TRANSPARENCY

Transparency is something Malaysia lacks.
Sadly, it is not part of our culture, we tend to hide behind our mistakes, be it natural or by design, this unfortunate guilt snowballs to our own detriment.

Wenchuan earthquake struck Sichuan province at 14:28 hours on 12th May 2008,
China got into action, letting the world know the extent of the calamity, its short comings and measures taken to overcome this.
Such transparency creates a lot of good wills and contributions poured in from both within and outside to a tune of more than 2 billion USD in cash and material aids beside physical aids in the form of rescue and social workers.

An important lesson for all of us to see and follow, we all know where the contributions will go and the authorities assured sympathisers on their efforts.

In Malaysia and Sabah in particular, we have transparency problems with our authorities, be it development work, distribution of social benefits or even on the political scene of Sabah.
This lack of transparency had caused a lot of mistrust, not only towards the authorities but also amongst its people.
Can we afford to allow this dreaded situation to perpetuate? If the local politicians are mindful of this, they should stop the rot, unless they are just another one, the rot, no need to elaborate further.
Proposal to have a Royal Commission to look into Sabah’s illegal migrants and its unnatural population growth is nothing new.
The unlikely resistance, apparently comes from the politicians in power themselves.
This is the very reason why there is no progress on this nagging issue and there will forever be no solution to it.
If we have not awakened to this, just take to the example, what gigantic step the judicial status had taken since the Lingam Royal Commission.

Perhaps it is easier for us to look at something, whereby the local politicians in power can understand and will also benefit. Let us ask for more allocations for Sabah, since this state is contributing more than its share and had been neglected. But if the funds were to filter through so many sieves, the likely outcome in development is very short changed, another bottleneck!

There is so much mistrust, no matter which direction we take, we are viewed with suspicion.
What to do?
May I be crazy enough to suggest that the allocations go direct to Sabah people, not in cash of course, but in the forms of lower taxes, like for clothing, food, cars, whatever taxable materials or income.
This will put more purchasing power back to the locals to stimulate its economy.
This unparallel system with Peninsula Malaysia is possible because of its isolation and would not have cost the central government much because of its relatively small population.

Will our law makers care to propose?