G25 slams Hadi over remark

PETALING JAYA: Political lobbyists are the real “movers and shakers of corruption”, not non-Muslims, says G25.

The group of eminent Malays said PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang had ignored the truth that lobbyists were members of the ruling party in power at federal or state levels.

Divisional party leaders of the political party in power are often in the front line of high-level corruption, said G25.Abdul Hadi should also have mentioned how money is used to make political lobbying attractive to party officials, they said, adding corruption has no racial divide among givers and takers.

“And the best lobbyists are those who are family, friends, and relatives of those in power,” said G25 in a statement yesterday.

The lobbyists go for whoever can offer them the best deal, such as a success fee or a partnership in non-Malay companies, said G25.

“It is therefore not right to blame the non-Malays as the big players in the corruption scandals because, as the saying goes, it takes two to tango,” they said.

Some writers on the Malaysian political economy refer to these political lobbyists as “rent collectors”, said G25.

“They do not do any real work except to knock on the doors of ministers and get paid by their business principals for making the introductions,” said G25.

Foreign investors who are not familiar with Malaysian politics and the local decision-making process also make use of the political lobbyists for high-level contacts, it said.

Foreigners know that to get government business, like the littoral combat ships (LCS), they have to get the political lobbyists to do what is necessary, including giving monetary incentives to open the doors for their clients at the highest levels, said G25.

“With so many ‘rent collectors’ to pay, the costs of corruption make government expenditures unnecessarily high for the country.

“This ‘I scratch your back, you scratch my back’ syndrome applies to all races because money knows no race,” said G25.

G25 added that Abdul Hadi, who believes that his party should be in the seat of power in Putrajaya, was being irresponsible to his own party members for making corruption into a racial issue, as that would not bode well with voters of all races.

His statement has caused distress among non-Muslims as they are being made the scapegoats for the institutional weaknesses that make it possible for corruption to spread like a cancer, said G25.

A more responsible way is to take a non-racial approach by recognising the truth, whether in Malaysia or in any country in any part of the world, that when bureaucracy becomes too difficult to get things done, corruption starts to rear its ugly head, said G25.“In Malaysia, it used to take the whole morning and sometimes the whole day to get the renewal of permits, licenses, visas, and passports done. In such a situation, there was a strong tendency for those running their business to use tips or ‘duit kopi’ to get faster service so that the applicants could get back to work,” said G25.

It said that while the problem of petty corruption at government office counters has gone down because of greater administrative efficiency due to technology adoption, high-level corruption has been increasing at an alarming rate.

They added that this syndrome should be known to Abdul Hadi as the political leader of a party that rules Kelantan. When the illegal logging of forest reserves became a public issue in the state, the people suspected there was bribery and corruption behind the destruction of the state’s natural resources.

“There is also cross-border smuggling along the Thai border that raises the question of whether PAS leaders are tolerating the corruption,” said G25.