I have a pet dream. It is related to ending, if not at least reducing, corruption to a very low and insignificant level in Malaysia. I personally believe it can be done.

If Singapore and Finland can do it, so can we. Yes, we can!

Corruption is no more a small issue today in Malaysia. In fact, bribery and corruption are so real that I recently heard a former cabinet minister say, \”You cannot do any business with government today without paying a paying a bribe.\”

The ex-minister was explaining how and why Bapa Merdeka died relatively poor, and why even today many from government retire rather wealthy! Government salaries alone cannot explain their wealth!

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This fact is also confirmed by many international indicators that record Malaysia falling in most corruption indexes. It is further affirmed by the new, ‘symbolic vigour\’ the government is giving to the MACC, with a renewed interest of becoming truly accountable to the people.

It is also legally evidenced by the Whistle Blowers Act, which became law on Dec 15, 2010.

But, can bribery and corruption be addressed from the supply side alone? Should there not be a demand for the end to bribery and corruption by the people, Rakyat Malaysia?

How can we in Malaysia begin a change momentum, much like the movement of the people in Cairo, to communicate our demand side? How can ordinary people say, \”No to bribery and corruption, in any form?\”

I propose we can do this through a people\’s agenda, called ABC4Malaysians, or, Against Bribery and Corruption for Malaysians. It must start with the people wanting real change, on the scale and magnitude of the people\’s movements in the Middle East.

It can start in the streets, but must end in the halls of governance of this nation.

A willing and voluntary pledge

We started with a simple pledge in 2005, made by encouraging individuals to sign a pledge to say that they will not participate in any form of bribery or corruption. It is a willing and voluntary pledge.

They then get a close friend or ally to co-sign as a witness and to hold the others accountable. We collected more than 300 pledges from attendees at the 1st National Congress on Integrity in 2005.

The same was handed over in 2006, to the then prime minister through a minister, Bernard Dompok. Since then, the campaign has gone virtual but has not yet achieved the viral status of the Cairo movement.

Therefore, this renewed effort to grow this agenda and to seek a real movement that may finally become viral, we pray.

In the theory of diffusion of innovations, once a momentum for any change reaches about 21 percent of the population of early adopters, the change agenda has achieved a life of its own. Then those who have authority and power to act can move it into more purposeful and useful directions.

Moreover, in our case, the boards of directors and trustees of Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI) have agreed that this will be the focus of this year\’s 6th National Congress on Integrity.

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Therefore, once again, on May 13 this year, OHMSI will collaborate with her partners to launch the problem definition phase for this agenda.

We will look at how bribery and corruption are viewed from many practical views and perspectives, and what the different and varied religious views are on the subject are. The main research question will be, \”Why are bribery and corruption so rampant in Malaysia today?\”

But, maybe it is worth pondering bribery and corruption are so important today? Corruption, like the second law of thermo-dynamics, is the loss of energy in any system over time.

Such energy loss causes inefficiency. And increased inefficiency is very costly for any system. Today, it is generally estimated that all, if not most projects of the government of Malaysia, are over-priced by about 30-40% because of purchasing and pricing inefficiency.

Corruption in such instances is the institutionalised inefficiency of the procurement process and constraints of monopolistic market conditions. There is little or no serious competitive pricing and bidding. Generally, market competition is reduced by restricted supply conditions.

Therefore, by reducing such institutionalised corruption in our system of governance, we can easily increase productivity, efficiency and effectiveness, to start with. Improved productivity enhances output quality, raises outcomes, and brings positive impact to the social or economic systems.

But, is systemic corruption alone the problem? What about bribery at the personal and individual level? Is that not also a problem?

Avoidance of the \”bribing effect to develop a corrupt system\” is equally important. When I returned to work at Intan in the early 1980s, lecturers were actually willing to offer a stick of cigarette to the photocopier operator in order to get their lecture notes printed earlier.

The \’duit kopi\’ culture of today

While this seemed like an innocent and ordinary act, it is really the duit kopi culture of today, where \”greasing the system to serve you first or faster\” is prevalent. Here, I must ay, the giver is as guilty as the receiver.

While the receiver is also obviously guilty, I would argue a premium against the giver, as he or she is the one creating and sustaining the corrupt system of poor quality service. If anyone can say, \”No!\”, then the change process can start!

But, surely, this involves putting the interests of the system beyond one\’s own self-interest.

If we view it from the eyes of the Almighty, the giver is as guilty as the taker. If there are no givers, there cannot be takers. When this kind of bribery becomes systematic, providers will over time take it as given.

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This acculturates \”tolerance and abuse,\” and contributes to \”system failure\”. The simple act of bribery at one level has helped institutionalise another level of corruption.

Therefore, we must address both bribery and corruption, concurrently and at both levels. At the ndividual level, we need to mobilise ordinary and simple Malaysians to say no to any form of bribery or corruption.

And, at the institutional level, we as the community of citizens must appreciate the real danger of this cancer and get involved with the MACC and other corruption fighters against this disease.

OHMSI hopes to create a platform and an agenda that can be supported and we hope that all Malaysians will not only understand the ABC imperative but also make a personal, willing and voluntary commitment to do their small part by mobilising others in the same direction.

May God bless Malaysians to want to fight this scourge of corruption!