Public-Private Partnerships can breed "rottenness and corruption" due to vested interests, warned vetaran social activist Anwar Fazal.

Speaking at a forum in Penang today, Anwar said corruption took root in governments which practiced a strong "gift culture", citing Japan and South Korea in the 1980s as examples.

Anwar then related a story of a civil servant in a ministry in Kuala Lumpur who was left with a bag containing money at his office by a group of South Koreans who were involved in the construction of the Penang bridge.

The civil servant told Anwar that he had returned the bag and the money.

"He thought the bag was a gift but inside was RM40,000. In the 1980s, that amount of money could buy you a bungalow in Jesselton.

"When there is a gift culture, a private arrangement marries and goes into bed with governments, we have new problems." he said.

He was speaking at the Freedom of Information forum, organised by the Penang Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).

Confidentiality clause

Anwar, who served as assistant secretary of the City Council of George Town in the 1960s, said public-private partnerships also allow a confidentiality clause to be imposed, which then restricts the free flow of information.

The Penang government has often invoked confidentiality clauses to justify not publicising agreements involving reclamation projects, which were signed between private companies and the former BN government.

"This develops and removes something, that is called conflict of interest; there is an intrinsic conflict of interest, whether involving highway projects, or 1MDB, where governments have an interest, and where the finance minister or the prime minister is involved in the structure.

"A minister once joked about how the mother fish advised the baby fish to eat up and grow big quickly because they (authorities) only go after the small fish," he quipped.

Don't be a 'small fish'

Anwar then asked the crowd to guess whether the said minister was Najib Abdul Razak or former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Following this, most forum participants said "Mahathir", which was the wrong answer.

"I am happy to present to you that Najib was the one who said this, according to Straits Times, on Jul 27, 1997," said Anwar, who had the news clipping to prove it.

Other speakers at the forum include C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel, University of Nottingham Malaysia lecturer Zaharom Nain, Penang Gerakan Acting Youth Chief Jason Loo and Malaysiakini senior journalist Low Chia Ming.

Former deputy editor-in-chief of the Heat Malaysia Zakiah Koya moderated.