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Wednesday, 30-Jun-2004 9:23 PM Gua chaya sama loo Raja Petra Kamarudin Malaysia has a culture of its very own, peculiar to any other country and particular to only this country. For example, we have such a thing as 'Malaysian time'. This means no one will turn up on time for meetings and appointments. I remember in my even younger days, the days before Dr Mahathir Mohamad ascended the throne as supreme leader of this blessed land, when I used to make regular trips to Southern Thailand to see the pagodas and only to see the pagodas, the hotels there would have two wall clocks. One would be for 'Thai time' while the other showed 'Malaysian time', and the Malaysian time clock was half an hour later. And that is why Malaysians are always half an hour or more late in their ETA (expected time of arrival). But Dr Mahathir changed all that. As soon as he became Prime Minister, he moved our clocks forward half an hour so now we are +8.0 GMT instead of +7.5 GMT. Dr Mahathir had hoped this would make Malaysians work half an hour earlier in an attempt to improve productivity. Instead, it just made Malaysians arrive one hour later instead of half an hour like in the days before he became PM. And that's Malaysians for you. You can never discipline them or get them to work by the clock. They will do things as they like and when they feel like it. Don't try to tell them otherwise. And I suppose this also goes for our own party leaders. They do what they want. They don't abide to party culture and discipline. And they definitely never turn up for meetings on time, the President included. One extremely perturbing 'culture' the party leaders seem to have acquired -- or maybe it has always been in their nature but we just never realised it earlier -- is the matter involving the deposit calun that the party extended to the candidates in the recent general election in March this year. All told, the party loaned the candidates RM1.3 million Ringgit which was required as deposits for all those contesting the election -- RM15,000 per candidate for those contesting a Parliament seat and RM8,000 for State seats. Now that the election is over the party wants back the money it loaned them. But getting the money back is harder than trying to wrench a bone from a dog. Many of the candidates have received their refunds from the Election Commission but some refuse to return the money to the party. They claim they have used up all the money to pay off their debts. The excuse offered is that they did not ask to stand as candidates in the election but were forced against their wishes to contest. Therefore, this is the 'penalty' the party has to pay for forcing them to contest the elections -- the loss of the deposit calun. How anyone can force someone to stand as a candidate and contest the election is beyond me. I take it they were most unhappy at being asked to contest the election. So why then did they agree to it? Did someone put a gun to their head? Anyway, the party so kindly extended loans to all these candidates, save a few who paid the Election Commission deposits with their own money. When they received the loan from the party they did not grumble that they were being forced to contest the election against their wishes. They never indicated that they regard these loans as 'grants' and that they would not be returning the money to the party. But now that it is all over, they are singing a different tune. These men and women are representatives of the party. They contested the election under the party's banner. If they had won they would be Parliamentarians and State Assemblymen and women. And most who contested are all party leaders who hold high position in the party hierarchy. Imagine if they had won. These would have been the lawmakers. You would expect those who are to be entrusted with the job of running this country to be people of substance and integrity. This latest fiasco does not give the impression these people have all those qualities. It is shameful that these are the people we fielded to represent the party in the election. The electorate who voted for them did so thinking that these are people of calibre and integrity. Imagine what the electorate would think of the party if it finds out that these candidates cannot even be entrusted with returning the party's money loaned to them. And to think we entrusted them in running the country -- which would have happened if they had won the election. And what if they had won? Would they have contributed 30% of their salary to the party like how they should? Parliamentarians and State Assemblymen of the other opposition parties all give 30% of their salary to the party. I wonder how many of the five Parliamentarians and five State Assemblymen from November 1999 to March 2004 gave 30% of their salary to the party. Don't be surprised if none did. Maybe for the next election those who want to contest must first of all show that they have the money to pay the deposits to the Election Commission. Then they should pay the party RM30,000 in cash which the party will then use to make posters, banners and flags, which each candidate will then be given free. They should then be made to sign a letter agreeing that 30% of their salary will be deducted every month and the money paid to the party. And if they do not have the money and are not prepared to pay part of their salary to the party, then dump them.
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