YOURSAY | ‘What sort of screwed-up value system do we have?’

Cabinet had agreed in principle to Najib's housing request - Wan Junaidi

Lone_star: Someone who was elected and trusted to look after the rakyat has instead been convicted of doing the opposite. He is rejected by the rakyat in GE14 and subsequently requested for his land and housing.

Now, along comes this unelected government and despite his conviction for doing financial injustice to the rakyat, this ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ government is considering approving his said RM100 million request.

Why the need for this? This same man is the one who claimed to have received a RM2.6 billion gift/donation. Has this unelected ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ government got its head in the right place?

Furthermore, there is the mention of setting up a committee to review his request and approval. Is there a need to waste more money, especially when the financial situation of the government is in dire straits?

Isn't it better for the rakyat to just say a simple "no" to his request? By the way, he has withdrawn his request.

It would be better to set up a committee to review the Former Prime Minister’s Remuneration Schedule and to ensure only deserving PMs are given such remuneration after they have rendered meritorious service.

And who better to decide this? The rakyat, of course!

Gotcha: We are giving a house and land worth RM100 million to a man who has corruption cases in court - is the cabinet encouraging corruption amounting to billions to continue by giving such privileges to criminals?

Privileges and pensions should cease once a crime is committed. Cabinet ministers should not make Malaysia a laughing stock.

Oriole: So, de facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, in your estimate, a convict and someone whose actions have created widespread suffering has a "right" to this privilege.

What sort of screwed-up value system do you operate on? And you raise another generation of such entitled leeches waiting for such opportunities. That is the nation's burden to bear.

OCT: Entitlement is one thing while fulfilment of entitlement is another thing. This entitlement was created in 2003. At that time, Malaysia is still a well-to-do country. The nation’s finance is without stress.

At that time, the rakyat believed that all PMs are men of integrity, honesty and won't abuse their authority to benefit PM himself. No sitting PM is stupid enough to lose the trust of the rakyat by getting his hand caught in the cookie jar.

Fast forward to 2021, Malaysia is almost bankrupt, according to former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Malaysia could hardly afford any luxuries. Malaysia has to borrow more to operate a deficit budget to help grow the economy and pay for services.

Entitlement is not cast in rock. When Malaysia is barely surviving, entitlement should not be executed even though it has been agreed upon. Time has changed. So does the entitlement.

This is made worse when the entitlement is for a convicted felon even though he is an ex-PM and qualifies for it. There should be new clauses to rectify the shortcomings of the entitlement. One of them is that a convicted felon is not entitled to any benefits.

The benefits can be accrued and/or applied back for him if he has proven to be not guilty in any criminal cases. This also protects the government’s integrity and namesake.

It can give the wrong signals to the rakyat that the government is not protecting the interest of the country and callously go ahead and reward convicted felon without any consideration if it is morally right and politically correct.

The cabinet ministers must correct any abnormalities and impose additional securities to safeguard the sanctity of the present government.

Amadeus: @OCT, well said. Now, let see if Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's cabinet ministers will do the correct and moral thing.

Malaysia's slogan of ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ is so lopsided and a mockery as it has demonstrated time and again that fortune only favours the right people.

Maya: Since former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has rejected it, just let it be, but the cabinet must decide whether all these entitlements should be scraped or if necessary, just a token sum is given, not a whopping RM100 million plus a piece of land.

There also needs to be a caveat, that it will be decided after each tenure. Does Mahathir get RM200 million plus two pieces of land for serving two terms and Muhyiddin too gets a perk like that for hijacking an elected government and resigning after a short term?

It is just beyond belief what these people do. Simply put, this is what the New Economic Policy (NEP) is all about.

Ipoh PP: I can't understand why we have to reward our PMs with a hefty handshake after their service? They receive a fat salary as MP and PM. Most of them draw two or three pensions.

So why in the world is land then given? Their pensions should serve them well into old age. All these cabinet ministers are self-serving. Shame on them for fleecing the rakyat again.

Dizzer: It should come as no surprise that the uber-entitled and mega-greedy Najib clan would want to trough whatever they could, but surely the focus should be on Mahathir.

He's the one who changed the rules (just before he retired). And what did Mahathir get, and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Muhyiddin, and next, Ismail Sabri?

Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn died with relatively little to their names. Ditto Abdul Razak Hussein.

Today, there are no Umno-Bersatu Aduns without millions at their disposal, or MPs without tens of millions, or ministers without hundreds of millions.

True Fiction: I see greed. I see stupidity. I see wayang.

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