Time Magazine Ranked Malaysia No: 2 Most Corrupted Country In The World
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You can learn a lot about a country’s politics by looking closely at
its corruption scandals. Who is investigating whom? What do the
investigators really hope to achieve? And what do the investigations
tell us about the country’s true balance of power? These five facts
offer examples and answers.
1. Brazil
Brazil’s
so-called Car Wash corruption scandal, which appears on the verge of
bringing down a president, centers on Petrobras, the state-run oil
giant. Last March, a top Petrobras official admitted that the company
was awarding contracts in exchange for bribes, some of which were
diverted to political slush funds. Brazil’s current president, Dilma
Rousseff, was energy minister and chairwoman of Petrobras when the
alleged kickbacks took place, though she has yet to be directly
implicated in any wrongdoing.
But with an approval rating of just
21.8 percent, plenty of Brazilians see her as guilty by association—55.6
percent of Brazilians want to see her impeached. Former president and
Rousseff mentor Luiz InĂ¡cio Lula da Silva was recently detained for
questioning by police. Dozens of politicians are now under
investigation, the vast majority of whom belong to Rousseff’s party.
This is a country with a long history of official corruption: Four of
five living former presidents are currently under investigation for one
thing or another.
Tensions boiled over this weekend, and some 3
million Brazilians took to the streets. This type of social unrest would
be a worrying sign for the country’s economy, but the Brazilian stock
market surged 18 percent on news of Lula’s detention and speculation
that Rousseff might finally be impeached—speculation that will grow
stronger with the news that Rousseff may have offered Lula a cabinet
post to help give him greater immunity from foreign prosecutors. And
that’s the main takeaway here: Brazil is a country with a genuinely
independent and empowered investigator capable of putting the country’s
most powerful under a public microscope. Anti-corruption drives can
create political chaos in the short-term, but they can benefit the
country in the long-term if sunlight is used properly as a disinfectant.
2. Malaysia
That’s
not the case with Malaysia. In 2009, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak established a sovereign wealth fund called 1Malaysia Development
Berhad (1MDB) to help the country attract foreign investment and boost
its economy. Long story short, by 2015, 1MDB owed investors $11 billion.
As investigations of the state fund got underway, it was revealed that
$681 million dollars had been deposited into Najib’s personal account.
The prime minister copped to the money transfer, but claimed it was a
“gift” from the Saudi royal family, about $620 million of which he says
he has returned. Two weeks ago, the 1MDB investigation uncovered that
the total routed into Najib’s personal account was actually about $1
billion.
Malaysia is a de facto one-party country. All of the
country’s six post-independence prime ministers have come from the
United Malays National Organization (UMNO). That’s why Najib owes his
position to his party, not to the Malaysian people—good news for a man
currently polling at 23 percent, the lowest ever for a Malaysian head of
government. He has spent the last half-decade strengthening his
position within UMNO, and the past year since the 1MDB scandal broke
purging his party of potential adversaries. This past summer, Najib
fired his attorney general, who had been leading the 1MDB investigation.
Malaysia exemplifies how corruption drives can fall short in countries
with a single political party and weak governing institutions.
3. South Africa
Half
a world away, South Africa tells much the same story. Like Najib, South
African president Jacob Zuma has been dogged by corruption allegations
for years. Most recently, Zuma has been accused of improperly using
taxpayer money for “security upgrades” to his personal residence. These
include construction of an amphitheater, a swimming pool, and a chicken
run—because you can never be too careful. As of this writing, a South
African court is hearing a case to reinstate 783—the actual
number—corruption charges against him, which include pocketing kickbacks
associated with arms deals. But like Najib, Zuma’s power comes from
effective control of his political party rather than directly from the
people—just 36 percent of South Africans approve of Zuma’s job
performance in 2016, down from 64 percent in 2011. Don’t expect South
Africa’s anti-corruption push to amount to much because this is a
country where investigators are empowered to bring damaging allegations
to light, but not to enforce their judgments. Zuma will probably survive
through the end of his term in 2019.
4. China
In
China, it’s the leader who runs the investigations. President Xi
Jinping has presided over a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign, with a
particular emphasis on curbing wasteful government spending. Over the
last three years, punishments have been handed down to 750,000—also the
actual number—party members. Corruption inspection teams have more than
doubled their staff in recent years, and have gotten a boost from the
Chinese people—since 2013, corruption inspectors have received more than
270,000 tips from the Chinese public. Beijing even launched a WeChat
account in January to make reporting graft easier.
Of course, the
anti-corruption push is politically useful for Xi. Aside from dealing
with the country’s real corruption problem, the campaign aims to restore
public confidence in the ruling party at a time when the Chinese
economy is slowing. It also helps that the anti-graft crackdown ensures
that Xi can sideline opponents of his political agenda ahead of next
year’s leadership transition in which five of seven members of the
Politburo Standing Committee, the pinnacle of the country’s leadership,
are scheduled to be replaced.
5. Russia
The
Kremlin has Russia’s corruption problem fully under control. At least
that’s what the 90 percent of Russians who get their news from
state-dominated media have been told. Vladimir Putin currently has an
approval rating of 83 percent, so the message seems to be getting
through. But non-Kremlin sources tell another story. On a scale of 1 to 7
where 7 is “most corrupt”, Freedom House ranks Russia a 6.75. This is a
country where corruption investigations are tools used by one
political/business faction to cut into another’s market share. These are
not the kinds of investigations that strengthen a country or its
economy.
Note : Akan Datang...Next Change :
World's Fattest First Lady...again we are NOT No:1.....Rosmah must try harder!
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