CORRUPTION is no longer alien to the country. Granted, suspicions were rife that it explains the ostentation of the undeserving some, but the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), the precursor to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), appeared to have little to do. Today, after a much empowered MACC came into being, the seemingly quiet has been blown asunder. After so many MACC disclosures of corrupt government officials at all levels and the outrageous sums extorted, enough for those caught to be stashing away millions of ringgit, it shows how much the cancer has grown and must be arrested before it spreads to other organs of the Malaysian bureaucracy.
Something has to be done immediately to stop the bleeding of the country’s coffers because, ultimately, the kickbacks are worked into the total cost of contracts. Imagine if the hundreds of millions already uncovered were put into building social infrastructure. It has then become urgent to clean up the country. Indeed, the cleaning has begun, gently. Civil servants are discouraged from playing golf, a payment conduit, abroad. No longer will a whole office romp off to distant lands to enjoy fully-paid breaks on some pretext or other. But, given the urgency, these solutions are mild.
The Public Service Commission must push for a radical reform of the public sector. One idea being proposed is the use of polygraph machines. MACC is already using them during the interrogation process, but with permission from the subject. This is a protocol set by the manufacturers. The less-than-capable operator can actually get the wrong results and fascistic ones will skew the readings. There is also a need to ensure that operators are objectively executing their function free of bias. The importance of this cannot be understated because one mistake by the operator can ruin an interrogation subject’s life.
Those handling the machines must, therefore, be mindful of the polygraph’s shortcomings.
Besides the polygraph, the PSC should also push for the annual declaration of assets by officers of the public service. This would give a more reliable account to explain the
exceptional expenditure that is not commensurating with salary. Then, there is also the idea put forth by the Alumni Association of the Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (PTD Alumni); a heavier punishment — whipping — of public servants convicted of corruption. This may prove effective, but what would perhaps be more effective, is outright dismissal from the service upon conviction, irrespective of the sum involved. All these, and the persistent and unrelenting enforcement by MACC may just rid Malaysian society of this cancer, which has poisoned some Malaysians into believing that it is fine to accept kickbacks and under-the-table incentives.