According to Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Finland is the least corrupted (or cleanest, depending on how you look at it) country in the world. And it has been that way for several years now, including the latest 2006 CPI.

Singapore, slotted in the fifth position in the same survey, isn't far away. However, there is a fundamental difference between Finland and Singapore though. The Finnish prime minister's salary is believed to be one-fifth the salary of his Singaporean counterpart.

If there is an obvious lesson that can be drawn from the above two countries, it is this - corruption has little to do with how much one earns in a month. It has more to do with integrity, self-worth, self-respect and a sense of responsibility. Any of these values can be inculcated and nurtured in every human being, if the spirit is willing.

The last bit brings us to the recent remark made by our police chief Musa Hassan, in responding to the pay hike for civil servants, including the police. According to Musa, more pay in the pocket for the police meant less corruption. Or so he hopes.

On one level, his startling theory has about as much substance as a snappy solution, or a knee-jerk reaction, to a problem that is far more serious than it seems. On another level, it smacks of ignorance and naivet - two characteristics that have absolutely no place in a person of his authority. If indeed the second assumption is the correct one, then I fear for the future of my country, my well-being and my sense of security.

Giving more money in the hope of curing greed and corruption is like giving liquor chocolates to an alcoholic to stave off his craving for something stronger. You haven't changed anything because the yearning is still there.

The disease hasn't been remedied. Merely keeping something unhealthy at bay is not good enough, especially when it involves keepers of law and order. The problem has to be uprooted and then kept out, by great force if need be.

You simply cannot afford to hem and haw, to wait and see and hope that the problem goes away. If we cannot turn to the police for help, who do we turn to? And what if corruption is still rife after the pay rise? What then? More increments?