Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki said last week that corruption cases resulting in leakage in government procurement had become increasingly critical, with 50% of such cases involving government agencies.
Pointing out that corruption increases the cost of doing business, Transparency International Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan said it would cause companies to compromise on specifications to cut corners and save cost.
“In the end, the taxpayers are the victims,” he said. “Not only is their money being stolen, but the public is robbed of good value assets due to substandard infrastructure or poor infrastructure which may cause safety risks.”
Ramon Navaratnam, a former MACC adviser, said corruption would deprive the public of proper investment in resources, create inefficient economies and increase income inequality.
He claimed that foreign companies would rather invest in Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan because the corruption in Malaysia had caused them to lose confidence in the country.
Mohan said investors would be wary of putting money in the country if the cost of doing business were to rise because of corruption.
Azam spoke of a recent road upgrade project in Sarawak in which corruption had caused a reduction in the quality of the work, thus making the road prone to damage and costing the government millions of ringgit.
MACC arrested two directors of a company in early September after suspecting them of submitting false claims worth tens of millions of ringgit in connection with 10 road upgrading projects in Sarawak worth RM800 million.
FMT has reported that people in Sarawak had lodged many complaints of bad road conditions because the quality of construction did not meet the specifications.
Some roads in Miri, Kapit, Ba’kelalan, Limbang and Belaga were damaged just months after being built.
Mohan and Navaratnam said corruption could affect the public’s confidence in public institutions, and Navaratnam added that it could also undermine government policies.
“The rot starts at the top,” Navaratnam said. “If you don’t take tough action against ministers and political leaders at the federal and local government levels, people will ask, ‘Why should I not be corrupt?’”
Appealing to the prime minister and the Cabinet to take drastic action to stamp out corruption, he suggested changing the country’s anti-corruption laws to provide for harsher punishments.
“Those found guilty of corruption in China will be shot,” he said. “I’m not saying we should do the same here, but we must put the fear of being caught into people.”