The fight against graft has begun

The Sun
R. Nadeswaran

ON Dec 10, together with a dozen newspaper editors, I listened to a briefing on the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) which is part of initiatives for the National Key Results Areas (NKRA) by two ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department – Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and Datuk Seri Idris Jala. The Power-Point presentation was impressive to say the least. Despite being told that the prime minister himself had adopted the recommendations, many returned home with the feeling that it was another round of government rhetoric.

Haven’t we previously heard slogans such as "Bersih, cekap, amanah" and "Open and transparent government"? To me at least, it was yet another wasted evening. That was my opinion before I attended the GTP open day a week later. Visiting the booth on corruption, I was amazed that finally, the government is admitting the seriousness of graft, instead of hiding behind the façade of "these are only perceptions". For good measure, there was an admission of sorts – corruption could cause Malaysians up to RM10 billion a year or up to the 2% of the GDP annually.

What was even more astonishing was that the government had identified and acknowledged the root causes of corruption under the following headings:

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Lack of transparency: Policies, procedures and service standards not clearly made known to public; poor disclosure and access to information of public interest, eg awards, decisions and verdicts.

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Discretion: Authority to make decision resides with a single person, or body, eg approval of permit, issuance of summons, awarding of project; manual procedures with no stipulated guidelines to govern process.

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Red tape: Lengthy and complex approval process with excessive inter-agency dependencies; too many unnecessary regulations.

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Lack of Accountability: Poor monitoring of compliance – chances of getting caught low; lack of severe penalty or punishment for felony or misconduct.

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Opportunity to form relationships: Personnel holding the same job/position in high-risk areas for extended period; high level of interaction and frequent contact with criminals or illegal activities, particularly in enforcement activities

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Political interference: Abuse of power and influence for personal or political gain; biasness or favouritism in decision making, eg unjustified procurement.

To be honest, these aren’t new "discoveries". They have festered in our system over the years and have become endemic. While it will be unfair to make accusations without any evidence, let it be said that the government’s procurement system will expose all, if not, many of the above-mentioned points.

But even the sceptics and scribes like me will change our minds and see it in a different light if the government implements its own proposals in the GTP. It wants to:

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Reduce corruption through enforcement and compliance;

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Enhance transparency to improve our score in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI); and

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Improve public perception on the integrity of the government and civil service.

The proposals call for the prevention of the abuse of power and public resources by politicians and senior civil servants and the enhancement of the delivery of justice against corruption and corrupt people. Besides, it wants a reduction in leakage in the funds allocated for national development and operations and ensures fairness in the award of contracts. These moves will regain the public confidence in the enforcement agencies and make Malaysia a good place to do business.

But to make the proposals work, the GTP acknowledges that there must be political will, a good legal and institutional framework and effective enforcement. While the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues will understand the need to implement the proposals for the good of the country and its people, what about the political warlords and their cronies, to whom being middlemen and seeking "surat sokong" has been a source of income for years?

But to say that may be a bit premature because the GTP proposals are aimed at changing public perception by seeing what is described as "big wins" in the area of corruption which include:

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Announce zero tolerance policy for corruption. Prime minister to mandate all new cases of corruption will be investigated, charged and punished irrespective of size and persons involved. Multiple high-profile arrests will send a powerful signal that the government is very serious about tackling the issue;

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Whistleblower’s identity will be protected;

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Cap and monitor political contributions by individuals and companies;

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Government to provide supplementary funding to reduce reliance on private sources of funding;

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Election Commission, Registrar of Societies and other agencies to monitor political funding and spending;

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Key institutions like the judiciary, attorney-general, auditor-general, MACC and Election Commission must be independent and be seen to be independent. Otherwise accountability is a key missing factor among senior politicians and civil servants which will greatly affect public perception;

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Speed up trials of corruption cases. Total length of time should be no longer than one year;

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To impose a minimum jail sentence via a tiered approach based on the severity of the offence;

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Any asset which cannot be explained to the satisfaction of the court should be confiscated;

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Publish names and details of corruption offences for all individuals who have been convicted. This is only for new cases. Details will be removed after three years. This would be a central database accessible to the public;

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Ministers, minister’s officials, politicians, royalty and civil servants will not be allowed to interfere in law enforcement agencies, issuing of licences, procurement, privatisation, fast tracking of approvals, etc;

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With the exclusion of a small proportion of annual budget spent on national security, all procurement (below RM500,000) done on tender or direct negotiation and privatisation contracts will be disclosed. Details to be disclosed include awarded vendor, award price and project title; and

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When the public see that law enforcement agencies are effectively charging offenders for vice activities, smuggling, human trafficking, etc, the perception of corruption within law enforcement will disappear.

Dear readers, as much as I have my views if these proposals will ever see implementation, it would be wrong to dismiss them without giving the government a chance to make it work. I make no apologies if I sound like a government mouthpiece, but let it be said that in the course my work, I will engage myself with the ministers, key officials and even members of the public to ensure that corruption is reduced to negligible levels. It won’t happen overnight, but in the meantime, let’s support these meaningful efforts which will benefit every citizen of this country.

R. Nadeswaran starts the New Year noting that the government has taken cognisance of the public perception on corruption and its effects on society. He is editor (special and investigative reporting) at theSun and can be reached at: citizen-nades@thesundaily.com