Carpetbaggers And Now, A Carpetbeggar

Carpetbaggers and scalawags were of course, much hated figures in Southern States, after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. But we have never heard of a carpetbeggar, until, perhaps, now.

When Mr.Deepak Jaikishan, his multiple chins quivering, rudely shoves his pudgy face at us, out of a Malaysiakini report.We have heard his name before but paid little attention, for reports of businessmen having cosy relationships with political figures are a dime a dozen.

"Most bloggers are very entrepreneurial. For the right price they will write anything” he says. We would like to inform him that he is mistaken. And that he is in no position to complain of being defamed, if he is intent on spreading such a vile calumny. Most bloggers, in fact, do not make any money from writing. They write because they feel strongly about certain issues, be it political or otherwise. Most bloggers, are not, oily businessmen with debts in the hundreds of millions, so there is no reason for them to be involved in unethical, or corrupt, practices, like writing falsehoods for money.

That of course, does not include, the many new BN-sponsored blogsites, who give themselves away very quickly, by writing untruths, by always praising the BN, or by constantly and unfairly attacking the opposition.

We must also point out to him, that people who write anything for the right price are not 'entrepreneurial'. As far as we are concerned, they are corrupt. The word entrepreneurial is best applied to businessmen like Mr.Deepak himself, who we are sure, is 'entrepreneurial'. He is certainly fortunate that there are banks that are willing to loan hundreds of millions to carpet-sellers. As he is fortunate, to be given, contracts to supply carpets for public works, paid for by the taxpayer. We hope he charged the market rate for his carpets, and not some exorbitant price.

If Ms.Rosmah is like an older sister to him, as he claims, and he was awarded contracts related to the renovations of her husband's official residence, it raises many ugly questions. For we can hardly have public officials awarding contracts to their own relatives, or to those who are 'like relatives'. We hope, of course, that he is only an empty boaster, that he has no such relationship with Ms.Rosmah, and that due process was followed in the award.

Mr.Deepak certainly, though perhaps unwittingly, brings attention to the fact that Ms.Rosmah is fond of visiting the Arab States and that he is the recipient of a generous loan from an Arab Bank. If indeed Mr.Deepak is Ms.Rosmah's 'brother', then he is an idiot one, and she should not be letting him out unsupervised.

As for asking Raja Petra to come back and face the music, what is stopping Mr.Deepak from suing him in the United Kingdom? He claims to be an international businessman, so he should surely know how to go about it.

He further accuses Raja Petra of being not worth 'two dimes', when he himself is self-admittedly in debt to the tune of RM200 million. If anybody is not worth 'two dimes', it is dubious, lucre-driven businessmen like Mr.Deepak who cannot differentiate between entrepreneurship and corruption.

And he should first weigh his words, before calling for others to watch theirs.