1. First and foremost, I would like to thank the organisers for giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts on issues of integrity and governance.
2. I’m not sure how most Malaysians feel about these issues. From the years of being in politics and observing how our nation and other countries had evolved, to my mind, these are core factors that make or break a nation.
3. Integrity and good governance - without them - leaves nations at the mercy of corruptors and abusers of power and, not only nations had fallen, even powerful empires had crumbled and forgotten and only known to future generations through history books and such.
4. I hope some of what I am going to share forthwith would be of benefit to all those present.
5. Sometimes, when I speak about the evil of corruption and abuse of power, some of the responses is that it had existed for a long time and even during my first stint as the Prime Minister.
6. It is true that corruption and abuse of power had prevailed for as long as Governments, even ancient ones, existed.
7. What separates these practices from one government to another is what does the leaders of each government do when dealing with these treacherous acts?
8. Some, apart from empowering the anti-corruption agencies, come up with innovative measures and new rules and regulations to reduce if not stop these practices.
9. Others pay lip service on efforts to combat the scourge as they themselves benefitted from the corruption and abuse of power.
10. Worst are leaders who are the leading corruptors and abusers of power and they are able to commit them with impunity because of their vice-like grip on power. Their control over a pliant civil-service and other apparatus including the media ensured their invincibility.
11. And truth be told, that was what we experienced before the 2018 polls and if the people had remained timid, easily intimidated and apathetic to the corrupt practices of the leaders, the nation would have suffered the ignominy of ending up becoming a banana republic.
12. Luckily, our citizenry saw the danger and the majority stood up and collectively ensured that these leaders were removed and today, we can take credit that through our efforts, which is no small feat, one of the leading perpetrators, is behind bars.
13. There are still many out there and they’re using all guiles and deceit to regain power and if the citizenry decides to let up, be indifferent and refuse to use their rights to stop them, their return is imminent.
14. On a personal experience, I had seen the danger of corruption and abuse of power spreading their tentacles on the Government and civil service from the time I became PM in 1981.
15. As a preventive measure, we introduced what may seem trivial, but we felt effective in disciplining as well as making our civil service responsible.
16. Apart from the slogan of Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah - Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy – the Government introduced clock-in or better known as punch card as well as name tags.
17. The name tag is especially important as all those in the Government can be identified by members of the public if they were errant, irresponsible or untrustworthy.
18. We also had a policy of ensuring that Government projects must not be withheld longer than six months, effectively reducing the power of the decision maker to demand kickbacks to expedite approvals.
19. These reforms seemed to have bolstered the confidence, commitment and pride of the civil service which led to Malaysia being transformed from the backwaters of an agricultural entity into a manufacturing concern.
20. Such was our success that we achieved repeat double-digit growth, dubbed as an Asian Tiger as well as being declared as an NIC – a newly-industrialised country.
21. Obviously, being able to keep corruption and abuse of power at bay had a positive direct impact on the nation, propelling it forward, allowing development programmes and new economic strategies to achieve their targets.
22. There was however a blemish during that period. As the nation progressed rapidly and the nation prospered, wealth became our enemy.
23. In 1993, corruption reared its ugly head again and this time it exposed UMNO, which I was heading then, as susceptible to corrupt practices and abuse of power.
24. Money politics was so prevalent that almost all top party posts were won through “money in envelopes” and “pink forms” – share options from impending initial public offering.
25. It was so rampant that UMNO had to hold an EGM in 1994 simply to address money politics and ways to curtail them.
26. I had then warned that UMNO, if it was unable to put an end to such practice will be rejected by the people. Many chose to ignore me and in 2018 they paid the price.
27. Of course, some of those from the 1993 episode had gone on to leave UMNO as I have. Some of those who stayed continued with their corrupt nature until they were literally caught with their hands in the cookie jars. Others had re-packaged themselves as reformists. Hopefully, for the sake of the nation, they truly have.
28. But the sceptical me finds these politicians to be like leopards, they rarely change their spots.
29. I believe from what I have shared, it is obvious that combatting corruption and establishing good governance are always work in progress.
30. No doubt, policies and strategies to combat them help to alleviate these practices but the criminal minds are always capable of finding loopholes.
31. And with crooked leaders at the helm, these are perpetuated and the art perfected.
32. We have witnessed this and we have seen how our nation, once brimming with pride and standing tall in the international arena, regressed into a global laughing stock and earning the infamy of being a kleptocracy.
33. Ultimately, these leaders have to be removed and future leaders must be reminded that they may fool some people sometimes but they can’t fool all the people all the time.
34. They will, they shall and they must pay the price for the crimes they had committed on the nation. It is treason whichever way you choose to look at it.
Thank you.
DR. MAHATHIR MOHAMAD
AT THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTEGRITY & GOVERNANCE ORGANISED BY ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS OF MALAYSIA (ADFIM)
ON 5TH OCTOBER 2022 (WEDNESDAY), INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Comments:
Wisdom of hindsight
1. You knew as far back as 1994 what was going on. AS president, what did you do to stop vote buying in UMNO ?
2. Do you realise what the root cause of corruption is ?
For your info it is the preferential treatment of bumi companies
Non bumis then.bribe their way to get it from them.It is the national modus operandi
Everyone know this.
Alibaba business is the root cause of corruption
Do not say you do not know about it just answer....
Why didn't you put a stop to it during your 22 years inoffice ?
Answer is simple ...your cronies were getting the contracts and their supporters and lobbyists were funding and supporting your type of politics
Its too late now for you to come clean.
You can say what you like indeed the tail has struck the head.
In 1992,anwar became finance minister.he listed petronas gas and may have used a few million of its shares to buy a few state assemblymen in sabah in 1994.they may have taken the bribe and jumped. joseph pairin lost and umno won.
Umno ruled sabah for the first time and tun was very impressed with his finance minister.
Next,anwar told ghafar to step down. all umno ketua bahagians were in the finance ministers pocket.anwar became timbalan presiden and poor tun ghafar handed the deputy pm's post to anwar.
Anwar gave quek his hong leong credit a banking license. as a quid pro quo,quek financed anwar to control nstp,tv3 and berita harian.hence anwar was always front page news. anwar then created labua…
Find his ‘explanation’ simply mind-boggling, even naive if I didn’t know better!! Knowing there was corruption, name tags and clocking-in would have solved the problem?!!! He should have taken hard decisions by sending a few to Pudu, like Tun Hussein Onn did to Harun Idris, a late Sultan down south, and apparently another Minister too. Like the your summary says, it was turning a blind eye to his cronies’ plundering and even of the stautory rape of under-aged girls in Malacca, instead going after the ‘messenger’. It’s one set of rules for Tun M and a different one for the rest of us!!