Embarrassing when foreigners point out wrongs in Malaysia, says Rafidah
It is embarrassing that foreigners are pointing out the wrongs in the country, said former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, who described it as akin to "adding salt and vinegar" to a wound. Writing on her Facebook page, the former international trade and industry minister said Malaysia has become the talk of the world for "very wrong and embarrassing" reasons. "The embarrassment of having foreigners point out the wrongs (which we ourselves are pointing out to the leaders!) certainly is very painful... like adding salt and vinegar to the wound! "But we cannot dismiss those observations and comments. They are valid," she said. Rafidah's post comes during the ongoing 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya, where Transparency International (TI) chief Jose Ugaz spoke out against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the RM2.6 billion "donation" in his personal accounts. Ugaz had said that the money has all the elements of "grand corruption", while TI co-founder Michael J. Hershman urged Najib to come clean on the funds. Najib was supposed to deliver the keynote address at the conference, but he skipped the meeting after minister Datuk Paul Low warned him of "possible hostile receptions". The IACC, attended by some 1,000 delegates from 130 countries, started on Wednesday and will end later today. Rafidah described the past 48 hours as "days of national shame and embarrassment", and said it was a culmination of what Malaysians had been saying all this while, whether publicly or privately. The former Wanita Umno chief said the crux of the matter was the integrity of the government and its leaders, as well as issues currently affecting the country. "We used to hear of faraway countries being chastised for their culture of corruption. In fact we ourselves used them as examples of how (a) lack of integrity, greed, and abuse of power have condemned those countries to the backwaters. Their people deprived of development, while the leaders held sway, with power derived from corrupt systems and practices. "And now, in a global conference focussing on corruption, our own leaders are being questioned... because of the very issues that we, the majority of Malaysians, are asking answers for," she said. She said Malaysia was now witnessing was "unthinkable", and asked what happened to the concept of "service for the people and nation". Rafidah did not mention the Bersih 4 rally by name, but alluded to it when she urged the authorities to "stop wasting time and effort" by hauling up the organisers for questioning. Police two days ago had questioned Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and other individuals over the planning and execution of the rally. Police also said they would question former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who attended the rally on both days. "If the authorities don't know why, then there's something wrong with them. Focus on understanding why the people demonstrated... ie the reasons that moved them to go to the streets. Focus on getting to the root of each issue... and resolve them as provided for by the laws of the land." Telling the national leadership to "get a grip on the issues", Rafidah said the world was watching Malaysia to see how it handled its problems. "We must make every effort to redeem the good name of our country, Malaysia," she said. – September 4, 2015.
