Something is really very wrong with the way the country's politicians go about preaching their messages to the people. Their rhetoric are classic examples of that catch-phrase cakap tak serupa bikin or not practicing what they preach.

A few incidences will attest to how good Malaysian politicians are at paying lip service.

Take the recent example of Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who while trying to show concern over the status of young smokers, failed to stand impartial in working at deterring youths from picking up the habit.

Syed Hamid ( pix ), who is also the Malaysian Association of Youth Clubs (MAYC) president, unabashedly declared that the association was collaborating with two tobacco companies (British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International Berhad) to educate youngsters on the hazards of cigarette-smoking under the 'Youth Smoking Prevention' campaign.

The 'message' is being imparted via a series of new television commercials that will run until August over RTM2, TV3, ntv7 and 8TV. The commercials will also be aired in cinemas for the next five months.

One wonders what was the true reason that resulted in the actualisation of this campaign?

Tackling the smoking problem among underage youths was a concern of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and that was why he decided that a whopping RM100 million be allocated for the five-year Tak Nak anti-smoking campaign that has started in schools.

To ponder and wonder just how effective MAYC's new effort will be is a waste of time because merely getting a cigarette vendor to break into a little song is not at all going to prevent anyone from either trying or kicking the habit.

'Shock' method

One way how individuals can be discouraged from smoking is through the 'shock' method. Present them with the real and painful facts of what smoking does to the body. Tell them how badly the lungs are eroded and how the body's various organs slowly start to decay due to smoking.

This might help youngsters who are thinking of smoking to change their mind. The approach is gory but chances are it will work much better than MAYC's fluffy route. The soft approach will get neither the government nor the youngsters the desired results because not only is the method 'pampered', the collaborators themselves have a vested interest. The MAYC's campaign somehow undermines the government-funded Tak Nak campaign.

Also, if MAYC was genuinely worried about the health of youngsters, there were other parties that it could have approached to help sponsor the campaign. Yet, it decided to approach no other than the tobacco companies themselves. If an effort is to be claimed as sincere, then it should be approached with sincerity, with no back-door arrangements that will benefit any of parties involved.

MAYC comes across as being hypocritical to state that the two tobacco companies involved in the project are trying to discourage underage individuals from smoking.

If these two tobacco companies and others like them out there sincerely have the people's welfare at heart, then they can map out more effective ways to tackle the smoking problem in the country. They would not hesitate to brainstorm and work with those who are staunch opponents of cigarette smoking, with one such person being Universiti Sains Malaysia's vice-chancellor Professor Dzulkifli Razak.

Yet, the public is to believe that tobacco companies do have our welfare at heart. Maybe not, as the truth certainly is out there.

While MAYC has gone ahead with its tie-up with tobacco companies, one would have expected the Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman Said to state unhappiness over the bias that the MAYC campaign smacks. The outspoken Azalina is working hard at promoting sports to one and all yet ironically she has nothing to say on MAYC's latest move. Does she truly have nothing to say or is she in no position to speak her mind?

'Walk their talk'

Another minister, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil who holds the Women, Family and Community portfolio, has, in times of crisis given assurances that follow-up actions will be taken be it for cases of rape or child abuse. Last year, when the nation was grappling with a surge in rape cases, Shahrizat announced that her ministry would undertake profiling of the perpetrator to determine what prompts a man to rape i.e. getting to the root cause of what leads to rape.

But that was it, no further news came from her ministry about this and rape continues to occur. The same approach goes for child abuse issues and issues of violence against women.

And more recently Shahrizat was reported by the newspapers as saying that the interests of transvestites and transsexuals will be taken into account before the government formulates policies affecting them. Hopefully this is not yet another propaganda by the minister because if the government really did have the interests of transvestites and transsexuals at heart, it would have long stopped treating these people as social outcasts and not nab them for cross-dressing in public.

The 'fact' states that 'indecent behaviour' or cross-dressing is an offence chargeable under Section 25 of the Minor Offences Act when with all due respect it was pointed out by the Bar Council in 1996 to the authorities that there is no such offence as dressing up as a woman. Section 25 apparently covers the wearing of authorised uniformed of the armed forces!

While up-front concern on grave matters is always shown by our ministers, hardly anything concrete comes out from that initial worry. The sad part of it all is that the public continues to believe that those in power will do whatever it takes to make the environment safe for one and all. Just how long more must we wait for our politicians to "walk their talk"?

JJ RAY started her career with a mainstream publication. A non-conformist, she soon saw the barriers that went up whenever, through her writing, she tried to make the world a home for one and all.