I will give full support to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed if he is prepared to implement his proposal that Malaysia set up a watchdog group to survey the corruption of other countries and compare them with Malaysia.
Commenting on my speech on the 1997 budget in Parliament on Monday, where I referred to Transparency International’s 1996 international corruption index report placing Malaysia in the 26th place out of 54 countries, Mahathir said:
“It is easy to set yourself up as a judge and prosecutor. I can also set up a similar watchdog group...If we conduct our own survey, there is corruption in Italy, Germany and France. There are a lot of ministers involved in corruption in Britain.”
Transparency International (TI), the Berlin-based international NGO, had never said that there is no corruption in Italy, Germany, France or Britain. In fact, all the four European countries mentioned by Mahathir are ranked below Singapore in the international corruption index.
For the TI ranking, a score of “10” indicates a perfectly clean country whereas a “0” refers to a country where business transactions are entirely penetrated by corruption involving immense sums of kickbacks, extortion, fraud etc.
Singapore which is placed No. 7 in TI’s international corruption ranking with a score of 8.80, is well above United Kingdom, ranked No. 12 with a score of 8.44, Germany ranked No. 13 with a score of 8.27, France ranked No. 19 with a score of 6.96 or Italy ranked No. 34 with a score of 3.42.
In fact, of the four European countries implied by Mahathir as “more corrupt than Malaysia”, TI’s international corruption ranking supports that Italy is more corrupt, as it is placed below Malaysia’s No. 26 position with a score of 5.32.
In this connection, TI’s clarification with regard to the international corruption index should be noted - that its Corruption Ranking Index is not an assessment of the corruption level in any country, but an attempt to assess the level at which corruption is perceived by people working for multinational firms and institutions as impacting on commercial and social life.
If Mahathir believes that apart from Italy, the corruption problem in Britain, Germany and France is even worse than in Malaysia and that this is an assessment which could be established by a Malaysian watchdog group, then DAP will support him to set up such a Malaysian watchdog group to survey the gravity of corruption in other countries, particularly in the Western countries, and compare them with Malaysia.
Such a watchdog group and comparative study of corruption in Malaysia and other countries is however a separate issue from the urgent need for the Malaysian authorities to enact tough anti-corruption laws and take tough anti-corruption measures to wipe out this scourge of society.
Mahathir said many had voiced their concern over money politics and corruption but it was not easy to eradicate. He added: “We will try...the important thing is for us to try. But sometimes we fail because we are not perfect.”
I fully agree with the Prime Minister that it is not easy to eradicate corruption, but the government can be faulted for not trying enough by declaring a nation-wide war against corruption with new tough anti-corruption laws and powers for the Anti-Corruption Agency.
How can Malaysians be convinced that there is now a new government spirit and commitment to combat money politics and corruption throughout the country after the Prime Minister had shed tears at the UMNO General Assembly warning that money politics would bring about the ruination of “parti, bangsa dan negara”, when there is no follow-up action for the entire national political system?
Almost every UMNO delegate who spoke in the UMNO General Assembly warned about money politics and corruption - but the Prime Minister had not thought it important enough to have a special address in Parliament to condemn corruption nor is Parliament allowed to have a special debate on money politics and corruption as I had proposed.
I would urge the Prime Minister to reconsider the government position and to agree to a special two-day Parliamentary debate to focus on the problem of corruption and money politics, to show the people and the world that although it is difficult to eradicate corruption, it is not for lack of trying by the Malaysian Parliament and government.
(30/10/96)