How do you uproot corruption ?

4.4.2011.

I would simply suggest that when you put too much power in the hands of poorly paid officials (a relative term, of course) you have corruption. 

With a very large administrative staff holding untold discretionary authority over unimaginable depths of the bureaucratic mess that runs Malaysia to-day, the current revelations in the media of staggering corruption and dishonesty by both executive and legislative officials must be utterly dumbfounding, to put mildly. The disease must be uprooted. And to begin with, belated as it is, the culprits already caught must be punished mercilessly, and wrongdoers still at large hunted and brought to swift justice.  

The problem as I see it is that crime is always committed for only two motives - greed and sex. And the higher the social position of the perpetrator, the bigger the incentive required. But even if individual acts of betrayal are modest, if committed in large numbers the total damage would be extraordinary, as in the case of the corruption of many officers over a long period of time involving just a few hundred dollars per case.

I propose we implement what  Mahathir said in his memoirs. Or follow the example of Singapore. What Mahathir suggested was to put in place a system where official approval for business transactions be made speedily and transparently. Give no chance for  the arbitrary denial or delay for the necessary permission to start and operate businesses. 

Singapore  pays her government servants well. Between these two actions, we should very largely reduce  the temptation for corruption. 

This is where religion  comes  in. Because  in  God we seek succour. 

To put it in a simple proposition - reduce paperwork, and increase the pay of those employed in the enforcement services such as the Police, Custom, and Immigration, and the regulatory authorities concerned with Transportation, Power and Water Supply. And instill the fear of God.  When officers are well-paid, paperwork reduced and piety instilled, the climate for corruption should shrink, if not disappear.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------