Institutionalised corruption - heads must roll first for best results

LETTER | I refer to the Malaysiakini report Institutionalised corruption in RTD grips logistics industry, turns clean firms dirty.

Malaysiakini must be commended for its exposé on the deep-seated, long practised corruption within the Road Transport Department.

It takes a responsible media that is truly patriotic to dare spill the beans on the RTD rot.

And the logistic company that decided to fight this war and not get sucked up by these deep-seated corrupt system operatives deserves all law-abiding citizens' support.

To begin the clean-up exercise, mere statements and promises are not enough.

Firstly, the top leadership on the payroll in RTD must be investigated by the MACC. Why are they not taking personal responsibility for this dangerous rot that has taken thousands of lives on the road?

How could one claim to be a leader when he or she did not do anything all these decades to ensure that road safety was not jeopardised owing to officers on the take?

Why do we have to wait for a courageous exposé by the media before we hear statements of promises to do something?

In fact, this exposé on RTD antics should be a wake-up call to all other institution leaders too.

The corruption cleaning is long overdue. We either give ourselves six months to wipe the nation clean or we might as well kiss goodbye to our hopes for a "new Malaysia".

You do not need to know rocket science to purge our institutions of graft. Attitude is what is lacking.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.