The Truth in Politics

The recent revelation by the independent MPs, namely Zahrain Mohd Hashim from Bayan Baru and Zukifli Noordin from Kulim have shown Malaysian that how dirty our politics can be and why we need to clean up our politics as such unethical political maneuvering by our politicians will only cause damage in the long run for our country.

Claims recently made by Zukifli that he had been offered a reward enough to shake one faith to implicate our Prime Minister and his wife with the murder of Altantuya and to link the son of a minister for murder should be taken seriously.

Irrespective of who's right, we can know for a fact that one side, whether opposition, the government or Zukifli Noordin himself is maneuvering this malicious act. Some quarters claim that Zulkifli was paid by BN to divulge such false information to discredit Anwar and the opposition while some assumed that such act did take place and the opposition like should be reprimanded, while others might assume that Zukifli himself is doing this malicious act. Only God knows which one is true and which one is false.

As a concerned citizen however, I believe that such remarks shouldn't be taken lightly by either side of the political divide, especially the opposition as this could really damage their credibility, as some opportunist just want to use it as a political ammunition without really having any interest in finding the truth and fixing it accordingly as mere politicking about it won't solve anything, only by having an investigation and taking stern action will it benefit the nation in the long run.

Why should such act be taken seriously?, some might ask as this is part and parcel of politics and it's the job of politicians to defend themselves against such attacks.

Well to answer this question will require us to delve into human nature where we are prone to believe the sensational albeit untrue facts rather than the ones that are true but plain, so the law must take corrective measure in not allowing the wrong information to cloud the judgement of the people by preventing and punishing quarters who are spreading them in the first place.

Secondly, such move may invite more of such malicious attacks against individuals or groups and this will unjustly damage their credibility not to mention we are possibly politically rewarding the mastermind of such move instead of punishing them as a deterrence to others. This will lead to a state where making malicious statement will be a norm in our politics which will only create a political atmosphere full of such sinful act that will in the end precedes real issues that require our attention like poverty, unemployment and so on.

My only way as a normal citizen to rectify this sinful act is by promoting the need by Malaysians to embrace a new kind of politics where we demand the truth and any force trying to deny us such truth should be eliminated as it's our right as a citizen to know the truth. The first step would be to allow independent inquiry about all the cases and scandals that are full of discrepancies such as the Altantuya murder, the Anwar sodomy case, Kugan case and so on.

The reality is despite going to the court, the public trust on our courts are low thus whatever the judgement, the truth will not surface, rather more discrepancies will surface such as government meddling in court affairs and so on. Even in developed countries, such inquiry is a norm, so it should be the same here if we aspire to be one. Laws that are preventing such information to be publicise must also be reformed to allow a certain degree of it to be publicise for the sake of public interest.

In conclusion, Malaysians must now make the tough decision of which story to believe out of no real concrete facts, just mere hearsay from dubious press be it new or old as the real truth is conceal from us. Only when the truth is revealed, only then can we make informed decisions and demand the right action to be taken against the individuals involved in spreading malicious lies so that our politics will be less evil than it is now clean from malice that are preventing us from tackling real issues.

To achieve that we must free and empower the bodies that play a huge role in allowing the truth to reach the public mainly the media and courts not to mention other bodies like the NGO Transparency International and so on from the shackles that prevent them from doing their job effectively. Just as the saying goes " the truth will set you free", the same goes for a nation" the truth will also set a nation free".