MGG Pillai Commentary View

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The BN admits dato'ships and other titles could be bought under its governance

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) ADMITS that dato'ships and other titles could be bought in those states it governs. The Malaysian cabinet at its weekly meeting yesterday (19 November 2003) decided to tell the rulers to behave and not rob the royal institutions of their legitimacy with this scandal. The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, would make that known to the rulers possibly at the next session of the Conference of Rulers. The virtual justice minister, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim, in the issue of the week for which the BN is famous for, said that in ten of the 13 states, titles and other awards could be bought. Dato' Seri Rais, at his press conference yesterday, referred only to the rulers, when four states have Governors, all BN political worthies, and BN chief ministers. Only Penang, amongst them, is free of the sale of titles, he says. Whether this is because it is the Prime Minister's home state, and it would be politicially unwise to link it to the titles-for-sale scandal is not for me to say.

Of the states that sold titles are two controlled by the Parti SeIslam Malaysia or PAS. If the BN had proof that PAS was involved, it would have been all over the mainstream press by now. So, it is safe to presume that when BN was in power there, it was rampant; now that it is not, it is not, In other words, this is a BN problem and a BN scandal. Telling the rulers to behave cannot resolve it. The BN, more precisely UMNO, should act first. Its mentris besar are the main culprits. The UMNO supreme council must address this first before blaming others. Dato' Seri Rais wants a "more professional system with responsibility and transparency to totally avoid allegations that a title depends on money", He beats about the bush. What is needed is to bring back a system which worked well before UMNO and the BN gots their hands soiled. The rulers got sucked into this political chicanery. The constitutional rulers could not challenge the greed of those in power. In many instances, they fell in line. This is not to excuse them altogether: one or two could well put the politicians to shame in this regard. Even now.

There was a time when titles were sparingly awarded. The former deputy prime minister, Tun Ghafar Baba, said in his nine years as chief minister of Malacca, he recommended only two men to be datos'. Less than 500 datos' were awarded in the first 15 years of independence. Today it is that many in a year. Johore would, in the 1950s, award two dato'ships a year - one from the civil service and the other from the public - with an extra one every five years. These rigid guidelines were happily discarded, and Johore has as many as 15 datos' for every day of the year. It is not much different in the other states. The rigid scrutiny was relaxed when money became an important consideration. How else would you ascribe to business men getting awards from the various states for no reason than that they have the money to buy them?

Between Tun Ghafar in the 1960s and Dato' Seri Mohamed Ali Rastam in 2003 is a wide gulf. Today, paying money for titles is not unusual in the state. Dato' Seri Ali of course denies it, but one dato' from Sabah proudly tells anyone who would listen in Kota Kinabalu that he paid RM200,000 for his recent Malacca title. He also appointed a bankrupt as the Jasin district council secretary, stonewalled all criticism about it, insisted there was no law against it, and then sacked the man, when Pak Lah said he should not hold the post. There was a similar problem in the Ampang Jaya district council, when a bankrupt was appointed to a high profile post. He was later charged in court for not revealing his bankruptcy when he applied for the post. Dato' Seri Ali tries to sidetrack the issue to insist that the matter is now closed, and no one should raise it. Why not? Is he, as a politican, not subject to public scrutiny? He has abused his office in what he did. In proper times, he would have resigned, or be forced out. That cannot happen here. Because if he is, so would many a leading UMNO leader in office.

If the BN government wants to reform the award of titles, it must do more than talk. By its publicity and blaming the rulers, it ensures any action it takes is irrelevant. The federal government cannot order the states to do what it wants. Federal-state ties are a sensitive matter, and is enough to pit them in confrontation. The BN could act on its own, by insisting that it nominates no more than three politicians and three business men. selected after rigorous background checks, for awards to each state and to the centre, and with a quota for the arms of government. But it must also look at every award and if money is known or believed to have exchanged for it, it must be forfeit. It should be left to the individual state BN governments to act. Leave it to the states to sort out the problem. And act through the political machinery to punish those who would not. Any leader who reacts as Dato' Seri Ali should be given short shrift. Could the BN allow this? Yes. Would it? No. It wants to be in absolute control at all times. This is why it is in this mess now.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com