CPI Asia

Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee

On the MACC prescription to curb corruption headlined in the NST yesterday (Nov 10, 2009) firstly, the case for a pay rise of legislators must be considered on its own merit.

Perhaps this is necessitated by the increase in responsibilities and the cost of running and maintaining political office. Such a case must be set out in full and made transparent so that the public has the data on all the payments and other entitlements that the different categories of elected representatives currently obtain.

The pros and cons of any salary increase should be discussed and analyzed but increasing the salaries of our elected representatives at this time of financial crisis will send the wrong signal to the nation.

Secondly it is necessary to note that there are no authoritative studies which show a correlation between the salaries of legislators and the extent of corruption. To suggest that a pay rise for legislators will help curb graft is quite ludicrous. The example of Singapore’s highly paid Ministers and the relative absence of corruption in the city state may have prompted some senior officials of the MACC to come out with the proposal.

If this is the case, the MACC should also come out into the open with more data. A comparison of the Singapore and Malaysian corruption perception ranking is certainly worth undertaking in view of the many similarities in the population and socio-economic structures of the two countries. See the table below (compiled from Transparency International’s annual index) which is quite revealing on the progress or lack of progress made on combating corruption in Malaysia over the last five years.

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index

*(The table above shows Malaysia's ranking against selected countries; three countries were tied at No.1 spot in 2006-2008).

To suggest that the better performance of Singapore on this key indicator is due to the higher salaries their legislators enjoy is simplistic to say the least. However, a reasonable inference can be drawn from the data in the table that the battle against corruption in Malaysia has certainly not improved since the MACC came into existence – in fact, the situation has worsened.

But let us for argument’s sake accept the point that our legislators are underpaid and therefore more susceptible to corruption. It is not only legislators who may feel they are underpaid and overworked. Ask everyone who is working – not only ministers or assemblypersons. Ask the police officer, local council gardener, the teacher or the private sector employee whether they are adequately compensated for their work, and I am sure they will mostly answer in the negative.

Is the MACC also suggesting that we increase the salaries of everyone in the country to reduce graft? Using the same logic, perhaps a large increase in the salaries of the MACC staff could also enhance its effectiveness in curbing abuse of power and corruption. Or perhaps that increase may be not enough for some members of the MACC going by the allegations in a mystery letter on the “Bribery, misconduct and corruption of a superior officer of MACC selangor” that has been doing the rounds of the Internet since August this year. (See blogger Hussein Hamid’s post yesterday in his blog).

Finally most Malaysians are well aware that the reason why graft is so rampant is because the laws pertaining to it are only selectively enforced and a culture of corruption is especially found at the high levels of authority and power.

Put simply, the senior officials in the agencies charged with combating graft, especially in the MACC, are not doing their job properly. They should not throw a red herring to mislead the public on why they cannot execute the functions they are paid to do.

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ravi  - increase only opposition MP salaries   |2009-11-11 impeccable logic Prof. btw, reason BN politicians feel no need for salary increase is many already enjoying under counter perks. salary increase should only be given to opposition MPs Quote

chee     |2009-11-11 with the current political scenerio of selective prosecutions,should i be given the opportunities to be in bn i don't mind holding to power without any salaries.undertable gets more n tax free.look at he mca,mic umno. fighting for top post for what. it is the culture of the ruling goverment.paywise do matters but.... Quote

government servant  - government unfair salary scheme   |2009-11-11 I think the BN government had made an unwise decision on government servant salary height.I think its due to the lack of wisdom on the government side and also due to unrealistic fear of our government. I really do not agree that the government give an extra 15% increase to the police and arm force. I believe if they want to practice salary height they should give it to all at same level. All sectors of government are important not only the police or arm forces . If we observed the government had used tax payer money to patronise mostly three sector of government servant. That is the teachers, policemen and army. Others are seems like not giving any startegic importance to the government. I think giving salary height to the army is very unproductive cause the extra money spent for them won't come back to the government. We are not at war and we had employed the no war policy ever since. So why need to provide extra pampering to the army and certain government sectors more than other. Our government should be fair. They had used the public money to protect their own sake. They afraid and fear the arm forces or police could execute coupe de tat to topple the government. Extra increase for the police also unfair cause their productivity is still the same and corruption at all level still rampant. We should go for same level of salary increase not only favouring on certain quarters. VEry bad and stupid indeed for our government to do that. Quote

shuib  - macc samseng   |2009-11-11 kenapa bayar macc gangsters lebih? patut potong gaji MACC boss. semua kaki BN. saya dah baca steadyaku47 dan setuju dengan commen FMZam In this blog we have been talking about MACC, MACC and MACC for umpteen times and for more than umpteen times MACC has remained as arrogant as UMNO and as shameless as Najib, why? because MACC is UMNO's as PDRM and ATM are, no matter how much MACC keep saying vehemently it is an independent government agency, it's independency is in protecting this government's interests of protecting the rich and the powerful, not the rakyat. That's why MACC is not listening to the rakyat in this blog and in elsewhere blogs for we all can read that almost in all blogs, they cannot last a day without talking about corruptions and when there was corruption there was MACC. But when all the talks in blogs are from the poor rakyat, never from the rich and powerful people who can make MACC listen, because the the rich and powerful never talk about corruption, not in blogs not in anywhere at all. The rich and powerful talk on corruptions of all other people except them, where all other people are the people of the rakyat and they are whom MACC was designed to act on. When the rich and powerful are all Dato's, and MACC are Dato's too, and all Dato's are the Dato's of this government, why can't we see the logic that they are all the king's men, so just when is MACC going to listen to us the rakyat? Quote

azizi f.s  - Nasib seorang kakitangan kerajaan   |2009-11-11 Merujuk kepada tulisan "Government Servant"...........hakikatnya kakitangan kerajaan yang begitu berjasa kepad kerajaan adalah seperti yang disebutkan, tentera dan polis. Itu sahaja yang penting kerana mereka menyumbang kepada kemenangan kerajaan dalam pilihanraya..... Kita perlu faham, perjuangan untuk memegang tampuk pemerintahan adalah bertujuan untuk kesenangan peribadi dan kroni, bukannya memegang amanah dan tanggung jawab.....kebanyakkan ketirisan yang berlaku dalan perbelanjaan jabatan-jabatan kerajaan yang didedahkan oleh Laporan Ketua Audit Negara hanya dipandang remeh sahaja......walhal itulah sebenarnya amanah yang dipertanggungjawabkan kepada semua peringkat pemimpin untu mengurus sebaik dan sejujur mungkin wang negara untuk berbakti kepada rakyat....... Quote

veryupset   |2009-11-12 The most under paid are the police men & women, the army that protect our seas & air space. These ARE the real goverment servants. The rest are just getting fatter, lazier & even "fatter"......!! Why is it that money is so damn easily avaiable when one "wants" it for themselves...?? But when it is beneficial for the rakyat, the poor & the economy..... its so difficult with so "many" excuses...!!!! And still trying to stuff the 1Malaysia down our throats...????? Only sweet talk..! Quote

Good Try   |2009-11-12 Raising Salaries will not help.Corruption is too deeply rooted in Malaysian society.From the top to the bottom. Quote

allan wong  - Iceland transparent ?   |2009-11-13 Hi Dr Lim If Iceland was ranked 1 in 2006 by Transparency International, then how come the entire contry went bankrupt early this year ? Where is the Transparency here ??? Quote

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