The Tamesis
February 20, 2026
Kuala Lumpur – A country doesn’t collapse because a few devotees light lamps in a small temple; it collapses when billions of dollars are leaked out through corruption, smuggling, illegal development of land and seas, while leaders and loudmouths are obsessed with a holy place that harms no one.
Tens of billions are lost year after year
By the government’s own estimates, Malaysia is losing money on a scale that should give every responsible leader sleepless nights.
The Chairman of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission revealed that corruption alone reduced our GDP by approximately RM277 billion between 2018 and 2023, which is approximately RM55 billion per year.
He cited another study that showed total losses from leakage and misappropriation amounted to RM4.5 trillion between 1997 and 2022.
That’s not a typo; it’s the number you get when a culture of impunity matures over decades.
In addition, smuggling and black market trade consume a large amount of revenue.
The Ministry of Finance reported that RM1.85 billion in tax revenue was lost in just five years due to smuggling of cigarettes and alcohol.
It is estimated that illegal cigarettes alone cost Malaysia about RM5 billion in tax revenue every year, with illegal brands accounting for more than half of the market.
Analysts warn that the annual revenue leakage could easily reach RM50 billion to RM10 billion, taking into account all the highly tariffed goods being smuggled.
Then came the sea, and our wealth drifted away under foreign flags.
The Fisheries Ministry estimates that Malaysia loses RM3 billion to RM6 billion every year due to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and about 980,000 tons of seafood are stolen from our waters every year.
The food that is supposed to feed Malaysians and the income that is supposed to sustain local fishermen has quietly flowed into other people’s pockets.
We have to pay RM70 per kilogram ikan bilis (anchovies), Denjiri RM45, Bawar RM40 per kilogram, and Icahn Kembon RM18 per kg.
Add this all together and a conservative picture emerges: tens of billions of ringgit slipping through our fingers every year – easily reaching RM6-70 billion if you combine corruption, smuggling and illegal fishing, not even including illegal factories, logging, poaching, e-waste and fake clinics.
Yet somehow, against the backdrop of this real, measurable national harm, the strongest outrage in recent days has been directed at a temple.
True Haram Economy and “Kuy Haram”
Illegal fishing in the South China Sea alone is estimated to cost Malaysia up to RM6 billion annually, prompting calls for stronger maritime laws and better enforcement.
Illegal logging continues to destroy hills and forests, with one raid seizing timber worth tens of millions of ringgit, while former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad bluntly warned that even “legal logging” could “destroy forests”.
This destruction increases flood risk, damages infrastructure, and erodes the natural capital our children are supposed to inherit, all for short-term gain.
Thousands of unlicensed factories, such as the 4,170 found in Selangor alone, operate without proper licenses or environmental protection measures, dumping untreated waste into rivers and soil, causing health costs and water treatment bills that will run into billions of dollars over time.
Improper disposal of toxic materials in e-waste can contaminate land and waterways, sowing the seeds for future cancer clusters and chronic diseases, for which public health systems will have to pay the price.
These are not minor regulatory issues; they are slow-moving attacks on the nation’s well-being.
Meanwhile, the black market places a bounty on our national symbol: a Malayan tiger carcass can fetch hundreds of thousands of ringgit, making the species a “number one bounty” for poachers and pushing it toward extinction.
Nine illegal clinics, which offer human lives in exchange for cash and bypass every safeguard of modern medicine, recently raided and arrested a fake “doctor” from Bangladesh.
This is true Haram: stealing public wealth, destroying God’s creation, and endangering human life at will.
The National Tiger Survey shows that we have less than 150 tigers compared to 150-340 about 10 years ago.
In this context, a small temple – a humble building where a small group of people gather to pray – has zero impact on GDP, does not poison rivers, exploit hillsides, sell wildlife or fake medicines, and rob the economy.
At best this is a land use and planning dispute.
To view this as a major moral crisis for the country while tens of billions of people are being wiped out due to systemic illegality is not just unreasonable; This is a profound betrayal of public trust.
Political gurus and their selective anger
When the Chairman of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission publicly states that corruption has cost Malaysia RM277 billion in just five years, any government that claims to be serious about “stability” and “prosperity” should mobilize all its moral and political capital to declare war on corruption.
When illegal cigarettes, alcohol and other smuggled goods cost the Treasury more than RM5 to RM10 billion a year, the loudest voice in the country should be calling for a visible and sustained crackdown on the criminal syndicates behind them.
When the Fisheries Ministry reports billions of ringgit in losses caused by the theft of nearly a million tonnes of fish by foreign vessels, nationalists should take to the streets to defend our maritime sovereignty.
Instead, we see our “political gurus” and a few “selected NGOs” hyping “illegal temples” as if the structure of bricks and prayers is a major threat to the future of the country.
They talk of law and order, defending the sanctity of the land while casting a much gentler eye on those who loot treasuries, plunder forests, poison rivers and run underground economies that dwarf the temple problem a thousand times over.
This is not leadership; It’s a morality play, played out in front of cameras and crowds, carefully avoiding the powerful interests that benefit from a real haram economy.
The drama of bigots, sycophants and rage
Then there are the die-hards and sycophants who take to the streets waving banners and shouting about demolishing temples as if they are saving civilization.
They claim to defend religion, race and royalty, but remain suspiciously silent about the corruption that deprives every Malaysian child of quality schools and hospitals, or the smuggling that steals funds meant for infrastructure and social protection.
They foam at the mouth over a few square meters of prayer space but have nothing to say about forests being cut down, tigers being slaughtered and rivers turned into open sewers.
Their courage is highly selective: they bully the weak and compliant—temple devotees, minority communities—while avoiding direct confrontation with the real criminals, backed by money, weapons, and political connections.
Their loudness serves to maintain the status quo, providing convenient distractions and artificial outrage that allow systemic looting to continue in the shadows.
Behind every such thug there is a calculation: to attack “”forbidden area” instead of asking for an answer as to where the RM55 billion disappears to every year.
A question of priorities, not piety
The temple issue has been completely misunderstood and misused. This is not a debate about law versus lawlessness, religion versus secularism. It’s about priorities and honesty.
If illegality is the problem, then a reasonable, evidence-based threat level would rank corruption, smuggling, illegal fishing, destructive logging, unlicensed factories, e-waste, poaching and fake clinics at the top of the list as they cost the country tens of billions of ringgit each year and permanently damage our social and ecological foundations.
A small temple falls near the bottom of the list and needs to be regularized, relocated or resolved through dialogue, with a body set up to oversee temple issues and compensate where necessary – never becoming a punching bag for the state.
To pretend otherwise is to use religion as a weapon against the weak while protecting the strong.
Numbers don’t lie. The question is whether our leaders and their street cheerleaders are ready to face these numbers, or whether they will continue to hide behind the easy targets of houses of worship while real haram activity eats away at the future of this country.
Ravindran Raman Kutty is a senior communications and public relations professional with extensive experience in Malaysia, Fiji, UK and Australia. Passionate about strategic communications, sustainability and community engagement, Ravindran regularly writes articles that share insights and promote informed conversations about important social and environmental issues.
