THAT we want Malaysia to be corruption-free is a given. No one in his right mind will quarrel with this. Especially holders of public office.
Here, in this august house of Parliament, lie the seats of power. Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely, as British historian Lord Acton declared long ago.
Perhaps this is why the Dewan Rakyat passed a motion on Monday to make it mandatory for all members of parliament and their families to declare their assets.
The idea is to stop senators and other politicians from being “purchasable”. The venal ones must not be allowed to go near the seat of power.
Because power tends to make some so. It is here that misconduct can be dissuaded. It is here, too, that the fire of false accusations can be doused.
Notwithstanding the rumble outside the august house, the Dewan Rakyat has done the right thing.
The World Bank, too, thinks such declarations to be good for a country. In an opinion piece on Sept 26, 2016, the World Bank stated in its website that asset declarations of public officials were a powerful tool to prevent corruption, detect illicit enrichment and conflicts of interests.
In the calculation of the international institution, there were more than 150 countries that had introduced asset disclosure requirements for their public officials.
Many of the countries make the declarations accessible to public scrutiny. There is a widely accepted view that public scrutiny multiplies anti-corruption value. Helped, of course, by an active civil society and vibrant media all ready to uncover irregularities.
But this earnestness must be tempered with caution. Public declaration of private assets must be balanced against the need for privacy.
Personal data must be protected. To the extent the government can ensure the safety of the individuals and the security of their personal data, there is a case for public scrutiny of such assets.
It is not wrong to make public interest trump private interest, especially when it is legitimate.
The law that is being planned must address this and other concerns. Some MPs feel there is no need to make a public declaration of assets as such a disclosure is already being done to the Inland Revenue Board.
There are at least two reasons why this is not sufficient. One, not all assets are so declared. Some are parked overseas beyond the ken of the IRB as the latter disclosed recently.
Two, the information is not accessible to the public. Unexplained wealth of public officials may just go unnoticed. A country that allows this to happen can never free itself of the scourge of corruption.
The law must make clear what the motion on the Code of Ethics for Administrative Members and MPs does not. And it must do more.
The law’s reach must be broad and deep. It must aid in building a robust asset declaration system. The legal basis must be clear.
It must rule on what is to be made public and what must remain confidential.
Once it is so, we can put the poison of corruption down with an iron hand, as Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, said.