How good is our self control?

A few days ago there was this news report in Malaysia concerning a rich director of a City Council owning a low cost apartment. And low cost apartments are subsidised apartments built to help the poor families who have a total income of less than RM2,500.00. Looks like she is not the only one as there are, according to her, other directors and assistant directors who own such low cost apartments.

According to the report, these rich, not eligible, low cost apartment owners pay installments of RM300 plus for the apartments which they rent out to the poor for about RM500. If that is not blood-sucking, then what is?

When asked why she bought what she was not eligible for, she said that many high-income people, directors and assistant directors, are also in possession of such low cost apartments. I have heard of 'Might making it right' but here there is this 'Numbers make it right.' So, as thieves increase in number, more will find it easier in their conscience to become thieves. Similarly, when more and more politicians get away with corruption, people will tend to become corrupted. Well, I must admit that there is some truth in the saying. Thus, if we live among thieves, we may even eventually take pride in being a competent thief.

Then again, there was this excuse that there was a policy allowing her and other staff of the City Council to own the low cost apartments. And the policy has yet to be seen. Even if there was such a policy, who had authorised it? Was that not an abuse of power, an act of corruption?

And it was not because there were no poor Malaysians who refused the low cost apartments. In fact, squatters and the poor had applied for them as they were eligible, been interviewed but were not given the low cost units. So, if there was a policy to approve and let rich people get the low cost units which were built to help the poor own homes, that policy took away opportunities for the poor to own homes and, since rental of such units exceed the installments for the units, enrich the rich.

And to make such rich people eligible for the less than RM2,500 income condition for application of such apartments, they said they have only less than RM2,500 after paying for their properties, their maids, their children's schooling and other expenses. Poor them! Imagine having less than RM2,500 after all those deductions. How can we expect them to survive on such meagre savings? Of course, they need other sources of income and milking the poor is just one of the available sources.

The surprising fact is that our Anti-Corruption body does not seem to act fast although it is obvious that something is very wrong. Nobody has been summoned for questioning. So, can we blame the citizens for feeling that the anti-corruption only acts when told to do so. And let us not hear that they are not aware when everyone in Malaysia is talking about it.