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Sunday, 21 March 2010

Walking the talk is the main issue

Yes, to Muslims, ‘crimes’ are just confined to wine, women and song. Everything else is okay. Offer Muslims pork chops and they will go berserk. Offer them a glass of beer and they will foam at their mouth in anger. Offer them a bribe and they will say, “Alhamdulillah for God’s rezeki showered on me.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Low salaries not main factor in corruption, says MACC

Low salary scales and high cost of living are not the main factor for corruption among the support group in the civil service, according to a survey by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

On the contrary, corruption is caused by individuals’ own weaknesses such as greed and having the desire to live in wealth and luxury despite not having the means to attain them.

Internal shortcomings in an organisation such as weak leadership, opaque system and procedure, the existence of bureaucratic red tapes and extensive discretionary powers open up the opportunities for corruption.

Is corruption on the rise among civil servants?

MACC corporate communications director Datuk Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya said there was a decline in the number of corruption involving the group in 2007, 2008 and last year.

This, he said, showed that the level of integrity and awareness among civil servants on the scourge of corruption and their responsibility in battling corruption were on the increase.

In 2007, a total of 591 people were arrested for corruption. Of the total, 51 per cent or 303 were members of the civil service.

The number decreased to 282 civil servants or 47 per cent of the total number of arrests of 605 in 2008.

There was a sharp decline last year when only 194 or 39 per cent of 500 people arrested were civil servants.

Statistics also showed that the number of corruption charges against civil servants were on the decline in the past three years.

In 2007, 133 charges were brought against civil servants. The number went down to 104 in 2008 and further declined to 90 last year.

Among the reasons for this were the success of programmes introduced by the government and awareness campaign by MACC community education division.

The implementation of corruption prevention modules in induction courses, promotion of officers and the introduction of government policies including on public delivery system and the setting up of Good Governance Committee contributed to the better figure.

Following an increase in awareness, members of the civil service were becoming more forthcoming in reporting offer of bribes, leading to the arrest of bribe givers, Ahmad Khusairi said.

For instance, he said, in 2007, a total of 89 civil servants came forward to report bribe offers. In 2008 and last year respectively, there were 81 and 79 officers who reported attempts to bribe them.

Ahmad Khusairi said between January and this month this year, 14 civil servants came forward to report bribery attempts.

“This is an encouraging trend. Integrity, which the government is trying to imbibe among the civil servants, is becoming a reality,” he said.

In line with this development, he said, the MACC would carry out a massive anti-corruption campaign to nab those who tried to bribe civil servants.

Civil servants would also be constantly reminded of their obligation to report corruption under Section 25(1) of the MACC Act, failing which they could be fined up to RM100,000 or jail not more than 10 years or both upon conviction, Ahmad Khusairi said.

He warned the public not to attempt to bribe civil servants.

“The law will come down hard on them, including a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of bribe or RM10,000 whichever is higher,” he said. — Bernama

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Remember my earlier article about lies, damn lies and statistics? Well, here we go again. The MACC is giving us statistics on corruption cases and they are telling us that corruption has reduced because less people have been caught.

Is it not possible that the number of people being caught for corruption has come down because those who commit acts of corruption are getting smarter and therefore it is not so easy for the MACC to catch them like before? Is it not possible that the MACC has given up on trying to catch corrupted officials because most times when the cases go to court those on trial get acquitted anyway? Is it not possible that the MACC officers see no point in fighting a losing battle -- so if you can’t beat them then join them and now the MACC officers are getting a cut of the action? Is it not possible that the MACC officers are otak lembu (cow brains) while those corrupted people are far cleverer? Is it not possible that the MACC is too busy trying to get opposition people on all sorts of flimsy and frivolous charges like cakes and cows that there is just no time left to go after the real criminals?

Yes, there are many possible reasons for the decline in cases of people caught for corruption. It does not have to mean that the country is getting cleaner. It could just mean that the cleaners are getting dirtier.

Anyway, why talk so much about corruption and what to do about it and whatnot? Okay, corruption is not confined to just the Malays or Muslims. Non-Malays and non-Muslims are also corrupted. But then Zoroastrian, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and whatnot are not the official religions of this country. Islam is. And Islam takes preference and priority over all other religions. And while the imams in the mosque can whack the other religions and call them false religions, you may not do the same to Islam. You say Islam is a false religion you will get arrested and will be sent to jail. But you can say what you like about the others.

Therefore, people are more concerned about corrupted Muslims. In fact, the religious department wants Muslims to lead pure lives. They do not like you and your neighbour’s wife bonking in a hotel room. Non-Muslims can bonk till dawn and the government doesn’t care. At 3.00am the religious department officers will come knocking on your hotel room to check whether you have a naked woman in your bed. And if you refuse to open your door they will break it down. (Read here)

Yes, the Malaysian government is against you playing footsie and bonking pussies that don’t belong to you. And they mean business. So don’t play play. And it not just ‘illegal’ pussies that upset the religious department. Drinking, gambling, etc., are also no-nos for Muslims. You drink or play poker and they will haul your arse into court and if found guilty you can get caned; even women offenders.

So you see, with such high morals that Muslims have to observe, we are more concerned about corruption committed by Muslims, who are God’s chosen people, while we really don’t care about those non-Muslims who are supposed to go to hell anyway even if they lead the life of Mother Teresa.

Why are Muslims so upset if I check into a hotel with my neighbour’s wife and bonk her till dawn? Why are Muslims so upset if I drink and gamble? Why are Muslims not upset if I am corrupted and take bribes? Why will Muslims not vote for me if I womenise, drink and gamble but they have no problems voting for me if I take bribes?

Yes, to Muslims, ‘crimes’ are just confined to wine, women and song. Everything else is okay. Offer Muslims pork chops and they will go berserk. Offer them a glass of beer and they will foam at their mouth in anger. Offer them a bribe and they will say, “Alhamdulillah for God’s rezeki showered on me.”

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