When a country is deemed corrupt, it is always corrupt from the top. There are some notable foreign examples - Suharto, Marcos, Mobuto Sese Seko, Idi Amin. One can't help but to draw a parallel between Sigit-Bambang-Tommy and Mirzan-Mokhzani-Mukhriz, except that the Indonesian trio are richer. To rid corruption successfully, we must start from the top. Replace the ringleader with a clean guy, and things will gradually improve. Otherwise, he'll proudly present some hapless scapegoats to you.

What the PM is proposing with regard to not giving government contracts to top party officials leads to nothing. He didn't even dare to propose that top politicians' kids can no longer be given government contracts for it will hurt his children's businesses - though I personally feel these types of proposals are unfair to the children as there are politicians' offspring who are genuinely capable of running businesses (none of them mentioned above).

The solution is not whether one should be excluded from any contract. There are so many ways this can be worked around that only idiots would be led into believing that the steps taken would be adequate.

The real solution in stamping out money politics is openness. Transparency is the key in getting rid of corruption. Why can't we just open up all the projects for public bidding?

Set fair rules and criteria of bidding firms, with an open selection process. Let independent entities determine a company's qualifications and let independent accounting firms audit the projects.

Dr M, the next time if you try to come up with some other grand idea, please try not to insult our intelligence.