16 theSun
speak up!
One television crew member
It is
difficult
to draw
A gift by any other name
THE upcoming Kuala Tereng- and protested that we bungalow with all
told us how he received a tidy
sum after an interview with
a candidate – a fiduciary gift
given willingly although he said
he did not ask for it.
Those who had forgotten the
reason they became journalists
the line, ganu by-election brings to mind could not accept the the trimmings and or were in the industry for all the
an incident at a previous elec- money. “It is for your facilities of modern wrong reasons, even went on to
but one tion. troubles since you comfort. goad some of his colleagues and
thing’s My colleague and I had came from afar,” said This must have counterparts to “Ask-lah. Sure
for sure it waited for over an hour for a one of them, to which got him thinking they’ll give if you ask.”
is during candidate to turn up and meet we said it was un- that we would While I am not covering the
voters at a balairaya in a vil- necessary as we were probably write a Kuala Terengganu by-election,
every lage. amply compensated stinging piece about my hunch tells me that those
election After a brief chat with us, for our “troubles” by money politics and with large budgets would prob-
that the the candidate shook our hands our company. hesitantly took the ably be throwing money around.
people get and leapt into a four-wheel- “This is ikhlas Down2Earth cash back from us. The problem is such practices
what they drive which would take him to (genuine),” he insisted. Money being have become widespread, that
another venue. To this, my colleague by Terence Fernandez used as a carrot in it blurs the lines between what
want even It was only a matter of sec- said, it would be better elections is nothing is appropriate and what is not.
without onds but before we knew it, we to use the money for the kam- new, and every poll – be it a Some individuals, like the aide
asking for realised that each handshake pong folk, many of whom lived by-election or general election of the candidate in the earlier
it – well, also concealed a RM100 note in hardship, some who lived in will toss up its own fair share election truly think that there is
pressed into each of our palms. dilapidated conditions, without of accusations of bribing voters nothing wrong in dishing out a
most of As the Yang Berhormat piped water, while the po- into casting their votes for a par- few hundred ringgit to a group
the time wannabe had already left by litically-appointed village head ticular candidate or the media of journalists and well-wishers.
anyway. then we turned to his aides lived next door in a swanky to ensure favourable coverage. But because such practices
are becoming a common part of
any election, many people down
the line have begun to expect
it – the crowds that gather to
welcome a candidate; the vil-
lagers who are asked to fill up
letter
letters@thesundaily.com
Sticky prices and
tough decisions
I REFER to “Anxious over prices”
(Jan 6). The public are indeed wor-
ried about whether the government
will have the will to take tough
decisions to solve the problems
facing our nation, with a greater
sense of professionalism and ur-
gency. These are critical times and
we need to respond more deliber-
ately to promote greater national
unity, socio economic stability and
reduce politicking.
First, we have the problem of
sticky prices. Petroleum prices
have gone down but the prices of
essential daily consumer goods
have not gone down correspond-
ingly. When they sometimes do,
then the quality and quantity slides
down!
One policy option should be to
liberalise the whole system much
more. Do provide more licences
and permits to increase supplies
of food and services. Approved
permits and import licences should
not be given to just a few who
would keep prices up to profiteer.
More hawker food stalls and easier
access to taxi licences can keep
prices more competitive and low.
There should be less protectionism
such as the provision of inequita-
ble property/housing quotas for
rich bumiputras. The granting of
monopolies to big businessmen
and concessionaires who make
excessive profits from unduly high
toll rates must be scrapped for the
public good.
Privatisation should not be used
to benefit the rich at the expense
of the poor. A look at toll road con-
tracts indicate policies that widen
the income gap between the rich
and the poor. This goes against
the grain of government’s equity
policies.
At this rate of abuse, privatisa-
tion will become a bad word as
it generally raises prices for the
ordinary consumer. The culture
of business greed and profiteering
seems to have become worse with
eager bids to privatise even the
renowned National Heart Institute
that has contributed significantly
to the public good. It’s therefore
gratifying that the government has
| TUESDAY JANUARY 13 2009
community halls for a ceramah
and yes, even the journalists
who follow the candidates on
the campaign trail, with some
newsmen even picking more
“lucrative” candidates.
What does the election com-
mission have to say? Although
such practices are against the
rules, it is hard to enforce them
due to lack of proof.
Having said that, how does
one differentiate the outright
giving of money with say, pro-
viding blankets to fire victims
or food hampers to the poor or
even a road and piped water
and electricity to a remote vil-
lage?
It is difficult to draw the line,
but one thing’s for sure it is
during every election that the
people get what they want even
without asking for it – well,
most of the time anyway.
Terence hopes his counterparts
covering the Kuala Terengganu
by-election will uphold the
journalistic code of conduct. He
is deputy editor special reports
& investigations and can be con-
tacted at terence@thesundaily.
com
cancelled the proposal to privatise
the IJN.
Crime has been on the rise and
this adds to the cost of doing busi-
ness too. The Malaysian Anti-Crime
Foundation can play a much bigger
role by stepping up its efforts to
win greater public support for the
police and neighbourhood watch
groups. It’s pity that we feel unsafe
in our homes. The police need to be
given more resources and be made
much more effective. This is why
the government should establish
the proposed Police Complaints
Commission soon.
Foreign and even domestic
investment has been put off by
this breakdown in public safety
and security.
Corruption has become an-
other major scourge. While there
are limitations as to what Malaysia
can do to counter the international
financial and economic meltdown,
we can do much more to combat
corruption and the wastage of
public and taxpayers’ funds.
The government has done well
to establish the new MACC, but
it can only be as promising as its
performance. Unless the MACC
can show better results within the
next few months, it will also suffer
from lack of public support and a
tarnished image. This will be most
unfortunate.
Finally, sound socio-economic
management on a sustained
basis, will require that a new
socio-economic strategic plan is
unveiled soon, to deal with the in-
creasingly worrying trend of rising
prices, slow economic growth, ris-
ing unemployment and the overall
deterioration in our quality of life.
This means that our leaders
will have to get down to working
hard on the need for greater good
governance at all levels, if we are
to strengthen public confidence in
the government’s ability to lead
the country through these anxious
times.
Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam
President
Transparency International
Malaysia