DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said today that cabinet ministers who had aided and abetted the activities of the bogus Federal Special Forces of Malaysia (FSFM) in any way should own up publicly and clarify their role in the RM64 million scam which deceived some 8,000 people.

The public are entitled to know why these ministers, including mentris besar and chief ministers, could be so gullible and irresponsible as not to alert the relevant authorities about the scam at the first available opportunity if they had been contacted by FSFM, he said in a statement today.

Lim was referring to Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's request yesterday to Emergency Action Team of Malaysia (PCTM) chief Munsyi Muslim Yacob to substantiate his claim that certain ministers were involved with the bogus FSFM.

Mahathir had said that if Munsyi cannot show proof, action would be taken against him. Munsyi had said the FSFM head, Nor Azami formed FSFM after being sacked from the registered PCTM.

Apart from challenging Munsyi to show proof, ministers who are in any way involved with FSFM should step forward to clarify their role, Lim said.

"This is in fact the added reason why the government should issue a White Paper on the bogus FSFM, focusing in particular on the security, political and official involvement and the corruption dimensions of the FSFM scam," he added.

Even more serious than gullibility, the DAP chief said, is the problem of corruptibility of public officials and public institutions, including public perceptions of such corruptibility that everything in Malaysia has a price and can be bought with money, whether rank, title or educational degrees.

This is why the FSFM scam should not be simply shrugged off as a case of cheating but should be a wake-up call to all sectors of society on the urgent need to take drastic actions to stop the rot of corruption from destroying the Malaysian nation, he said.