'You'll Never Walk Alone' (YNWA) In Combating Corruption
By:
DATO’ SHAMSHUN BAHARIN BIN MOHD JAMIL
Deputy Chief Commissioner (Prevention)
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission
Without us knowing, every day we are further stepping into 2019. For the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), these first two months are still like previous years, we still hear about the ‘hot’ news of arrests and prosecutions regarding cases of corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power. It is somehow having no end.
If we only repeat the things that the public already know, then corruption still creeps from organization to organization, company to company until the back alleys. These crimes always involve officers from below until the top. That is the reality.
In the question of prevention of corruption, it is not forward of me in expressing the question, ‘what is more that we haven’t done?’.
If we look back for more than 30 years ago, the government had introduced a ‘Looking to the East’ Policy on 1982 that aims to educate Malaysian specifically public officers in order to learn and copy the moral values of the Japanese people.
The Japanese people during that time has already been certified by the world as the people with a strong identity and integrity. Since then, various steps have been taken by the government in the effort to shape public officers with integrity and have a high levels of accountability.
However, due to undetermined mistakes, after three decades, the goals that needed to be achieved somehow didn’t bear any fruit.
It can be seen in Facebook and YouTube, there are still a lot of images or videos involving an LRT passenger not offering a seat to a pregnant woman or elderly person. This is a question of integrity and moral value.
If we view from a different angle, if they can ignore something as simple as that. Then, will these kind of people be involved in matters for the prevention of corruption campaigns?
Now, the government is determined in starting the national anti-corruption agenda to achieve the goal of ‘a country known for integrity and not corruption’.
On 29 January, the government launched the 2019-2023 National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) in line with the efforts to achieve the government’s manifesto towards a corruption-free and integrity country.
Various initiatives including prevention aspects were introduced. For example, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has agreed in improving their strategic cooperation with MACC in order to strengthen elements of integrity and anti-corruption in the country’s education system.
This matter was introduced to shape the students’ identity starting from the preschool level until higher levels.
Besides that, the Department of Standards Malaysia in collaboration with MACC also launched a standard system known as the Malaysian Standard MS ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS).
This standard system is to provide a guideline and assistance to improve the anti-corruption management system in an organization and ultimately becoming a prevention of corruption guideline to all parties.
The government also introduced the asset declaration law to ensure the Members of Parliament have integrity and not be involved corruption. For the time being, MACC is only the implementer and the law is still not written in the MACC Act 2009.
Moreover, the MACC Act 2009 was also improved and the new law, Section 17A MACC Act 2009 was also provisioned and introduced for corruption offences by commercial organizations.
This provision is also known as ‘corporate liability’. Under Section 17A MACC Act 2009, commercial organizations also have liability and can be punished if their employees or staff members are involved with corruption crimes.
This is only some of the matters that were mentioned and there are still other matters that has and will be introduced in the effort to prevent corruption.
However, we must remember that all the initiatives even these similar agendas will not be effective if there is no cooperation from various parties and the public to ensure corruption is eradicated.
Thus, the awareness, support and roles of every party are most needed to support every activity and effort to achieve the intended goal.
This is the time and opportunity for the people to return in correcting the situation and the most important thing is involvement and togetherness in the efforts mentioned.
Agendas such as this cannot only be fully subjected to MACC or any other agencies such as the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC). It must be well received by every party.
Therefore, I urge that everyone must practice their spirit like the Liverpool football team, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” that emphasized togetherness, unity and friendship. Even though other teams also have the same culture, but in my opinion, none are capable to rival Liverpool.
In regards to this togetherness issue, the clear message is that every party need to be determined in being as one. Every implementation by the government has to be seriously viewed by the people.
At the same time, I am also grateful if every involved party is generous in the matter of providing the budget to agencies that are involved in prevention of corruption duties.
Besides that, it is also time for the government to expose the people with the study findings of corruption issues from local universities and any agencies since previous years ago and that the findings will probably shock us all.
If God wills it, we will no doubt find the things we wish for and work on, then may Malaysia become the country that is famous for its people with integrity and free from corruption.