COMBATTING CORRUPTION
UNDERSTANDING ANTI-CORRUPTION
INITIATIVES IN MALAYSIA
By Nur syafinaz binti Ghani
By Nur syafinaz binti Ghani
Below is a review of “Combatting Corruption:
Understanding Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Malaysia” written by Datuk Dr. Anis
Yusal Yusoff, Sri Murniati, and Jenny Gryzelius. This book contains 183 pages with 6 chapters
and in the size of B6, which makes it handy and convenient for the readers. The
book was published by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS)
in April 2013. Note that Datuk Dr. Anis Yusal Yusoff has actively been
promoting good governance and integrity for over two decades through his
writings and his previous works with the United Nations Development Programme
and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity. While Sri Murniati is a researcher
and Jenny Gryzelius is a senior researcher at IDEAS.
The book attempts to add literature through
compiling the history of fighting corruption in Malaysia, promoting the
integrity and by providing an overview of initiatives taken over the last few
decades by various agencies, groups and organisations. This book reinforces the
belief that corruption is undeniably a complex issue that is dreadful and
difficult to eradicate. This work is well structured within 6 chapters. The
analysis started by providing a comprehensive historical overview of the
efforts to combat corruptions through legal and institutional mechanisms since
Malaysian independence. As stated in the book, the initiatives in curbing
corruptions in Malaysia began with the introduction of the corruption ordinance
by the British government. It was later followed by the relentless initiatives
of the Malaysian government under Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi, and Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak. The authors believed that their
initiatives serve as a strong evidence of the government’s seriousness in
combatting corruptions.
Furthermore, the authors examined the extent of
the Malaysian government’s success in implementing strategies and initiatives
to combat corruptions. The authors suggested that corruption in Malaysia
requires coherent strategies for prevention and deterrence, rather than the
existing initiatives that solely focus on detection. The work argues that
targeted multi-dimensional strategies and initiatives are needed in dealing
with the issue. While Malaysia has implemented many initiatives to combat
corruptions, these initiatives, however, hampered by lack of coordination and
coherences between the agencies and implementation groups. The authors, thus,
recommended the establishment of an inter-agency working committee to
coordinate the strategies and initiatives.
Adding to that, the authors also discussed the
implications of corruption in Malaysia from three major perspectives;
democratic, economic, and social. To better understand the issue and its
damaging implications, many tables of statistics concerning corruption were
cited as a guide. This work also proposed that any future amendment to
anti-corruption initiatives must take into consideration its historical
development, as these initiatives are often build upon each other.
The key chapter of this book is chapter three,
where the author has set a goal of getting people to know the details of
anti-corruption measures in Malaysia since 2004. In this section, the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is narrated as the main anti-corruption
agency. MACC has inspected the Monorail Train project, the commercial vehicle
examination system, the low cost housing allocation and many more. Besides,
Malaysian Government has also established different institutions to accelerate
the fight against corruption. Namely, Public Complaints Bureau (Jabatan
Perpaduan Awam), the Integrity Management Committee, the Malaysian Institute of
Integrity (IIM), the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management
Planning Unit (MAMPU) and others.
This book is organized into 6 chapters. The
first chapter explains a historical overview of efforts to combat corruption. In
1958, Shah Nazir Alam, a high ranking police officer from Pakistan was invited
to conduct the study on how to tackle corruption in Malaysia and he recommended
the undertaking of a sustained and comprehensive programme of moral education,
mainly in schools and through public information services. He also recommended
that books containing short stories with moral lesson should be published and
sold. Next, the second chapter clarifies the cost of corruption in Malaysia. Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) and Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) were created by
the Transparency International to measure the level of corruption in Malaysia. Further,
the third chapter presents the examples of anti-corruption initiatives in
Malaysia since 2004. Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), as the main
anti-corruption agency, has taken several initiatives to fight corruption such
as inspecting the agencies procedures and systems.
As the previous chapters have shown a wide
range of initiatives undertaken by the government and civil society
organisations to tackle corruption in Malaysia, the fourth chapter, hence,
evaluates the initiatives. Based on the available studies on anti-corruption
strategies in Malaysia, the authors described the Malaysia’s anti-corruption
frameworks and strategies as comprehensive and elaborate. However, these frameworks
and strategies may not be effective in tackling the issues because they do not
address the root causes of corruption in Malaysia. The fifth chapter concludes
the writing and suggests the recommendations to current anti-corruption
initiatives in combatting corruption. Finally, the authors documented a lengthy
and comprehensive annotated bibliography of selected journal articles and books
on anti-corruption strategies in the last chapter.
This book, as overall, is very insightful. People
who are interested in literature concerning corruption will most probably find
this book as valuable. This book also helps stakeholders to evaluate previous
initiatives while at the same time encourages critical discussion among those who
involved in fighting corruption. This book is significant in providing useful
guidance for officers especially from Bahagian
Reformasi Sektor Awam (BRSA) in keeping integrity and combatting corruption
during its new step of reforms.
