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It was with great dismay and an increasing sense of "why am I not surprised?" when I read about the Tioman ferry disaster . Time and again, it is only after the fact and the ensuing public hue and cry that our authorities are galvanised into action, promising swift action against those directly responsible.

Bus crashes, airplane stowaways, judiciary fix-its, child rape and murders, not to mention wastage of public funds they all get their 20 minutes of fame, but once the outrage dies down, the authorities all keep going their merry way with no more than a "How can this happen? This is supposed to be Visit Malaysia Year 2007."

In countries like Korea and Japan, if ever there were a national disaster and any whiff of culpability on the part of officials, the said official would promptly resign, and even on occasion, commit suicide in shame. Even in the United States where scandal and corruption has on occasion reached the White House, there would be public enquiries and calls for impeachment and resignations.

Unfortunately, on the part of Malaysian public servants, (and there's a reason these officials are called that when appointed to serve the public) there is no accountability, no remorse, no resolve to improve. Disaster after disaster takes place, and those in power still remain in power, becoming increasingly arrogant and shrouded in a sense of entitlement.

What does it boil down to, and why is it becoming more and more apparent that our beloved nation is taking one step forward and two steps backward when compared to other rising Asian countries? Greed and corruption. More than anything else, these despicable qualities don't discriminate either by race, gender or social status.

Everyone wants to make a quick buck, and many are equally willing to fork it out to get ahead, get things done, get things swept under the carpet. Get out of paying a traffic summons? RM50. Get a document expedited? A few thousand ringgit. Get a tender into the right hands? A couple of million ringgit. What about saving lives? Priceless?

A family I know watched in horror as a house at the end of their road caught fire and the house next to it was in danger of being burnt as well. The fire engines and police got there speedily enough but watched the fire burning calmly without doing anything. When the house owner pleaded with the firemen to douse the fire, they in turn asked for money up front.

When I asked the family whether anyone has reported this to the authorities, I was told "Why bother? As though any action will be taken. Or worse, what if the aforesaid firemen know that they have been ratted out and return to make those houseowners sorry they ever reported the incident?"

That is the sorry state of affairs in Malaysia even as we celebrate 50 years of independence, tout our spectacular achievements, and sing our own praises. Increasingly, as our affluent citizens move into gated neighbourhoods, VIPs speed past in heavily-tinted limousines with outrider escorts and children are being polarised in schools, the sense of neighbourliness or 'gotong royong' is being seriously eroded, if not totally eradicated.

The 'open houses' that the powers-that-be put on are just that, put on for show. We're afraid to lend a helping hand, whether opening our doors to a neighbour in distress or coming down from our car to the aid of a fellow motorist in trouble, because we're afraid that we might be under attack ourselves.

We are a nation good at sweeping unsightly crumbs under the carpet and whitewashing over our mistakes. The trouble with these patch-up measures is that the specks will build and build, ultimately surfacing, bubbling over and erupting.

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