MALAYSIANS are disappointed at the extent of political and bureaucratic corruption.
This has been revealed in court cases and disclosed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission earlier this month, which highlighted that over 40% of arrests made this year involve public officers.
The civil servants who have been held include operational and support staff as well as high-level officers in management or professional categories.
Some may take comfort in the fact that Malaysia is not alone. The 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), produced by Transparency International (TI), shows that only 28 of the 180 countries assessed
have seen improvements in their corruption levels over the past 12 years while 34 countries have significantly worsened. Despite global progress in criminalising corruption and establishing specialised institutions to address it, corruption levels worldwide remain stagnant.
TI’s report noted that wrongdoings at all levels “ranged from bribery and embezzlement to the organised, complex schemes of grand corruption, which is the abuse of high-
level power that causes serious and widespread suffering in societies. The grave societal harm caused by grand corruption makes it a matter of international concern”.
About 10 days ago, a top-ranking civil servant lamented that greed and envy towards those with more wealth than them often drove officers to corruption. He said the first measure then was to raise salaries. But is this the best way to end corruption? No.
The Buddha, 2,500 years ago, taught that the fire of greed rises high in search of satisfaction, and it leads people into wrong acts. He said human desires are ceaseless and once you surrender to greed, the effect is like that of a person who drinks salt water: his thirst is only increased.
Greed is an evil state of mind that takes a lifetime of effort in character improvement to eliminate, much like destroying all the roots of weeds.
Most nations have spent the past two generations fighting corruption and still show little or no success. When you take a long path, the roots of greed have time to go deeper.
The best way to end political and bureaucratic corruption has been tested and verified: it is to change the structure of government. We fail to see this solution as we are blind-sighted by the adulation of traditional governmental structures. However, these structures bear a fatal load weakness as they comprise only three tiers – central, state and local.
The most crucial tier of government is missing, and this is
the neighbourhood committee empowered to make on-site, timely at-cost decisions on vital matters, such as maintenance of the neighbourhood.
Such committees also perform another role essential in preventing corruption: they encourage high levels of social bonding that fosters neighbourhood-wide cooperation that requires integrity and honesty.
Additionally, they enable non-politicised citizens to acquire governance skills and experience
in the exercise of collective responsibility.
Why is the three-tiered structure of government incapable of preventing corruption in modern nations? It is because of the population surge over the past hundred years.
At the local level in our country, Kuala Lumpur City Hall manages 8.8 million people – a population larger than the populations of 132 nations in the world.
Pre-civilised hunter-gatherer tribes had the ideal all-in-one government level as each had a population of just 150 to 500 people. It was a neighbourhood-size government.
If you study the CPI, you will notice that only seven nations out of 180
hit the highest scores of 80 and above. They are Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Norway, New Zealand, Finland and Denmark.
At 90 marks, Denmark is just 10 marks off the perfect 100 score (very clean). Match their ratings with the population, and you will notice that Denmark has only 5.9 million. Sweden, the most sizeable of the seven, has 10.5 million. Singapore has 5.7 million.
Despite the small population making it easier to govern, Singapore has built up an active network of residents committees and neighbourhood committees that serve as community facilitators to promote social bonding, provide feedback on local issues and convey local needs to government agencies. These communities help dissolve the need for corrupt practices.
Why Vietnam and China have shown improvement
Among large countries with populations above 100 million – there are 16 of them – only two stand out. They are Vietnam and China.
Comparing the 2023 CPI scores with the 2013 scores, Vietnam has achieved a starry 32% improvement while China achieved 12% improvement. Both nations have enjoyed civil peace for many decades, an essential condition for continual improvements in the CPI score.
The United States on the other hand saw its score slip 5.5% over these 10 years.
Both Vietnam and China recognise the necessity for a basic grassroots tier of government – the neighbourhood committee as the first tier. Without a strong active network of such empowered committees throughout the nation, it is impossible to eliminate political corruption.
Malaysia has residents committees in some housing estates and management committees in strata-titled developments. Residents committees have zero governmental authority while management committees are empowered only to run their strata developments as private enclosures.
Malaysia’s 2023 CPI score is 50, the same as the 2013 score. No improvement.
The complete absence of empowered neighbourhood committees explains the near-total absence of a maintenance culture, with public amenities rotting
without repair.
Obstructed damaged signboards, uneven roads, potholes that keep enlarging or deepening, bumps and depressions present safety hazards in addition to daredevil motorcyclists speeding through red lights. Roadside litter is everywhere.
How does the absence of neighbourhood committees enable political corruption?
If you examine the neighbourhood committees in Vietnam and China, you will find that they are training grounds for political and bureaucratic leadership as they give cadres vital experience in governance with integrity and bonding with the communities that they live in.
New generations of leaders in these two countries will be increasingly corruption-free because they have learned integrity through hands-on experience at the grassroots level of governance.
Vietnam’s neighbourhood committees or people’s committees at the ward or commune level are often empowered to carry out administrative functions for the community. These committees usually take on the responsibility for implementing government policies, managing community issues and coordinating public services, such as sanitation, public safety and some welfare programmes. They exercise sufficient authority to make practical, day-to-day decisions that directly impact community members.
China’s committees (juweihui) operate as the grassroots tier and play a key role in community governance. The committees are responsible for managing local affairs, facilitating public services and promoting social stability within neighbourhoods. This decentralised approach allows for responsive governance tailored to local needs within the larger framework of China’s centralised state structure.
Sadly in Malaysia, all political parties resist any move to introduce neighbourhood governance as it means that the political and bureaucratic class will no longer enjoy a monopoly of power. This monopoly, controlled by politicians and their appointees, is the fuel for corruption.
Non-politicised neighbourhood communities empowered to govern without political party involvement give citizens sufficient experience in government to question the necessity of having a clandestine monetary reward system that involves corruption.
This column has explained in several articles why politics and religion are the twin pillars of civilisation. If one pillar fails, the other pillar must take on the extra weight. If both pillars fail, that civilisation or nation will perish.
Politics has failed; what about religion? It must lead the way in building cooperation vital for honesty and integrity in governance.
However, all our religions are also failing in that they remain inward-looking and also tend to emphasise adherents and the constant need to defend their faith against non-believers instead of turning themselves into servant leaders for the nation.
How do servants relate to one another in a large household? They cooperate, and the bond established is vital for service integrity and honesty. If each servant regards the other as an enemy, can they render the necessary quality service to the household?
Similarly, all religions in Malaysia, especially Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism
and Taoism, must move away from emphasising their own greatness. Instead, they should focus on the need for all people who subscribe to the first tenet of the Rukunegara – Belief in God – to accept one another and work towards creating a common platform of cooperative behaviour among their faiths.
This will create a pattern that makes it easy for neighbourhood committees to be formed across the nation. Politicians will also learn to cooperate and amend the laws to ensure these committees are established on a strictly neutral basis, free from involvement with political parties or party leaders.
The budget for operations should be drawn from the ratepayers assessment taxes, with operational support provided by the local councils. These councils should also review expenditures before external auditors conduct their audits.
To prevent the formation of cartels, a three-year bar can be imposed after a committee member has served a maximum of three years.
For those who doubt the efficacy of committees in preventing corruption, consider the lessons in biology textbooks. What do they say? Structure plays a crucial role in determining behaviour.
For example, if you arrange classroom seating in a lecture-hall format, you will get minimal participation from the back rows. However, if you opt for a U-shaped seating arrangement, every student is more likely to participate.
Similarly, an animal with four legs can escape a slower predator while one with only three legs is more likely to get caught. Think of corruption as a predator.
Joachim Ng champions interfaith harmony. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
