I read the New Straits Times ' front-page about Pak Lah's (deputy premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) anti-corruption call and the setting up of a National Integrity Committee.

It sounds like a car workshop holding a meeting of mechanics over the problem of a flat tire. The problem is obvious and the rakyat know that in almost every branch of government, graft and corruption are widespread.

From the little traffic cop who stops every Singaporean car, to those policy makers in the cabinet who signs his way to fortune, it is there. So for Pak Lah to say what he said without taking to task the obvious crimes is, to say the least, hilarious.

How many cases has the ACA thrown out or closed without public accountability and disclosure? For the rakyat , it is really quite the joke and if one should take this latest outburst of integrity seriously, one would only be disappointed.

Every businessman who competes for a government tender only knows too well the handouts that must be dished out in order to secure the deal. Unless he himself speaks with integrity and lives a life above reproach and refuses to line the pockets of his supporters cum businessmen, this issue will forever plague Malaysia.

The last deputy prime minister found it impossible as the businessmen vultures saw to it that he be politically and personally destroyed for refusing to dish out the benefits which really belonged to the rakyat .