I AM writing this letter with disgust at what is happening to our country. When the rakyat is suffering during the Covid-19 movement control order, we have politicians still playing political games at the expense of the rakyat. Food packages are left in makeshift warehouses for days without distributing to the rakyat just because the constituencies happen to belong to opposition MPs. It is so petty to punish the MPs as well as the rakyat for voting for the “opposition” party. Please don’t forget that the money to buy these food packages does not belong to Perikatan Nasional politicians, but to the rakyat. Unfortunately, we, the rakyat, have no say in how our money should be spent.

It is even more disgusting to read that some food packages are worth only RM35 when the standard packages are around RM100. Although it has been clarified that these packages were from civil society bodies and not the Welfare Department, what has happened to the promised RM100 packages to the constituencies concerned? 

It reminded me of research that I carried out in 2010 on single mothers, where some single mothers in poor areas were cheated of their aid money. These single mothers did not have bank accounts and the Welfare Department would hand over their aid money in cash. The Welfare officers had shortchanged them of RM50. I made a complaint to the Welfare Department director-general at the time and asked for an investigation to be carried out. I am not sure if it was done. Is the same thing happening to the food packages for the poor during this Covid-19 crisis? I hope Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun will investigate and report back to the rakyat. We deserve this much, as the money spent is our money, not Rina’s. 

Many civil society bodies and individuals have been more helpful than the government in rendering help to our rakyat in need. Civil society groups and individuals are more passionate in their effort to help as they are driven by their compassion, as opposed to politicians, who calculate every single move they make in terms of mileage and popularity they could earned. The same goes to government servants. Some perfunctorily perform their jobs as they are only earning their living. Some may even be driven by greed to make a quick buck out of the rakyat’s misery. Without civil society bodies and compassionate individuals, I believe a lot of our people would starve to death as “political aid” is not reaching them or reaching them too late.

Moreover, these civil society bodies and individuals are highly accountable with the funds donated to them, by the regular display of amount collected and spent. Is our government doing the same with money being donated to them? So far, we have not been given a report by our government. Perhaps it is better that the rakyat donate to these responsible civil society groups and individuals, as at least we know where our money is going. 

Having said that, could our government please report to us, the rakyat, where it will be getting the RM250 billion for the Covid-19 stimulus package and also report back to the rakyat on how the money has been spent? After all, it is the rakyat’s money or, if it is borrowed money, the rakyat will have to pay for it. We have already been paying for money lost via 1MDB and other financial scandals. We certainly do not want to bail out anymore scandals. Enough is enough. The rakyat is truly disgusted and fed up. – April 26, 2020.

* Teh Yik Koon is the author of From BMF to 1MDB.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.