Press Statement
by Lim Guan Eng

(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Omar’s feelings of pain, distraught and even disappointment after his son was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency(ACA), for being suspected of being involved in corruption over the sale of Ramadan Bazaar lots in Jalan Masjid India, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Chow Kit, is natural for all parents who have wayward children.

However the fact that the IGP’s own son is involved in corrupt activities shows the extent that corruption has embedded itself in Malaysian society. The IGP said that he had always taken an uncompromising stand against corruption in the police force, which if not wiped out can destroy both the country and society. That the IGP was unable to convince his own son is not entirely his own failure, but a demonstration of how deeply entrenched corruption is within our society that it becomes part of the Malaysian culture and way of life.

The time has come for Malaysian society to look at the corruption problem seriously. If even the son of a IGP bent on wiping out corruption can also be caught by the ACA, then the problem must be dealt with early in our schools. The government can only succeed in fighting corruption by teaching our young of its dangers in schools and running and anti-corruption campaign similar to the anti-dadah campaign nation-wide.

Whilst prevention, laws and enforcement are important, education is equally important. Only by starting the education against corruption early in schools, will there be hope that Malaysia can succeed in this campaign in future. At present the corruption culture is so prevalent in government service, government procurement and even the private sector that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir lamented that corruption used to be “under” the table but it is so open now as to be above the table.

Worse is that those investigated for corruption seldom get convicted. Instead those charged or even convicted of corruption continue to be Datuks. No wonder Malaysia’s corruption rankings dropped by two places from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 39 in 2004 in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index and may deteriorate further this year. 

Perhaps BN leaders should emulate former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji’s famous words on corruption that he has prepared 100 coffins, 99 coffins for the corrupt officials and the last one for himself. Only if  BN leaders are willing to lead the fight and even sacrifice themselves in fighting corruption, can we succeed.

The public is losing patience that the anti-corruption effort is not bearing fruit. No action is taken against the unexplained and extraordinary wealth of former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Osu Sukam who could lose tens of millions of ringgit in London’s Ritz Carlton casino. Neither is there action against Ministers involved in dubious and questionable deals such as issuing tens of thousands of APs to a few individuals and when criticized can even ask Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang to jump in the lake.

The government must learn that the fight against corruption must not only be done, it must be seen to be done!

(15/10/2005)