Excerpt from the speech:
Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and billions more are being siphoned out as our entire political structure crumbles. Yet we are gathered here in comfort, in a country that still seems to ‘work.’ Most of the time. This is due less to good management than to the extraordinary wealth of this country. You were born into a country of immense resources both natural and cultural and social. We have been wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, tall tales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft. It is easy to fall into the lull caused by the combination of whatever wealth has not been plundered and removed and political class that lives in a bubble of sycophancy.
While I am impressed with his courage to come face to face with corruption and to tell it like it is, I hope he will take the next step and leave UMNO to strike out on the other side of the divide to give even more weight to his statements.
In another article by P. Gunasegaram of TheStar, he advocated more moves to cut corruption. He referred to corruption as an insidious, widespread problem that has caused much bottleneck, inefficiency, higher costs and a downright hindrance to improving productivity at all levels and lamented that little has been done to curb this scourge.
We all know how damaging is corruption to any country when decisions are made for private and not public interests. With the cancer of corruption spreading, we can kiss goodbye to good governance and effective public policies. In Malaysia, corruption, such as in PKFZ scandal, has led to gross misallocation and wastage of resources. Ultimately, the rakyat have to pay the price and the poor are tragically affected.
Of course it is unfair to point fingers at the authorities concerned because any effort to stomp out corruption requires the cooperation of the public sector, private organizations and even civil society.
Some might think that the government has not done enough. Well, I did a bit of reading and discovered that the authorities concerned have acknowledged the existence and prevalence of corruption but why then does the problem still persist?
Here's a brief summary of their efforts to prevent and eradicate corruption.
1. Anti-corruption legislation has been enacted
2. Establishment of an Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy (Yes, no joke. There IS such an organization!)
I am not sure if the following news item was covered by our local press but I came across it in a Brunei website!!!
NMM-Bernama reported:
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy (MACA) will be receiving an allocation of almost 1.0 million Ringgit (one USD = about 3.4 Ringgit) from the United Nations to develop two anti-corruption training programmes this year and next year, says its director, Samarajoo Manikam.He said Monday that the allocation, provided under the UN Development Programme (UNDP), was meant for training and briefings on intelligence gathering and corruption prevention for anti-corruption officers from 57 member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
Speaking to reporters after giving a briefing on on the academy’s activities to a delegation from Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission here, he added that the two training programmes would be held in July this year and March next year respectively with the participation of at least 30 officers in each programme.
(Well, we should expect an improvement in political landscape....)
3. Setting up a Public Complaints Bureau - introduced the MESRA Rakyat Program
4. Setting up the National Integrity Plan (Read more HERE)
5. Establishment of Integrity Institute of Malaysia (I started sleuthing about this when I saw a signboard along Scotland Road Penang) Read more HERE.
6. Internal Auditing System (established in 1979 and revamped in 2004)- to combat fraud, forgery and embezzlement of the Ministries’ and government departments’ assets. This article from the PMO's office HERE said:
"We should emphasise on preventive measures. Even the government has strengthened its audit system in various ministries and departments with more qualified personel," Ambrin said.7. Anti-Corruption Agency and MACC
He also said there are indications that fraud cases in corporate Malaysia is on an increasing trend.
He highlighted the billion dollar Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ)scandal as an example of suspected public sector fraud and waste of a great magnitude.
"Weak project management and bad governance in terms of disregard of proper government procedures, no open tenders, excessive costs, cash flow problems, the lack of master planning and minimal supervision, have all severly undermined the viability of the project," he said.
He stressed that fraud could be discovered in a timelier manner or perhaps even avoided, if key officials in public service and corporations, are more vigilant, competent and committed in discharging their responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia, Ranjit Singh said there needs to be a system in place to identify fraud and ensure issues are raised, before it happens.
8. Code of Ethics for MPs
9. Public Accounts Committee to examine the Auditor-General's Report
etc. etc.
Where civil society and the private sector is concerned, we can only help to weed out corruption if information is available. The rakyat need access to government-held information to exercise their rights lest they fall prey to corruption. To have that, we must have the Freedom of Information Law enforced. Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s administration is the first in the country to try enacting such a law. Read more HERE.
So you see, it is clear that our government HAS been working on combating corruption. However, one fact remains. Even with these measures and despite the amount of resources used, the incidence of corruption has escalated!!
WHY??? Why are these measures ineffective?
Malaysians have to contend with mutations of corruption including:
- incompetence
- malpractice
- abuse of power
- fraud
- unethical practices
- low motivation/poor work ethics
- decline in integrity among individuals, organizations and society etc...
If you have time, please check out Tunku Abdul Aziz's paper on "INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY : STAMPING OUT CORRUPTION IN MALAYSIA".
You might want to check out an old post of mine called Morally Immoral.
Severe prosecutions would be a very good way to weed our corruption. The authorities can begin by pulling in ALL who are associated with the PKFZ scandal instead of just zeroing in on Tun Dr. Ling. Many question why there seems to be inertia in investigating alleged corruption cases of famous individuals but extreme speed in investigating cases related to the opposition (and one which led to the tragic death of TBH). Such scenarios do not foster confidence in investors! Apart from that, the education system and syllabus (especially 'Moral') must be revamped so that via schools, we can inculcate integrity in every citizen for a corrupt-free country!
Do our politicians have the moral courage and political will to combat corruption? Unless and until there is effective enforcement of rules and regulations, we will have to contend with this scourge of our society - corruption. And where will that lead us????
Be Ing Whatever is the 'legality' of their existence,the present political 'elite' class has lost the fundamental moral legitimacy to govern by the sheer magnitude of corruption - be they the looters themselves, accomplices or bystanders.
No amount of authoritarian or coercive power could construct moral legitimacy. Repressive rule is so shallow.