One of my daily habits is reading the newspapers in the morning. That would occupy about 30 minutes of my morning. As time is precious, I'd only speed-read most of the news items unless there is something that really attracts my eyes. For some, like Dato' Dr. Fadzilah Kamsah, reading newspapers is done only at night. He explained to me that he does this primarily because he doesn't want his day spoilt by depressing news. To a certain extent, I tend to agree that most news items in the newspapers are quite depressing. But someone like me cannot afford to read the news later in the evening. My line of work requires that I be ever vigilant to current affairs, which is why I also make it a habit to browse online news at night.
Something featured in today's newspapers made me think. The Star and Utusan Malaysia, for instance, carry the news of the transfer of the Sabak Bernam District Council president who overlooked the abuse of entertainment permits. It is good that the state government "is seen" taking action on ineffective heads. But at the same time I wonder, is this case in Sekinchan an isolated one?
Only yesterday I was talking to my boss on how certain licensed health centres are used as a front for people to solicit services of prostitutes - both straight and gay. This is common knowledge to many. Minor exposures have been made on certain television programmes such as '999' and 'Edisi Siasat' on this matter. However, it seems that the problem still persists.
I am quite sure that if a layman like me knows about this, then the council officers and president would also be aware. I know I am making an assumption here, but unless these people are living in the Stone Age, they'd know what most people already know. After all, this is not privileged information. This info is in the public domain - one that could easily be accessed from the Internet.
Since "justice has been served" to the Sabak Bernam District Council president, would the same brand of justice be meted out to the other "sleeping" council heads for overlooking, or perhaps closing one eye, to the existence of these vice dens operating under the guise of health centres? Or, are we to say that since the Sabak Bernam District Council president has been punished, then the public would be happy and forget about the others?
I hope that the other council heads would learn a lesson or two from the Sabak Bernam case. City and district councils need to be proactive, efficient and transparent. They are there to ensure the best for the people they serve. They are there to work diligently, and not to just wait for the paycheck at the end of the month.
Unfortunately, in Malaysia, we have a habit of passing the buck. At the end of the day, the fault will be borne by a lower-ranking (read: dispensible) officer. I long to see the day when a high-ranking officer or politician resign as a result of his/her ineptitude without having to be removed by his/her boss.
It would certainly make quite a headline in the news when someone resigns because of his/her own incompetence. I'm not sure whether this kind of news would be regarded as depressing or not to the masses. In any case, I'll certainly have my eyes glued to the papers should this happen. But then again, that's what I do every morning anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment