opinion Integrity is one of the rarest commodity, especially in politics. In fact, integrity is seen as a distinct liability for those aspiring politicians. Invariably, politicians with integrity do not last - they are either eliminated or unceremoniously thrown into prison.

In Malaysia, integrity would be the exception rather than the rule due to the overwhelming presence of money politics. Business wealth and political clout are so closely intertwined that only those businessmen with political connections can succeed. To be rich one must first have political power. This naturally encourages corruption and crony capitalism.

Despite being a multi-racial country, money politics is not a monopoly of any ethnic group but practised freely by all. One minister has publicly boasted that it would be stupid for political parties not to get involved in business.

The major ruling parties have their companies to take care of their funding needs and corporate cronies that do their bidding. All the major political parties have their own investment arms that monopolise the printing and electronic media, banking and financial services and all major sectors of the industries that count. Unless there exists an independent and courageous Elections Commission, ruling parties will always win unfairly and opposition parties find it difficult to survive.

Media, machinery and money

No wonder opposition parties always lose out in general elections to the 3 Ms of media, machinery and money:

  • media control exerted both as a monopolistic owner by the ruling parties as well as control of the state apparatus in the right to issue or cancel printing, publication and broadcasting licences;

  • misuse of government machinery in campaigning and where the election process, including an elections commission that is not independent, is manipulated by the government to its favour; and

  • money where spending limits imposed are exemplified more by its breachthan its compliance.

    • Money politics is so pervasive that directors of major public-listed companies must be seen to be active supporters of the ruling parties as the graph shows.

    Analysing this table, politicians comprise 20 percent of directors for major public-listed companies, one of the highest in the world. Of more interest is that businessmen and professionals comprise only 43 percent of directors, a very low level that reflects unfavourably on the lack of professionalism and competence. More distressing, it highlights how money politics have dominated the nature of business in Malaysia.

    This is further emphasised when 90 percent of the directors were discovered to have political affiliations, again one of the highest in the world. Not surprisingly, those with political affiliations were aligned with the ruling parties.

    Super-rich Chinese

    Even the Chinese, who enjoys a major role in the economy, play this game of political patronage. Edmund Terence Gomez and Jomo K S in 'Malaysia's Political Economy' had this to say:

    "The Chinese, have established links with Malay patrons, capitalists or politicians or fund Umno (the ruling party) to develop their businesses. The new super-rich Chinese and Indian capitalists who emerged are seen to be closely associated with leading Malay politicians rather than independent businessmen..."

    Both authors added that a 1992 study of corporate stock ownership by directors of public-listed companies disclosed that only two bumiputra were among the top 10 owners of such equity in the country, with the rest being Chinese.

    However, the two listed bumiputra - Halim Saad ( photo ), at number two, and his wife Noraini Zolkifli at number 10 - collectively owned almost RM2.4 billion worth of corporate stock, almost RM380 million more than the value of the equity held by the director with the largest shareholdings, Quek Leng Chan of the Hong Leong group.

    Poltical patronage, crony capitalism and money politics - this is the foundation where Malaysia's economy is built on. Unless this unholy trinity is broken, hopes of establishing integrity in public life and political morality would not be worth a prayer.

    Enforcing rules

    Relying on politicians with personal integrity to battle corruption is not the only answer. Transparency and accountability must be institutionalised, with rules set as to full disclosure, freely available information, public declaration of personal assets and open invitation to public scrutiny. An independent judicial system based on rule of law is a prerequisite.

    However, this system of rules need to be implemented. We still require politicians with integrity and the political will to enforce it. Each feeds off the other. A values system must be in place that encourages honest politicians and punishes dishonest ones.

    Perception of corruption in Malaysia is so pervasive, that public figures with integrity despair of even controlling its pervasive spread. The problem lies not in just the massive amounts being mismanaged, misused or even stolen.

    Sordid tales of billions spent to bail out government cronies, such as the RM1.8 billion of Malaysia Airlines at RM8 per shares when the market price was only RM3.60, the use of billions in public funds to bail out bad loans without making the borrowers bankrupt or the huge Perwaja scandal with expected losses of up to RM10 billion or even the RM10 billion Bank Negara Malaysia losses from foreign currencies speculations.

    Unholy gains

    No one was punished, instead some of those involved were promoted to important positions. What is more disconcerting is that society's values system towards corruption has become numb, passive and even tolerated. There was shock recently when holy men working in the Islamic Pilgrims Board can cause millions of ringgit to be mismanaged and law graduates who are supposed to be defenders of law and justice willing to pay huge sums of money for leaked exam papers.

    Government leaders are not required to publicly declare their assets. This has resulted in accumulation of extraordinary wealth by government leaders and their families until a minister was caught by AustralianCustoms for trying to enter the country illegally without declaring US$1 million in foreign currency notes. Unless a similar Taiwanese 'sunshine law' requiring those holding public office to publicly declare their assets, there can never be full public accountability.

    We can see instances how these corrupt practices impact the ordinary people where public works projects make life more difficult instead of easier for them. Public recreational parks in housing estates are taken away for dubious construction projects that benefit only the contractor, drains that are built above ground level that worsens instead of alleviating floods.

    No wonder Malaysia's performance Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index has worsened from 29th position in 1998 with a score of 5.3 to 36th position in 2001 with a score of 5.0

    Tomorrow: Political corruption and corporate cronyism, Part II

    LIM GUAN ENG was DAP MP for Kota Melaka for three terms before he was disqualified from Parliament following his 18-month imprisonment for publishing "false news" regarding the sexual relationship between a former chief minister and an underaged girl.