Monday, September 26, 2005

[Malaysia] Why the Customs D-G would be allowed to retire gracefully

Why the Customs D-G would be allowed to retire gracefully

Datin Seri Rafidah will not resign. Nor would Tan Sri Isa Samad. So, the public attention is on the Customs and Excise Director-General, Tan Sri Halil Mutalib. But he would not resign either. He would be allowed to go on retirement as scheduled, early next month. But Tan Sri Halil should never have been in the closed service, the customs and excise department. Not only was he bought into the service from outside, he was also given an extension by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed. He looked the easiest to get rid of, but as the story unravelled, it became a fight between the present Prime Minister, Pak Lah, and the former Prime Minister. Pak Lah cannot force him to resign although he could spread the corruption bit on Tan Sri Halil and damage Tun Mahathir. But it did not work as he planned. His 'boys' had accepted favours from Datin Seri Rafidah, Tan Sri Isa Samad, and Tan Sri Halil Mutalib, and if he did not close their cases quickly he would be hurt. The public perception that he is against corruption is not true. For when he was faced with corruption in his cabinet and his civil service, he could not act for that would have moved the UMNO warlords against him, those he would rather not, and so he took the easy way out, and went after Tun Mahathir. But that backfired. For it would have affected his 'boys', and he could not afford that. The mainstream newspapers, all owned by one or other Barisan Nasional newspapers, and all beholden to the Prime Minister, all today its readers that Datin Seri Rafidah should resign, that Tan Sri Isa Samad should resign, that Tan Sri Halil Mutalib should resign. But they are all in office, will not resign, and the newspapers find creative reasons why they should remain in the jobs.
I am interested in Tan Sri Halil Mutalib and his farewell party. I had gone to Klang last weekend and met a man whose life depended on the customs and excise department. He was told bluntly, by Tan Sri Halil and his deputies, that if he did not pay RM3,000 for the farewell party, he would face difficultes in his working life. He could bring along his wife or a friend for the price. That was later reduced to RM1,500. This bribery is prevalent in all government departments. In Putrajaya, for instance, one woman in each department is told she is in charge of cooking, and there are at least 20 women who give up their professional qualifications for the cooking every week. The government has since said there is provision for farewell parties for the chief, but this is for the whole country. But in the case of Tan Sri Haiil, it is RM250,000 for the whole country. His department spent RM160,000 for a golf game. Much of the money goes into the pockets of senior officials. At the English College (now the Makltab Sultan Abu Bakar) in Johore Bahru. it was common for us in the 1950s to collect funds for the school magazine from the school suppliers. Often, the cheques came in unasked. But the practice was common in those days. Today, funds are collected so that senior officials pocket the difference. This is common throughout the civil service. Many people cannot afford to go to the government departments for the bribe asked. You pay a lower amount at the bottom, and more as you go up the civil service ladder. Pak Lah cannot stop this by blaming his predecessor. He would be out of his job if he means what he says on corruption. His 'boys' are in it to the hilt. He would keep silent about his 'boys' for they are as guilty as Tan Sri Halil.
A friend, who had retired from the civil service, and who missed his dato'ship because his boss felt it would do him credit if he had three dato'ships instead of two, told me that he went to one government department recently and he found food being prepared for the civil servants who had come for a meeting. In his day, he went for meetings but they broke off at lunch time to enable the participants to have their lunch, for which they paid. Today, lunch is paid for by the office, and meetings are held in exotic places at government expense. Civil servants in Johore Bahru would have their meetings in Langkawi. It is common for the senior officials in the civil service to spend hundreds of thousands of RM to decorate their offices, and continue spending as they climb up the civil service ladder. So Tan Sri Mutalib's farewell party is passe. What has upset him is the public scrutiny in the Barison Nasional owned mainstream presse. He would have retired in the past, but he has become a pawn now between the urban Malays and the rural. The rural Malay is watching every step the urban Malay makes. And the urban Malay is nervous. The former Prime Minister started the ball rolling by accusing his deputy, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, of being a gay and removing from office. He is out of office but continues to repeat the allegation, the latest in Singapore. Dato' Seri Anwar has sued him, and this would be the clash between the urban and rural Malay, each representing one of them. Tun Mahathir finds his urban credentials and his 22 years in office disappear before his eyes, as Pak Lah flirsts with bringing Dato' Seri Anwar into UMNO. But Dato' Seri would not come into UMNO unless he is given a free pardon, for which he would not apply. But if Dato' Seri Anwar comes into UMNO, it would be to defeat Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, and in the bargain Tun Mahathir. Otherwise Dato' Seri Anwar would be in the opposition.
Tun Mahathir would have lost if Dato' Seri Anwar is brought into UMNO. But would Dato' Seri Anwar be acceptable as deputy prime minister, for he is a more dangerous person to Pak Lah than the present deputy prime minister. Pak Lah sleeps at meetings. This is well known. And he depends on his son-in-law to keep him awake. Tun Mahathir has been kept waiting for a formal meeting with Pak Lah, because the latter was sleeping in his house. Sources close to Tun Mahathir say that he has been kept waiting at the Prime Minister's office by as much as one hour. But Pak Lah is not home free. In the UMNO elections in 2007, Pak Lah could be challenged by a warlord, from Johore. The challenger may not win, but like Tun Hussein Onn, in 1978, who was forced to resign for the deputy prime minister three years later, Pak Lah may be forced to as well. If the warlord from Johore wins the election, then Pak Lah would have to resign. Though he had said that those in his cabinet and government need not resign if they had lost the party elections. He is finding creative ways for them to remain in office, arguing that those in his cabinet and government have taken office before the Yang Dipertuan Agung, and that supercedes any party election. But this is not why he would not reshuffle his cabinet and government. He is awaiting inspiration. The real reason why he does not reshuffle his cabinet is that those he drops would walk to his opposition. Those in his cabinet are UMNO warlords from the states. And he would not behave as boldly as Junichiro Koizumi in calling for general elections for the upper and lower House in Japan when the warlords opposed him plan to privatise the Post Office.
But he spoiled his chances by promising to retire next year. The UMNO president is not as beholden now to the warlords, but he is afraid the warlords he drops would go in opposition to him. And that to him is not a good thing.

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

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