By: Natalie Shobana Ambrose
theSun, Malaysia (pg 15)
June 28th, 2012
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/419032
"My parents worked and saved their whole lives, and now, the banks have none of their money,” said a young Greek friend.
Moving forward from the emotional devastation of this predicament, the question of what do you do, what can you do in a situation like this arises. Young Greeks belong to a demographic of being well-educated, politically aware and well-travelled, yet they face the reality that youth unemployment has exceeded 40% in their country and have to deal with lower wages, diminishing opportunities and high costs making it very difficult for a talented young generation to stay and make a sustainable living in Greece.
"My parents worked and saved their whole lives, and now, the banks have none of their money,” said a young Greek friend.
Moving forward from the emotional devastation of this predicament, the question of what do you do, what can you do in a situation like this arises. Young Greeks belong to a demographic of being well-educated, politically aware and well-travelled, yet they face the reality that youth unemployment has exceeded 40% in their country and have to deal with lower wages, diminishing opportunities and high costs making it very difficult for a talented young generation to stay and make a sustainable living in Greece.
This not only distresses this generation but steals from an unborn generation forcing them to start at a disadvantaged double negative debt.
This is not an isolated story but a reality that resonates through and through for the need of good governance; clean governance in how countries and corporations are run. In May when British MP Tom Watson following a Commons culture, media and sport committee inquiry into phone hacking found Rupert Murdoch guilty of “exhibiting wilful blindness” towards the wrongdoing of his organisation, the statement continued with the MP declaring his personal disappointment at those who could, yet did not hold the most powerful to account.
This layer of gatekeepers is a depleting important resource not just in Europe but very much so in our country. A common phenomenon of lapses in the system are not corrected only to encourage more abuse. It seems like a given that every time a proved accusation is made, the investigation findings state the failure in tendering and awarding processes yet nothing is done.
In Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Malaysia ranked 60th, and even though there are complications in measuring corruption this index speaks volumes to the Malaysian who daily witnesses how easily excessive money is spent by the powerful when there are so many struggling to make an honest living. Perhaps, we aren’t managing perceptions very well but it’s not just about managing perception but holding the corrupt accountable that will get us a better ranking. It’s easy to blur the lines of what constitutes corruption, and say that equating wealth to corruption is incorrect so how do we change that perception – by real action not just talk instead of exhibiting wilful blindness.
You can’t drill home the fact that Malaysians are to cut cost, live within their means and tighten their belts and at the same time, state that the country’s anti-corruption commission concluded that there was no corruption in paying 2,805% for two night vision binoculars. This is one of many examples in the last year alone.
It’s safe to say that what most people want of our country’s leadership is objectivity, integrity, justice, fairness, honesty and efficiency in order to be sustainable. In totality, lofty ideals, but what that translates to is a decentralised government, an independent judiciary, an independent police force, an independent election commission, an independent anti-corruption agency, an independent civil service, and for independent advisory panels to consist of people who are truly independent. That is the bottom line and that is the kind of transformation that will truly change perception. While other countries are cutting costs and avoiding austerity plans, we seem to be spending more with little accountability.
Malawi – one of the world’s poorest countries and ranked 100th in the CPI – swore in its first woman head of state two months ago. Joyce Banda made headlines last week when she decided to sell the presidential jet and downsize the government’s fleet of official cars because she felt the US$13 million aircraft juxtaposed against a hungry population did not reflect her presidential goals for the country.
We on the other hand after not achieving our economic growth targets, have recently tabled a supplementary supply bill for an extra RM13.8 billion to spend this year. Yet, there is little accountability as to what has been spent and no tangible answers to why such an excessive supplementary supply bill had been tabled?
Personally this sparks similar fears of what my Greek friend is facing especially when my retirement funds are being used to bail out, buy out and fund everything but my retirement. Will there be funds when I retire?
There is a good deal that needs fixing, and we can no longer afford to exhibit wilful blindness if we truly care for this land we call home and for the generations to come.
Natalie hopes that the rules of corruption investigations will soon be open to public inspection. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
