The psychological warfare is on and the public relations and communications specialists employed directly and otherwise are both planning strategic and diversionary tactics to distract the minds of readers and also exert indirect control of the media.

The current onslaught that is focussing on compelling issues which are embarrassing the government of the day needs to be managed. With IMDB and Mara capturing headlines, there is a need for diversionary tactics. We must see these for the manipulation they represent.

In a multicultural and multi-religious society like Malaysia it is very easy to fan issues and to create a media frenzy that questions issues like the dress code that has so recently become an issue of focus. Suddenly the public spaces in our government departments have started dress policing. Yes, and this has caused moral outrage. More will take place in the weeks ahead so that the focus can be taken away from current pressing issues.

The syariah-civil law divide will be played up. Pigs head will be thrown into sensitive places and the same will be done with cow’s heads. These are sure to rattle the sensitivities of citizens and even cause ethnic and religious tensions. We live in a society that is so vulnerable to such manipulations.

The same strategy is used by many countries to divert attention from their internal economic issues and challenges by blaming foreign multinationals and external pressures. This is part of the modern scenario - the red herrings that are created, the new enemies that are causing destruction.

In the days of the cold war it was the CIA or the KGB. Today it is terrorism that justifies stringent laws even to the extent of violating human rights. When India or Pakistan faces serious internal issues, this often is the best time to provoke cross-border conflicts.

The enemy out there is more easy to handle that the corruption within. Name them and create them and justify the reasons. All that this does is to evade the problem and disengage from any possibility of a solution. Let people get at each other’s throats while the leaders get on with their misdemeanours.

If it is not the Christians, then it is the Chinese or the ‘pendatangs’. The enemy is always out there and we have lost the capacity to look at ourselves and take responsibility.

Today our nation is where it is because of years of mismanagement. The powerful executive has for long asserted itself and got away with it. There will come a day of reckoning and it is nigh.

Look at all the government-linked companies (GLC). What oversight is there be it for Petronas, MAS, Sime Darby, Felda, Felcra or Mara, to mention a few. These are the sacred cows of the ‘bumiputra’ policy and dare anyone question their oversight? Their scandals have been part of the cost and race is soon used to justify becoming a factor, since there is so much that is mismanaged.

Checks and balances, not cheques and balances

How long will this continue? The misdemeanours of Mara were highlighted in an earlier Auditor-General’s Report but nothing was done. What we hear today is even more startling. Investing in offshore funds, in questionable accounts in the Cayman Islands, etc. Well, if the PM can do it why can’t they not do so? The fish rots from the head and there must be a new standard of checks and balances, not cheques for them and balances left over for the people!

It would be even more difficult for Najib Abdul Razak to be displaced because there is no culture of personal accountability. If there were, then Bank Negara would have alerted us to such transactions. These rules are for the ordinary individual. Try sending US$2,000 overseas and you will come to know the questions asked. The same for changing US$2,000 in any local bank and you will have  to give an adequate reason.

The sad reality is that this does not apply to sums in the region of billions of ringgit or hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

Our regulatory bodies, both financial and otherwise, are pliant when it comes to the politicians. The culture of corruption is pervasive. Money politics and the buying of elections are part of our ‘first world democratic framework’. How long are we going to bluff ourselves? Unless good God-fearing people stand up and speak out, there is no use for their faith and convictions. They remain wilfully blind to the wrong all around them. My heart cries out for Malaysia.