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Business jargon and memory loss
THE ongoing revelations from the Public
Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on the Port
Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) financial fiasco that is
costing taxpayers in excess of RM5 billion, is a
revelation of how some take a cavalier attitude
towards the obligations of a job they are paid to
do – in this case, a national project using public
funds.
One finds it hard to stomach former Port Klang
Authority (PKA) general manager Datin Paduka
Keep a watch
on our youths
IT WAS just more than two weeks ago while walk-
ing down Oxford Street when we encountered a
group of about 40 youths – children of between
12 and 16 years, to be precise – marching along
London’s foremost shopping district.
One had a mongrel on a leash and they acted
as if they owned the street, bumping into other
pedestrians and even walking into a Subway outlet
to flick pocketfuls of snacks.
They were ignorant of or could not care less about
the closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs), a
familiar sight in the city as part of the government’s
battle against an ever-increasing crime rate. No
one dared stop them and we did an about-turn and
headed for the nearest Underground station to take
a train out of there.
Walking back from the bus stop to a relative’s
home about 20km from the city, one has to pass
Belvedere Road. Last year, the road sign was adorn
with flowers in memory of a boy who was stabbed
to death by another group of youths for, according
to the police, “staring”.
Just two weeks before the Oxford Street
incident, the police showed up at the front door of
our relative’s home to ask if we had heard anything
as a 13-year-old boy was stabbed by another 13-
year-old.
A few days after that, I had to get a bunch of kids
thrown off the bus as they were throwing pieces
of paper at and mocking an elderly Muslim man
before turning their attention to me.
The state of the nation’s youths and violent
crime involving the young are daily fodder for
Britain’s newspapers.
The people blame the government’s child pro-
tection policies for giving youngsters a free hand to
terrorise the rest of the community. Knife crimes
are on the rise but there is virtually nothing to stop
them unless they are caught red-handed.
To illustrate the ludicrousness of the policy,
one man who had been taunted by bicycle-riding
youths on his front yard could not get the police to
intervene unless the cops arrived at the point of
nuisance being committed.
When he said that he will record the youths in
the act, he was told in no uncertain terms that doing
so is an offence as children cannot be photographed
or recorded without their parents’ permission!
Have a discussion at a pub with some friends on
this issue of youth crimes and misdemeanour; they
TELLING IT AS IT IS
Managing Editor: Chong Cheng Hai
Consultant Editor: Zainon Ahmad
Executive Editor: Lee Boon Siew
Deputy Editor: Patrick Choo (Production),
Editor: R. Nadeswaran (Special Reporting)
OC Phang’s claim of memory loss over certain
pertinent issues during Wednesday’s hearing.
Even more so is her declaration that she
does not understand what the committee
meant by “cash flow projections” – prompting
PAC chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid to give her
an impromptu tutorial.
With a BA from University Malaya and a
Cranfield School of Management graduate and
years of working in the finance divisions of
Down2Earth
by Terence Fernandez
came to the conclusion that at least in Malaysia
one does not need to cross the street to avoid an
approaching group of youngsters.
However, I pointed out that this was where they
are wrong. “Don’t think these fellows are returning
home from tuition,” I said as I articulated our own
worrying trend of more Malaysian youths going
down the dark path.
Last year, 3,629 students aged between 13
and 18 years were arrested for various offences
including affray, theft, extortion, robbery, rape and
drug-related offences.
Statistics released in April show that 295 youths
were detained in the first two months of this year.
It seems these days the parang instead of the pencil
is becoming the accessory of choice. It does not
help when parents both of whom are breadwinners
these days prefer to look the other way when told
of their children’s activities.
Having been to enough police lock-ups, I can
vouch that every single parent waiting to bail out
their children believe they are innocent.
What more can you say when during the old
days one would get an extra slap from your dad if
you tell him that you were caned in school. These
days, it is the teacher who gets slapped by the
parent for disciplining the child!
In the end, how many times have you said, “we
should slap the parent” when coming across an
unruly child or youth? This underscores the fact
that parental examples are paramount in how our
kids turn out.
It is sad to view the video of the temple relocation
protesters in Shah Alam. Among those stepping on
the severed cow’s head is a boy barely in his teens.
He probably does not even understand why he is
there and what the fuss is all about. It is scary to
think that he will be “enlightened” by a bunch of
bigots and may grow up to be one himself.
There is no point getting our children to recite
the Rukunegara and pay attention during moral
studies if they are not protected from elements
outside the classroom – bad hats, bigots, parents
in denial mode and irresponsible politicians – who
are bent on undoing whatever values our educa-
tion system hopes to inculcate in our children.
Terence is deputy editor special reports & investiga-
tions and is reachable at terence@thesundaily.com.
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various ministries, Phang should be more
convincing if she wants to play dumb.
She is, however, correct in one thing – that as
general manager she should take responsibility
for the colossal losses incurred by the project.
And that includes the PAC’s, as well as the
audit committee’s findings previously that PKA
did not follow basic management principles
when running the free zone. Even after the
dust has settled and those responsible booked
Who needs a social contract?
Comment
by Kee Thuan Chye
LAST week, I heard on BFM Radio an inter-
view with a Malaysian about the meaning
of Merdeka. When he was asked about
the so-called “social contract” that was
supposedly made by our founding fathers,
and whether he believed it existed, he said
that if it didn’t, why don’t we make one
now?
Who needs such a social contract?
Why should there be one 52 years after
our nation attained independence? You
mean, after all these years of Malaysian
citizens living together and co-developing
this blessed land, we still need a social
contract? Whatever for? Because we don’t
trust one another? We need something
akin to a pre-nuptial contract? Hey, brother,
the wedding took place 52 years ago!
By now, we should have settled in
nicely to the marriage, come to under-
stand one another better, respect one
another’s rights and beliefs, feel secure in
the partnership. And most of all, not take
each other for granted.
I don’t think there ever was a nuptial
agreement … er, social contract. Our
founding fathers discussed the terms of
agreement before independence could
be achieved and most of that was incor-
porated into the Constitution. It is only in
recent times, when certain parties began
to feel a sense of insecurity in the face of
perceived contentious challenges, that this
idea of a social contract has been touted.
To me, it is merely a ploy to remind
certain groups that they should know
their place and therefore not make any
demands. Thus, to give attention to such
a ploy and go through the rigmarole of
working out a social contract would be
to engage in a messy – and unnecessary
– exercise.
Our energy would be better chan-
nelled towards focusing on what needs
to be done today. What is most pressing is
the here and now. Letters in the English-
language newspapers lament that there
are now reports of racism every day in
the press. Some call out to Malaysians
to “embrace our differences”, “make co-
existence our guiding light”, “uphold unity
at all times”. Why are we still saying these
after 52 years?
Unfortunately, racism has, in fact,
escalated since the outcome of the last
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for mismanagement, incompetence, abuse of
power or even corruption, the PKFZ story should
continue to be told in years to come.
It should be a permanent case study of the
heavy responsibilities that come with being
entrusted with a project which was meant to
benefit all Malaysians, lest we forget and allow
another PKFZ in time to come. After all, the free
zone fiasco came at a time when the RM2 billion
BMF scandal was all but a distant memory.
general election. Now, more than ever, we
need to address the race-baiting that goes
on in the Malay mainstream media, the
strategies that aim to threaten, frighten
and divide.
Ironically, these media organisations
are owned and controlled by the party
that is led by the very man behind the
1Malaysia slogan. The messages sent out
by these media organisations and the
messages he himself is sending out are
at odds with each other. Whom are we to
listen to?
This is at the core of our problem. It is
the kind of thing that provokes demonstra-
tions like the one in Shah Alam last week
in which the protesters publicly spat at
and kicked a cow’s head to show their
contempt for the Hindu religion. And all
this witnessed by policemen who did
nothing to stop what was apparently a
seditious act.
All this points to 2Malaysias. The home
minister’s meeting with the cow-head
protesters, and saying they could not be
blamed as they had been victimised and
needed to voice their feelings – affirms
that divide. But Malaysians today are
surely aware of that.
At a time when the prime minister is
trying hard to win non-Malay hearts and
minds with his 1Malaysia slogan, the
cow-head incident would have set his
efforts back. Hindraf will surely be
mobilised more purposefully and Hindus
will rally behind it.
But why are contradictory signals being
sent out by the ruling party? In the past
few months, a senior government leader
has called the opposition leader a traitor to
the Malay race; defended an article in the
Malay press calling on the Malays to stop
being cowards and rise up; and asserted
that Umno would fight to the last drop of
blood to protect Malay rights.
More than ever, what we need are
statesmen who have the guts to haul in
the disruptive elements that are out to
create chaos in the name of race and
religion. Do we have statesmen whose
hearts are in the right place? If we don’t,
no social contract will do us any good.
Kee Thuan Chye is the author of March 8:
The Day Malaysia Woke Up, which just won
3rd Prize in the Popular Readers’ Choice
Awards. It has also been translated into
Chinese. Comment: letters@thesundaily.
com.