JAN 15 — Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi today took umbrage with Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan’s suggestion for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to consider amnesty in minor corruption cases.

You know, the one where minor officials are caught and punished for small amounts. The Bersih 2.0 chairman did say that those caught with big-scale graft should face the full force of the law.

“She should be aware that minor corruption could lead to major corruption. Corruption is like a cancer. We should weed it out irrespective of whether it is committed by ‘small fish’ or ‘big fish,’” the defence minister was quoted as saying by Bernama Online today.

Great. So did he say anything about the mess in the National Feedlot Corporation? Or is that not corruption? How about the bloated defence expenditures? Is there any leakage there?

Or can he account for every sen spent on such purchases? Such as the Scorpene submarine deal? How about the new contract for the six patrol vessels that has seen the budget increase by 50 per cent from RM6 billion to RM9 billion?

Why are these deals direct negotiations instead of open tenders? National secrets? Come on.

It’s great that the defence minister thinks that corruption is like a cancer, but is he doing anything about it? Has he done anything since talking about corruption, cronyism and nepotism in the Umno general assembly of 1998?

Wasn’t he the one who could not deflect allegations of cronyism levelled against him by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after that assembly?

Zahid should at least understand what Ambiga is suggesting to PR, which has been talking about sweeping reforms and a clean government. She isn’t encouraging corruption, but she doesn’t want the pact to be caught in a quagmire of revenge and score settling.

Something like what Nelson Mandela has done with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Would Zahid even know anything about that?

Let’s get it straight. Malaysians are against corruption. The government of the day has also made its commitment known to fight graft. That’s why those caught, either for small or big amounts, face prosecution. What is unsatisfactory is that a small-timer gets a longer jail time than someone as prominent as an ex-chief minister.

The guilty must be punished. Justice must be seen to be done. It would be better if there is a bi-partisan move to stamp out graft. Rather than just knock down suggestions from civil society.

Right now, some in the Barisan Nasional stable are under suspicion of corruption. Did they start small? Or did they just go for the big money?

If Zahid wants to walk the talk, he should start eradicating the cancer within. And only then dismiss suggestions from others who want Malaysia to move on to a brighter and cleaner future.