By: 

Md Asham Ahmad

Fellow at The Islamic Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia

Corruption is usually defined as the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. It is a kind of dishonesty committed by a person or an organisation entrusted with a position or authority.

And, when corruption becomes rampant in a society, there will be erosion of trust, weakening of democracy, hampering of economic development, and exacerbation of inequality, poverty, social division and environmental crisis.

Corruption is a complex phenomenon and deeply rooted in bureaucratic and political institutions. Even though experience suggests that corruption is bad for development, it is possible for systemic corruption to coexist with strong economic performance. Some economists even argue that corruption can be beneficial for the functioning of the economy. These arguments, however, have been rejected.

Bribery and embezzlement are dishonest acts that undermine the rights and privileges of others, and they have to be eradicated.

According to Dominik Enste and Christina Heldman, the main causes of corruption are: (1) the size and structure of governments, (2) the democracy and the political system, (3) the quality of institutions, (4) economic freedom/openness of economy, (5) salaries of civil servants, (6) press freedom and judiciary, (7) cultural determinants, (8) percentage of women in the labour force and in parliament (9) colonial heritage, and (10) the endowment of natural resources.

On the list, however, is no mention of the moral cause of corruption, despite it being a kind of dishonesty, which is a moral problem.

It is true that corruption is a complex phenomenon and not caused by a single reason. But, it has to be admitted that every corrupt act involves a demand and supply — there must be those who demand acts of corruption and those willing to perform these acts for a price.

Creating an anti-corruption agency, increasing salaries, or increasing penalties for corruption cannot stop the supply and demand. We must deal with the question: what makes a person dishonest and corrupt?

But before that, what makes a person? The person who commits a dishonest act does so out of his or her own choice. He or she might as well choose to be honest and upright.

So, what makes a person is the choices that he or she makes. When a person chooses to do good without hesitation then he or she is good, likewise if he or she, without hesitation, chooses evil then he or she is evil.

Hence, what influences a person's choice? The answer is knowledge.

A rational person will only choose what he believes to be good or beneficial to himself and avoid what is harmful. So there must be knowledge of what is good or evil and here is the importance of education.

Every person has to be educated properly so that he or she will only use the freedom in accordance with the truth.

When falsehood is believed and truth is dimissed as false, that is the greatest of all corruption — of knowledge.

Knowledge is the criterion to decide the desirability or otherwise of an act, and when knowledge becomes corrupt there is no hope for reforms and improvements.

This, according to Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, is the real corruption and, therefore, where solution has to be sought. According to him, confusion and error in knowledge is the root cause of all problems besetting human life.

In short, what is taught and promoted to the public as knowledge is actually falsehood and a distortion of the truth.

As a result, confusion and error have become prevalent, as can be seen from the moral degeneration and political chaos.

The fight against corruption, therefore, must begin with the fight against corruption of knowledge. Reform of the state and its institutions cannot proceed independent of educational reform.

Though it is argued that the rise of corruption is linked with the way governments conduct their affairs in modern societies, the real reform must ultimately begin with individuals and, hence, education.

An honest government cannot exist without there being a significant number of honest citizens. Since a corrupt government is a reflection of corrupt citizens and a decadent society, any movement towards improvement must be grounded upon knowledge and morality.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission