Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday expressed concern over corrupt practices that are becoming increasingly common among the people that they are willing to ignore the negative impact on society and the country.
He described the symptom as ‘memperasuahan’ – inculcating bad habits among members of society that it became part of the culture, and it had always been in existence in the world community.
“I don’t know whether the word ‘memperasuahan’ does exist in the Malay vocabulary, but whether this word exists or not, the act of inculcating corrupt practices often carried out in society.
“The society that accepts this culture will no longer feel shy or embarrassed in giving or accepting bribes, that are sometimes referred to as ‘tumbuk rusuk’ or ‘makan suap’ (habits associated with corrupt practices),” he said in his latest entry on his blog chedet.cc tonight.
He said the public generally considered corruption as a bad and horrible practice, but those who were corrupted would hide it as they realised that it was against both the law and religion.
However, he said, when corrupt practices were accepted by the community as a common thing that could be publicly disclosed, then there would be no sense of shame for doing so, either by the givers or the recipients.
During the reign of ‘cash is king’ or ‘money is king’, the practice of giving and accepting bribes became one of the values of life and culture, especially among the Malays, he said.
“They are willing to do anything if they are bribed with enough money or the gift of interest. Whether it is a good or bad thing, it is not part of the consideration.
“The fact that it is against the law, even considered as a sin in terms of religion, are not taken into account. The priority is the satisfying of one’s greed,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said even though people realised that bribery was bad and prohibited, the recipients would not take long to accept it.
“Whether it is good or bad, bribery feeds greed and believed to be profitable. The negative effects on society are trivialised.
“Certainly, a sense of national pride and the impact (of the habit) on society and the country are trivialised by those corrupt individuals,” he wrote. – Bernama