A Malaysian in BC: Part 1

Image: 7 Cash is King, Visualization for photograph by Niranjan Rajah based on an original image by Zig Zag at https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/indian-act-chiefs-and-idle-no-more-snakes-in-the-grassroots/

In the ongoing tussle between past and present Prime Ministers of Malaysia, our social media has disseminated Mahathir Mohammed’s claim that for Najib Razak, ‘Cash is King!’ Mahathir’s insidious meme insinuates that Najib is corrupt, and insists that under him, money has become the determining factor in Malaysian politics. All else…  justice, community, nation… is swept away by this ‘money’ politics. While the evidence of illegal practices in or around the state run 1MDB have grown exponentially in the last 6 months, my own response to this agitation was, and still is today, to say that, whether or not Mahathir is correct, money politics is not a new phenomenon in Malaysia and neither, for that matter is corruption. Indeed, it must be noted that from a moral standpoint, the ascendancy of money in post independence Malaysia has been realized via many types of transactions; some of which may indeed be illegal but most of which are not. Regardless of legality, the attractions and temptations of big money are degrading to human integrity and morality. From this more ethical vantage, I must say that it appears that of late, what’s true about cash for Malaysians at home – Cash if King! may also be true for Malaysian operations abroad! Yes… today, way across the Pacific Ocean, here, in the Canadian Province of British Columbia … it seems that Malaysian cash may be pretending to the throne!