By LIM SUE GOAN, Sin Chew Daily

Corruption is the most intractable problem in the country. It is difficult to curb.

Younger brother to the Prime Minister and CIMB group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak (pic above) told the Financial Times that the government must overcome corruption to move up from being a middle-income economy. He said that Malaysia could consider granting an amnesty for those involved in minor corruption, as has been done in Hong Kong, to reduce resistance from the vested interests.

It is doubtful that letting small fish go without an institutional reform can actually curb corruption. In fact, the biggest obstacle is, senior officials do not believe that corruption in the country is serious.

The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) pointed out at end of last month that Malaysia has been improving in its graft fight over the past three years. It added that a great controversy would be stirred like a dust storm every time when a corruption case was revealed, but it does not mean that the situation has turned serious.

However, the assessments of the outside world are inconsistent with the official statement.

When the Transparency International (TI) published the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in 1995, Malaysia was ranked the 23th place among the total 41 countries, scoring 5.28. However, our ranking has been sliding in the recent three years, from the 56th place in 2010 to the 60th last year, and the score dropped from 4.4 to 4.3, which was lower than the government's target of 4.9.

Why is the situation still worsening after so many anti-corruption movements have been launched? Why there was no follow up reports about the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) and the National Key Performance Areas (NKRA)?

It reminds me of an anti-corruption farce during the administration of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Malay Mail reported on August 11, 1989 that a prisoner was spotted walking freely to a family-run garment factory located at Jalan Ipoh. He was not accompanied by any prison officers and his expression was at ease. Only when he found that a reporter was following, he covered his face with hands and ran into the factory.

More behind stories were revealed later and it was reported that the prisoner, Chinese Muslim Abdullah Ang, was actually allowed to go out freely for private business and sleep on a water bed in his cell.

As usual, an investigation team was set up by the Prison Department and it claimed to conduct a thorough investigation. However, it was able to summit only a five-pages report. The Home Ministry was not satisfied with it and therefore, an investigation committee led by a deputy secretary-general of the Ministry was formed for an in-depth investigation. Later, the committee recommended dismissal or disciplinary actions to be taken against three involving prison officials.

It is still as dark as ever nowadays. The Berita Harian reported that some police and prison officers actually assisted prisoners to smuggle drugs into prison, which they could earn 30% to 50% of commission for contraband sold in the prison, while prisoners who provided assistance would also get a monthly bonus of RM20,000.

The drug smuggling network formed by police and prison officers, as well as prisoners is a perfect ring absolutely corrupted.

The prison still remains as dark even 23 years have passed. It will continue to decay if the curtain is not drawn back to reveal the culprits.

Anti-corruption has never been an easy task. Moreover, corruption tactics have been increasingly sophisticated. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission alone would not be able to curb all highly organised groups.

If the authorities keeps denying and trying to trivalising the problems, just like how crimes are dealt, anti-corruption would remain only an idle ideal. Sooner or later, it will shake the country's foundation.