Skip to footer

Malaysia upends its malaise on corruption

Rising demand for clean governance results in the first Malaysian leader to be convicted of corruption and a wider embrace of equal justice for all.

|
Reuters
Police stand guard outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Malaysia July 28.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

Just three years ago, fewer than half of people in Malaysia said it is socially acceptable to report corruption, according to a poll. This dismal view was reinforced by the fact that about a quarter of Malaysians regularly paid bribes for basic public services.

My, how attitudes have shifted in the Southeast Asian nation of 32 million.

On Tuesday, former Prime Minister Najib Razak became the first Malaysian leader to be convicted of corruption. He faces 12 years in prison for looting a government fund known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad while in office from 2009 to 2018. In fact, the 1MDB scandal so angered voters in 2018 that they kicked out both Mr. Najib and his ruling party, the United Malays National Organization. The party had governed the country for 61 years since independence from Britain.

After the historic first transfer of power two years ago, Malaysia’s new leaders started remarkable reforms, driven by the public’s rising demands for clean governance. They created an anti-corruption agency and set a five-year goal to raise the integrity of civil servants and elected officials. (The latter, for example, must publicly declare their personal assets.) More than 1,230 people were arrested on corruption charges. One particular goal was bolstered by Tuesday’s court ruling: ensuring the accountability and credibility of judges and prosecutors.

By the end of last year, Malaysia’s ranking in a global corruption index greatly improved after five years of deterioration. If the anti-corruption reforms stick in the country’s often messy politics, Malaysia could quickly achieve the status of a developed country with an advanced economy. Foreign investors would have more confidence in the legal system’s ability to root out financial crime.

After Mr. Najib’s conviction, the lead prosecutor in the case said the ruling serves “as a precedent for all in public office that no one is above the law.” That notion of equality has been a long time coming in Malaysia. The country still openly discriminates against its ethnic and religious minorities in granting access to government benefits. Such favoritism for the majority Malay people must eventually end.

In the meantime, the people and their new leaders have shown how an embrace of equal justice under the law can begin to shred a corrupt past.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Malaysia upends its malaise on corruption
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2020/0728/Malaysia-upends-its-malaise-on-corruption
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe