It is all out in the open now, and the foreign media who had exposed it are not amateurs, they know what they are getting into and they would have investigated thoroughly before breaking the news to the world. Now, what does it show on the country that is under scrutiny, our beloved land Malaysia? It is one country with two systems or standards. One for the common man and the other for the privileged and powerful classes of society.

What is so saddening is that the institution that we could at one time trust as the custodian or guardian of our finances and monetary system is also complicit in this whole fiasco. We are world-renowned actors when it comes to finger-pointing, swearing in the name of God and blaming everyone else accept ourselves and the world knows that; it just wants to see what we as a people will do with this expose if we call ourselves a democracy.

It wants to see what we mean when we tell the world that we are moderates when it comes to religion and we believe in the rule of law.

It is all centred around the fact that we have allowed our system to become a prime-ministerial democracy, when all power in centred with the Prime Minister’s Office. We had a good system of checks and balances but all this ‘checks’ were soon spelt as ‘cheques and balances in accounts’.

As we allowed a one party system of so-called power-sharing to dominate our political landscape since independence, we soon assumed that whatever this one party does is right and there should not be any questions as to its actions.

When the common man does banking in our country today and the figures are above RM50,000.00, numerous questions are posed and when answers are given, it is not taken for granted, further questions are asked for genuine above-board transactions until the bank is satisfied.

The Inland Revenue Board comes a-calling  and may not be satisfied when answers are given as to how such monies came into our accounts and what the source is. If the answers are not to their satisfaction, we are charged with non-payment of income tax, non-disclosure of income and whatever other tax offences that they can think of because we are the common people and we have to adhere to the authority of the government of the day.

But sadly, this very authority which goes after the common man, who is seen as a digit or only as a vote, doesn’t seem to be bothered about the ‘big man’ or the well-connected privileged class which we have created because of a lackadaisical attitude when it comes to determining who should lead us. We are bought with money and favours, what can we expect of those whom we elect?

It is us, the people, who will have to also bear the brunt of the state of affairs of our beloved nation, what we do best is to vent but when it comes to the crunch, we don't question.

Years of neglect unravelling

Questioning starts from the minute matters, once we start doing that, we learn and we ask better and sharper questions to those who are in authority. I have seen some litigants ask questions to judges before whom they appear, and usually it puts the presiding judge in a bind as to how to answer their queries.

What we see unravelling today is years of lackadaisical attitude and neglect by us the people who have allowed the privileged class and those in authority to assume that they would not be questioned for the acts and omissions committed by them. It is sick to note how we fumble to bring culprits to book when members of our privileged classes are caught with their pants down.

It has become a butt of jokes worldwide, we are known for having the tallest towers, the highest numbers of Bangladeshis both legal and illegal, foreign begging community and of late being a land where almost anything is possible as long as you have connections to the right switches and cables, therefore it is aptly put as a place for endless possibilities.

Therefore if we don’t question authority, we will end up in a situation like this, where power is abused and corruption has no end.

We have started to question authority and have changed our voting pattern since 2008, but we have to do more to keep the pressure so that real change will take place. For there to be a system that everyone is subject to, we need the Malays to start thinking out of the box. The Malays must understand that the non-Malays are not here to take their positions, they are not here to lord over them. They are a permanent fixture in this land mass just like the rest.

Malaysia being where it is situated will still continue to attract people, therefore to keep repeating chants like ‘balik China’ or ‘balik India’ is simply a waste of energy. Whatever that is taking place now and the state in which the daily costs of living is, affects the Malays most but yet the support for the current administration comes from them most.

There seems to be a fear that if the opposition is supported, there will be super liberal policies in the country and our ordinary way of life as Malaysians will be affected! Hence, we see the religious groups and clergy now joining hands with the current administration singing the same tunes.

Why we are in this state is not difficult to decipher, we seem to be believe in a prime-ministerial democracy as opposed to parliamentary democracy. We seem to run a government where all power emanates from the office of the prime minister. We don't see the need to check and balance, we seem comfortable if only the prime minister makes the decisions.

We seem happy that the cabinet is there just as window-dressing and to support and cheer the prime minister on. The Judiciary, the prosecution, the police, the armed forces, the anti corruption commission, the Inland Revenue Board and the rest are all under the thumb of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Seemingly subscribing to graft as a way of life?

We have therefore allowed the creation of an emperor as opposed to a prime minister. Let’s remind ourselves that there is no use talking about morals and good behavior to schoolchildren through the so-called ‘moral studies’ when we seem to so openly subscribe to corruption as a way of life.

Ever since the introduction of the so-called ‘moral studies’ as a subject in schools which is more like an indoctrination subject, our young have become more immoral! When what they learnt and read about in the so called ‘moral studies’ is not at all applied in the real world out there, the young ones realise what a sheer waste of time it had been and if they don’t assimilate to the ways of going about our daily lives in the real world, it is going to be a tough road ahead.

They quickly realise that principles, theories, maxims and doctrines are only to pass exams in school, college and universities; it doesn’t apply in the real world. In the real world, power and connections and ultimately MONEY is what matters.

You can be right in principle but wrong in the real world because your principle doesn’t conform to the ‘norm’. If you don’t fit into the ‘norm’ you are ostracised; once you are ostracised, they expect you to learn and adapt to the ‘accepted’ ways of going about things.

Lets remind ourselves that God is showing us a great example in the way the European Community is treating Greece. Greece was very much like us and did not bother to change their ways. Corruption and abuse of power was everywhere and hence today, we see a country at the verge of collapse because it has got no money left.

We seem to have taken a position that if we keep taxing the people more, we can still make ends meet but little do we realise that how are the people going to keep paying these taxes when all opportunities are controlled by a chosen few. To get a piece of that opportunity, one would have to play the game, put money in the right places, put certain people in the right places so that the business that one has ventured into can sustain.

How long can we tolerate this in the name of race, religion and nation? How long can we keep covering this up with threats of persecution?

Yes, the opposition too is in disarray. Yes, the ‘Holy Party’ has made a sudden U-turn after the last principled stalwart passed on. Yes, the ‘Holy Party’ seems to be taking stands which they were dead bent against before but there is still hope in those who have proven to be rational and practical politicians.

We as a people have to put aside our differences which the state has for so long built to ensure that we do not integrate and are kept separate so that we can continuously be suspicious of each other, which in turn will benefit those who rejoice in seeing us Malaysians unite, to save this nation of ours from being destroyed. Unless we get up, there will never be a change.