malaysia.
Protection from crime should
be accorded to all and not of
the few. Good governance must
ensure four basic right of
security – to live, work,
study and play in a safe and
secure environment. But
rampant crime, rising by 5.1%
for the first six months of
this year, has made these
four basic rights of security
non-existent and caused many
families, especially women
and children to live in fear
and suffer in silence.
The police’s failure has
resulted in a deteriorating
crime situation in Malaysia
that continues to shock
Malaysians with the audacity
of criminals to even break
into the homes of former
Inspector-General of Police
Tun Hanif Omar and Tan Sri
Norian Mai. Until today those
robbers involved in the
murder of ex-Penang CPO and
ex-Bukit Bendera Member of
Parliament Datuk Albert Mah
in his home in Petaling Jaya
in February this year have
still not been caught.
Tan Sri Musa Hasan should
resign as IGP if he cannot
reduce rapes, where nearly 9
women get raped everyday in
Malaysia, by 50% over the
next 6 months
If former IGPs’ homes are not
safe, how can the homes of
ordinary citizens be safe?
What is more worrying is the
increased incidence of rape.
In the first seven months of
this year, there were 1,814
cases of rape as compared to
1,362 for the corresponding
period last year – an
increase of 33%.
This works out to 8.6 cases
of rape per day in the first
seven months of this year as
compared to four cases a day
in 2003 and 6.7 cases a day
in 2006 – another shocking
index of the worsening crime
and fear-of-crime situation
in the country, bearing in
mind that unreported rapes
are 5 times more than
reported cases.
In other words nearly 9 women
are raped everyday in
Malaysia – an unacceptable
statistic for a civilized and
caring nation that is both
horrifying and repugnant when
12 year old schoolgirls
taking the bus to school in
Johor gets raped. Malaysians
are sick and tired of reading
news headlines of young girls
being raped, mutilated and
killed.
The police must give priority
to reducing rapes by at least
50% for the next six months,
failing which not only the
IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan
should resign but even Prime
Minister Datuk Seri
Abdullah.Ahmad Badawi and his
deputy Internal Security
Minister cannot avoid
personal responsibility.
Otherwise protection of women
in Malaysia is only for the
few who are wives, daughters
and sisters of BN leaders.
The country’s economy is
enjoyed and controlled by the
few. The government is
indifferent to the effects of
inflation and rising prices
on the poor and middle-class.
The refusal to share Petronas
oil profits with Malaysians
is unacceptable when the
government can share such oil
profits to the rich by giving
gas subsidies to rich
companies such as the
Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
Last year alone, Petronas
gave RM 6.7 billion to the
IPPs. There is no logic why
IPPs should enjoy these
subsidies to further enlarge
their already huge profits.
The time has come to allow
ordinary Malaysians and not
just the few to share in
Petronas profits. Giving
every working Malaysian
earning less than RM 3,000
per month an oil bonus of RM
3,000 would help to mitigate
the financial burden of
rising prices on ordinary
families.
There is no reason why the
government refuses to do so
when Petronas can afford the
RM 27-30 billion cost. Why
Malaysians can not benefit
directly from oil revenues
when Malaysia is an oil
exporter and an oil importer
like Singapore without a
single drop of oil can afford
to distribute S$2,500 every
year to poor and middle-class
families?
Is the government's refusal
to share Petronas profits
linked to their failure to
check corruption? That the
country’s wealth is for the
few is best description of
corruption in Malaysia which
has the worst income
inequality in South-East
Asia. Even US financial
house, Morgan Stanley
estimated that Malaysia lost
US$ 100 billion from
corruption over the last two
decades.
The Auditor-General’s Report
that details abuses of public
trust, criminal breach of
trust, cheating, waste and
corruption is a mere report
when no action is taken
against the culprits. From
the small such as the
National Youth Skills
Institute (NYSI) buying 2
units of two-tonne car jack
for RM 5,471 per unit when
the market price is only RM
50 per unit; to the huge
expected loss of RM 6.75
billion in the Defense
Ministry following the
purchase of 6 off-shore naval
patrol vessels (OPVs) that
were either delivered but not
operational (2) or still not
delivered (4).
Since Kayveas admits that BN
is a coalition “of the few,
by the few for the few”,
there is no point for PPP to
remain in BN. For PPP to
still cling on to BN, shows
that PPP is no different from BN in wanting to unfairly
enjoy the benefits of power
and wealth at the expense of
27 million ordinary
Malaysians.
(22/10/2007)
* Lim Guan
Eng,
Secretary-General of DAP |