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IF YOU want to lie, do so convincingly or you may get caught. Also make sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, or else you’ll be all thumbs when the ka-ka hits the fan (no offence to the Brazilian striker). And Citizen Nades reminds me of this Tamil proverb: "You can’t hide a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice!"

Some folks in the present and previous administration of the state government and more importantly the Petaling Jaya City Council will be better off to heed these words of wisdom.

While stubbornly holding on to the myopic belief that there is nothing wrong for the rich to own low-cost homes, the likes of Deputy Mayor Puasa Md Taib and high profile low-cost unit owner, council planning director Sharipah Marhaini Syed Ali, have dug themselves into a deeper hole.

While Puasa pointed the finger at former state exco for housing Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahlan, the latter has shrugged his shoulders saying the decision of opening the sale of low-cost houses to city council staff was a "council decision".

He blames his short memory but Mohd Mokhtar cannot be faulted for being called out of retirement to recall events that took place in 2001, when the state government was said to have decreed a policy that low-cost units can be sold to council staff (including directors) as a form of "incentive".

I’m not saying it, and Mohd Mokhtar has denied it. But Puasa in his March 8 response to the Special State Committee on Local Councils which is investigating the allocation of low-cost units to ineligible buyers implicates the exco for housing, building management and squatters (Mohd Mokhtar at that time) for coming up with the scheme. Mohd Mokhtar, however, told theSun yesterday that the State Housing and Property Board may have allowed these exemptions.

However, for any exemptions to be implemented, at the end of the day, the Executive Council needs to sign off on this and if according to the state government that there is no such policy, that means, someone is lying.

Who? For now, Sharipah comes across as a suspect. In her explanation to Puasa on Feb 4, she said then council president Datuk Emran Kadir had requested that developers not involved in squatter resettlement projects allocate a certain number of units for city council staff.

Interestingly, Emran is also suffering from amnesia and has denied making such orders, asking reporters to check the council minutes.

Sharipah, meanwhile, takes pains to explain that the Seri Jati flats in Ara Damansara where she and 19 other council staff had bought homes, was NOT a squatter relocation project.

Contrast this with a letter on July 9, 2009 which she wrote to Datin Paduka Alinah Ahmad of the Selangor Housing and Property Board, where she indicated that the squatters of Kampung Tropicana Padang Tembak in Petaling Jaya and Kampung Lembah, Shah Alam, were to be moved to the Seri Jati flats.

It would seem that Sharipah and some councillors (past and present) are trying to pull wool over our eyes by maintaining that these flats are built on private land and not meant to relocate squatters. Now they want us to believe that the 500 low-cost units sold to city council staff were "excess units".

As far as Seri Jati is concerned, Sharipah contends that she did not rob anyone of their rights as there are eight vacant units, indicating that there are no takers.

Don’t get us wrong. There are many city council general workers who earn way below the RM2,500 income eligibility requirement for a low-cost unit. I have no quarrel if these people are even given first choice. But that there are poor folk eligible for low-cost units who are renting such homes from those who are outsiders gives one a sour taste.

It tells us that something stinks in the system of housing for the poor. It seems to endorse long-held suspicions that the allocation of low-cost units depends on who you know and even what political party you are affiliated to. The allegations of a "quota" for political parties do not seem far from the truth – where low-cost units seem to also fall into the same category of getting a pasar malam lot or a stall at a food court, the primary purpose is to ensure that the most needy in our community get all the help they need to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.

The mentri besar cannot pussyfoot around the issue by calling it a moral travesty and say there is nothing illegal about the purchase of low-cost homes by ineligible owners.

If the four pre-requisites are not adhered to (Malaysian citizen residing in Selangor; 18 years of age; does not own a house; and household income of not more than RM2,500) how can it be legal? Is Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim saying that a simple circular from a department head is all that is needed to circumvent the law?

Terence says enough of the lies. He is deputy editor special reports & investigations and can be reached at terence@thesundaily.com