02 Feb 2009.

Next month, Malaysia will see a change of leadership and

it is the hope of many that the change will initiate a new approach to
finally putting away for good the various rotten eggs in Malaysia.

The new leadership must immediately summon the needed courage to tackle
the many issues facing the country and not allow any delay in doing it.
Otherwise the rot will surely set in deep and we will have to wait for
the next one more leadership change.

The rotten eggs have become more pungent by the day, and there is no
point in hiding them under the carpet, the floor or whatever.

One of the most rotten of the eggs is the image the local police force
has become famous for, which is mainly their style of providing public
security. For them, most assuredly, two wrongs make one right.

Crime has grown by leaps and bounds in Malaysia, and one of the causes
of it is the lack of professionalism and sense of duty within the men
and women serving in the local police force. Evidently, these people have
never heard of the maxim: Prevention is better than cure.

It is much better to prevent crime from happening in the first place, and
not to go after criminals only when a crime has already been committed.
The police in Malaysia tend to catch whoever they could lay their hands
on, and then proceed to use the standard method of dealing with suspects;
whacking the daylights out of them when inside the walls of the detention
cells. Even the high brow MACC (SPRM) has been accused of practising such
methods when dealing with members of the public brought in for questioning.

Crime here has duly reciprocated in kind to such acts by the enforcement
agencies. Crime victims are often subjected to extreme violence during or
after a crime is done. Human bodies now regularly appear here and there,
including those of young females, sometimes half-naked, in rubbish bins,
bags, uninhabited houses, jogging parks, rivers and highways. Burnt bodies
are not an unusual discovery in oil palm estates.

At the same time, public faith in government agencies and their uniformed
personnel is at an all-time low. The authorities clearly has failed here.

The government looks to the tourist industry for foreign exchange earnings,
but they have overlooked the fact that good tourists are scared off by the
numerous robberies on goldsmith shops and shopping malls. The tourists now
most abundant are the ones who tend to orientate towards the drug and vice
centres in the country. These rotten eggs must be dealt with without delay.

Another extremely serious issue is the rampant smuggling business near the
border areas and the southern coasts. Illegal migrants, contraband goods,
guns, narcotics, firecrackers, imitation items and protected animals are
providing very good incomes to all those involved in the business, from the
uniformed personnel to the middlemen, the employers and the retailers who
now provide Malaysia with a well-oiled shadow economy.

Another rotten problem affecting the country is the rise of the racist and
religious extremists in Malaysia as a result of the current weak political
leadership. These extremists in our midst only wish to undermine any sense
of genuine democracy & they very much prefer that the country live under a
religious-racial-centric form of government. Such a situation has no place
in our modern world and these fermented morons must always be kept at bay.
Another thing to discard now is the tendency of the ruling class to mount a
whispering campaign against the opposition, particularly if they succeeded
in winning over members of the BN. Such actions only reflect the deep and
dark state of malaise that at present hobble the minds of the ruling class.
A free and open mind is one that fears no adversary, but surely the ruling
BN is still unable to fathom its value or meaning.

One bad rotten egg that is not always in the media is the increasing state
of polarisation in the country as a result of national policies that really
greatly contribute to it. The leaders here tend to keep a blind eye towards
those who still want to promote unmitigated & unshackled "race supremacism"
in the 21st century, but anyone who opposed these goons face instant action
from the authorities. Race supremacism coupled with religious fanaticism is
a potent and dangerous brew. But in Malaysia, it is viewed as good syrup.

Corruption and money politics need no introduction; thanks to Mahathir and

the Umnoputra Inc, the country's reputation is legendary. We're in it right
up to our nostrils.

Other massive rotten eggs are the giant industries that have sprung up with
help from Malaysians who have become truly world-class experts in the areas
of drug-making and peddling, carjacking, optical pirating and transnational
pimping. These industries generate billions of dollars in turnover annually
and they provide easy, comfortable and highly rewarding livelihoods for a
lot of locals in the country. The result is an unmatched thirst for foreign
labour to handle all the mundane occupations and jobs that only offered low
wages and poor working conditions. It is high time for the leaders to deal
with these problems now before Malaysia gets on the UN sanctions list.

The impending change of leadership should become the impetus to implement

changes in national policies and style of governance. The will to come out
smelling like a rose must be there. There must be a hunger for the sweet
smell of success. The lingering scent of rotten eggs must go.