MALAYSIA’s top graft-buster Dzulkifli Ahmad is one man who has taken to his job like duck to water since his appointment as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner in July last year.

He and his men have raided a fair number of people and places from offices to homes, and revealed a fair number of scandals and much cash stashed away by some of the country’s elite. And also nabbed those who take discounts for favours.

Not only that, the man from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has been sharp about work and blunt with those who criticise him, sparing no one from ministers to opposition leaders.

He gave Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low a dressing down this week over the proposal for a National Integrity and Good Governance Department, saying it was a waste of money and duplication of efforts.

He has also taken umbrage at what Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had said about the detention of state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh, and threatened to have MACC sue him over those remarks.

Fortunately for Lim and unfortunately for Dzulkifli, the law is clear that the MACC cannot sue or be sued.

Be that as it may, Dzulkifli has now railed against DAP parliamentary chief Lim Kit Siang for using the proverb of the three monkeys – with eyes that see not, ears that hear not, and a mouth that speaks not – to refer to inaction over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

In no uncertain terms, Dzulkifli said: “We are civilised people but the words used are extreme and uncivilised.”

“The people can judge whether the behaviour and words of the DAP leader are in accordance with Malaysian culture,” he said to reporters in Perak yesterday.

Lim had criticised Dzulkifli by saying all eyes were on MACC chief commissioner on whether he would lead a clean MACC.

Lim said Dzulkifli should realise that if he acted like the proverbial three monkeys over the 1MDB scandal, he would make the MACC the first “kleptocratic” anti-corruption agency in the world.

Here’s the thing, sir: Lim didn’t call you a monkey and you really shouldn’t be thin-skinned over such remarks. The job isn’t a popularity contest and if anything, the government, too, should be critical of your job.

Your job is to keep people honest and not prone to graft. It takes a special breed of people to do this job. They have to be incorruptible and have a thick skin.

So please get on with the job without fear or favour, and get the corrupt in Malaysia to where they should be – in jail. 

And if you still don’t understand the proverb or any other idiom, go get English lessons and find out what an idiom, a simile, a metaphor, and a proverb are. You don’t want to end up like a former chief minister in Australia, do you? – September 30, 2017.