OCT 28 — As a rule, we should only be influenced by individuals or groups who are credible or who have a track record of speaking the truth. This statement is true if we are dealing with insurance salesmen, second-hand-car dealers, writers, journalists and politicians.

I think this is true for any facet of life. I bring up this topic because of late Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the MCA have been speaking about a lot of things, many which are important for us as a country. Unfortunately neither party has credibility or integrity to speak about many things they have been trying to convince us about.

Take Dr Mahathir. He is going on ad nauseam about hudud and how implementation of hudud would lead to two unjust systems of laws. Seriously, are we going to be lectured about injustice from the man who destroyed the independence of the judiciary and who oversaw the mass arrests of Malaysians under Operation Lalang in 1987?

Should we listen to someone who was implicated in the subversion of the judicial system aka the V.K. Lingam video tape scandal?

Corruption triumphed during his 22 years as prime minister and yet we are supposed to listen to his pearls of wisdom about human rights, corruption, etc. He may think that he has much to impart to us but his memory is selective and his motivation is still to keep his Umno cronies in power, not the betterment of this country.

In the same category is the MCA. Chua Soi Lek and gang, aided by The Star, have been devoting much space to trying to frighten non-Malays about PAS. They believe that by focusing on hudud and PAS Youth’s propensity to focus on less important issues like the Elton John concert will bring Chinese support back in droves.

But the MCA loses its voice on issues which have been hurting the country for decades. Ng Yen Yen, the Tourism Minister, has not given a credible explanation on why her ministry overpaid RM270 million for an advertisement campaign and why racks for pamphlets were bought for nearly RM2,000 a piece.

I suppose not following Treasury regulations is no big deal since former MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy is also alleged to have disregarded Treasury rules in the PKFZ scandal.

Was there any noise from the MCA over the government’s decision not to pursue the three MACC officials blamed for Teoh Beng Hock’s death? Does the party care that the national debt is nearly half a trillion ringgit or that Umno has embraced Perkasa (a group which espouses policies which will tear the fabric of this country apart)?

It is obvious that Dr Mahathir’s raison d’etre these days is to get the Malay votes for Umno, and the MCA is trying to scare the Chinese into somehow supporting its candidates in the coming elections. On the surface, it may appear that they are interested in making Malaysia better.

But in reality they are only interested in staying in power and perpetuating the same excesses that many of us have read about in the Auditor-General’s Report.

* Othman Wahab reads The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication, and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.