I refer to the Malaysiakini report How BN declares assets of its elected reps .

Oh yes, I had heard of the detailed declaration of assets by BN ministers and exco members some time back and it actually comes as a surprise to me that such declarations were actually carried out.

However such declarations are not made public and at the national levej, they are only submitted to the prime ministers. Many Malaysians have the impression that our prime ministers, past and present, have the habit of using their position to enrich their family members and cronies.

Therefore, many Malaysians also form the impression that if the declarations show suspicious accumulation of assets, the prime minister may take action? What action? disciplinary action? Not likely. Better to use such information for leverage.

In the case of BN state exco members, as pointed out by the above report, their declaration of assets are submitted to their menteri besar.

Since the report quoted Tang See Hang, perhaps it is relevant to point out that he was a Selangor state exco member for many years. Who were the menteri besar he was working under?

Muhammad bin Muhammad Taib, Abu Hassan Omar and Mohamad Khir Toyo.

Muhammad Taib was caught in Australia smuggling millions in currency notes. He managed to escape a conviction by pretending that he did not understand English.

Remember that he was a Universiti Malaya graduate at a time when English was the medium of instruction at UM. Perhaps he really did not understand English but how then did he manage to pass his exams?

As for Abu Hassan Omar, I believe he left after a short stint as menteri besar due to some alleged moral transgression.

No need to talk about Mohd Khir Toyo. Stories about him are still current and his misdeeds still get mentioned regularly in all the newspapers.

If declarations of assets show suspicious accumulation of assets, what would the menteri besar as above have done? Take disciplinary action? Sack the offending exco member? Not likely.

The above report also mentioned the ACA (now MACC) being privy to the declaration of assets by BM members. I won't even bother to comment on the ACA because I think it is an even bigger joke than the MBs mentioned above.

The report above seems to say that the BN leaders’ declaration of assets was an impressive move. I am not impressed.

I am of the opinion that this whole BN show is also a ‘political gimmick’, using Tang See Hang's own words.

The only meaningful form of declaration is a public declaration so that if any member of the public is aware of any acquisition or if a disposal of asset not declared, such omission can be exposed.

On this score, it would appear that the Pakatan Rakyat's public declaration of assets, although half-hearted, is more meaningful than that of the BN's.