DECADES of hard toil and millions of lives were involved in creating one of the wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China. Its purpose was to deter and prevent the onslaught of enemies that continuously attacked the kingdom. This marvellous structure was a symbol of the nation’s resilience, a source of pride and more importantly a significant security and safety provider to her people.
The ability for anyone outside to penetrate was next to impossible until one day the conscience of a soldier, who was assigned to protect the wall, was compromised due to various reasons.
He opened the gates to the enemies. An important reminder that the legacies we are attempting to build can be easily destroyed even if one small shred of the nation’s integrity is torn. Furthermore, the visible evidence of reports of corruption globally and nationally reveal that our conscience is increasingly becoming compromised.
Even a person with a well-sculptured, muscular body can be vulnerable to invading micro-organisms when one’s immunity is compromised. Our conscience is our built-in immunity, which gives us the ability to resist the tendency to be corrupted – a much needed quality to preserve the present collective wealth and resources.
The evidence that our integrity is being compromised is reflected in the scores of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Since its inception in 1995, the CPI has become the leading global indicator for public sector corruption, which incorporates scores from 180 countries and territories. Data is compiled from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others. The scores reflect the views of experts and business people.
Some of the top countries scoring more than 80 in previous CPI assessments have not been spared from reports of corruption scandals involving corporate and political leaders. On the local front, Malaysia has not been spared either, with IMDB.
The announcement by Transparency International on Jan 25 showed that our nation slipped from the 51st position out of 180 countries in 2019 to the 62nd position in 2022. Eighty-six per cent of other countries were reported to have little to no progress in the last 10 years, with an appalling CPI global average remaining unchanged at 43 for the 10th year in a row, with two-thirds of countries scoring below 50. This continued decline in the CPI in our country is a wake-up call to urgently address the issue of restoring our innate resilience to corruption.
Recently, some youths took to the streets to protest over the integrity of a chief commissioner of a government agency, and this again is a clear sign that future inheritors of our legacies have poor tolerance for compromised conscience. How can we make this fort of resilience stronger? It is only when we pay attention to the selection process of all positions in power, especially in organisations that we have entrusted with to preserve the integrity of the nation.
Stringent selection criteria without any political influence or any form of nepotism and cronyism should be in place. There is a need to revisit the selection process involving respective stakeholders.
Critical agencies demand a more stringent selection criteria for board members. In fact, those appointees should be retirees from senior positions of corporate and public sectors, including retired senior professors. Such respectable and distinguished persons who are unbiased and apolitical, with long-standing impeccable and flawless service are justified to be called back for this “national service” type of appointments.
We must realise that such seats of power are conferred only to protect the nation’s well-being and is the basis for creating a strong, formidable and impenetrable wall that would not compromise on integrity.
The institution that should be empowered with greater resources and power should be the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM), which was established on March 4, 2004. According to its website, its objective is to ensure that every public and private institution implements initiatives aimed at overcoming governance, integrity and corruption issues. This institution’s role can be likened to that of our nation’s immune system, where with proper empowerment, greater vigilance and proper regulation, the protection of our nation’s integrity can be ensured.
The IIM should work with the Education Ministry to ensure the value and principles of integrity become part of the curriculum, which eventually would become an integral part of a child’s life in future. Punctuality, refraining from copying, abiding by school laws and regulations, being honest and transparent are all vaccination exercises to boost the innate immunity. These children who eventually may sit in seats of power would shake their head in disapproval when faced with temptations.
Meanwhile, every organisation must have a competent chief integrity officer (CIO), with formal training and certification from IIM, who must be the eyes and ears of the organisation to ensure integrity is never compromised. Integrity must be upheld in every process of procurement, succession planning, leadership decisions and other related matters. The CIO’s main task should be to ensure the pervasive culture of integrity is instilled in every member of the organisation. This is being carried out now in some organisations but perhaps their role deserves more prominence and seriousness.
If a Covid virus invades a body, the first line of defence is the immune system, which is independently programmed to act on its own for self-preservation. Organisations that are assigned to protect the integrity of the nation such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and IIM should be independent and report to Parliament so, like our immune system, can act diligently, promptly and accurately to safeguard the interest of both the government and the people.
Corruption is one element that every individual, regardless of race and religion, will unite against. Daniel Erikson, CEO of Transparency International said: “In authoritarian context, where control over government, business and the media rests with a few, social movements remain the last check on power. It is the power held by teachers, shopkeepers, students and ordinary people from all walks of life that will ultimately deliver accountability.” Every individual should be accountable to place his brick of integrity to strengthen the wall of resilience. Malaysia still possesses the potential to climb to the top in the CPI. We have to!
Prof Dr Suresh Govind is the chairman of the Board of Trustees for Yayasan Perpaduan Malaysia and a
Fellow of the Academy of Science.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
