It is a truth foretold that while the rest of the world is corrupt and corruptible, Malaysia has such high standards of probity that corruption could not rear its ugly head. So insists every cabinet minister from the prime minister (it does not matter who) down. They repeat it as a mantra, whenever the occasion asserts, of the severe penalties for corruption and corrupt practices, and why corruption destroys the nation's soul.

That few are caught and charged proves, in their self-smirking view, how effective these measures are. How many politicians and senior civil servants have been charged, let alone convicted, for corruption and practices? Almost none. That is proof there is no corruption in this country at the level that has destroyed others.

Every elected official and civil servant must submit an annual return of his assets. The prime minister gets the returns of politicians, and he has no doubt none is as corrupt as claimed. These returns are never made public. But when allegations surface, usually with a grain and nore of truth, the Anti-Corruption Agency is there to affirm whatever the prime minister insists is the truth. Meanwhile, over the years, the government has defanged every legislation which could be invoked to bring the corrupt to justice.

The former MCA president's 27-year-old son could get bank loans worth RM1.2 billion and promptly squander it. The ACA decided it cannot be corruption: what has the son's ability to get a loan of that size when his father could not, because his office forbade it, raise a finger to help him.

In another case, after two sessions with the ACA, a cabinet minister's assets was RM304 million more than what he had admitted - that's more money than what he could possibly have earned in a lifetime of selfless public service. The ACA thinks it is jealousy that makes people cast wild aspersions against honest politicians. It writes its report to the prime minister, who in all but one case promptly filed it.