ticket to controversy

This is a true story. It happened to a friend of a friend of mine.

This person is a government-sponsored student. And as stated in a typical contract, the government will pay for a ticket the first time you go overseas and when you are coming back for good.

So this person requested a ticket. I saw this ticket with my own eyes.

one-way ticket HEATHROW - KLIA = RM16368. That's like 3326 pounds at the current rate. One way. 

To get a feel of how expensive that is, let me tell you how much i paid for my tickets so far.

1st year : london - KL - melbourne - KL - london = 700 pounds

2nd year : london - KL - london = 580 pounds

I was trying to 'husnuszhon', so i thought 'ok, maybe its last minute','maybe its a flexible ticket'.

But then i checked the Malaysian Airlines website. On that date, the price of a ticket including tax and all is about 500 pounds. 

malaysian taxpayers

There may be two explanations.

1. the price of a ticket bought through a travel agency is that expensive. 

2. someone working for the government couldn't be bothered. "its in our budget anyways. might as well spend it all."

If its reason #1, we can't really do anything about that can we.

But if its reason #2, then pity you, dear reader, because i'm going to give a khutbah right now.

*takes deep breath*

DO NOT, and i repeat, DO NOT be careless, especially when you're sitting in a government department handling the hard-earned money given by taxpayers. Yes, nobody's looking, and probably no one will ever know if you mishandle a few cents here, a few cents there.

But Allah knows. he watches us all the time. And we'll be held accountable on the Day of Judgment.

This is the mentality that we're trying to change, the 'tak apa' mentality.

"tak apalah, asalkan gaji aku masuk" (its okay, as long as i get my salary)

"tak apalah, kerajaan banyak kot duit" (its okay, the government has tons of money)

We must care, and we must be responsible. We're not doing a job just because it feeds us. We're the guardians of other people's money. They trust us to use it well. 

Corruption isn't something you can erase through having laws. When people see us, we're not corrupt. But when nobody's seeing, we become corrupt. That's not the way. corruption is erased through having integrity, having a fear of God and the Day of Judgment. People of taqwa won't take what isn't theirs, will be very careful, will ensure that whatever they manage, they manage well. 

And this goes to the rest of us. Fear Allah. Because when the time comes and He gives us a position of responsibility, we might be even worse then those people we call 'corrupt'.