THE CICAK.com

Dompok, listen up!

By TIMOTHY TEOH

Dangerous lah, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok! Don’t you know how to do your job? As DS Nazri has so ably pointed out in the Star, you are clueless when it comes to the role of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Integrity:

Nazri, who said the committee’s scope of duties was only to get feedback from the people for the Government to formulate unity programmes, said Dompok’s views might have been influenced by Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who is a member of the committee.

[…] There is a general consensus among the ministers that the committee, which is not permanent, is not empowered to call anyone to give testimony or evidence.

Mr. Dompok, is it so hard to understand that you are only supposed to get feedback and plan programmes for national unity? As it so clearly states in the notification document on the Parliament website:

Tanggungjawab, peranan dan tugas Jawatankuasa ini adalah
seperti berikut:-
[…]
2. merancang dan melaksanakan pelan tindakan integriti berdasarkan Pelan Integriti Nasional terutamanya sasaran utama TEKAD 2008;
[…]
6. meneliti dan melaksanakan strategi dan agenda integriti yang telah digariskan dalam Pelan Integriti Nasional untuk institusi politik.

As shown, it is vastly improper for you to summon the National Registration Department if you are to investigate the issue of national ICs being issued to foreigners over locals in Sabah. Surely you have better things to do than look for “evidence”. That is not the way things are done here. To do things properly, please refer to the Star’s article on how to be a pillar of integrity:

The Government’s seriousness in tackling issues involving integrity and good governance was reflected in two documents launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday.

What kind of example are you setting for our tender schoolchildren, who are busy memorizing their nilai-nilai moral? Are you willing to be held responsible if they grow up thinking that moral values are actually to be acted on?

If all committees in the Government started clamouring for the power to act then our national security is going to be threatened. Anything you do should be in line with Government policy: please take note of the exemplary way the Cabinet Committee of Gender Equality chaired by our PM dealt with the recent bocor issue. Oddly enough, I can’t find the links to what he did now, but I can assure you something was done. Only with such decisiveness will we see results.

What compounds your treachery is that you could have actually been influenced by Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang! Yes, he may be a member of your Integrity Committee, but may I remind you that it was only last year that the proper way to deal with issues raised by the Opposition was outlined. If you have forgotten, please read this and this.

The Opposition parties have been spectacular failures in highlighting pertinent issues. Note the recent leaking roof incident. If Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had not used his engineering expertise to find leaks in the Parliament building, then somebody could’ve gotten hurt real bad. If it were not for him, the 90mil-worth of renovations in the Parliament building made only two years ago could have gotten wet. And yet all the Opposition does is harp on how much the last repair cost. I say, always look to the future, not the past.

The other bocor incident also saw the Opposition dropping the ball. Take Women, Family and Community Development Minister Sharizat Abdul Jalil’s graceful acceptance of YB Md. Said and YB Bung Mokthar’s unconditional apologies [msiakini]:

Shahrizat meanwhile said no other actions were necessary against the two MPs as they have suffered enough criticisms from everyone in the past week.

Instead of following her leadership, the Opposition organized a public forum to demand that actual action be taken. How are you going to defend women’s rights if you don’t listen to our Women, Family, and Community Development Minister? These people probably even voted for Paris to go to jail even after she said sorry. Well yes, it wasn’t the first time she was caught driving dangerously, and she only said she was sorry after being brought to court - but the important thing is she said she was sorry.

I hope this advice was useful to you, Mr. Dompok. I know, I know, it can be hard to toe the line; sometimes we get dangerous ideas about actually doing something. I find it useful to ask oneself: What Would Pak Lah Do?, and the answer is pretty obvious: set up a committee, make recommendations, call a press conference or two - or best of all, elegant silence.

–
TIMOTHY TEOH is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

A fervent freethinker, Tim believes that “sensitive” issues are the very ones we need to think out. He is a soon-to-be IT graduate of MMU and hails from Penang. Visit his site.