THE growth of corruption in the country is strongly influenced by the political and economic environment.

Those in authority should be the ones to obstruct the greed and temptation of individuals within them, but they failed.

The government has been regulating more and more of the economic activity in the country.

In the early days, corruption arose because officials were underpaid, with the country at its nascent stage and without sufficient tax revenue to remunerate civil servants with salaries that commensurate more or less with the private sectors.

The wage amount of civil servants dictates whether they receive a bribe. The higher the salary is, the lower the chances a person will act corruptly. However, a higher salary also strengthens the negotiating power of the official, which leads to higher bribes.

If the top of the political echelon is corrupt, then corruption shows at all levels. This evil spreads among the ordinary population, as nobody trusts the institutions or the rule of law.

Ideally, institutions should be open to influences and feedback from different sources, yet at the same time sufficiently independent to effectively carry out their work.

Where the openness and independence of the institutions are balanced, the officials accessible but not excessively exposed to private influences, if they can make authoritative decisions without abusing their power, corrupt tendencies are relatively low.

But where official power is poorly institutionalised, too exposed to private influence, and the officials’ independence is reflected in excessive power abuse, the possibility for corruption is high.

A lack of professional ethics, deficient laws regulating corruption as a criminal offence, prosecution and sanctioning of it have also led to rampant corruption.

This is further compounded by a lack of transparency and a lack of control by supervisory institutions.

Where there is insufficient legal basis or sufficient political will to control, corruption will flourish.

Studies have revealed that in countries where there is a high level of corruption, a shadow economy is likely to emerge as both are strongly linked to one another.

Almost all of the studies conclude that peace in the country is a prerequisite for a successful fight against corruption.

The least corrupt countries are countries that have a lasting peace on their territory.

The answer to the question of how to deal with corruption is not a vague one. Some countries have achieved great success in dealing with it in a relatively short time – Singapore and Hong Kong the closest examples – while others struggled for a long time.

The first condition is, in any case, to ensure freedom and democracy, and then educating the people and creating awareness.

The country needs to emulate the good practices of other governments that have been successful in the fight against graft. – August 22, 2022.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.