IT was reported that a 77-year-old widow lost almost RM1.2 million after she received a call from a woman claiming to be from the Inland Revenue Board. In a second similar case, a 39-year-old teacher lost almost RM395,000. Both cases are known as Macau scams.

Earlier, in July 2020, it was reported that six people of different ages and backgrounds were victims of Macau and love scams. They lost a total of RM7.19 million.

In December 2020, it was reported that a retired teacher lost RM1.8 million in another Macau scam.

Recently a report was lodged against a Court of Appeal judge for having RM1 million in his personal bank account. In this particular case, the authorities quickly sprang into action claiming they were acting based on reports they had received.

Now if the fact that a person has RM1 million in their bank accounts is cause for an investigation, then all the victims of the scams should subject to a probe.

People, please do not be distracted by such issues.

The rakyat are still looking to see clear distinct policies and direction on how the country will grow its economy, attract investments, generate employment and improve welfare and consumption. 

Instead, what the people are getting are non-issues.

Are these the most pressing concerns? 

Malaysian politics is more fractious now than ever. The political situation is less stable than it was two years ago. Where are we headed with the current situation?

Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, there has been bad news every day on the economic front. Even though official statistics claim a rosy picture, the reality on the ground is that manufacturing output has shrunk and exports, imports, credit growth and investments are all down. 

The use or misuse of religion in politics has curbed the country’s potential to leap as an Asian tiger to join the ranks of the developed world.

There have been impressive achievements elsewhere, however. Malaysian has made continuous advancement year on year on the Global Corruption Index; the currency has weakened to record levels; and debts are up.

Many institutions have abdicated their responsibilities.

Press briefings by ministers and their deputies are generally an anthology of lies. It is the height of impunity and arrogance when leaders of the government continued to expound that they are looking at managing increasing food prices when nothing was done to address the nation’s food security, an issue that was brought up repeatedly by the public for the last 15 years. 

The people must wake up from their induced coma.

Do not allow the collective attention of the country to be hijacked non-issues created by parties to hide their failures. The country is already paying the price of the long chain of mistakes of all the previous governments.

Why should the rakyat pay a price for this series of mistakes?
 
The opposition is also not playing its role. If it were a responsible opposition, it will not allow the  country to be distracted. It should keep bringing up the everyday problems faced by the people. 

The past few governments have been afraid to approach the people. 

To get votes, they employ low politics trying to polarise society. 

All this will affect the future generations. 

Ask yourself: is your life better now in 2022 than it was prior to 2018 or 2008? – April 26, 2022.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.