SINCE the year dot, we’ve been talking about corruption. We used to talk about how sometimes you can hand over RM50 or so to get something done, or just done faster, and not worry about it.
Transparency.org defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Entrusted power means someone you have trusted enough to give power to do things for the benefit of society.
People like politicians, police officers, civil servants. Not all that power is directly given, of course. We elect politicians and then we trust them to appoint the sort of upright people who will work for our collective benefit.
And then we find that we can’t trust them.
It was mildly annoying when we had to pay petty sums not to get a small traffic violation written up, but nowadays, when the sums demanded become seriously high, we start seeing a crevasse opening, one between those who can afford the astronomical sums to grease the process or to get the contract and those who cannot.
People who are meant to do right by us will only do it if we promise them enough lucre for them to lead the lives they feel they are entitled to. In the race for life’s comforts, we’ll never catch up.
Almost every week we see a new corruption scandal breaking open, until it almost feels as if nobody is immune. Only a few have been charged but the mere reporting of an investigation is enough to set tongues wagging.
We love hearing about the apparent downfall of some people, their habits and quirks, their expanding families, their outfits and accessories. All these will remain in our minds even if some day they are acquitted.
Then the news we weren’t quite prepared for burst forth like a volcano. The ones who are supposed to catch the corrupt turned out to be possibly in cahoots with them! Oh my! The shepherd was allegedly collaborating with the fox! Or more locally, the goatherd could be collaborating with the tiger.
You’d think that the goatherd would be told to stay home for a while since he has obviously been derelict in his duty to his goats. But no, apparently, he was a good goatherd and therefore should continue herding them, even while still texting the tiger.
At the very least, given that this was his second rodeo, take away his phone and laptop.
We can console ourselves in that we’re not as bad as a “Third World country” like the United States.
Over here it takes a long time for our corrupt to be convicted and locked away. The question of pardons generally doesn’t come up, unless you’re splitting hairs.
But over there, people can reportedly be convicted of stealing huge sums of money, get thrown in jail, arrange for a generous donation to the president and then immediately be pardoned and released.
The convict gets to keep the money he stole; the country’s leader also gets a tidy sum, and the people who were stolen from receive nothing. Maybe one day our place in infamy for having had the biggest corruption scandal in the world will be overtaken by the even more rapacious big orange fox.
These things may happen far removed from ordinary people, yet it affects them disproportionately. If a perpetrator can get away from a conviction by paying a judge, for example, then the victim will not see justice being done.
Someone not wholly competent may get a big infrastructure contract by giving a commission to someone whose approval he needs, and then the project collapses on some poor worker or someone just driving by.
Environmental protection rules may fall by the wayside because someone wants to clear a forest or dig up the earth.
Poorly maintained buses get past inspections and then passengers get killed in a terrible accident.
Most of the time we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, until something dreadful happens. Then fingers are pointed everywhere but at the point when some money changed hands in the dark.
It is instructive that the latest scandal broke out because a foreign publication did the investigations. When newspapers investigate scandals, they must be very sure of their facts because they know they can be sued if they get anything wrong. It takes hard work and perseverance to get all the ducks lined up before publishing the story.
This is why we need a media that is independent, ethical and brave enough to do this type of work. Media is not immune to corruption either. They can be paid to kill a story, or at least censor parts of it.
Witness once again what is happening in the US where journalists are being censured for merely doing their jobs. We are familiar with this but then the US touts itself as the bastion of democracy, so it feels more jarring.
It’s only February and already we’re uncovering so much dirt while still smothered with last year’s. Let’s just hope that Ramadan offers some respite for at least a month.
Selamat berpuasa, everyone!
Marina Mahathir thinks that someone should go and tend to his garden for a while. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
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