THIS controversy of a palatial building in a poor neighbourhood is too juicy to be passed off without some observation. In many ways, it is like a microcosm of the predominant culture of politics in Malaysia.

The story was exposed for the first time in February this year by Klang state assemblyperson Teng Chang Khim, one of the very few truly effective elected representatives from the DAP. He wrote letters to the anti-corruption and the tax agencies, but received no reply. The story was widely reported in the Chinese press, but received little attention, because it was not reported in the Malay or English media. That goes to show how the Chinese press is marginalised in national politics.

Apparently, the piece of land was issued with temporary occupation permit to a few families. Then, the permit was withdrawn by a state government agency that dealt with land matters, and the Umno state assembly rep did sit on the committee that made such decisions. The families living on the land were evicted as squatters.

The state assembly rep concerned, a chap by the name of Zakaria, then made an application for ownership of the land. He paid the premium of RM180,000 and built a palatial mansion worth anywhere from RM3-5 million without proper approval from the local authority. The trouble is that this Zakaria fellow is part of the authority. He, together with his son and his daughter-in-law, sits on the Klang Municipal Council that is supposed to implement laws and by-laws that control the building of houses.

The story becomes even more juicy because the so-called elected representative of the people concerned also ran a satay restaurant of dubious legal standing in the neighbourhood. Apparently, he had a competitor near by, and the competition was eliminated when the local council took action against the other satay stall, conveniently for our Umno politician-cum-businessman.

The story finally broke in The Sun , and was picked up by the other major dailies. Soon it became a national issue. Suddenly, those in positions of power woke up and started to make noises. The Mentri Besar of Selangor mumbled something about the offender paying up the fines for illegal construction. Even the Sultan of Selangor was moved to summon the offender to his palace, and given a royal harangue.

What else is new?

At first, this Zakaria chap pleaded sickness and failed to appear before the Selangor Sultan. He failed to turn up for an audience with the ruler a couple of times. Then it turned out that he was holidaying in Malacca, hiding from his confrontation with the sultan, and not that sick after all. He was told by the sultan to resign his position as councilman, or face removal.

And so, the daily saga unfolds, making headlines every day on all the newspapers for a good part of two weeks.

Your average cynical citizens would watch the developing drama with mild amusement. Their response after a big bored yawn is: so what else is new?

For we have seen it all, and known it all, even if it is not reported in the press. There are 3,500 members of all kinds of local councils. They are never elected, but nominated by their political parties. That means they are not accountable to the people, over whom they hold the decision over all matters of daily living, from approving contraction of new houses, to garbage disposal.

They can do anything they like, without consulting the rakyat, and their job will never be in jeopardy. Our system of local government is probably worse than that in communist China, and you can only expect rampant corruption, obvious conflict of interest, and abuse of power for personal gains.

And indeed, what else is new? There are numerous state assembly reps, state executive councillors whom in Sarawak and Sabah, they call state ministers, involved in all kinds of shady deals by virtue of their privileged positions of power. Then there are the leaders of state governments, the members of Parliament, the federal cabinets, the prime ministers, all getting to be fabulously rich, building all kinds of palatial mansions and business empires, while the ordinary rakyat struggle, sometimes with two jobs, just to pay bills. What else is new indeed?

Take the chief minister of my home state Sarawak for instance. He has a house in Demak near Kuching. His house would make the alleged palace of the said Klang state assemblyperson look like a store room! His family business is worth billions, and listed on the KLSE. Now I hear they have a problem holding to their ownership of RHB Bank, and that he is trying to get rid of all his business in Sarawak. Perhaps, he is thinking of retirement in Canada.

This is the nature of politics in Malaysia. You go into politics to get rich. You do so by using your power to appropriate public money and resources to yourselves.

Family members must get rich

And because you are Asian, you practice the Asian values of looking after your family. You make sure your family members also get rich. All these politicians talk about fighting for all kinds of noble causes, like their religion or their race, and at the end of the day, they are fighting for their family bank accounts!

Already, we have the former PM and the current PM trading accusations about whose sons get bigger contract from the government. And the family must include sons-in-law as well.

These VVIPs sitting at the apex of our nation's pyramid of power can claim to their hearts' content that their children and members of their extended family are all business geniuses, and they acquire their wealth and their contracts through their hard work and talent.

But your average hard-working long-suffering citizens will ask themselves why their own children find it so hard to get a humble job even, let alone massive government contracts! They will have to conclude that a Bill Gates or a George Soros will starve to death in Malaysia.

The cynical observers will quote the old saying that every people deserve the kind of government they get. Indeed, our Malaysian voters seem to be too trusting, too nave, and too gullible. Election after election, they vote into power the parties that make them subservient accomplices in this business of stripping our rich nation's resources for personal gains. Inadvertently, they nail shut the coffin of their children's future.

But saying so will not help matters. The voters are not entirely to blame. They are not given the chance to vote fairly and freely, and they do not have the kind of free press that encourage enlightened and unencumbered debate.

At least, we still have the framework of a democracy, which theoretically speaking provides the avenues for righting the wrongs of bad arrogant government. A change of government is difficult to envisage, at least in the near future. The parameters are not there.

The real issues

Be that as it may, if the election is held today, the BN will probably suffer big losses. Exactly how big will the losses be is hard to tell, since we are really sailing in uncharted waters. But big losses there will be!

It is not just that the wrath of the former PM is digging away at the great wall of the Malaysian BN. He is not helping the ruling parties by his maverick tirade against the current government top man. But the real issues are those that hit the pocket of your lower-middle class Malaysians of all races.

The ruling parties will stay on in power, thanks to their power base in the over-weighted rural and semi-rural constituencies. But Malaysians are increasingly urbanised, and there I sense a festering repressed silent rage sustained by shrinking spending power and the most basic daily problem of eking out a decent living.

When the current PM came to the throne a few years ago, there was euphoria in the country that things were going to be better. He had those new catchy slogans to win the hearts of our trusting, nave and gullible voters. Since then, he has been stuck in a quagmire of intra and inter-party squabbles, rapidly rising costs of living, joblessness, social ills, and a general moribund state of the nation's economy with neither clear direction nor effective strategy for the private sector.

His halo has been dimmed. His honeymoon with the people is finally over. The natives are restless to-night. He is not really a bad chap, but he has chosen his path, as I and you have chosen ours. It is his cross to bear, all the way to his crucifixion.

I am no bleeding heart liberal, though my heart is bleeding, at the thought that so many good Malaysians of all races, equally intelligent as those in Singapore, China, India, and the US, are being denied their destiny as great human beings creating beautiful things, rather than just bring robotic patriotic followers of their ethnic faith, and condemned to a life of mundane ordinariness.

I offer no apology for not being proud of being a Malaysian. Bloated nationalistic pride is mere self-delusion. I will be proud of my country the day we vote all the corrupt politicians out of office.