SHAH ALAM, 19 Jan: The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said that the ‘wasatiyyah’ or moderation concept chanted by the federal government is merely a slogan without practice.
Quoting from Keadilan Daily, he said that the government should set an example which can be followed by the people through spending policies and management of the country in an effort to foster moderation in life.
“If wasatiyyah is just lip service but leakages, embezzlement, wastage, abuse of power, lies and cheating is the practice, then anyone can express the wasatiyyah word.
“Often, wasatiyyah or moderation is uttered, but it is not practiced in life,” he said during the Maghrib Tazkirah at the Taman Cermai Surau in Sama Gagah, Permatang Pauh yesterday.
17 January, marked the second anniversary since the launch of the Chair of Wasatiyyah at the University of Malaya (UM) and the Global Moderation Movement Foundation by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The establishment of the institution was supposedly to produce more scholars and intellectuals who will lead with the spirit of moderation and balance, like the leading Islamic figure, al-Imam Ibnul Qayyim.
However, the move did not reflect the actions of the government as disclosed in the Auditor-General’s Report for many years on wastage and leakages amounting to billions of ringgit.
In a report according to Ernst and Young, one of the four largest audit firms in the world, the ‘Asia-Pacific Fraud Survey Report Series’, it was found that Malaysia is among the most corrupt countries in the world.
The Global Financial Index (GFI) audit revealed that the total outflow of illegal money from this country has reached USD54 billion for 2011 and a cumulative total of RM370 billion from 2002 to 2011.
Meanwhile, according to the World Corruption Index 2103, Malaysia is ranked 53rd out of 177 countries compared to Singapore, which is ranked 5th and Brunei at 38th.
In relation to that, ANwar said that the wasatiyyah slogan often chanted by the government and BN leaders is merely lip service to obscure the eyes of the people without actual practice.
“If improvidence, rampant corruption, leakages and wastage is the government’s practice, then it does not bring any changes to be exemplary to the people, especially the lower class that expects protection from them,” he said.
