LETTER | The tale of two corruptions

LETTER | Recently I followed a corruption case in Singapore involving one of its serving cabinet ministers. I could draw many inferences from this case and how it is compared with corruption cases in Malaysia.

Corruption may be rare in Singapore, but they charged serving ministers without hesitation when the prosecution was satisfied with the evidence gathered.

I remember a Singapore cabinet minister in the 1980s committed suicide when he was about to be charged and the prime minister would not intervene on his behalf.

Similarly, the present case involves the transport minister who has resigned while court proceedings of his trial have not even begun. Not only that, he has also returned all salaries from the date of his investigations a few months earlier.

We are humans and sometimes we face temptations and make mistakes. In Singapore, they have built a “national ethos” that compelled the corrupt to own up and face the consequences.

The government will act strictly following the laws and evidence without fearing revolt from the opposition or its own MPs.

I have a simple hypothesis to explain this. In Singapore, I think the majority of the government is clean and non-opportunistic.

When important public officials are caught in corruption, they are on their own. They cannot argue others were also involved and they cannot galvanise MPs to stage a coup.

In Malaysia, the situation is very different. First, very rarely are serving ministers or important public officials charged with corruption.

Usually, those charged were the out-of-power politicians. This happened in every change of government.

The first Pakatan Harapan government charged the out-of-power BN politicians. When Perikatan Nasional took over, they charged the out-of-power Harapan politicians.

When the current government led by Harapan was formed, they charged the out-of-power PN politicians. Apparently, the net has now broadened to include former BN and Umno politicians from the 1990s.

Not ashamed

What inferences can we draw from here? In Malaysia, politicians in power could hardly do anything wrong. Apparently, all the misdeeds and abuse of power would only surface when one is out of power.

However, even to charge the out-of-power politicians is a challenge. Unlike in Singapore, the corrupt in Malaysia are many and powerful. When they are charged, they are not ashamed. In fact, they will make full use of court processes to avoid the trial.

Here lies the tale of two corruptions. In Malaysia, even if the government is sincere and determined to get rid of corruption, the efforts may reek of treacheries and betrayals.

In Singapore, controlling corruption has become easier. The government does not have to look behind its shoulders when charging anyone.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.