Graft’s gladiators, godfathers, godmothers and goblins

By M Santhananaban

Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister with perhaps the most inclusive outlook in decades, is making waves in various areas.

The qualities of accountability, good governance and transparency seem to feature highly in his statements.

Yet the impression is that some of Anwar’s actions don’t tally with his pronouncements. But that is another subject.

The PM talks constantly about the corruption that had endemically and evidently ensnared the highest levels of government in recent decades.

These constant references to elite corruption have now become a signature attribute of his appearances and roadshows. They have brought home to most people the scope, significance and seriousness of elite corruption in Malaysia.

Anwar’s rhetoric has also highlighted the substantial enforced silence over high-level corruption for a long time.

The widespread suspicions surrounding the legendary wealth of past leaders have now lost their customary taboo quality. Even the greatest sceptics of the current prime minister must realise he is speaking from the heart.

Anwar’s outspokenness is not out of vindictiveness but out of a visceral sense of concern about the outrageous corruption and misapplication of resources.

Elite corruption, it seems, is no longer a well-cloistered secret under the shroud of the Official Secrets Act. The OSA was actually intended to protect the sovereignty and security of the country. It was not supposed to conceal scandals, sleaze and acts of sabotage against the nation’s interests.

There is now open acknowledgment of not just the colossal cost of corruption but its corrosiveness and adverse consequences.

Corruption translates to inflated project and construction costs, compromised standards of safety and national security, and incompetence in management. It also leads to poor quality of health, education and road safety. It diminishes the capacity to cope with emerging developments and emergencies.

Its suspected perpetrators, co-conspirators and powerful protectors are now on the public’s radar. Some of the court testimonies involving former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his spouse have in effect transformed what was once classified information into valid public concerns.

Coincidentally, the nation seems to be deluged by a series of unacceptable and unpalatable information involving the conduct of senior-most officials of the bureaucracy. Key personalities of the public and private sector have also been prosecuted for corruption, fraud and other white-collar crimes.

RM4.5 trillion lost

The Emir Research think tank has come out with a most disturbing disclosure: it estimates the amount lost to ‘leakages’ and corruption at RM4.5tn over a 26-year period. Mind you, this stupendous and startling figure is a conservative estimate.  

When such a colossal sum is lost, it would be unfair to apportion blame on any single individual or institution. The theft would have required the participation of a close-knit cabal of highly placed bureaucrats who were assured of the benign blessings of some powerful political and corporate overlords.

Ordinary folk unwittingly became victims of grand theft and trickery.

A combination of state and corporate personalities bankrolled and blessed the operational excesses and extravagance.

For example, why would a head of a diplomatic mission in a remote third-world non-core posting – with insignificant bilateral trade, investment and political relations with Malaysia – enjoy monthly accommodation rental benefits in excess of $15,000 for an insecure lease a quarter of a century ago?

Excess and extravagance

Such superfluous excess and extravagance were evident within the country too.

The excessive air-conditioned space provided and the high upkeep costs of newly constructed government buildings in Putrajaya were mind-boggling, perhaps even mindless. Was no thought given to green, energy-saving buildings?

Malaysia is still a developing country and our civil servants need comfortable, functional offices. But do we need to create the kind of overabundant and affluent environmental conditions that were provided to senior civil servants in Putrajaya? It is far removed from the appalling daily life of the average person living in Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah or Sarawak.

As a visitor to the State Department, the Quai d’ Orsay and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, I am familiar with the condition of the office environment in these important diplomatic powerhouses.

So where did the grandiose perceptions of government facilities for our civil service elite come from?

In Seoul every cabinet minister inherits and bequeaths that same modest office with one small conference table, a modest sofa set and a large round rosewood table.

In Malaysia new ministers in the past would invariably want to renovate and refurbish their ministerial offices in the most ‘showy’ way. This was plain vanity, with perhaps hidden elements of corruption. Plastic flowers adorned a quarter of a former minister’s office suite in a country where fresh plants and flowers were easily available.

Heedless heads of department

At the moment, confirmed reports suggest that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission appears helpless over 553 instances of public service misconduct. It has reported these cases to the relevant agencies but they had not acted on them.

It would seem heads of department in the public sector are either reluctant, indifferent, refuse to respond or are remarkably recalcitrant about prying eyes when it involves their respective agencies and their personnel.

These are certainly not just instances of professional idleness. Many of these misconduct cases apparently involve relatively senior officers in the highest grades of the civil service hierarchy. Were they too favoured or formidable to fall?

The MACC’s decision to go public with this observation is not surprising but unusual. Its patience seems to have been severely tested. Usually, these matters do not reach the public domain.

These cases raise questions about the state of the actual commitment to good governance and the state of cooperation and mutual trust and respect between the various government agencies.

In such matters, senior civil servants are required to work as a team to protect the nation’s integrity, interests and image in a concerted, collective way. From the MACC’s revelations, these senior officers seem to be operating in silos that are somewhat divorced and distant from set national objectives. Perhaps there are turf wars over jurisdictions which certain heads of department are jealously guarding.

The MACC is emboldened to make this damaging public disclosure partly because there is now, for the first time in decades, a prime minister who is frequently speaking out courageously on corruption.

The appalling situation regarding the misuse of funds and leakages within the government bureaucracy is often the subject of the auditor general’s annual reports.

So far, the country’s top auditor has enjoyed a solid reputation and has commanded well-deserved respect. One can’t say this of the incumbent MACC chief.

But as long as the MACC chief is in that position, his findings and recommendations have to be heeded, especially with his recent extension of service despite the known reservations about him.

Tainted top notch

We have had reports in the recent past of irregularities in the conduct of a former chief secretary of the government, a former secretary general of the Ministry of Finance and a former external intelligence chief.

Even a former central bank governor’s role in the 1MDB affair continues to generate much speculation. A national police chief spoke out not so long ago about seemingly systemic and syndicated corruption in his law enforcement organisation.

Proven and perceived misconduct

To top it all, the Malaysian Bar on 10 May passed a motion of no confidence in the attorney general, one of the nation’s top civil servants.

Misconduct or a suspicion of misconduct in public office is a serious matter. In some countries, those found guilty could face a firing squad!

Suspicion of corruption and inappropriate conduct carries with it a stigma, even if unproven. In the old days, the leadership under our first three prime ministers believed that suspicion was bad enough to discredit the entire government.

The Federal Land Development Authority’s project were launched without a whiff of suspicion. The airport in Subang, the National Mosque and Parliament House were projects that involved the Public Works Department and private contractors. These projects were completed without cost overruns within the scheduled time.

In today’s infrastructure business, millions do not seem to be sufficient and billions are the norm. Corruption involves a wide range of infringements of the rules and spirit of proper conduct, nepotism and sweetheart deals.

Heads of department have a responsibility not only to protect the integrity of their departments but also to guard their overall image.

Public officials, especially the most senior ones, have a tremendous responsibility and are invested with the trusteeship and authority to safeguard the national interest. They are required to act efficiently, impartially and effectively, in accordance with rules and regulations.

Heads of departments have the position, discretionary power and privileges to order departmental inquiries to investigate any alleged or suspected wrongdoing or negligence.

A head of department’s failure to act when presented with evidence of blatant disregard of ethical standards, breach of the norms of proper behaviour or failure to adhere to set standards of conduct is tantamount to sabotage of national priorities and plans. It can lead to suspicion of treason.

In Malaysia advocates and agitators, like academics, want perfect men and women to head departments. That would be ideal.

But in the real world of the civil service, it is hard to find people adhering faithfully to ascetic and austere conduct.

All the same, while some failings and peccadilloes may be acceptable, it is essential that top civil servants act with fairness, honesty, integrity and unblemished loyalty to the country.

Dato M Santhananaban is a retired Malaysian ambassador with 45 years of public sector experience

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

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