I refer to the Malaysiakini report One-third of schools lack water, power .

It is really disgusting and shocking to read that some 30% of the 9,806 schools are without the basic amenities of water and electricity. After all these years of empty promises by the various education ministers, it is now shown that we have neglected a very essential duty that any responsible government is obliged to provide to its people.

Why talk about all the mega-projects when the government of the day cannot even address this very fundamental obligation? The other fundamental obligation the government owes to its rakyat is healthcare which is also in a deplorable state of health.

Running a government is like running a corporation. The PM is the CEO; the cabinet ministers are the directors sitting on its board; the pengarah of each government department are the heads of the corporation’s various business units; the ACA is its Internal Audit Division; the rakyat are its shareholders. If the Securities Commission (SC) can lay down the rules and laws for proper governance in all listed companies, I cannot comprehend why we cannot apply such governance onto the biggest corporation in the country, ie the government itself.

Directors of public-listed companies (PLCs) who have erred can be taken to court and jailed if they breach the established laws. They are sacked by the board and can be prosecuted if found to have committed criminal breach of trust. Isn’t corruption and misappropriation of taxpayers’ money a much more serious crime than a perpetrated fraud in a PLC? Yet we have government leaders getting away with all kinds of atrocities and blatant abuses of power.

The SC enforces transparency upon PLCs with implementation of international best practices in accounting standards whereby PLCs are compelled to disclose all items in their financial statements, in particular exceptional entries. Yet we have government authorities hiding critical financial information under the veil of the OSA, and when challenged, the ISA is used to suppress all queries.

If shareholders have the right to know how their investments are being utilised to generate returns, why is it so problematic for the rakyat to find out how their hard-earned tax money is being utilised for the well-being of their country?

I hope the representatives from the Pakatan Rakyat can represent the minority ‘shareholders’ in raising pertinent questions – just like the SC requiring the PLCs to have independent directors for this purpose serving on their boards. I also hope the ACA – like the internal audit authorities of the PLCs, can act independently when investigating cases of alleged corruption and abuse.

If we can be strict with PLCs, it is indeed very ironical that we cannot be strict with the biggest PLC in the country. The government in effect is the worst-run and managed corporation the country has ever seen with all kinds of violations of corporate governance that its ‘shareholders’ can only watch helplessly until the ‘AGM’ (general elections) is held every five years and not annually like all PLCs.

Plundered corporate assets and theft of corporate wealth escape unpunished. It is no wonder the ‘shareholders’ have lost confidence in their investment and those who have the means are now looking for investments elsewhere.

The beauty of it all is that there are other ‘corporations’ (countries) out there which are very willing to accept them as new ‘shareholders’ as they feel they can contribute to the economic well-being of these ‘organisations’ where their ‘CEOs’ (politicians) take full responsibility of the financial health of the ‘corporations’ and to their ‘shareholders’.