Corruption in the country has turn worse. It has permeated all fields and levels, it has also shaken the country's foundation and threaten the national security.
Corruption benefits those who are incapable and allows the greedy ones to steal the country's resources. Sooner or later, the treasury will be emptied and the country's competitiveness will plummet. Therefore, corruption has replaced drugs as the country's top enemy and threat.
I am not trying to scare you. From the various fraud revealed by the Auditor-General's Report to the missing aircraft engine and equipment, all cases involve corruption.
Isn't the collapse of government buildings related to corruption? Is it really simply human negligence that caused the evidence kept in the police station to be missing?
There are a few factors that cause the country's corruption to deteriorate into a cancer: political factor – in order to cultivate Bumiputera entrepreneurs and contractors, political parties issued contracts and projects without considering their ability and experience. Over the pass three decades, contracts and projects have been issued directly to entrepreneurs with political background or grassroot members of political parties. It has evolved into a complicated political and business collusion, that is, the “Malaysian revolving door”.
There were many large-scale projects and privatisation programs during the era of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Also during his times, the country had the lowest transparency.
Procedural factor – as executive officers act according to political instructions, together with lax management, fund allocation procedures exist only in name. No matter whether the contractors have completed the constructions according to the scheduled progress, they issue funds without any inspection. As a result, the contractors disappear after taking the money.
The aircraft engine was stolen because they did not follow the procedures strictly. No one checked the inventory, allowing those with bad intention to take advantage of it.
Today, many state governments have direct interviews to choose contractors. It offers a corruption opportunity for those who are responsible to distribute projects. It is a pity that the people may become the victims of these substandard and shoddy works in the states.
Low discipline in the government – civil servants who are found to have wasted public funds, involved in corruption and fraud will usually be transferred to another department or sacked. Very rarely, they will be charged in court. Such an over-protective practice has caused more and more blatant corruption. Didn't the air force personnel who have stolen the aircraft engine know that they might be discovered one day or perhaps, they were having a fluky mentality?
It would be like encouraging them if the government continues to be lenient to them.
Morality factor – as it is politically correct to allow those with background to “share government resources”, more and more people no longer have the sense of shame for corruption. As a result, everyone just does it.
Weaknesses in law enforcement – the efficiency of civil servants is low and enforcement actions are based on political demands. Therefore, corruption efforts do not last for long. Even if the cases are brought to court, they lose most of the cases. The progression is indeed very slow.
Therefore, the corruption problem in Malaysia is closely related to politics. If no political reform is carried out and the above mentioned problems are not solved, it will not help to eradicate corruption no matter how many KPIs, NKRAs and slogans they have. (By LIM SUE GOAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)
( The opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of MySinchew )
2012 Hotel Corporate Rates Attending seminars? Going for a holiday? Click on the link above to check out the list of hotel corporate rates for Members of the Bar, which is updated regularly.
Talk on Intellectual Property Law (10 Feb 2012) Organised by the Selangor Bar Committee, the talk on “Intellectual Property Law” will take place at 5:00 pm, at the Selangor Bar Committee Auditorium, on 10 Feb 2012 (Friday). The talk will feature Bahari Yeow Tien Hong. Click on the link above for more details.
Seminar on the Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Proceedings (21 Feb 2012) Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Professional Development Committee, the seminar on “The Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Proceedings”, featuring Sanjeev Kumar Rasiah, will take place at 3:00 pm, at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Auditorium, on 21 Feb 2012 (Tuesday). Click on the link above for more details.
Seminar on the Fundamentals of Conveyancing (24 Feb 2012) Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Professional Development Committee, this seminar featuring Jeremiah R Gurusamy will take place at 3:00 pm, at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Auditorium, on 24 Feb 2012 (Friday). Click on the link above for more details.
Mediation Skills Training Course (29 Feb to 4 Mar 2012) Organised by Bar Council, the Mediation Skills Training Course will take place at 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, at Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Bar Council, on 29 Feb to 4 Mar 2012 (Wednesday to Sunday). Deadline for registration and payment is 17 Feb 2012 (Friday). Click on the link above for more details.
Talk on “Land Fraud: An Australian Perspective” (13 Mar 2012) Organised by IGIL, GSGSG and UUM COLGIS, this free talk featuring Quintin George Rozario of Delta Law, Brisbane, Australia, will take place at 9:00 am, at Dewan Seminar A, Pusat Konvensyen, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, on 13 Mar 2012 (Tuesday). To RSVP, contact Mr Abutt (04-928 4397; abutt@uum.edu.my).
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Circular No 023/2012: Talk on ISO 9001 | 2008 Quality Management System Certification
