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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright May 2023
In Bukit Damansara, there is a large house being built by a former Malay politician on four bungalow lots that has been under construction for years.
Not far from there is another former minister who has a house built to accommodate her four children to live under one roof next to her.
Up on a hillock facing the Damansara mosque, another former cabinet minister during the Mahathir era has two large 10k plots of land facing Plaza Damansara.
Bought at a bargain price from the developer of houses for civil servants in the late 1990s, one imposing bungalow now occupies one lot while another is waiting to be sold off with the possibility of making a huge profit. Prices of freehold land in this area are amongst the highest in Kuala Lumpur at the moment.
We have not heard of any former politician living in this neighbourhood having given back part of their wealth acquired during their time in office, to the poor deserving Malays.
Maybe they did quietly. After all, Islam emphasises that one should not be boastful particularly when doing charitable work.
Recently, I returned to Kedah to check on charitable contributions from Malay politicians born in the state just to gauge what they have given back to society from incomes received during their time in office.
Syed Mokhtar has given back to Kedah more than any other philanthropists born in the state. His contributions are plenty from building mosques to founding a university. But he is a business man not a politician.
Anyway, not far from a mosque built by Syed Mokhtar in Alor Setar there is another imposing mosque built by a philanthropist dedicated to the donor's late mother.
There was no acknowledgement, no plaque dedicated to the donor, except that rumours say he is an entrepreneur-cum-politician who was once in the salt business.
Apparently, he has built two other mosques in Alor Setar dedicated to the memory of his late father and a deceased uncle who was once a prominent religious leader in the state.
According to reliable sources, he has also given away scholarships for local Malays to study at institutes of higher learning locally and abroad.
We are searching for more former politicians, mainly Malays who have given back to society to show that Malays who have been successful in business and politics do give back to society.
Thus proving to PMX that such people do give back to the poor and deserving Malays but choose not to blow their own trumpets to tell the world know about their charitable efforts.
Perhaps our former politicians living in Bukit Damansara might be inspired to give back to the poor some of their wealth as recommended by PMX.
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