M Santhananaban
Malaysia’s fight against corruption has a long history.
Anti-corruption laws date back to the early 1950s, though in those early days the prevailing assertion – rather than a mere assumption – was that colonial officials would not be prone to corruption, while locals were.
Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) came into being in October 1967 as an agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The first head of the ACA was Harun Mahmud Hashim, another notable advocate of clean governance.
In 1973, the ACA was renamed the National Bureau of Investigation, in accordance with the NBI Act 1973. It was headed for several years by Abdullah Ngah, a veteran of the nation’s judicial and legal service.
A quiet, dedicated servant
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Dato’ Seri Shaikh Daud Ismail, a retired Court of Appeal judge who passed away peacefully on 18 February 2026, aged 90, was a key prosecutor attached to the NBI for several years. He was known for his patient, painstaking prosecution of numerous corruption cases involving civil servants.
He was not a publicity-seeking anti-corruption crusader. He was a quiet, dedicated and dignified civil servant who relied on facts, grounded in a thorough familiarity with the context and circumstances of each case.
Born in Penang and educated at the Penang Free School, he regularly travelled — usually by car from Kuala Lumpur – to make court appearances across the peninsula.
A different era
Corruption was then a rare, somewhat curious and carefully managed issue. It was handled in a professional, low-profile fashion, with the mainstream newspapers covering court proceedings in some detail.
The public had a great appetite for such reports – precisely because there were so few cases to read about.
Since that era, however, the country has seen an avalanche of arrests and court proceedings involving the uniformed services, politicians, the corporate world and the administrative elite. Among those convicted of corruption are a former head of the federal government and the heads of two state governments.
Deeply held mistrust has grown around what many perceive as corporate capture of at least one government agency. Insider trading, money laundering, high-level corruption, the shaping of narratives in online media portals and the abuse of office have all shaken both the public and private sectors.
The lack of independent media further complicates matters, as certain approved narratives tend towards biased and one-sided reporting.
A life well lived
Shaikh Daud, a distinguished member of G25 – the group of eminent former civil servants who advocate for a moderate, inclusive Malaysia – spent his most productive years battling bribery and corruption.
The contrast between the principled era he served in and the challenges of today could not be starker – a fitting reflection on a life devoted to the pursuit of justice and clean governance.
Dato M Santhananaban is a retired ambassador with 45 years of public sector experience.
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