I WISH to make three comments to Datuk A. Kadir Jasin’s Facebook post as reported in the media on March 19, 2023. The veteran newsman, in his post, advised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to “move on” from the past and dedicate himself to resolving the economic problems faced by the people.
First: corruption and impunity
Kadir 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 blurred. So, let us leave the search for justice and truth to the law-enforcement agencies and the courts of law.”
Politics of revenge, 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 it interferes with the agencies, prosecutors and judiciary to stop investigations, prosecutions, or release crony wrongdoers.
However, criminal charges or allegations of corruption in show trials are typically weak, and the evidence produced is unconvincing. Whether by bringing in and out a mattress into court or a chart of illicit fund flow, the court of public opinion will pass judgment on whether putting the former leaders on trial is for accountability or a political ploy.
Political will, 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 are needed for political governance – policies to prevent political interference in an appointment, promotion, transfer and removal of enforcement agency 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 Parliament, establishing Parliament select committees for oversight and monitoring of the MACC and many other reforms.
Ending impunity
The prime minister 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 for victims to obtain justice for their wrongdoings.
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 Convention Against Corruption, 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 the 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, 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 are warranted.
Malaysia has enough laws, agencies and plans to deal with corruption, but all have 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 and 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 waiver in his conviction to eliminate impunity.
Second: political divisiveness
Kadir 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’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 tends to be divisive and destabilising 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 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 destabilising 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 to break the law with impunity.
In 1974, United States 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 destabilising effects of punishing an ex-president. Others have viewed this as a historic mistake. It has emboldened future impunity of the kind Donald 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 (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 left office. But government corruption flourished, and so did organised crime.
On December 24, 2017, the 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 “hand over” illicit networks when one party replaced the other. Once elites understand that sanctions and prosecutions are decoupled from regime change, it is easy to imagine that political friends and foes will be perversely incentivised to engage in corruption. The changes in the regime did not end corruption. It is only when this impunity circle is broken that one corrupt president after another, like dominos, begins 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 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, discourages foreign and local investment, increases the price of goods and services, increases state expenditures and reduces state revenues.
The National Anti-Corruption Plan 2019-2023, formulated in line with Article 5 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, states that rampant corruption in politics and government has aggravated inequality in income, wealth and opportunity.
The real impacts of corruption include rising living costs, declining purchasing power, and dampened effects on wages and productivity.
The situation is worsened by the increase in public debt to RM1 trillion, which includes substantial debts arising from corruption and leakages due to the misgovernance 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 to 2014, of which a portion is corruption-related. There was the BMF scandal, PKFZ, Scorpion submarines scandal, and now Jana Wibawa.
Conclusion
In order for the prime minister to address the economic needs of Malaysians, focus and priority must be given to ending corruption. Putting an end to impunity is not revenge but for the social and economic well-being of Malaysians. – The Vibes, March 26, 2023
William Leong Jee Keen is MP for Selayang
