Many cultural aspects are left for dead in Malaysia, but in this case, it is a lot better to kill off corruption, which is fast evolving into a practical culture.
Cases that have been brought forward of late can bear testimony to that and can definitely make a confident trickster squirm many times over.
We are no longer talking about thousands of ringgit of corruption gains but huge sums exchanging hands as dirty money to legitimise a crooked deal.
Countries around us have taken big steps to come clean on corruption and bribery. Indonesia and the Philippines have improved and are doing better in the corruption standings in the region. And Thailand is considering a proposal that says that its officials convicted in corruption involving more than 1 billion baht (RM126 million) could face the death penalty.
There’s also the latest case in Australia where Health Minister Sussan Ley resigned after using a taxpayer-funded trip to purchase an apartment on Queensland’s Gold Coast. The call to arms: accountability. Every politician or civil servant or public official has a duty to be accountable to the people they serve.
Malaysia could certainly take the cue from every country above on how to deal with the scourge, especially Thailand, though the death sentence could be on the way out in Malaysia. Even so, if it is not the death sentence, a life-term imprisonment could serve as a real deterrent.
Right now, a person brought before the court for corruption does not face impediment sentence under the Penal Code and slightly more if he is charged under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997, which provides for a fine not exceeding RM100,000 and a jail sentence of up to 20 years.
He can also face a fine of not less than five times the value of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher. Then there’s seizure of property and forfeiture of property upon prosecution.
Is that a deterrent enough punishment? Doesn’t look like it, given the number of cases out in the open and the many more suppressed.
Perhaps, the article in the New Straits Times on Saturday has come up with the right solution to the problem — mandatory caning.
And then, what about the giver of bribes? Aren’t they as guilty as the taker in the whole scheme of things? In almost all the cases, the spotlight on graft cases is on the taker. The giver escapes the bright beam of light as if he is free from blame. Cane him, too.
We must pay tribute to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for doing a fine job in getting the corrupt to answer for their crooked ways. Make it more. Some of them even have the audacity to keep ill-gotten cash at home with all kinds of branded materials, even gold ingots. Luxury cars and posh residences make up the rest.
Transparency International lists how corruption impacts our lives. It costs people their freedom, health or money. On the political front, corruption is a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law. In a democratic system, offices and institutions lose their legitimacy when they’re misused for private advantage.
“Economically, corruption depletes national wealth. Corrupt politicians invest scarce public resources in projects that will line their pockets rather than benefit communities, and prioritise high-profile projects, such as dams, power plants, pipelines and refineries, over less spectacular but more urgent infrastructure projects, such as schools, hospitals and roads.
“Corruption corrodes the social fabric of society. It undermines people’s trust in the political system, in its institutions and its leadership. Environmental degradation is another consequence of corrupt systems. The lack of, or non-enforcement of, environmental regulations and legislation means that precious natural resources are carelessly exploited, and entire ecological systems are ravaged,” it said on its website.
An MACC officer provided a staggering quote last week when he said: “Malaysians hate corruption, but may not necessarily reject it outright.”
Well, let’s kill corruption before it becomes an imperishable culture.
Syed Nadzri is a former NST group editor