A Book Anwar Should Use In Battle Against Graft

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BOOK REVIEW | A major source of corruption in Malaysia is the abuse of the extensive system of GLCs and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) - which misgovernance has caused the nation billions of ringgit in losses over the years and continues to lose money year after year.
This source of corruption is comprehensively covered by well-known political economist, Edmund Terence Gomez in a new book simply and aptly titled “Misgovernance: Grand Corruption in Malaysia”.
If Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is really keen on fighting corruption, this book offers a good starting place. It examines the history of abuse in GLCs and GLICs and their root causes, and offers solid suggestions for stopping misgovernance that could potentially save billions every year.
The book is written from a state-business relations perspective and posits that corruption is a phenomenon that goes beyond bribery.
As Gomez says in the preface: “... it exists in an entwined web of GLCs that have evolved into a huge shadow economy.
“This economy is controlled by politicians in a governance system where power is concentrated in the office of the prime minister. An intricate ‘political-GLC complex’ has been created by governing elites, which has contributed to grand corruption in the country.”
The problem and the dilemma are that no governing party, both in the federal and state governments, has any desire to reform the system, Gomez correctly asserts. That lack of desire is the heart of the problem.
As books go, it is not particularly long at 231 pages. Instead of going into detail over instances of abuse and legal reforms required, it has abbreviated the process by listing these under two appendices.
History of misgovernance
The first is a long list of public controversies and instances of misgovernance in the GLC ecosystem, dating back to 1980 and the infamous Bumiputera Malaysia Finance scandal and all the way to 2023, 70 in all.
Among some prominent ones are Maminco-Kuwasa in 1981, Perwaja Steel in 1982-95, Pergau Dam in 1988, Bank Negara Forex losses in 1991-94, independent power producers, Port Klang Free Trade Zone in 2008, 1MDB in 2009, 1BestariNet in 2011, Penang Undersea Tunnel in 2011-2017, Sapura-Kencana Petroleum in 2012, Abdul Taib Mahmud and Cahya Mata Sarawak (2012/2015), Forest City in 2014, Malacca Gateway in 2016-2023, East Coast Rail Link in 2016 and Jana Wibawa in 2021.

The second appendix lists Malaysia’s inadequacies in terms of legal frameworks. These are in the areas of preventive measures, monitoring mechanisms and punitive systems. They are not currently comprehensive enough to handle the problem of corruption.
Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of corruption with respect to the law and the “political-GLC complex”. It points out that while the last five of six prime ministers have admitted that corruption is endemic, there has been only one conviction of a governing politician for corruption since 1980 involving former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul RazakIt outlines the history of GLCs in Malaysia and the various forms of corruption such as patronage, cronyism, nepotism, collusion, rent-seeking, embezzlement, slush funds, conflicts of interest etc. It also explains why it is difficult to convict.
Elites and the opaque system
Chapter 2 moves the focus to grand corruption in the context of the political-GLC nexus and how the system is favoured by the ruling elite who prefer that there is a shroud of secrecy over the operations and funding of GLCs. It talks about different levels of control.
The third chapter lists three case studies to illustrate the points made. They are shocking in scale and mismanagement.
The first is Jana Wibawa which was set up by then-prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin to award RM6.3 billion contracts in 2020. The second is the infamous award of multi-billion contracts related to the littoral combat ships. The last deals with abuse at statutory bodies.
Chapter 4 talks about lessons learned from all these while Chapter 5 suggests measures which should be taken. It points out that in a deeply corrupt system, no one has called for the dismantling/restructuring of the “political-GLC complex”, while legal avenues to curb and punish ministerial misgovernance are not there.
The book identifies three areas of emphasis - prevention, corrective public governance and criminalisation of misgovernance by introducing new laws and going into details of each.
Overall, it is a short but heavy book on key areas where corruption is rampant. Its usefulness is proper documentation, historical detail, context and scholarship, including an explanation of measures which should be taken to curb this aspect of grand corruption.
It suggests one way of dealing with corruption which is very much within the purview and power of the government to undertake.
If it is serious in its fight against corruption, as it states it is, this Madani government should take this book seriously. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM says sometimes the obvious has to be repeated: For corruption to be eliminated or drastically reduced, there has to be political will. We have not seen this yet from this government or any previous government.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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