EARLY days yet, but already a three-month investigation has uncovered five cases of corruption among senior public servants estimated to cost the country some RM20 million. As such, given the very short space of time and that, initially, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has gone back only five years and, thus far, only in Kuala Lumpur, it is safe to assume this to be but the tip of a massive iceberg of procurement fraud. Unfortunately, this is not all. Falsification of claims is rampant and a cause for concern. Naturally, those suspected will be hauled in for questioning and, if grounds for charges are established, brought to court. MACC will, too, expand the operation, code-named Op Tiris, nationwide. Meanwhile, in Kelantan, contractors are being quizzed for abuse of flood relief funds, which have left many victims of the 2014 floods disgruntled. At press time yesterday, MACC had frozen RM225,000 from a bank account and seized RM100,000 cash from an imam in connection with the case.
Obviously widespread — already uncovered is the Customs officers of Port Klang, Immigration personnel at the northern border of the peninsula, the navy, the timber industry of Sarawak, plus the intransigent Land Office staff in Cameron Highlands and those implicated in the Kuantan bauxite mining scandal — corruption has been a silent cancer. Left unattended, it threatens to bring the country down on several fronts. Economic leakages are, of course, at the forefront of the problem. If five cases in Kuala Lumpur over five years can cost the government as much as RM20 million, one wonders leaks of what multiples of this figure are happening and have happened over the nation’s lifespan. Billions? In this respect, the country suffers from double jeopardy of, firstly, paying more than it should for projects. Then, payments that end up as kickbacks escape the taxmen and often land in overseas accounts.
Corruption, in the form of procurement fraud, also brings with it consequences of shoddy material, bad construction standards of buildings, roads and more. For example, did corruption play a part in the collapse of the stadium in Terengganu? Does it explain the collapse of the drainage system in Putrajaya? The problem, according to MACC, is caused by non-observance of good governance policies, where mechanisms for check and balance were ignored, leaving individuals free to cheat the system.
More dangerous is the threat to national security. Is it any wonder then that people caught counterfeiting passports were once detained, under the now repealed Internal Security Act (ISA)? Turning a blind eye to smuggling at border crossings is to cause injury to the nation should firearms be part of the contraband brought in. Working with human traffickers is to allow undocumented migrants into the country, some of whom may be criminals and terrorists. In the Land Office, unbridled opening up of forests can cause instability to the earth’s structure and undermine the ecosystem. In short, for whatever pittance received in bribes, the knock-on effect to the nation can never be understated. The corrupt official is a salaried employee free to leave the job whenever. To augment an inadequate income is definitely no excuse. This menace, which eats up society slowly, must be stopped, and at once.