[MGG Pillai] Corruption, the politician, and the public servant

Corruption, the politician, and the public servant

THE PETALING JAYA MUNICIPAL Council allowed the former mayor of Kuala Lumpur to extend his house on its jurisdiction, and he broke every rule. Had not the Malay Mail not highlighted the matter, the PJMC would not have bothered. The neighbours had protested, but it was brushed aside. So now the former mayor's wife faces a RM6 million fine, ten times what the extensions cost. He had no plan to justify the extension. When he was mayor, his officers would have harassed the man who built an extension without a proper plan and work order.

There are similar violations in Subang Jaya and elsewhere people suffered by work orders given to business men often against what they told those living there. What is important is that all the people involved are or were civil servants. The mayor's wife is said to be the owner of the house in question. That is a sideshow. The former mayor should have restrained her for doing the extension unless there was a work order. He knew the law and the rules made from it, and should have followed them. But he, like the PJMC, took the view that no one would notice. The public who complained to PJMC could be ignored.

Once the Malay Mail highlighted the case, the PJMC worked double time to do the reverse. A 'stop work' order is given. But is that enough? If the extensions do not have a plan, it must be dismantled. The former mayor must be held responsible, and the penalties he imposed on the ordinary man in the street must be imposed on him. It is passed off as if the matter is minor. It is not. The PJMC has acted quickly because the Malay Mail highlighted it. How many cases exist when present and former government servants blatantly ignore the rules, and the authorities turn a blind eye to them?

There is an upsurge of people fighting against authority for violating the law. The government and civil servants realise this for they have taken as their authority 'the people' in setting things right when they are highlighted. When things are done in secret, they go wrong, and those at the helm take matters in their own hands. We see it the world over. President Bush is in trouble over the war in Iraq. He withdrew the nomination of a Supreme Court justice because his own Republicans and the extreme right rebelled. Prime Minister Blair in Britain is in the same boat, over the war in Iraq, and the people are angry. In his watch, the police not only use guns but shoot to kill. He has turned right, and could well face the fate of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay McDonald, the father of Malcolm (and so well versed with Indian independence that when he visited Chennai in the 1920s, he was told by an Indian that he thought his name was an anglicised form of Ramaswamy Macdonald!)

The people are on the march against authority, especially when they are asked to pay more so that business men friendly to the government can fatten their bank balaces.Money has taken the place of service as governments routinely hand over what has been in its preserve to friendly business men so they could take money. It has become a cropper in every instance. Former government assets are traded on the market by these business men, and the service usually has dropped. This idea that government services must be privatised because the government should not be involved in money making exercises took root around the world in the '80s and '90s. Privatising government assets means corruption. It is so in the United States. It is so in Singapore. It is so in Malaysia. Government assets are transferred in a hurry, often without enabling legislation. Today, news laws are planned so that the privatised entitly can make the people pay, as it was intended. There is nothing wrong with privatising government assets, but it must not be transferred.

As it is in Malaysia, it is given often to a RM2 company of a billionaire tycoon, which makes money by transferring it to one of his companies or selling it to others interested, making his first killing. He makes his second, and often third, killing when it is listed on the stock market.The civil servants are interested in these transfer because they make money as do the politician. And the civil servant, while treating the public badly, makes sure his fellow civil servant is not. A columnist wrote recently that the last budget is for, of and for the civil servant. If he does not benefit directly, then a way is open for him to be corrupt. The business during Deepavali and Hari Raya, and other festivals, is a case in point. The traders have set up shop in front of businesses, paying RM10,000 for a RM250 licence. The aim is to attract foreigners, and the items sold reflect it. It is an orgy of business during the period. The religious significance of the festivals are forgotten while corruption is rampant.

I was recently in the midst of a discussion between a fixer of a foreign country arranging a deal, in which the minister of the foreign country had demanded US 2,000,000 a month, and the fixer's cut was US$50,000 a month. He would not get all that of course, since part of it goes to the officials concerned in the foreign country. If that is so in a foreign country, then it must be so in Malaysia too. No one talks of it but when an UMNO member spends RM6,000,000 for a branch chairman's position.

Corruption is fast becoming a way of life. The definition of corruption has changed over the years that it is difficult to bring the man to court unless there is adequate evidence. But it exists. What happened in the case of the former mayor's house is only the tip of the proverbial ice-berg.

A former police officer told me the other day that corruption cannot be eradicated, it can only be controlled. That is why laws are passed to controll it. But over the years laws to control corruptiont have been relaxed as other laws are passed to enable civil servants and others to engage in corruption without being caught. A man is not corrupt until he is convicted in court, which gives additional work for the prosecutor and allows corruption to fester. The courts are in a mess today that it is an obstacle course to anyone stupid enough to file an action himself.

In Singapore, the professed aim of government is to serve the people. The island does it to reduce, not eradicate, corruption. It is relatively corrupt free because on one man, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. But he is more than 80, and that makes Singapore apart from the rest of Asia. But he is past 80, that means Singapore would join the rest of Asia sooner than you expect.

In Malaysia, there is no Lee Kuan Yew, and corruption is rampant and laws to take the corrupter to court are few and far between. Is the authority prepared to make an example of the mayor for extending his house so that his neighbour's house is in danger? The IGP's term is extended after his son was arrested. Today (29 October) the Star reports that others are out to bring down the mayor of Kuala Lumpur. Maybe that is true. The system is so corrupt this would happen, if is true. But the mayor must go, and keep his head high. Given a choice, money takes precedence over keep one's head high. So long as this is the norm, the government servant will cock a snook at the public they are expected to serve.

M.G.G. Pillai