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Empty talk not needed, just come up with better policies

COMMENT Sometimes I wonder how politicians like Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor can become ministers.

It is not surprising that he has come up with a proposal to ban low-powered motorcycles or ‘kapcai’ based on some of the most inconceivable excuses. Just because a snatch thief rides on a kapcai, this does not necessary mean that we have to ban all kapcais.

What if the snatch thief has a big belly? Do we then ban all big-bellied men, including cabinet ministers, from entering the city?

More on plastic politics

Back to plastic politics, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government minister Noh Omar did not even do his homework before he blamed the Selangor state government for allowing the sale of plastic bags at 20 sen a piece.

How embarrassing it is for him and an Umno woman politician when it was later learnt that the sale of plastic bags was after the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry had negotiated with the hypermarkets.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/368909

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had also suggested that Selangor should make a ruling on how hypermarkets should account for the money collected from the sale of plastic bags is used.

I simply shake my head when I read Wan Junaidi’s comments. All the rumblings amount to nothing.

Why can’t our politicians just make sure that they get their facts right before they comment? But more importantly, they should be supporting a worthy cause whenever it is implemented.

Instead of behaving like crabs in a bucket, these politicians should outdo each other by coming up with better policies. There is no point for Elizabeth Wong, the state exco member in charge of consumerism, to provide an explanation, because there are no grounds for all the brouhaha created by Umno politicians.

In fact, there is no solution for all that is truly environmentally-friendly. Even what Malaysia Consumers Movement president Darshan Singh Dhillon has suggested is not exactly environmentally-friendly because biodegradable plastics will end up in our eco-system, and eventually find their way into our body system.

Bags and packaging materials made from paper are also not environmentally-friendly because it means that we have to cut down more trees to produce these bags.

The best way is to use reusable bags when we go shopping, as well as bring along our own food containers. In fact, even these bags or containers, according to Michael Stephen of The Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics Association, come with consequences.

Last but not least

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed has also joined the bandwagon, when he said that very soon the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) will be behind us. My question is, who are the major culprits behind this international scandal?

Yes, while most of us want to move on, who is Malaysian Official No 1 and the other people mentioned either in the civil suit filed by the US Department of Justice or the court case involving several bank employees in Singapore?

Have these kleptocrats been arrested, tried in court and the punishment meted? If not, why not? Mustapa knows it best as he is a minister in charge of international trade and industry.

If the rest of the world already know who the major criminals are, can we just sweep the 1MDB fiasco under the carpet and move on as though nothing has happened? Would billions of Malaysian taxpayers’ money be used to pay the alleged huge debts?

Until these criminals are punished, it is unlikely that Malaysians will forget about 1MDB. In fact, I would even go to the extent of discouraging Muslims from using the money from 1MDB Foundation, unless they can prove that the money came from profits. There is a saying that you cannot do corporate social responsibility when the company’s financial health is at its worst.

Mustapa should be more careful when he makes a statement to the international media. In fact, movie directors who are working on the script for the next movie blockbuster will end the movie, “After all these crimes committed against the people of Malaysia, the criminals were let off...”

Next, will it be 1MDB (2)? Do we want to attract such reputation as a nation that does not respect the law?


STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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