Like Prometheus who was bound to a rock and punished by an eagle eating his liver alive each day, to have his liver grow back during the night and the ordeal repeated the next day, Malaysians suffered daily from the evils of corruption.
IMPUNITY TO COMMIT GRAND CORRUPTION IS NOT AN OPTION
I wish to make three comments to
Datuk A. Kadir Jasin’s Facebook post as reported in the media on 19 March 2023.
The veteran newsman in his posting advised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar
Ibrahim to “move on” from the past and dedicate himself to
resolve the economic problems faced by the people.
First: Corruption and Impunity
Kadir Jasin wrote: “We have
to bury our hatchets, heal the wounds and move on… It’s alright to seek
justice. But in politics, especially one that’s vile as in Malaysia today, the
line separating justice and revenge is blurry. So, let us leave the search for
justice and truth to the law-enforcement agencies and the courts of law.”
Politics of Revenge and
Selective Accountability
Politics of revenge, selective
accountability, witch-hunts, political prosecution, trumped-up charges and show
trials as a strategy to take-down political foes are as equally damaging to
society and abominable as interference with the agencies, prosecutors and
judiciary to stop investigations, prosecutions or to release crony wrong-doers.
However, criminal charges or
allegations of corruption in show trials are typically weak and the evidence
produced unconvincing. Whether by bringing in and out a mattress into court or
a chart of illicit funds flow, the court of public opinion will pass judgment
whether putting the former leaders on trial is for accountability or a
political ploy.
Political Will and Leadership
Abhorrent fraudulent prosecutions
of political rivals must, however, be distinguished from a prime minister
providing the leadership and political will necessary to carry out reforms to address
corruption.
Political will and leadership is
needed for: political governance, policies to prevent political interference in
the appointment, promotion, transfer and removal of the enforcement agencies’
personnel, policies on public procurement, enhancing the independence of the
judiciary and enforcement agencies, separating the Attorney-General’s functions
as legal advisor to the executive and prosecution, the placement of MACC under the
parliament, establishing parliament select committees for oversight and
monitoring of the MACC and many other reforms.
Ending Impunity
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has
put into the forefront of his mission, the need to show the political will and
leadership that Malaysia requires to rid the scourge of corruption – to end
Impunity.
Impunity is the failure to
prosecute those who have committed corruption, to allow the perpetrators to
avoid accountability for their actions and victims to obtain justice for the
wrongs they suffered.
“Impunity” is
defined by the United Nations Set of Principles for the Protection and
Promotion of Human Rights Through Action to Combat Impunity as follows: “The
impossibility, de jure or de facto, of bringing the perpetrators of violations
to account - whether in criminal, civil, administrative or disciplinary
proceedings – since they are not subject to any inquiry that might lead to
their being accused, arrested, tried and, if found guilty, sentenced to
appropriate penalties, and to making reparations to their victims.”
There are currently joint
international efforts to address impunity in corruption cases under the
auspices of the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention which Malaysia has
ratified. One proposal is to establish an International Court on Corruption to
prosecute corruption cases where the relevant nation states are unwilling or
unable to prosecute grand corruption of their nationals. If, we are to forgo
holding perpetrators of grand corruption accountable, it will indeed be a
national embarrassment, for Malaysians to depend on other countries to secure justice
for their own people.
Burying the Hatchet
Is this the time to bury the
hatchet? Life for ordinary Malaysians in the past 60 years was not a stroll in
the park. Malaysians are not digging up old wounds for revenge. Each day for
the past six decades, ordinary Malaysians have been savaged by corruption. Like
Prometheus who was bound to a rock and punished by an eagle eating his liver
alive each day, to have his liver grow back during the night and the ordeal
repeated the next day, Malaysians suffered daily from the evils of corruption. The
wounds are fresh. The cries for justice and reparations warranted.
Malaysia has enough laws,
agencies and plans to deal with corruption but all failed. This is because grand
corruption is committed by those holding high-level political power and their
business associates. They stole from the people. They stymied investigations,
interfered with prosecutions and the judiciary. They entrenched their political
power to maintain an environment where corruption flourished with impunity.
Finally, we have a regime change. At last, we can now bring the perpetrators to book. Justice can be served. Therefore, before we can bury the hatchet; truth, justice, retribution and compensation have to be given their hard-won place.
The Prime Minister must not waver in his
conviction to get rid of Impunity.
Second: Political Divisiveness
Kadir Jasin told Anwar “not to
get caught in a time warp, fighting against your own shadows.” The demons of
grand corruption in Malaysia are not imagined. They are real and they are pushing
back to regain their political power. These demons must first be exorcised
before victory over corruption can be attained.
Kadir Jasin’s suggestion not to focus
on prosecuting former political leaders is not without grounds. However, it is
not in the best long-term interest of the nation. Prosecuting current or past
political leaders tend to be divisive and destabilizing because they are chosen
by the nation’s citizens or their parties to lead. They are obviously popular
and sometimes revered. So criminal proceedings against them are inevitably
perceived as political and become divisive. By adhering to the due process of
the law, claims of political prosecution cannot be substantiated or
extinguished until the evidence unfolds at the trial.
Thus, notwithstanding its destabilizing
nature, if corruption is to be wiped out, there must be the courage of
conviction to choose prosecution over political expediency. History has shown
this hard choice is preferred to allowing perpetrators breaking the law with
impunity.
In 1974, US President Gerald Ford
pardoned Richard Nixon, his predecessor, despite clear evidence of wrongdoing
in the Watergate scandal. Ford believed healing the nation from divisiveness
was preferred to the destabilizing effects of punishing an ex-president. Others
have viewed this as a historic mistake. It has emboldened future impunity of
the kind Donal Trump is currently accused of.
Sarkozy is France’s second modern
president to be found guilty of corruption, after Jacques Chirac in 2011 for
kickbacks and an attempt to bribe a magistrate. The country did not fall apart
after either conviction.
South Korea investigated and
convicted five former presidents and in 2018 impeached President Park Geun-hye.
South Korea also convicted and imprisoned her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak. Although
large chaebols pose significant difficulties as illicit business behaviour is
still common among them, public outrage against corrupt practices and demands
for accountability have ensured grand corruption in South Korea is no longer
tolerated.
On the other side of the
spectrum, Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolution Party or PRI established a
system of patronage and corruption. Impunity kept Mexico stable during its
transition to democracy in the 1990s by placating PRI members’ fear of
prosecution after they leave office. But government corruption flourished and so
did organized crime.
On 24 December 2017, the former President of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, pardoned jailed ex-president Alberto
Fujimori. Protestors accused Kuczynski of corruption, claiming that the pardon
was payback for the support of Fujimori’s son, Kenji Fujimori in helping
Kuczynski survive an impeachment vote, days earlier. On 3 October 2018,
Fujimori’s pardon was reversed by Peru’s Supreme Court and he was ordered to
return to prison.
In several Latin American
countries, tacit agreement by the successor government to maintain impunity by
not prosecuting its predecessors established a system that permitted parties to
“handover” illicit networks when one party replaces the other. Once elites come
to an understanding that sanctions and prosecutions are de-coupled from regime
change, then it is easy to imagine that political friends and foes will be
perversely incentivized to engage in corruption. The changes of regime did not
end corruption. It is only when this impunity circle is broken that one corrupt
president after another, like dominos, begin to fall will corruption be arrested.
Therefore, if one is sincere in
ending corruption there is no option other than to end impunity.
Third: Corruption and Economic
Growth
Kadir Jasin advised Anwar not to
continue speaking of his struggles and “help the people today to put food
on their table.” However, there can be no food if corruption continues
to thrive. Corruption reduces economic growth: diminishes innovative
strategies, discourage foreign and local investment, increase the price of
goods and services, increase state expenditures and reduce state revenues.
The National Anti-Corruption Plan
2019-2023 formulated in line with Article 5 of the United Nation Convention
Against Corruption states that rampant corruption in politics and government
have aggravated inequality in terms of income, wealth and opportunity. The real
impacts of corruption include rising costs of living, declining purchasing
power, dampened effects on wages and productivity. The situation is made worse
by the increase in public debt to RM One Trillion which includes substantial
debts arising from corruption and in leakages due to mis-governance of public
funds. The Government has paid 1MDB’s debts of RM43.8 billion with a balance of
RM9.7 billion unpaid. More than RM1.8 Trillion has been lost through illicit
financial flow from 2005 until 2014 of which a portion is corruption related.
There was the BMF scandal, PKFZ, Scorpion submarines scandal, now Jana Wibawa.
Conclusion
In order for the Prime Minister
to address the economic needs of Malaysians, focus and priority must be given
to end corruption. Putting an end to impunity is not revenge but for the social
economic well-being of Malaysians,
William Leong Jee Keen
Member of Parliament Selayang
24 March 2023
