The elections fever has finally hit Malaysia and to a much greater degree than the dreaded bird flu. Thus voters will be heartened to learn that at least one party, the Barisan Nasional, has taken pains to ensure that the candidates they present are as pure as the driven snow, which of course we do not have in Malaysia unless Umno has managed to achieve this ‘miracle’ also among the many others it has.

We have been told that all candidates put up by Umno and its cohorts have been cleared by both the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Inland Revenue Board. This, certainly, will be of great assurance to voters as they march to the polling stations on March 8, knowing that these Barisan vestal virgins are of such calibre as to be worthy of being offered to serve at the altar of Zeus and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

However, there will always be spoilsports to any concerned effort that Barisan undertakes to do only the best for the rakyat . I admit I am one of them. Two doubts afflict me.

Firstly, what is the definition of ‘being cleared by the ACA and the IRB? Does it mean that both these bodies actually subjected all potential candidates to the probing scrutiny they normally execute on the usual suspects and nothing illegal or unexplainable was unearthed? Or does it mean that no complaint had been lodged with the ACA and IRB against the candidates and that they are therefore clean, in keeping with the noble principle that Barisan practises, that all men are innocent unless proven guilty, more so if they are not accused in the first place?

My second doubt is over how the Barisan Nasional came to know that their candidates-to-be were all honest citizens as determined by the ACA and IRB. I am sure that both these investigative bodies are governed by very strict rules that prohibit them from revealing any information regarding their investigations to anyone.

In fact, confidentiality is the very foundation of these two organisations. If so, under what authority did they pass to the BN Supreme Council the results of any investigation they may have carried out? Since when did they become the tools of the Barisan? Perhaps some vestal virgins are slightly stained after all.