The bad blood between the member of parliament for Jasin Mohd Said Yusof and the top brass of the Customs and Excise Department seemed to have reached a climax when he and his gang of parliamentarians hurled a salvo of criticisms in Parliament demeaning the civil servants who wears the customs uniforms when doing their work.

To say that parliamentarians have immunity and can say whatever they want without concrete proof is allowing them character assassination at best, and plain slander at worst. The victims are without a chance to reply to these allegations since they have been 'gagged' by their top boss from speaking to the press or other parties.

If the Jasin MP thinks that the Customs Department is full of graft and that the top echelon of the department abuses its power, then he should report it to the ACA for them to investigate.

This MP should raise other more important issues like rampant corruption in society, wastage of public funds for grand projects and the price hikes in electricity, petrol, toll and foodstuffs among others.

By harping on the alleged shortcomings of the Customs Department, one can see that the seething anger of the Jasin MP is still unabated following the revelation on his own misdeeds by the department recently in relation to his freight company.

Sending a threatening SMS warning to the enforcement directors of the Customs Department to not find fault with his private company shows that this MP is not interested in protecting public interests but instead wants to protect his private interest from being investigated by a government agency which does its work without fear or favour.

His arrogance is only superseded by his ignorance if he thinks that the public is not aware of his antics in Parliament where the Customs Department become his whipping boy in order to vent his anger over the department's refusal to 'close one eye' to his misdeeds.

Black sheep are not confined only to the Customs Department. Other government agencies also have their share of incompetent staff who are on the take. But to condemn the whole staff of the Customs Department as being on the take is hitting below the belt.

And what has happen to the ACA report against the Jasin MP for his past alleged misdeeds? Apparently, no action been taken. I for one would like to see another candidate - whether from the ruling party or the opposition - to stand for the Jasin constituency in the next general election.

The present one seems to behave more like clown who operates on a personal vendetta rather than a serious legislator who works for the people who elect him.