Corruption: Perceptions and Realities
Last week, I chanced on an article in The Malaysian Insider entitled, “Malaysia improving in corruption index, can do better”. Basically the article was by Bernama, the Malaysian news agency, on a report presented by Transparency International (TI) Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon V. Navaratnam on June 12.
Malaysia has made a headway in the battle against corruption, but the country can do better, according to an analysis in a United Nation's Development Programme (UNDP) report.
The report, presented by Transparency International (TI) Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon V. Navaratnam today, stated that Malaysia ranked sixth according to the World Bank and TI, but ninth according to the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG).
The next day, I saw another headline, “Corruption Worsens In Malaysia”, this time an article in My Sinchew by Bob Teoh.
Launching this year’s Asia Pacific Human Development Report published by the UN Development Programme in Kuala Lumpur Thursday (12 June), Transparency International (TI) Malaysia, Ramon V Navaratnam said, according to the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG), “Malaysia’s position has been deteriorating steadily over the last decade from 4.00 in 1966 to 2.38 in 2006.”
This compares with Singapore’s ranking which improved from 4.00 to 4.50 over the same period, making it the least corrupt Asian nation ahead of Hong Kong and Japan. However, both Hong Kong and Japan actually slipped in their anti-corruption ranking from 5.00 to 4.00 and Japan from 5.00 to 3.50 over the same period respectively. Malaysia is in ninth position out of 19 countries ranked by the ICRG index and just ahead of Indonesia, Mongolia and the Philippines but behind Brunei, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
However, it fared better in the other two indices used in the UNDP report. Malaysia is in sixth place out of 29 in the World Bank’s Control of Corruption Index in 2006. Malaysia is also ranked sixth out of 25 countries surveyed in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. But both the indices showed corruption in Malaysia has worsened over the past decade to 2006.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/12731
Those of us who are familiar with statistics know how easily numbers can be massaged to prove any number of positions. And those of us who write know that there are many different viewpoints we can choose to report on.
I looked for the Bernama report (just to make sure that it really existed) and though I found it on Google, I could not find it in the Bernama website. In it’s place was another article, entitled “Malaysia Maintains Position In Corruption Index For Asia”, which The Malaysian Insider also carried, with a slightly different title “Corruption Index: Still No. 6 in Asia”.
Malaysia's position in the Corruption Perception Index last year remained unchanged from the previous year as it was still ranked sixth among 25 countries in Asia.
However, Malaysia improved on its points from 5.05 in 2005 to 5.1 in 2007.
In Asia, Singapore emerged top followed by Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, South Korea and Malaysia.
Transparency International (TI) Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon V Navaratnam said Thursday that Malaysia was ranked sixth by the World Bank and TI, but ninth with 2.38 points among 19 Asian countries, by the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG).
He said according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, Malaysia had made a headway in the fight against corruption but could do better.
Navaratnam said this was the first time that a report on how corruption impacted human development had been delivered.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=339113
Googling further, I came upon this article in Forbes entitled, “Malaysia's corruption at critical level – watchdog”.
Corruption in Malaysia has reached a critical level as the country falls in international rankings, a graft watchdog announced Thursday, warning the government to act or lose its competitiveness.
The UN's Asia-Pacific Human Development Report highlighted an International Country Risk Guide finding which saw Malaysia decline from a score of 4.00 in 1996 to 2.38 in 2006, with a lower score representing greater corruption.
‘It is worrying because it is a business index which reflects on our domestic investment, foreign direct investment and confidence in the economy,’ said Ramon Navaratnam, country head of graft watchdog Transparency International.
‘Corruption is at a critical level here,’ he said.
He said corruption in Malaysia was deeply entrenched in the negotiation of contracts. Bribes were paid to government officials to speed up trade licences, for police protection and for loan transactions.
‘Our economic structure, the way we do business here, needs to be reviewed, renewed and redesigned,’ Navaratnam said, warning that Malaysia could lose its competitive edge if it remained ‘complacent and inefficient.’
‘Malaysia can do much better if there is stronger political will to fight corruption. Given the rapid pace of globalisation and increasing economic competition among Asian countries, it's time to pull our socks up,’ he said.
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/06/12/afx5108412.html
This was a report on the same event, quoting the same person, but with another conclusion to take away.
While perceptions of the same reality can differ significantly, perceptions themselves can also differ significantly from reality.
One thing that the report highlights (and this is my own take on it) is the fact that corruption affects the poor and the marginalized the most. Those of us who are middle-class urbanites might perceive corruption as merely irritants as we go about our daily lives.
Navaratnam, who is the former secretary general of the Finance Ministry and now group corporate adviser to the Sunway Group, pointed that in such cases, corruption often transpires in the form of negotiated tenders, bribes connected with import and export licences, exchange control, tax assessment, police protection or loan transactions.
“This form of dishonesty extracts the highest price from the weakest in society as it diverts goods and services or benefits targeted for the poor to well-off and well connected households, who can afford to bribe officials,” he said.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/12731
According to the report, police were the most corrupt public institution, rated at 3.8 (where 1 is the least corrupt and 5 most corrupt), followed by registry and permits at 2.8, judiciary 2.8 and tax offices 2.5.
“The people are affected when we get poor health service, poor education because of corruption and greed.”
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/13/nation/21536570&sec=nation
RPK helps us look at the present problems with subsidies in the light of corruption:
Malaysia’s problem is corruption. We spend double what we should because of corruption. Corruption, not subsidies, is what is killing this country’s economy. Corruption, not subsidies, is what is bankrupting Malaysia. Hundreds of billions has been wasted over the last 51 years since Merdeka. These hundreds of billions, if it had been put to good use, could have done a lot for this country. Today, we talk about ending the subsidies because we no longer have any money. But we no longer have any money not because of the subsidies but because of the corruption.
...
No, don’t end subsidies. End wastages, high administrative costs and corruption. Then we will be able to afford subsidies, just like the other countries that also have subsidies can. And this is what we want Tengku Razaleigh and Anwar to talk about. Don’t say ‘read my lips, no more subsidies’. Instead, say ‘read my lips, no more wastages, high administrative costs and corruption’. That is what we want to hear Tengku Razaleigh and Anwar say. And if Tengku Razaleigh and Anwar don’t understand what I am talking about, then step aside and let me show you what I mean. But be prepared for a ‘blood bath’ because only a ‘butcher’s knife’ can achieve the results.
http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/8803/84/
Many of us are urbanized middle-class citizens. And we live very coccooned lives, away from harsh realities that others might face. We view the world around us as mostly benign, with people doing most things in moderation. And so we are shocked by stories about the Zakarias, the women who spend public money like their own, millions spent on sporting events that bring no benefit, and judges who so distrust the system that they could keep quiet about wrong-doings for more than a decade. We cannot imagine a school that lacks water and electricity, much less that one-third of Malaysian schools fall into this category. We cannot imagine that a person has to choose to eat broth for lunch and to skip dinner in these modern times but I read that many will have to do that, earning only RM800 per month or RM30 per day part-time, in Kuala Lumpur.
As Christians we need to work hard in forming our own opinions based on the facts available to us, rather than depend on perceptions ready-made for our consumption. And we need to work hard to expose ourselves to the realities around us so that we have a better informed perception of the world we live in. Many of us are better positioned to shape the world around us, better, at least, than the poor and the marginalized who are the most affected by endemic corruption. Whether corruption in Malaysia is unchanged, or worsening, or critical, we must realize how much it is a cancer that eats into the health and wealth of the nation, ultimately diverting much needed resources away from those who need them the most.
The UNDP report, “Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives” can be found here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/regionalreports/featuredregionalreport/name,10811,en.html
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