The mayor must take responsibility for rot in DBKL

DBKL adviser: Alleged housing graft a betrayal but mayor not involved

Hardboiled: The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) mayor has only been in office for a year. Since their terms are only two years, it is not surprising that one can claim that they don’t know everything that’s going on with their officers.

That being said, a mayor should be responsible for his subordinates, and thus be on the forefront of finding how deep the corruption goes, now that it has been highlighted.

Being responsible for a team doesn’t mean shirking one’s duties by resigning immediately. He must get to the root of the problems, and then clean up the mess, and place new safeguards (after all, MO1 isn’t doing it).

People who have committed a crime must be brought to justice as soon as possible, and visibly too. Concurrently, the mayor must also show that the top management and board are cleared of the corruption.

Consider this, if a soldier in a platoon is charged for misconduct, does the lieutenant have to be discharged immediately? No, he and his team must all be scrutinised to see who broke the rules.

Mushiro: DBKL advisory board member Rizalman Mokhtar has got the same sick logic of Umno. A captain of a ship has to be totally responsible.

There is no such thing as the mayor not being aware of the housing graft – someone has the overall responsibility and that is the officer right at the top, which is the mayor in this case.

Either the mayor was sleeping on his job or he was part of the scam. There is no other way – the mayor has to resign or be sacked. It is really unbelievable that a person with Rizalman’s mentality is on DBKL’s advisory board.

Bazooka: This is the standard line of defence of Umno warlords – for the head of organisation, no need to resign because of corruption of his underlings.

To most of us, whatever happens in the organisation you head, you are responsible. Even if you delegate power to a head of department, eventually the decision has to be approved by the top boss, who is answerable.

Otherwise, how do you explain a minister of transport in another democratic country resigning after a major train disaster? That’s the level of integrity and honour we expect from our leaders.

This Umno warlord is too quick to dismiss the possibility of the mayor himself being involved in the corruption scandal even before investigations are completed. Why? Can we just take his word for it? What is the role of the advisory board for DBKL? A way to reward Umno warlords?

Ipoh Pp: Indeed, Rizalman, have you heard of assuming responsibility for your department/organisation?

The mayor is paid a fat salary and with allowances to boot. If he does not know what his right hand is doing from the left, then he has no right to head DBKL.

Taking responsibility means being responsible for your subordinates and if they have not performed or are corrupt then your take responsibility. Please use the front door if and when you decide to leave, like the Japanese and Koreans.

Simon: An Umno division head is advisor to DBKL – that itself is corruption. In what capacity are you an advisor to DBKL?

Anyway, Rizalman, have you heard of the word called “accountability”? When your department is found guilty of a certain crime, you are guilty of it too.

It is either you are incompetent that such things are going under nose and you are not aware of it, or you are also part of the corruption scheme.

If you can understand this, you would not make the stupid statement that the mayor need not resign as he was not aware of the crime.

Whatsup: “Not involved, not aware”, we have heard once too often. If he’s not aware – that’s dereliction of duty and he should step down.

With zero integrity of the investigator and the investigated, this is expected. Why the need to go through this?

Headhunter: So typical of Malaysian leaders with their “it’s not me, it’s my subordinates so I don’t have to resign” attitude.

They want the cushy jobs with all the perks and grandiose trappings but not the responsibilities. With such ineptitude, we really need to have local elections for all the local councils to get rid of the deadwood.

SusahKes: “The head of any agency does not necessarily know everything,” said Rizalman.

That’s sounds pretty close to what the head of 1MDB said. Boy, Umno leaders must have a standard text books full of excuses that can be used by all and sundry.

Sleepy: Resignation is not a sign of admitting guilt but rather it is taking responsibility for an inappropriate action, and the primary reason why people-in-power resigns.

Speaking Sense: Yes, if the head does not even know about a culture of corruption right under his nose, that can’t say very much about his competence, even if he is clean himself.

He is not paid just to be clean. He must also know how to do his job.

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