Very interesting!
I’m mulling over the Corruption Perception Index 2009 formulated by Transparency International. There are 10 levels, with the highest, 9.0 to the perfect 10.0, being the least corrupt, and the bottom rung, 0.0 to 0.9, being of course the most corrupt.
Let’s pick out a few relevant countries for us to consider.
At its abysmal depth are 5 countries, all of which are war-torn. But it’s worth noting that two, Afghanistan and Iraq, are American ‘neo-colonies’ or client-states or in actuality, American occupied territories.
In being American occupied territories, they are not unique in their corruption as America has the notoriety of spreading rampant corruption in most places it occupies or occupied, like (previously) Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, etc.
It would seem the only American-occupied countries which could successfully resist the American disease are those with an established order which existed long before the Yanks run over the countries – notably Germany and Japan.
The Philippines has never gotten over its American legacy of corruption while Taiwan has successfully shrugged that off to rise up to an index of 5.6.
Just compare Taiwan’s rating with our own Malaysia’s 4.5. Isn’t it just galling?
But wait, there are more surprises - Hong Kong, once a most corrupt British territory, is now ranked at World's 12th least corrupt with an index of 8.7, while once-laughable near-lawless Macau is No 43 with an index of 5.3.
By shameful contrast Malaysia is together with Namibia and omigosh Samoa at No 56, one rung beneath quite corrupt South Africa.
Even more galling for Malaysia, the Island-Nation next door is ranked the World's 3rd least corrupt together with Sweden, with an index in the top bracket at 9.2.
Maybe this revelation is most galling for Dr Mahathir who can’t stand the red dot which is our southern neighbor where incidentally, its territory has recently expanded by an lighthouse-island wakakaka, thanks to AAB.
Anyway, contrary to western beliefs that corruption is inversely proportional to real democratic practice, the Sing case shows that Singapore is almost incorruptible even though it is in reality a very authoritarian state, carrying only a veneer of Westminster democracy.
Why is it then that our lil’ neighbor can be such when our state of corruption seem to be deteriorating, yes, to such an extent that the most distrusted and most feared man in the country is actually the nation’s top law enforcer, the IGP?
On the Singapore side, perhaps LKY saw that for Singapore to survive it needs to be, among many things, the most clean, not just environmentally – no spitting, flush your blooming toilet, no mini shrines or fortune telling shops sprouting all over, etc - but in its every day practice as well.
For example, if, say, a Kuwaiti tourist has been cheated at the airport shop with dodgy goods sent to the purchaser after sales, the Singapore authorities would fall on that cheat like a ton of bricks and ensure that the correct goods would be delivered safely to the purchaser. In short, Singapore wants to spell out to the foreigner its integrity, trustworthiness and reliability.
Compare this to our renown fruit sellers in Petaling Street, where by a sleigh of Malaysian hands your bag of luscious nashi pears would (between purchase and wrapping) transform into a bag of rotting mandarins, which of course you'd only realize when you reach home wakakaka.
But more importantly and sadly, what have our authorities done with such shameless swindling?
The above are very simple examples but if we take it to the extreme we now have perceptions of an IGP who is alleged to have links to the Triads (who apparently can control posting of police officers wakakaka).
We have the MACC being accused by an insider of having naughty liaison with a Selangor politician.
I bet when the Roman poet, Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (better known in English as Juvenal), wrote his timeless phrase 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' ('Who will guard the guardians?' or 'Who shall watch the watchers?') he must have had the 'future' Malaysian Police and ACA/MACC in mind.
We have Paradise Bali and the Port Klang Palace being obscenely flaunted in front of public eyes, and we have all sorts of multi-billion dollar projects handed over to cronies who despite being gifted with those lucrative contracts on a silver platter couldn’t even meet the terms of the contract.
Yet, in most cases, they have been allowed to get away scot-free.
I could go on and on, and so could other people, but suffice to say in conclusion that the Singaporean leaders consider the interests of their nation-state whilst ours consider their personal interests.
If the leaders in our nation are seen to be corrupt or living in unexplained and obscenely displayed wealth, can we the blame the ordinary mata mata for wanting to participate in the same short cut to prosperity?
I don't see any mitigating actions by the cabinet in the area of corruption. In fact I anticipate further worsening of this lamentable state of affairs.
..monkey see,monkey do...no amount of blood-letting will cleanse these cretins short of a lobotomy!Now,that would be an impossibility,given that the cancer is so widespread.At least not in the near future,sigh...
ReplyDeleteyeah meh?
ReplyDeletewhen i was in singapore, i noticed:
1) a camping trip organized by a society - they took your money and never bother to call you/look for you.
2) electrical items with their singapore certificaton mark, but the product was flimsy and fan which so different in the box then in promo item.
3) computer devices which the seller says so good at the end cannot even boot up my pc, and when i confronted the seller, he swapped the promo used item as replacement saying no more stock, you want it or not, no cash refund.
4) counterfeit nike shoe at sgd 60! who would know singaporean would sell counterfeit ones in popular bazaar at such price.
is buying currypuff and hampers and can of abalones to customers not considered corrupt? sometimes i really doubt how TI do the ratings. malaysia, though had its flaw, there are more honest business deals compare to singapore, and the latter high ranking is nothing but superficial.
how about a MACC chief who justifies his sons liking for child porno by saying that in most probability most men would have porno in their mobile phone!
ReplyDeleteso, whats the perception that the IGP is corrupt to the core?
Eh, when was Thailand and Taiwan occupied by the Americans? Both had American-friendly regimes in the post-war era, but that's quite a bit like saying post-Marshall Singapore was occupied by the Americans. It is an awe that South Korea, unlike the Philippines, managed to break through their corrupt ways despite being administered, post-war, by the Americans.
ReplyDelete'occupied' in the sense of the presence of numerous US bases in those countries in the earlier years of the Cold War - those countries were swarming with US troops
ReplyDeleteYes, South Korea is an inspiring example but as a former Japanese colony we could say that it inherited the Japanese model deeply enough to resist US corruption.
singapore does a good job at hiding inefficiencies, etc, i have my own personal story
ReplyDeleteKTemoc: Hah, I'll be lynched by my Korean friends if I repeated that theory to them - beyond the fact that South Korea's corruption record did not go as far back as its days under the junta.
ReplyDeleteBut focusing on your definition of American occupation, the least corrupt Mideast country is the American-occupied Qatar, followed by the United Arab Emirates. With most of their population being non-citizens, most of them South Asians, citing cultural and societal history doesn't make sense.
Third place in the Mideast is American-occupied Israel (or is it America's colonial master?). Maybe the presence of Americans military bases have absolutely no correlation with corruption - both the top and the bottom of TI's list (New Zealand and Somalia) had American military presence.
;-) Ya, I know what you mean by being lynched by your Korean friends - they're a proud lot, and perhaps there in their national pride lies their resilience to American influence and their 'culture' a la Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteSomalia doesn't count as a US 'occupied' territory whether by my defintion or actual US control of sovereighty. The US troops were there as part of a UN detachment but left in less than 2 years after their disaster, better known as 'Black Hawk Down' where those Americans had to be rescued by a combination of Paki and Malaysian troops.
To be corrupted by the Americans involved longer term occupation (my definition or otherwise) where the American culture a la Las Vegas (prostitution, gambling, drugs, extreme entertainment, black market, etc) and its greenback ($$$) would invariably 'corrupt' the locals.
The US military has only a staging (& logistic) station with the minimum number fo personnel in NZ, to cater for its Antarctic base, so I wouldn't call that a US military presence in the same rank as that once in, say, Thailand. It's just a small hardly noticed outpost.
I was informed that during the height of the Vietnam War, Penang was selected as one of the American R&R centres (others being Taiwan, HK, Korea, Japan, Sing, Bangkok, Sydney, NZ etc), but (fortunately for Penangites) the misbehaviour of US troops and their local escorts at the (very conservative minded) Penang Chinese Swimming Club so pissed off the Penangites that the US were made to feel most unwelcomed.
There were also (for example) wild trishaw races in the middle of the night along Penang Road as holidaying US troops on R&R 'commandeered' trishaws (via their greenbacks), peddling same themselves while their trishaw pullers sat passively (and most wealthily) as 'passengers'. The locals were either frightened or weren't impressed.
The US came to realize the local cold shouldering and angry anti-US remarks in the local press soon enough and wisely did not extend the R&R status for Penang.
I suppose you could say Penangites had been (and still are) a proud nationalistic lot.