by Christopher Fernandez
Trying to eradicate and eliminate corruption in Malaysia is an uphill battle that appears to be difficult to achieve and a task the ruling Barisan Nasional government has clearly failed to accomplish.
The reason why the BN government has failed to combat and rein-in corruption is simply because there is very little political will on their part.
While they may have established ways and means to address the issue of corruption, when it comes to implementation and the execution of their plans, it all fizzles.
Time and again this is the real reason why attempts to combat corruption fail.
BN has failed to combat corruption
The BN government has closed an eye to corruption and any complaint of corrupt acts is usually heard by deaf authorities. When people begin to probe and analyze why this is so, the logical answers stump them.
With due regard to the democratic process in place in Malaysia, the ruling BN government, since the advent of the Mahathir regime, has used corruption and cronyism as a standard practice of getting the business of trying to get Malaysia into the league of developed and advanced countries.
This means much of the supposedly remarkable economic growth since Mahathir Mohammad assumed power was achieved at the cost of fuelling and using corruption as the way to move the country forward. This is the reason why the fight by BN against corruption is a mere farce.
However, by doing so, by BN governments subscribing to the use of corrupt practices, it has undermined much of whatever gains that have actually been made from the economic growth of the nation over the last three decades.
While the quest to advance and develop Malaysia is imperative and vital, the manner in which the BN government has gone about it has created more problems and difficulties for the country rather than moving the nation forward.
Emergence of governing Malay elite
In Malaysia, there is ample evidence today to the great amount of unhappiness and dissatisfaction faced by the rakyat.
The use of corrupt practices and cronyism by BN has caused the emergence of the governing Malay elite while the majority of bumiputras have little to show by way of having prospered.
As a result, there is now a wide schism between the Malay have’s and the Malay have not’s. Generally, the gap between the minority Malay elite and the rest of Malaysians have become so wide it has become noticeable and apparent to many Malaysia watchers.
This amassing of wealth by the corrupt and their cronies was made possible by expanding the economic pie. But by using the guise of expanding the economic pie, it was not that the wealth derived was equitably distributed to the people.
What appears to have transpired over the years of economic booms is that the wealth created has found its way mostly into those connected to and those who belong to the governing elite in this country and their cronies and sycophants (those who bodek the powers-that-be)
Dissension and disagreement by the people
The ugly effects of using corruption has resulted in much abuse and oppression suffered by the majority of Malaysians who have been virtually side-stepped out of the economic growth achieved by the country over the decades.
While Malaysia has achieved progress and development and is aiming to come on-stream in the year 2020 as a fully developed nation, the widespread dissension and disagreement by the people were voiced by voters in the political tsunami suffered by BN in the 12th GE.
The growing numbers of Malaysians who have become better informed and educated, and who have been able to reason and deduce and see through the political ploys of the BN-UMNO nexus in wanting to continue to prosper for themselves and their cronies is now beginning to near the end.
The end game for UMNO
It’s obviously the end game for BN and UMNO. While they have on record, seemingly, brought economic growth and development to the country, most unfortunately, the underhanded ways in which they have done so is now not agreeable to Malaysians as a whole.
The use of favoritism and privileged access by the minority elite in this country to further their agenda of getting richer at the expense of the hardworking and toiling Malaysians, the need for the elite and their cronies to sit pretty and have life easy by the rampant and widespread use of corruption has now been steadily coming to the attention and notice of both the local and international community.
While cases of corruption have often been brought to the authorities for action to be taken, the numbers that have been carefully camouflaged is anyone’s guess. This will be usually cases of graft alleged against those who walk the corridors of power in this country, their misdeeds and wrongdoings being usually brushed aside or swept under the carpet.
Political will needed to eliminate corruption
This is why there is a growing need by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and other organisations, in their bid to combat corruption, to be on the ground to exercise their powers of authority without fear or favour so as to assure Malaysians that the issue and menace of corruption will come to an end.
For a better and more harmonious Malaysia, there is a need to embrace and practice meritocracy, fair play and justice. The ill-effects of not subscribing to these values, and instead using corruption as a way to advance, is now the root cause of the grouses and dissension of the people.
The need to address and tackle the issue of corruption must have firm political will, and implementation must be executed to the fullest, to ensure that Malaysia gets a grip of the situation as the corrupt acts of the past and the corruption of the present is beginning to undermine the peace and stability of the country. – The Rocket
