I think he gets it right again: just why are the MPs so worked up over the exposure of their AP ownerships? Is it a reaction against arm-twisting or is it something more? Mr Pereira notes:

So why was there such a sledgehammer reaction by the MPs to the release of the list? Perhaps because Rafidah is vulnerable.

Perhaps because there is little downside in going after someone who appears to be nearing the end of her political shelf-life, more so a minister who once moved around with such swagger.

Perhaps, because there is so much negative vibes about APs that no one wants to be linked to this policy, even if they have legitimate reasons for being recipients.

Whatever their reasons, Rafidah does not owe anyone an apology for letting the public know which MPs got APs.

If transparency over the automotive policy is what everyone in this country craves, then Malaysians must get the unvarnished version.


And that’s the point: if we want transparency, it’s a double-edged sword for those who themselves have things to hide; is it an all or nothing proposition (transparent or not transparent)? Some ministers seem not to think so, which is all the more sad and deplorable. What’s delicious, however, is how the wolves are out hunting other wolves. A truly “dog-eat-dog” situation.

Mr Brendan Pereira writes:

Going after the minister on this issue alone is wrong and smacks of opportunism.

Going after the minister for not attending Parliament while she was away on a Cabinet-sanctioned trade mission to the United States or attending the Asean Economic Ministers meeting in Laos is also misguided. Why?

Because it only creates the impression that there is a campaign to get Rafidah at all cost and detracts from the number one aim of the exercise — to peel away the layers of secrecy and confusion surrounding the award of APs.

Right on the money, in my opinion. If it becomes a lynching, however entertaining it is, the lynching will become just that: another sandiwara, a drama played out in parliament and in the papers, but will remain the norm rather than the exception.

Forget the fact that a truly senior member of the Cabinet is getting shafted, and think about the fact that it is still a personality that is being castigated; our politics is not all about personalities, true, but there are signs that there rules of the game are decided by personalities.

Ideas like ‘transparency’ and ‘anti-corruption’ will find no purchase if they are still mired in the sensibilities of a cult of personality: they only seem to have force if those who wield the power allow them to.

When, and not if, Rafidah gets taken down a few pegs (if not removed completely), what next? What about institutionalized opacity, the stuff which makes such unmitigated corruption possible?

Link: NST article