Malaysia aims to NIP corruption in the
bud By Ioannis
Gatsiounis
KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Abdullah
Badawi has talked a lot about reform and renewal ever
since taking office in October, seeking to update
Malaysia's long history of inefficiency and corruption
and restore integrity to government, business and civil
society. His rhetoric imbued the nation with a sense of
optimism and led his National Front (Barisan Nasional or
BN) coalition to a landslide victory in March
parliamentary elections. But it hasn't been matched by
much action, leading to a small but growing body of
skepticism over his sincerity as a reformer.
So
the launch on April 23 of his National Integrity Plan
(NIP), the first comprehensive long-term strategy here
of its kind, appears to be a timely step in the right
direction. It seeks to rectify the "ugly Malaysian"
image and reduce corruption and inefficiency by
inculcating Malaysians with a greater sense of right and
wrong.
The plan is backed by a 152-page
blueprint that calls on all sectors of society to play a
role and recommends family value-based park outings, "My
House Is My Heaven" seminars and putting profiles of the
country's leaders on a website. It also seeks to foster
greater religious understanding in a nation that is 60
percent Malay Muslim, with sizeable Indian, Chinese and
indigenous populations, all with different faiths.
However, it says little if anything about
greater government transparency, expanded media
freedoms, or the establishment of an independent
judiciary and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency,
which now reports directly to the prime minister's
office. These steps, analysts say, are some of the
basics in establishing a more civil, less corrupt
society.
"You can't just create a plan and tell
people to do it step-by-step," said Eric Paulsen,
coordinator of the non-governmental organization (NGO)
Voice of the People of Malaysia. "Certain fundamentals
have to be addressed first," he said.
Put
another way, critics say, it would behoove the new
administration to take a closer look at itself; hubris
or arrogance, fixed attitudes and inconsistencies in
policy may alienate the myriad segments of society the
government is depending on for NIP to work. The
government has long held that its policies further the
national interest, not its own. And with all the recent
talk of reform, a surprising number of officials are
still clinging to this elitist doctrine.
Samsudin Osman, the chairman of NIP's overseeing
body, the newly formed Integrity Institute of Malaysia,
told Asia Times Online that the Anti-Corruption Agency
(ACA) and media are free to act as they wish. "No one
dictates to them how they should proceed," Osman said.
But Malaysian and international rights groups
tell a different story - of journalists being harassed
and fired for straying from the government line, of ACA
cases being closed by the prime minister's office
despite substantial evidence against ministers, of a
public afraid to speak out against injustices for fear
of reprisal. Dissidents here are known to be jailed
indefinitely on grounds of threatening Malaysia's
undefined national interest.
"A plan is better
than no plan," said Lim Kit Siang, leader of the
opposition Democratic Action Party, adding, "All these
unresolved issues raise questions of political will."
In the meantime, the administration is
determinedly pushing forth. Last week, it announced that
the police, immigration and customs departments will
soon undergo a transfer of civil servants in order to
curb corruption, abuse of power and misappropriation.
Prime Minister Abdullah has promised more overhauls and
further scrutiny of how business and government
practices are conducted.
Almost everyone in
Malaysia, including opposition supporters, welcome
Abdullah's early calls for change, which are seen as a
refreshing break from his predecessor, the prickly
despot Mahathir Mohamad, who retired last October after
more than two decades in power. Mahathir oversaw the
country's rapid industrialization, but he also had a
habit of ignoring cases of corruption and of blaming the
outside world for Malaysia's woes. This type of
leadership helped nurture a self-satisfied public averse
to criticism, bound to a world in which greed is
rewarded.
Abdullah's early moves are an
acknowledgement of the mess he's been handed - and of
how far the country remains from its stated goal of
becoming a fully developed country by 2020.
Infrastructure may be growing at breakneck speed in the
capital, Kuala Lumpur, but by most accounts, this growth
has not been matched by the political, cultural,
spiritual, educational, creative and psychological
growth called for in the development plan. The NIP, or
National Integrity Plan, officials say, is a step in
that direction.
Time will tell. However, some of
Abdullah's recent moves have raised charges of nepotism
and hypocrisy and may well undermine the NIP. In March,
Malaysian Business reported that Abdullah's only son and
former condom salesman Kamaluddin became one of the 10
richest Malays in the country when shares of the oil and
gas firm he owns, Scomi, soared more than 1,000 percent
upon going public last year. Then last week, news broke
that Abdullah's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin is set to
become a senior executive at the state-controlled
investment company, Khazanah Nasional, an allegation the
28-year-old has neither confirmed nor denied.
Abdullah's cabinet appointees also have raised
eyebrows. Many questionable characters from the old
regime remain. He had promised that all cabinet members
will have to report their assets - but only to him, it
turns out.
The March parliamentary elections
presented Abdullah with another test, this time
regarding his response to numerous accounts of voter
fraud and injustices. Abdullah, though, said he couldn't
be bothered by such claims, that he had important work
ahead of him, and that the Election Commission was
thoroughly investigating the matter. The commission is
widely thought to be an arm of the ruling coalition.
"Sometimes the sloganeering of the past seems to
be the order of the day," said Abdul Razak Baginda,
executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research
Center, which aims to advance the understanding of both
domestic and international activities in Malaysia. "And
if the [NIP] is to work, which I think it can, we have
to be more honest with ourselves."
That will
happen only if the government elite work, not only to
make those it governs more accountable, but also to
renovate their own thinking and accountability. After
all, a fish rots from the head down, a point the NIP's
152-pages of good intentions never makes - nor can it
change.
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