I refer to two excellent recent articles that point and highlight the principle that the PM made about “no one being above the law.”

Both are however naughty renderings, in that, they are written by “Indians;” who beg to question the interpretation of the principle by the respective “Chiefs” of governance in Malaysia. And, yes, this third Indian does intend to make and pun about both; all our Indians and Chiefs, to add to the interpretive nuances of how we may have bastardized this principle which we have enshrined as one of five cardinal principles of national governance in the Rukunegara.

Please therefore allow this Indian to borrow from the many concepts, words and phrases from the two other Indians, and then use a fourth Indian, who is now also a Chief, so we can all learn about Indians and Chiefs and how the rule by law in Malaysia can be made to look like the rule of law, or both a donkey and an ass; by maybe closing one eye to the same Rule of Law principle in Malaysia. And, as the late MGG Pillai would say, after all this is Malaysia: the Bolehland!

By the way, the fifth was also another Indian; but none of the five, I suspect, are really “Indians who fit into the Hindraf storyline, vintage, or predicament,” but rather belong to the Chief class or lineage, as per the American Indian storyline about Indians and Chiefs. I hope you can follow my logic thus far, if not, please do your homework and do not try to be a Chief without knowing and having read about all the other Indians! They are all Indians but without a Chief. Maybe then, our satirical artist, Chief Lat himself, will also better appreciate why the Hindraf’s organisation of 30,000 Indians under so few Chiefs is an achievement much like our national punch line of in fame, “now, everyone can … cheat, lie, or close one eye.”

If you have followed thus far, you are doing very well because I have not even mentioned the first two authors whom I will quote and borrow ideas from. The Rule by Law author was referring to the cause of the lawyers who chose to “undertake the human rights march,” even though the Chiefs advised against it. That article appeared in Malaysiakini , on Dec 12 and appears to be written by a lawyer, Ashwin Raj, who is sympathetic of the Human Rights March on the UN Human Rights Day, and therefore entitled it, “Its Rule by Law not Rule of Law.” The second was by none other than the “fearsome Nadeswaran” of the Sun in his regular column entitled, “No land is safe from predators.” It might as well have been entitled, “rule of law in Bolehland.”

The ground is never even

The first appears to tease the PM’s knowledge or ignosis about the rule of law principle, and the second almost wagers the KSN to take action in response to a bet he had with the very lovable Nadeswaran and his Tonto, Terence Fernandez…oops, another Indian! But, do Indians and Chiefs take bets or wagers, as the Americans are prone to call it? Obviously, as another Indian without a Chief, I must believe that one plus one equals five, to even write this article. But, it may be also pertinent to note that all three writers are “Indians, and not Chiefs,” but also that at least this one believes that Hindraf has a cause, even if we could better teach them the right courtesies and nuances of cross-cultural communication in multicultural Malaysia.

And here, I want to really recognize the fourth Indian in the limelight, who, to me, is both an Indian and a Chief, but to whom my only question is, did you get there by anyone closing one eye, your excellent NST interview of Dec 12 aside, and even if Datuk Pahamin Rejab was the only one with crony connections? Was he a real Chief or only another Indian, but who is needed in Bolehland, to connect, collect and help with the closing of one eye?

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The ground in Bolehland is never even, even if you sing your song! Neverhteless, Tony Fernandez you are an inspiration to many Malaysians and especially to the many Indian Malaysians who want to also become Chiefs some day. So, we do not want to propagate a culture of work that Lat already condemns via his cartoons, when they are so few Indians and many Chiefs to change one street light bulb in the days of the LLN, which is now the public-listed and blue chip Tenaga.

Why then do we in Malaysia; whether Chiefs or Indians, not understand the rule of law principle embedded in our Rukunegara, as so very clearly articulated by Ashwin Roy? Is it merely our cultural propensity to adhere to our communalism of do not rock our feudal boat? But, I was taught in the same school as Tan Sri Sidek that “you cannot change deck chairs on the Titanic!”

Who is wrong here then, as both Nades and Terence asked of Sidek in the interview of Dec 12? Or, is it really our public service adage which teaches, all at Intan, that the boss (or should it be Chief) is always right, and therefore we are to “ menurut perintah ” blindly closing one eye?

I once wrote no less than 20 AR Register letters to the three different Presidents of MPPJ (before the MBPJ days) over a period of about five years about the “theft and rape of our green lung,” using the rule of law language, but it also fell on deaf ears. But maybe then everyone was deaf, dumb and blind. Now, Nades gets replies of even his emails, I am jealous. And, well done, Tony. Maybe now, everyone can see, hear and talk because of Malaysian Air Asia! And, you are right Mr KSN, that there may not be a simple correlation between the Pemudah and the improved public service delivery.

Three little monkeys

But then, today our new Chief says, no one is above the law, but which law is he talking about Ashwin … from the same law books you read? Or, is he also like our proverbial three little monkeys … not Indian boys, I am glad for once. They see not, hear not and speak not…about corruption, cronyism, but get rich and move from railway tacks to riches in Bolehland.

They also build homes over drains breaking the law, all in the name of public service delivery, while the PM believes that no one is above the law, and the IGP and the AG, as public prosecutors close one eye on selective cases! Why has our AG who seems to have so much free time not personally lead the charge and really finish the Tan Sri Eric Chia case, I wonder? Or, lead the charge against the ‘VK Linggam tape’ scandal, I wonder? After all we all know that the tapes are authentic even before that so-called “judicial review?”

Oh Malaysia, Malaysia, Malaysia, where art thou headed? Corruption and cronyism of the close one eye culture overwhelms us and yet we talk about the rule of law, when we mean the rule by law. We talk but not walk our talk. The Chiefs condemn the Indians but in many cases the Chiefs do not behave like Chiefs, but rather like Indians and when Indians behave like Indians, they charge 61 of us with the attempted murder of one policeman, who only endured one cut and many stitches but what about the other “Indian” who broke his leg in the Bersih rally.

Why were the police not charged with physical abuse, not amounting to murder? Where has reason, knowledge and basic wisdom gone? Surely, rule of law cannot become rule by law even in Bolehland alone, and then we expect to receive much more FDIs.

Still hopeful

My view remains and I write because I am still hopeful. There is hope for new governance in Malaysia but it can only start when real Chiefs become chiefs and not behave like Indians, and when by rule of law we mean the same international principle of our United Nations, it cannot happen when we merely rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic even under the Pemudah efforts. We are only talking but not seeing the ice-berg before our eyes, which we call the rule of law but mean the rule by law. Then, we close one eye and wonder why our perception of the problem between Indians and Chiefs is so different even though we all speak the same lingua franca whether we call it Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Malaysia or even International English? Unless, we speak and mean rule of law in English as we do in Malay, we are doomed to behave like a country living and being in contradiction with itself. We will then lack integrity, lose credibility, and undo all the good and right values we have adhered to all these years which made us great.

In less than two generations we have successfully transformed this country from a poor agricultural backyard to an industrial giant and hopefully into an innovative knowledge economy in the future. But, critical to all that is a requirement of a knowledge economy which is the pre-eminence of the rule of law principle. But that principle cannot fall victim to a local interpretation, and ignore the global and international rule of law as understood by modern parlance in the International Law courts.

So, please wake up Mr Prime Minister, you may not understand what you mean as your Indians are doing what they wish on the ground. So much so, on the ground people are asking whose rule and whose law? Little Napoleons rule, not laws! Rule by Napoleons rules, or rule of law. Do for example the police exhibit the same respect for the rule of law principle? If so, why did the Police Commission finding reveal so much disrespect and disregard for the rule of law? Please wake up all Indians and Chiefs, there is no Chief without Indians and there cannot be any Sime Darby without Indians. Malaysian history is a full and complete history of how Indians and Chiefs worked together to make the miracle happen in this country, .the difference is that in those days before independence it was called “conductors and coolies.”

Today, we are all potentially Chief and Indians, if we can assume the roles we play. Dear KSN and KPPA, at least that is one clear lesson we have all learned from our favorite minister, let us not play a role but we must always assume one. So, please do not allow your civil service colleagues to be manipulated by those politicians under the relic of the “ saya yang menurut perintah syndrome.”

We are currently beyond the era of the power paradigm and in the era of the responsibility paradigm. So, tell everyone, including the IGP and the AG, to assume their roles without fear and favor and let us build Malaysia to be what she can be within a knowledge era of the rule of law and not rule by law.

My prayer is that you will read this article and take to heart my hope that one day soon, every public servant can sign-off “ saya yang bertanggongjawab ” instead of the current “ saya yang menurut perintah .” For then, like all the Indians and Chiefs mentioned in the column, we can all begin to live our lives of dignity and destiny and return our country to the integrity and credibility which we are fast losing. God Bless Malaysia.