Malaysia: Get serious about graft

Malaysia: Get serious about graft

Sin Chew Daily, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi revealed lately that Anti-Corruption Agency's statistics showed that 1,342 Malaysians had been apprehended for alleged involvement in corruption cases between 1998 and end of last year. Among those arrested, half of them were civil servants.

Although many Malaysians have grown accustomed to the rampant corruption, bribery and malpractice, the Deputy Prime Minister's remarks continued to give us a shock.

Corruption exists everywhere in this world, and pretty frequently too. No matter how developed a country is or how powerful a politician can be, they can still have something to do with the chronic corruption problem.

Corruption is everywhere, even in countries with well developed administrative systems such as Britain and the United States. A powerful politician like French President Jacques Chirac has also come under probe for alleged corruption when he was a mayor of Paris.

Corruption among public servants is an old problem inherited since the last century, and will continue to be so in the 21st century. If we are not going to do something drastic about it, the problem is set to deteriorate further to become a malignant tumor which will imperil the whole society and nation.

Statistics released by the Anti-Corruption Agency may just be a tip of the iceberg as many corrupt officials have so luckily escaped the round-up operations.

Corruption is generally an outcome of the following two conditions.

Firstly, personal attributes such as a person's behavioral conducts, will-power and lifestyle. If a person is greedy, his will-power weak, and has a passion for extravagant life, he is more likely to accept bribes from others.

Next we have the environmental problems. If the society is corrupt and everyone worships materialism, people will tend to go all out for material gains or job promotions. If most people in the public or private organizations abhor corruption, abide by the laws and perform their jobs dutifully, the incidence of corruption will definitely be reduced.

The government has offered numerous perks and benefits for public servants, including low-interest housing loans, car loans, incentives, overtime allowances, medical expenses, etc. But why are they still so corrupt?

Some say the government should perhaps emulate the "carrot and stick" approach of Singapore to effectively reduce corruption. Singapore has done quite well because not only do her civil servants enjoy attractive pays, they will also have to pay a very heavy price if they try to be corrupt.

In Malaysia, although the government has offered attractive benefits for public servants, it is nevertheless unable to wipe out corruption mainly because we do not have strict anti- corruption legislation.