How grand corruption affects our quality of life

When I sent out a tweet (message on social media) asking people to tell me how to translate grand corruption into Malay, I received some interesting replies.

Sep 11, 2015

Anil Netto

By Anil Netto
When I sent out a tweet (message on social media) asking people to tell me how to translate grand corruption into Malay, I received some interesting replies:

One chap replied, “Datuk segala rasuah.” Or should that be ibu as in mother of all corruption?

Other suggestions followed: Rasuah unggul, maha rasuah and Rasuah besar.

The point is, we have reached unchartered territory. We are not talking about RM50 surreptitiously passed to an unscrupulous official. That would be petty corruption.

This is how Transparency International (TI) defines corruption: “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”

TI says corruption can be classified as grand, petty and political. How does it define these?

Petty corruption refers to “everyday abuse of entrusted power by low and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens, who, often, are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments or other agencies”.

Political corruption, on the other hand, is the “manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth.”

And grand corruption, which is what we are confronted with now, “consists of acts, committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.” We are all familiar with this.

Corruption in any form is diabolical. Transparency International says the costs of coruption hits a society in several major ways.

In politics, corruption corrodes democracy (especially emerging democracies) and the rule of law. Institutions lose their legitimacy when they are abused for political gain. Has this happened in Malaysia? The answer is staring at us. “It is extremely challenging to develop accountable political leadership in a corrupt climate.”

In economics, corruption depletes national wealth, says TI. “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 blocks the development of a fair market and distorts competition e.g. policies and the awarding of contracts may favour crony companies.

In other words, public funds which could be used to improve the quality of hospitals, schools and public universities and public transport are, instead, diverted to private pockets or used in mega projects or investments that bring little benefit to the public. So others reap the profit from these public funds while the rakyat is saddled with the burden of higher costs in education (via PTPTN loans and private school fees), healthcare (high pharmaceutical costs and private hospital fees) and private transport (car loans and fuel costs).

Corruption also undermines the fabric of society. “It undermines people’s trust in the political system, in its institutions and its leadership.” When such distrust prevails, it becomes even more difficult to tackle the scourge of corruption.

Corruption may worsen environmental degradation. “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. From mining, to logging, to carbon offsets, companies across the globe continue to pay bribes in return for unrestricted destruction.”

In practical terms, grand corruption can jeopardise our quality of life in other ways.

Public assets, including state land, may be sold at below market value to cronies or well connected entities. Others reap the profits from the real value of the land — profits which rightfully should go to the public. Public funds are thus eroded as profits are privatised (to cronies) while losses are socialised (borne by the public).

The public also loses out when public funds or government revenue is wasted or siphoned away via “commissions,” or “consultancy fees,” or inflated contracts or tax evasion. The government then experiences difficulty in balancing the budget. So it has to conjure up other ways to raise funds e.g. GST, which is then imposed on all the people, irrespective of their ability to pay.

So today, one of the reasons that many are unhappy is that they are finally feeling the effects of the grand corruption that has corroded the very fabric of our society and undermined the integrity of key institutions of government which have been disrupted from pursuing investigations into such massive corruption.

It is time to clean up the system and remove the shackles of grand corruption which are holding us back from realising our true potential as a nation.

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