Anti Corruption Talk Mere Theatre

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YOURSAY | ‘When have politicians really thought of the people?’
COMMENT | PM's attack on Sabah graft welcome but lacks action
LimeHorse5802: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s fiery speech in Sabah had the cadence of reformasi-era oratory.
He recalled his imprisonment and humiliation, saying he could forgive those injustices but not the theft of public money.
The crowd assumed he was speaking about Sabah’s mining scandal, yet the imagery fits his old nemesis, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, more than local leaders.
ADSAfter three years in office, however, Anwar has yet to bring Mahathir or others to court on fresh charges, despite having confidently claimed that he has boxes and boxes of evidence incriminating the elderly former prime minister.
By defining corruption as “billions stolen from the rakyat”, Anwar sets a bar that excludes most real-world abuses. The Sabah case - a few million ringgits allegedly paid as “political donations” for mining rights - does not meet his unforgivable threshold.
No treasury was raided; instead, money flowed through political channels. Those implicated call it donations, not corruption, and MACC seems satisfied.
For ordinary Malaysians, though, money-for-licence looks corrupt, whether the figure is in millions or billions.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, meanwhile, declared his party morally superior because no DAP exco member appeared in the mining video. It was a childish boast.
Not being caught in one scandal does not equal clean hands. DAP still carries baggage.
The irony is that Loke made his claim at a Sabah fundraising dinner - itself part of the same opaque donation culture that blurs the line between politics and corruption.
Umno, Bersatu, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star), Warisan, and DAP all rely on these unregulated funds while pretending their own are virtuous.
Anwar’s thunder and Loke’s boasts ring hollow because both dodge the core issue; Malaysia still lacks transparent political funding laws. Until that changes, anti-corruption talk will remain theatre.
KK Voter: Anwar’s rhetoric changes more often than the wind changes direction. Each time, he takes no responsibility, shows no consistency with his earlier statements, and yet somehow manages to blame others.
The inconsistency of his rhetoric on the Sabah scandal is plain to see. Here’s another recent example:
ADSSince the start of his premiership, he has fancied himself a kind of "French revolutionary”, championing the peasants (such as the Malay grassroots he is courting) in a supposed war against the maha kaya (by which he bizarrely means those earning a combined RM100K per year - in other words, the urban poor, his actual support base, not the real maha kaya).
He was the one who framed it as a class war. Besides maha kaya, he also labelled them ultra elites, ultra-liberal, English-educated elites.
He was insulting the middle class and urban poor voters every single time he opened his mouth, making them out to be rich and privileged.
Yet, when defending the petrol subsidy eligibility, he justified it as preserving unity over saving money, suggesting he wanted to avoid class conflict, which is a joke, given he’s the one who started the narrative in the first place.
But then again, he’s hardly alone. Too many politicians still behave as if they’re campaigning in the 70s and 80s, when you could say different things to different audiences and get away with it because the press was tightly controlled.
Salvage Malaysia: Politicians are normally the great pretenders. First, Anwar whacks on the Sabah scandal.
Next Star president Jeffrey Kitingan calls out to restore MA63 to Sabah. When have politicians really thought of the people?
Determined Sarawakian: Sabah’s identity crisis remains deeply rooted in the politicised manipulation of identity cards orchestrated at the highest levels of federal governance during the late 20th century.
When demographic integrity could be compromised so brazenly, it is little wonder that lesser actors followed suit.
That legacy continues to cast a long shadow over Sabah’s political and cultural landscape.
The onus now falls on Sabah’s Indigenous majority to assert their agency and declare -unequivocally - that enough is enough.
By contrast, Sarawak has taken deliberate steps to restore institutional integrity.
Since the end of Sarawak's late former chief minister and governor, Taib Mahmud's era, successive administrations have recognised that sustainable growth and good governance are not merely desirable - they are essential.
Sarawak’s commitment to reform offers a model for East Malaysian renewal: one grounded in transparency, development, and respect for its diverse communities.
The Fog of Life: The bottom line is that Anwar has been a significant failure in tackling corruption and enforcing the rule of law.
Political compromise is not what we asked for or deserve for delivering you to Putrajaya. Be a leader and do what’s right, even if it costs you political support.
The rakyat are crying out for leadership. Don’t be scared to be brave.
You will be surprised where it may take you.
Being marginally better than your predecessors isn’t good enough, given their utter lack of commitment to integrity and the rule of law. Soar like an eagle, be bold and brave.
Spinnot: Timber wealth has only benefited a few politically connected individuals since independence.
Before independence, it only benefited foreign (mostly British) logging companies. But except for illegal logging, the state government collects 100 percent of timber royalty, whereas in oil and gas, 95 percent of the royalty goes to the federal government and the remaining five percent goes to the state.
Pakatan Harapan had in its 2018 election manifesto promised to increase the oil and gas royalty payments to Sabah and Sarawak to 20 percent.
Has that promise been fulfilled?
Make the change in GE16: The problem is that politicians always change when they are in power.
At the moment, the unity government combination seems a suitable alignment, but the leaders of the four main component parties seem reluctant to change or maybe even compromise.
Change them in the next general election. - Mkini

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