Is PM Serious in Curbing Corruption?

Time and time again we've heard our PM preaching about the vices of corruption and the need to curb this disease. We've also heard him saying over and over again that prevention is better than cure and the need to educate our population with the right values.

In my view, what the country needs now is an intelligent and comprehensive set of solutions to curb this disease. Not mere talk.

Someone once said to me that the best way to curb corruption is to increase the probability of being caught . This will then deter people especially those in positions of power from abusing their positions. More importantly, this will then bring the results we seek in the shortest term possible.

So the question one should ask now is how do we increase the probability of being caught in the system?

I'll attempt to answer these questions.

1. CHANGE THE LAW. LEARN FROM SINGAPORE

It makes a mockery of our PM to continue to talk about fighting corruption if Ministers in his cabinet can continue to enjoy a standard of living beyond their means. e.g. Ministers having access to millions of ringgit to build mansion for his mistresses etc. whereas their income is barely RM20k a month! This also extends to civil servants, political appointees etc.

So how do you address this perception problem?

Now, what S'pore did was simple. They changed the law so that the onus is on the accused to provide evidence how his lifestyle is being financed. So no need for hundreds of ACA people having to snoop and sneak trying to catch a culprit red-handed. Simple solution. Did S'pore get the results? Yes.

2. TRANSPARENT PROCUREMENT PROCESS FOR GOVT CONTRACTS. OPEN TENDER.

The PM has said this before but unfortunately until today we haven't seen this being fully putinto practice. Common sense dictates that an open tender system would eliminate any leakages arising, such as the role of "brokers" and "gatekeepers". Sadly, now we've heard more and more stories of contracts being "overturned" once they reach the 'highest' office. It's getting worse than before. Now there're billions of contracts in the 9 th M'sia Plan. Any solution? None. Does perception matter?

3. MAKE ACA REPORT TO PARLIAMENT

Again, this is also a simple solution. So that ACA is accountable to Parliament. Not up to the whims and fancies of the leader in dictating which one to investigate and which one shouldn't. Perception matters.

4.TRANSPARENT CAMPAIGN FINANCING

In the U.S, they enacted campaign financing laws to curb the amount of funds politicians can solicit from donors. The idea is to make sure that politicians are not obliged to return such favors when they get elected. And they make a point to enforce such laws. Maybe some lessons we can learn from the U.S system. For your info, every general election in this country costs the ruling coalition hundreds of millions (or even billions) of Ringgit. Any idea where that money come from?

5.CHANGES TO THE VOTING PROCESS IN UMNO (and other political parties)

Once upon a time, there were talks that Umno may consider opening up the voting to millions of UMNO members throughout the country. The idea is so that no single candidate can even try to manipulate the results through money politics. Well, it's a good idea in my view if they're serious in curbing money politics. But what happened to those talks? Why died down? Any solution? Again, none.

6.DON'T RETAIN PEOPLE WHO ARE TAINTED

Especially those in the cabinet. Again, perception matters.

I believe the above are simple and practical solutions. We don't have to be a genius to figure these out. Maybe some of you can even add on some ideas to the above.

The key is to tackle the root causes of corruption. Effect changes to the system, structure and process.

If our leader is serious and sincere in curbing this disease, what we need from him is a clear and effective set of solutions which can deliver results in the shortest term possible. Not continuously talking about education and instilling values which to me are mere rhetoric and won't solve the problem at all. Recall that Mahathir recently commented that corruption is now over the table i.e getting from bad to worse. What actions have our leaders taken?