Six quick steps to beat corruption

 At his own admission, at the top of the list of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s priorities is fighting the Third World scourge called corruption.

This has been, more than anything else, responsible for miring many countries in mud and slime from which they are unable to extricate themselves.

It is a matter of great folly and regret that since the 1980s, we have allowed ourselves to descend deeper into this morass of filth and dirt into that curse of all developing countries which prevents us from fulfilling our deepest and noblest aspirations.

We have also seen how the more corrupt our leaders are, the more they rely on the time-tested weapons of insidiously using religion, race and language to whip up support for their evil scheme of getting into power by promoting division among the rakyat. The pity is many are taken in.

Anwar has a golden opportunity which he must take now to put the country back on the road towards doing good for all by first crushing corruption, something which is far more easily spoken about than done.

But the way is fraught with perilous difficulty. Corruption has rotted the foundations of the country under Umno‘s watch over the last 40-odd years from the 1980s onwards, culminating in the unprecedented 1MDB case involving over RM50 billion in losses and RM30 billion in theft - to our immense discredit, the greatest heist the world has ever seen.

A former Umno prime minister languishes in jail for this and faces a multitude of other charges. Umno, inexplicably, maintains his innocence and wants him pardoned - or given an amnesty. Not surprisingly, the recent elections for six states dragged its lack of support deeper into the abyss.

Umno’s current president, Anwar’s most senior deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has his own clutch of court cases to handle. The irony is that Umno/BN is Pakatan Harapan’s partner in a convenient coalition that brought Anwar into power as PM.

Despite this, Anwar swears corruption is still top on his agenda. If he is really serious, he has got his task cut out for him - and it’s a mean one which means he may have to fight Umno too.

Here are six things he must do to quickly put the country and all of us on the straight and narrow:

Show commitment to the cause through action

With the state elections over, the coast is clear. He must now quickly roll into motion the actions needed to fight corruption. He needs to focus on a few key things and prioritise to achieve the most results in the least time possible. That means the next few steps must be taken simultaneously.

Give independence to enforcement agencies.

Let enforcement agencies do their work without interference. But ensure that competent, honest people are in place and give them the necessary resources to work.

If this is not done, forget it, the process will die even before it starts and we shall spin down into oblivion for uninhibited corruption eventually destroys society itself.

Regulate political funding

Some believe political funding to be the mother of all corruption. If political funding is handled properly it might be the first step towards killing corruption.

Many a patronage project has been given to connected persons on the promise of funding to political parties, and worse, leaders. Think of independent power producers, toll road operators, gaming tycoons, and large, needless projects.

There is already draft legislation here from past efforts - so something can be done quickly. Once the need to grease political palms is eliminated and all political donations made public, we can begin to roll back large corruption. This step is vital because it affects all forms of corruption.

Set up procurement processes and stick to them

Procurement and tender processes offer immense opportunities for grand corruption. Make procurement competitive. If there is a bumiputera portion, that too can be competitive.

The rest can be totally open to not just local bidders but to international ones. And this portion can still be open to bumiputera companies as well.

Streamline regulations and licences

Approvals and licences are sources of much corruption and hinder the economic development of the country. It is necessary to keep these to a minimum.

A system of automatic approval must be implemented where so long as requirements are met, approval is not discretionary but mandatory. This should see a burgeoning of enterprise, business, and innovation, and a lowering of the cost of doing business.

Systematise land alienation

Work with state governments to have a valid system of land alienation which takes into account town planning, environmental, and congestion requirements, while protecting the rights of people who purchase homes.

Land is a state resource and one has to only take a look at development to see how this has been abused over the years. Many millionaires and billionaires have been created through bribery and corruption here.

Where land deals are suspicious, then unleash the MACC to investigate, including checking banking records.

To all these measures, we must add one overall move - check every instance where people have unaccountable wealth. There is much which is covered under money laundering laws but if one needs to do more, enact the necessary legislation.

A start has to be made somewhere and this is as good as any place to start. If corruption is reversed and its effects controlled tightly, it can kickstart the long process necessary to rebuild this country of ours.

Dare we hope that it will start? What say you, Saudara Anwar Ibrahim? - Mkini

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P GUNASEGARAM who studied at Universiti Malaya, remembers the time in the 1970s that the student leader who is the 10th prime minister PMX now was simply known as saudara (brother). He hopes PMX retains enough of the youthful idealism he had then.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.