Missing link in Malaysian 'integrity pacts'

‘All the undertaking necessary to bring democracy to life, certainly a most noble ambition of human society, turns indispensably on the most base of commodities: money

‘No matter how lofty the political ambition, democracy in mass society requires resources, and not just resources in the abstract, but the ability to raise money and spend it to further political aims.’ (Ewing, KD and Isacharoff S, 2006)

Public procurement is big business involving large sums of money. Public procurement through government contracting represents a large percentage of the economy, sometimes the largest.

Corruption in public procurement comes in various forms for example, through bribes - usually large amounts - paid to senior government officials to secure a favourable decision or via ‘facilitation” payments’ - which are smaller amounts - to lower level officials to speed up clearance, for example at the Customs Department. 

Collusion is another form of corruption where bidders form cartels among themselves to take turns to win public bids. Public procurement corruption is usually structural - i.e. well planned, prepared and carried out systematically .

Special circumstances too increase the potential for corruption, such as urgent purchases to use up money at the end of a fiscal year or in emergency situations such as natural disasters and wars.

The Election Commission (EC) chairperson's expression of regret over the failure of indelible ink had made headlines.

“If people were to ask me now, what’s the saddest thing in my life, I’d answer ‘indelible ink’”, the media had quoted him as saying.

Many aspects of the indelible ink have been studied, particularly the chemical composition of the ink. On June 26, Shahidan Kassim, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the ink was actually food colouring.

He said, “No chemicals were used in the ink, they were instead replaced with food colouring ingredients which were approved.”
Shahidan declined to reveal the name of the company which had supplied the ink for “security reasons”. 

Who supplied defence weapons, the indelible ink, the bananas and noodles may never be known even if these products caused deaths.

Weapons can kill. Bananas and noodles have been known to cause deaths by poisons and chemicals in the process of production.

Of course, indelible ink can ‘kill’ political opponents but we may never know the supplier.

On June 27, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Malaysia is “not a Third World country” and so does not need indelible ink for its elections. He said Parliament had agreed to its use because “the opposition wanted it”.

Addressing the pandemic

Such statements by ministers of the government of the day actually shed light on public procurement policies and processes in the public sector.

The statements indicate the Malaysia’s public procurement process have lacked transparency, integrity and accountability.

In November 2003, at the end of the Mahathir era, corruption in Malaysia was aptly described as pandemic.

The media in 2004 highlighted cases of defective buildings and roads that had cost taxpayers RM2 billion. Numerous measures were announced such as declaration of assets by public officials, and the need to comply with treasury directives.

By 2005 several countries in Asia - due to pressure from civil society, particularly a growing anti-graft movement - had begun to introduce Integrity Pacts to reduce corruption risks in procurement.

South Korea introduced the k-pact to strengthen anti-corruption measures in public procurement, as did Indonesia. Civil society representatives are included in a number of countries in the monitoring of Integrity Pacts signed by those involved in construction, telecommunications and other projects.

South Korea, Indonesia, India, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico have found that collaborative efforts of government agencies, civil society and the private sector are effective in addressing corruption in public contracting.

However, the few Integrity Pacts signed in Malaysia have not included local civil society groups in the monitoring teams.

Indonesia found its champion in Gamawan Fauzi who introduced Integrity Pacts for public contracting when he was the Regent of Solok. He is Indonesia’s current home minister. He won the Bung Hatta award for his anti-corruption work.

I had an opportunity a few years ago to evaluate the implementation of the Integrity Pacts in Solok. Contractors had welcomed the pacts as they did not have to pay bribes any more.

However, a few local contractors did point out that transparency and open tenders in contracting have resulted in locals being deprived of access to contracts.

While this may well be the case, it needs to be recognised that privileges are a source of corruption. Adhering to principles of justice, equal opportunities and equitable resource allocations would address the concerns of those who feel left out of the economic pie due to rules of integrity and transparency.

In Malaysia the principles of justice and transparency are eroded by political corruption and money politics.

The saga of the indelible ink, when examined and peeled away layer by layer, reveals how principles of justice, transparency and accountability have been compromised by the EC.

Did the EC observe the rules of procurement as laid down by the Finance Ministry for all government agencies including statutory bodies like the EC?

We may never know, as Malaysia does not have a Freedom of Information Act. What is actually implemented and operational is the Official Secrets Act (OSA). Does information on all aspects of the procurement of the indelible ink fall under the OSA?.

Corruption thrives in obscurity, as anti-corruption crusaders will attest.

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JOSIE FERNANDEZ is anti-graft and environmental activist. She is an Asian Public Intellectual Fellow.