Corruption

When Pak Lah just became our new Prime Minister in 2003, I was out in California. I remember I was watching CNN and saw the ceremony. I even recorded it on my video cam this historical ceremony that marked the end of Tun Mahathir's era as the only Prime Minister that I've ever known since I was a kid.

Until Pak Lah came. And there's a high hope that he's gonna, not corrupt. And not only him, everyone would be. And that he would lead Malaysia into a nation of relatively cleaner country in terms of corruption.

But is he failing? Did he leave a legacy of not being corrupt? What kind of corruption? Money, moral? Health? Economics? Toxic? What?

Before going even further with our discussion with Pak Lah, what's the definition of Corruption? Corruption can be anything you want to define to be that "bad" thing involving money. But if that's your definition, I afraid you're limiting yourself. We should be aware that the word "corrupt" can be associated with anything "bad". So in my simple definition, "corrupt" simply "bad". A "moral corruption" means immoral.

But let's talk about "money corrupt". Do you think Pak Lah fails to lead Malaysia to a cleaner Malaysia in terms of "monetary" corruption? Here's my thought:

1. Malaysia is nowhere near to be less corrupt than during Mahathir's era. I'm lazy to dig the statistic but you should be aware by now.

2. Pak Lah in a way did a good PR on corruption, but not a good job at execution. He tried though.

3. Our political system was designed with a corruption culture.


My point is this: If you want to "benteras" corruption, you have to have "cultural" revolution.
I heard a lot of people that they hate Malaysian attitude, but it's not about attitude, it's about culture.

The culture of bribing is so common that people are expected to do it. Everyone. Businessman, politicians, civil servants, general population.

It's something you can't avoid. If you until now manage to avoid any form of corruption (not even a single sen of "duit kopi") I congratulate you and you should spread this culture to the greater population.

If you have done some form of corruption, however small, you're still corrupt, and that's very culturally Malaysian.

I'm not saying that we're corrupt in every way. But we must destroy this sick culture in our society. It's true that we're not the worst country in terms of Corruption index (or whatever index you read and develop).

But if you want to be a rich and develop country, you have to be not corrupt - it's just as simple as being of opposite "bad".

In other words, be "good". Simple, isn't it? Yet it's hard to do.