10 TELLING IT AS IT IS theSun | FRIDAY JULY 17 2009

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Doubts over
Nades is not on the panel (though Selangor administration? Since
I understand that his name was according to Navaratnam, the
proposed but rejected by the MACC’s No 2 said that all com-
powers that be). What can we do? plaints must be investigated, can
Thus if those entrusted to advise we assume that the former mentri
the MACC resort to shrugging their besar will also be subject to the
shoulders and asking the public same kind of treatment Ronnie Liu,

MACC’s partiality
ON June 10, Citizen Nades and I
were seated in the office of Daniel
Li, the deputy commissioner of
Hongkong’s Independent Commis-
sion Against Corruption (ICAC).
What was to be a courtesy call on
the island’s No1 graft fighter turned
into a counselling session where
we poured out our frustrations over
the implementation of the Malay-
sia Anti-Corruption Commission
(MACC) Act which Li had helped
to draft.
“Surely it can’t be that bad,”
Li said, pointing out the various
provisions that have been included
in the Act including the five com-
mittees to oversee the activities of
the commission.
He raised his eyebrows when
we told him that certain provisions,
such as having assets disproportion-
ate to one’s income, were omitted.
It would not be fair to Li for us
to disclose the rest of our conversa-
tion but we told him that our initial
reservations over the MACC have
been confirmed – call it anything
you want but as long as the people
running the agency have the same
attitude and are seen to be subser-
vient to politicians than the fight
against corruption the institution in
charge of it will not be taken seri-
ously.
Fast forward to the morning
of July 15. I answer the phone at
my friend Lawrence Nicholson’s
apartment in London. It’s Tan Sri
Ramon Navaratnam returning a
call to Nades.
Navaratnam is chairman of
the Corruption Consultation and
Prevention Panel – one of the five
watchdog bodies that is supposed to
help bring credibility and improve
the people’s trust in the MACC.
I told him the reason we called
was to get his feedback on the
MACC’s raid of the offices of
Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen
in Selangor over reports of
mismanagement of state
allocations.
“(MACC deputy commissioner)
Datuk Abu Kassim said if there is a
Down2Earth
by Terence Fernandez
complaint they should investigate,”
Navaratnam said.
“Very good Tan Sri. Please ask
Abu Kassim what happened to the
complaints against Barisan Na-
sional assemblymen for the same
offences lodged by Pakatan Rakyat
representatives last year,” I replied.
“Well, why don’t you write a
letter of complaint to Abu Kassim or
the MACC?” he suggested.
While I have a lot of respect
for Navaratnam and some of the
members in the advisory pan-
els, I must say that to date their
performance has been below par
when it comes to addressing public
perception. It seems that their role
is merely cosmetic and if people
have to continue writing “complaint
letters”, one begs the question what
are they there for when in fact the
panel members are supposed to be
the eyes and ears of the people to
ensure that the MACC performs its
duties judiciously and without fear
or favour.
I am not on the panel. Citizen
to forward their complaints to the
commission, of what use are these
advisory panels?
Tan Sri Robert Phang was very
vocal with the fight against corrup-
tion, even to the extent of slipping
into an ACA press conference, to be
seated between the agency’s two top
officers, but has clammed up since
being appointed to the panel.
The silence of two senior editors
(journalistic etiquette prevents me
from naming them) on the advi-
sory panel was deafening when
Malay Mail reporter Nevash Nair
was hauled up for questioning, his
phone and laptop seized and made
to drive two MACC officers from
Petaling Jaya to Shah Alam for six
hours of questioning over his report
on land grab involving a politician.
So now that the MACC is seen to
be only going after reports against
selected political parties, can we
assume that the report lodged
against a former assemblyman for
for using almost RM500,000 in state
allocations in 44 days is gather-
ing dust somewhere in the filing
cabinets of the MACC Selangor
branch in Shah Alam? – as was the
case with state allocations involving
former assemblymen in Kampung
Tunku, Kajang and Taman Medan.
What of the many complaints
lodged against the previous
Ean Yong Hian Wah and Lau Weng
San have been subjected to?
After all, the MACC claims it
is independent and doesn’t play
favourites right? It has the initiative
to go after the mentri besar over
cows and cars, then it should have
no problems focusing its radar on
the multi-million ringgit house
owned by Tan Sri Abdul Khalid
Ibrahim’s predecessor.
Putting things into perspective,
it would be wrong to say that the
MACC shuts an eye to alleged
misdeeds of members of the ruling
coalition. Several junior politicians
and at least three senior government
officers have also been charged.
But again to the rakyat, these
are small fish who have been made
sacrificial lambs as part of a public
relations exercise to pull wool over
the people’s eyes to the fallacy that
the MACC is an independent and
impartial entity.
With the likes of the MACC throw-
ing a spanner in the works, Terence
is having a tough time trying to
convince Malaysians in London
that things are not as bad as they
seem back home. He is deputy editor
(special reports and investigations)
and can be reached at terence@
thesundaily.com

letters
letters@thesundaily.com

Cooperative movement has lost its moorings

AFTER reading “Co-op tapped
dry” (July 15), I must state as
a former CEO of a large co-
operative that the co-op move-
ment has lost its principles
and identity in this country.
It has become a vehicle for a
few unscrupulous technocrats
to enrich themselves using the
loopholes and weaknesses in
the system through the various
subsidiaries that they create
under the co-op banner.
The cooperative movement
began as a people’s self-help
movement in the early 19th
century in Europe. Its original
four main principles were:
open membership; democratic
control (management), ie one
man one vote; equitable distri-
bution of surplus in proportion
to transactions; and limited
interest (dividend) on capital.
Later the International
Cooperative Alliance (ICA)
introduced other important
principles for its sustainable
development like even neu-
trality in politics and religion
which was subsequently with-
drawn to avoid isolation of the
movement by certain types of
government.
Co-operative education
and training in its principles
and philosophy was greatly
emphasised by ICA. Many co-
operative leaders today know
very little about the philosophy
of co-operation otherwise our
co-ops would not be in this
poor state of affairs. members. for good governance. But
It is sad that Angkasa (the The prime minister talks the new commission rules
National Co-operative Front) of 1Malaysia, but I do not see forbid this. This is a sure
that is duty-bound to assist a single Indian or Chinese on system for the downfall of
the government to keep the the Co-operative Commis- many co-ops.
co-op movement on the right sion as if these two races do If we examine the
track has failed miserably in not exist in this country. character of co-ops today, it
its responsibilities and duties Recently, I attended an is those co-ops with multiple
with its own internal conflicts AGM of a cooperative where subsidiaries registered under
for power and control. As a I was shocked to learn that the Companies Commission
consequence some genuine the internal auditors of of Malaysia that are misman-
and dedicated co-operative the cooperative cannot be aged because members have
leaders were sidelined. appointed by the AGM but by no control over them.
Therefore the Co-op- the board of directors. I call upon the gov-
erative Commission that By tradition and rule, the ernment to review the
was recently established has internal auditors as well as functions of the Co-operative
made sweeping changes to the external auditors have Commission.
the character of the co-op- always been appointed by
eratives thereby diminishing the AGM of delegates/mem- R. Rama Chandran
the democratic control of the bers as a check and balance Petaling Jaya

Be ready for nuclear fusion

WHILE the government is
contemplating building a
nuclear fission power plant
to secure the nation’s future
energy needs, I hope some
effort will be taken to study an
alternative but cleaner nuclear
technology which is thermonu-
clear fusion.
Although this technology
was initially projected to be
realised four decades ago,
scientists encountered some
difficulties in containing the
ultra-hot gases, known as
plasma, required for fusion
to take place in a doughnut-
shaped magnetic machine
called a “tokamak”.
In order to produce the
strong magnetic fields required
to contain the plasma, a very
large current is used but this
will cause the tokamak’s elec-
trical conductors to overheat.
Hence, scientists are now using
superconductors to build the
tokamaks since superconduc-
tors have almost zero electrical
resistance and will not produce
heat when a large current is
passed through.
Several large experimental
tokamak reactors are now in
operation around the world
where scientists are looking
for ways to maintain the
plasma for long durations so
that the thermonuclear fusion
reaction can be continuously
maintained.
Recently, I had the oppor-
tunity to meet one of China’s
leading fusion scientists, Prof
Xiang Gao, of the Institute
of Plasma Physics in Hefei.
He described his institute’s
Experimental Advanced Super-
conducting Tokamak (EAST),
which is the most advanced
of its kind in the world since it
had succeeded in maintaining
the plasma for several minutes
instead of seconds.
According to Prof Gao,
his institute does get foreign
postgraduate physics students
who are interested in nuclear
fusion studies. Surprisingly, the
courses are taught in English
since most of the literature on
this subject is in this language.
I hope the government can
send a few of our top physics
students to China to study
fusion research so that by the
time a working fusion reactor
is developed in the future, we
will have the required human
capital to build such a reac-
tor and exploit this unlimited
energy technology.
ZA Hartono
Kuala Lumpur