VOXPOP 'Whether one wins or fails in a war is determined after it has been fought. In Malaysia's case, the war was never called, and never fought.'

Capital flight: 'M'sia fails in war against corruption'

CAT Lover: This transfer pricing should be happening on a big scale in the palm oil business because the Malaysian industry is so well vertically integrated: all the big companies are there - Sime, IOI, KLK, Tabung Haji, United Plantation, and even Felda wants a piece of the cake as well.

They can save on ‘costs' (taxes) by under-reporting the cost of the commodity when exporting from Indonesia to any of their subsidiaries abroad. This will also save them import tax. If they export CPO (crude palm oil) to Malaysia first, then refine it in Johor, etc, they can do it again when exporting to China, US, EU, India, etc.

Palm oil is the cheapest edible oil in the market for reasons beyond our imagination, not merely because palms have high yields.

Mahindar Singh: It is very obvious that there is no political will by the government to eradicate corruption. The current BN leaders cannot do it and are mired in too many controversies.

Take the case of NFC (National Feedlot Corporation), do you see the government coming forward to expose this?

Instead, all we see are cover-ups by the Umno Youth leader and other ministers. Do you hear protests from MIC or MCA or all the minnow parties of the BN? Any person with a moral fibre in them would have made a big hue and cry.

But what you see instead is MCA and the BN parties running down hudud and their foes - DAP, PKR and PAS. We can safely say that there is so much less corruption in the Pakatan Rakyat states. This is quite obvious.

Ksn: The caption of this story ‘Malaysia fails in war against corruption' is catchy. But whether one wins or fails in a war is known when it's over. In Malaysia's case, the war was never called, and never fought.

The government is a bystander and as it is pointed out, exhibits lack of will. Worse still, our government and its cronies are active and effective participants in corrupt practices.

So there has been no war against corruption in the last 30 years. Instead, there is silent encouragement for corruption, hence the current situation.

Ben Hor: It's hard to win the war on corruption when you're always blatantly defending corruption. Fry the very big fish (or whale) such as Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, and you will definitely see Malaysia improve 10-fold in the corruption index.

Si Tow: The lack of will to tackle corruption can be traced to the policies of Umno government, who by placing race-based officers and the continued use of the crutch mentality, is encouraging its continuation.

Instead of being Malaysian first, the elites in Umno promotes their own selfish policies to the detriment of the raykat.

2cts Worth: It is a gross understatement to say that the government has no will to stem corruption. On the other hand, the will to continue with getting rich and powerful by all means is rampant and getting stronger than ever.

Kit Siang froths over 'media blackout'

Bender: As long as they manage to control the mainstream media (MSM), Umno-BN will always have the upper hand in the information war. Whether we like it or not, many people simply chose to believe whatever they read in the MSM.

I've met people from all walks of life, from simple kampong folks to the well-to-dos. The kampong folks find a healthy dose of fantasy in the MSM - to them as long as the country is peaceful (this is the mantra played by the MSM day in and day out), whatever hardships that they face can still be tolerated, and they should be thankful for it (that means, don't think too much, just accept your fate).

The well-to-dos, on the other hand, are also happy with the mind-numbing content of the MSM because that makes their jobs much easier (since people rarely question their roles and responsibilities).

Malaysian53: It is long overdue for the public to hold mainstream media such as New Straits Times ( NST ), Star , Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) and TV3 responsible for unfair reporting. Positive news of Pakatan Rakyat parties and states are downgraded to a small column or not reported at all.

It is little wonder that their readership has nose-dived together with their reputation. I believe it is not sufficient to let them suffer low readership but question their editorial staff continuously for such low levels of integrity.

Isa@1penyu: Lim Kit Siang, when does DAP's Rocket report anything wrong going on within DAP? Your party even stops newspapers from reporting at DAP conventions, so why make a fuss? This is a case of the pot calling kettle black.

Tailek: Isa@1penyu, how can you compare a political party publication like Rocket with national papers like NST , Star or Utusan Malaysia, unless of course you also admit that those are BN organs.

In a dubious way, you are not wrong. NST, Star and Utusan pander only to BN parties. These national papers will never publish anything derogatory of the government or any news favourable to the opposition. I have already terminated my subscription to the Star .

Ong : Indeed, you cannot compare Rocket with the mainstream media, especially RTM. Rocket is a DAP organ meant for party propaganda. RTM is government owned and belongs to all Malaysians, including BN and Pakatan supporters as well as fence-sitters.

News media such as Star , NST , etc, are publicly-owned companies whose shareholders include non-Umno and non-BN people.

In other words, mainstream news media are not Umno-BN party organs and not meant to be used by Umno-BN for their party propaganda.

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