The Effects of Bribery in Malaysia

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA, MELAKA
ACADEMIC CALENDAR
SEMESTER DECEMBER – MAY 2009
BEL 492 / BBIN 3A
FRIDAY (8.30-10.20 A.M)

1.0 IN – CLASS WRITING ACTIVITIES

WEEKS DATE ACTIVITY
1 9/1/09 Introduction to course BEL 492.
2 16/1/09 Lecture: student portfolio, preparation outline and blogs.
3 23/1/09 Lecture on new syllabus for BEL 492
4 30/1/09 Chinese new year.
5 6/2/09 Lecture and conformation for topic and learn on numbering.
6 13/2/09 Discussing about the sources and reference delegating the presentation turns.
7 20/2/09 Lecture on how to do a proper
Power point
8 27/2/09 First presentation, for the first group.
9 6/3/09 First presentation, for the second group.
10 13/3/09 First presentation, for the third group.
11 20/3/09 Final lectures about second presentation and marks evaluation
12 27/3/09 Final presentation for the first group.
13 3/4/09 Final presentation for the second group.
14 6/4/09 Submission for student portfolio and blogs.
15 10/4/09 Final presentation for the third group
16 13/4/09 Study week.
17 20/4/2009 Final exanimation


2.0 REFERENCES MATERIAL


2.1 Title: Corruption and bribery will destroy our nation
Author: Zaharuddin bin Abdul Rahman
Source: http://www.zaharuddin.net/
Year: 2008

According to Zaharuddin bin Abd. Rahman (2008), bribe is wealth earned by accomplishing a task for a party that should have been done without any compensation (whether to bring benefit to the party or to avoid harm). In some situations, bribery is similar to tips or rewards and distorted by some people who say that ‘this is not bribery, but a reward'. Bribery can be define as money, donation, loan, fee, gift, expensive collateral, properties (moveable or immovable), rights in properties or any other similar benefits; any positions, titles, designations, jobs, contracts or services, and promise for any type of job or service; any payments, exemptions, settlement of loans, obligations and liabilities either in whole or in part; any type of compensation, discount, commission, rebate or bonus; any action that prevents oneself from claiming any money or monetary value or luxurious items; any type of service or help such as protection from any penalties, disciplinary penalties, civil or criminal charges. This includes using one's authority or preventing from using one's authority to provide that protection; and any offers or promises, with or without conditions, to give bribes such as any of the above items

2.2 Title: Battle against graft
Author: Tim Leonard
Source: www.sun2surf.com/bribe
Year: 2008

Tim Leonard (2008) despite some headline-grabbing action this year in the battle against graft, perception of corruption in Malaysia has yet to improve. So it was on a note of hope that the year ended, with both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara endorsing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Bill. This powerful anti-graft body is one of
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s last acts of office before he hands over power to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak in March. Although Abdullah "gave birth" to it, it is Najib who will have to nurture the "baby" by feeding it strong political will and commitment. But even in the run-up to this historic law-making event, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) had made quite a few headlines this year. At one stage, it seemed more open and forthcoming with information on its enforcement activities. But except for a few big cases, the others – the "ikan bilis" – were not given much play in the media. The agency arrested no fewer than 580 individuals for alleged corrupt practices this year, and charged several politicians, heads of government departments and businessmen. The court process, however, is slow and laborious and results of prosecution are not seen until years later, which, in a way, affects public perception.
2.3 Title: Cop who sought bribe gets jail, fine
Author: Rita Jong
Source: News Strait Times
Year: 2008

Rita Jong (2008) state that a police sergeant who has been in the force for more than 27 years was yesterday sentenced to one year's jail and fined RM25,000 for corruption. Sessions Court judge Nurmala Salim found Sergeant Abd Aziz Saad, 46,guilty of soliciting RM5,000 from Yap Kian Vun, manager of a direct-selling company, at the Seri Kembangan Petaling Jaya South police district at 5.30pm on July 15, 2003. The money was an inducement to release four of Yap's employees who were detained for cheating. Aziz, who was then an assistant investigating officer, was in charge of the case. Nurmala ordered the jail term to begin from yesterday. She also ordered him to serve another six months' jail if he failed to pay the fine. In mitigation, counsel Mohd Radzuan Ibrahim pleaded for leniency as
Aziz has four children, aged between 10 and 22, to support. "His wife is also serving in the force as a corporal. I hope the court will mete out a light sentence as this conviction will affect his family's livelihood." Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Sinti, from the Anti-Corruption Agency, pressed for a deterrent sentence based on the severity of the offence. "The accused has abused his powers as a law enforcer and should be punished to teach him a lesson and to send a strong message to would-be offenders." Nurmala granted Aziz a stay of execution pending appeal of his jail term, but ordered him to pay the fine. His bail of RM5,000 was maintained.

2.4 Title: Corruption and bribery will destroy our nation
Author: Zaharuddin bin Abdul Rahman
Source: Anti-Corruption Agency, Malaysia
Year: 2008

According to Zaharuddin bin Abd. Rahman (2008), there are 4 types of bribery. The 1st type of bribery is requesting/receiving bribe. This type mean that any person or agent that request/receive/agree to accept any bribe (money/items/services etc.) as a motivator or reward to do or not to do anything related to the transaction or related to a formal transaction, principal/employer . The 2nd type is offering/giving bribe which mean any persons or agents that offer/give/agree to give a bribe (money/ items/services etc.) as a motivator or reward to perform or not to perform any related transaction or related to a formal transaction, principal/employer. Then, the 3rd type is making a fake claim that is any person who gives to an agent, or an agent gives to his principal/ employer, a document that he/she knows or realizes contains forged information, which is important to the principal/employer, with the intention of deceiving his/her principal/employer. The last type is misusing title/position that mean any public sector executive that use their title and position to receive bribery for any decisions or actions related to himself, where the executive, his relatives or his cronies have an interest in directly or indirectly.
Zaharuddin also states that there are several effect of bribes. The effects are easy ticket to hell. For Muslims especially, bribery will ease the path to hell. Obliterate fairness in society. Protection of wealth, dignity, life and self cannot be insured. All can be bought. Producing an incompetent society. The number competent, skilful and knowledgeable people will decline as skills have no more meaning. The skill to bribe is more important. Selfish society. Individuals will only think about themselves without the negative effects on the victims in the short term and to the country in the long-run. Producing poor quality work. It threatens safety and peace. A job granted due to bribery exposes the public to danger due to low quality of work/construction. Increase in management cost. New entrepreneurs will face expansion problems due to cost of bribery. Slow response and management. People will delay a task to wait for higher bribes. Approvals may take longer if the executives at each level desire bribes before processing an application etc. Snowball effect. The person who takes bribes enjoys it and feeds his family with it. Eventually the whole family may be addicted to easy money. Imbalance in the distribution of wealth. The rich will become richer and the poor will become poorer. The poor will face enormous difficulties in improving their lives since they have no ‘connections', and not enough money.





2.5 Title: ACA: Report bribe offers
Author: ZAJ JR
Source: Bernama
Year: 2008


ZAJ JR (2008) states the Anti-Corruption Agency will target civil servants who are offered bribes but refused to lodge reports with the bureau. Its director-general Datuk Ahmad Zaki Husin said a study revealed that 95 per cent of Government employees who were offered bribes failed to report them to the ACA.
"Those who fail to lodge reports after being offered bribes can be charged under section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1997," he said, adding that those who accepted bribes could also be charged under the Act.
Speaking to reporters after chairing the ACA State directors meeting at a resort near here today, he said civil servants who were unsure if gifts amounted to bribery should also consult the ACA.
Ahmad Zaki said he would also monitor the implementation of the Memorandums of Understanding between ACA and several government agencies
to combat corruption.
"I do not want those involved to sit on the MoUs and do nothing after the signing ceremony," he said.










PREPARATION OUTLINE

2.0 INTRODUCTION

2.1 TITLE: “THE EFFECT OF BRIBE IN MALAYSIA”

2.2 REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TITLE
- because nowadays there are so many cases regarding bribe happen in our society
2.3 GENERAL PURPOSE
- To inform

2.4 SPECIFIC PURPOSE
- To inform my audience about the effects of bribery.

2.5 CENTRAL IDEA
2.5.1 : Definition of Bribery
2.5.2: Statistic of Bribery Case
2.5.3: Causes of Bribery
2.5.4: The Effects of Bribery
2.5.5: Punishment For Taking Bribe


3.0 BODY

3.1 Definition of bribery

3.1.1 According to LONGMAN (2003) dictionary defines bribery as illegally give someone, especially a public official, money or a gift in order to persuade to do something to you.

3.1.2 The NEW OXFORD (2005) dictionary says that bribery as the money, etc that is given to someone such as an official to persuade him or her to do something to help you that is wrong or dishonest.

3.1.3 MACMILLAN (2004) dictionary defines bribery as giving money or presents to someone so that they will help you by doing something dishonest or illegal.

3.1.4 According to Section 2 Anti-Corruption Act 1997 (act 575), it defines bribery as any money, donation, loan, fee, present, down payment, property or the interest of the property, that is any type of property whether moveable or immovable, or any benefit to that, given to someone to do something which is illegal.

3.1.5 Zaharuddin Abd Rahman(2008) said that bribe is wealth earned by accomplishing a task for a party that should have been done without any compensation (whether to bring benefit to the party or to avoid harm). In some situations, bribery is similar to tips or rewards and distorted by some people who say that ‘this is not bribery, but a reward'.













3.2 The statistics of bribery cases

3.2.1According to Suruhanjaya Pencegaran Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) , the graft shown on the slide is the statistic of bribe arrested in year 2008. In the month of August, the number for arrested is the highest one and followed by the month of January, April, May, July, September, March, Jun, November, February, October and the lowest is in December.









3.3 The types of Bribery

According to Zaharuddin Abd. Rahman (2008), he defines four type of bribery that is:

3.3.1 Requesting/receiving bribe
• Any person or agent that request/receive/agree to accept any bribe (money/items/services etc.) as a motivator or reward to do or not to do anything related to the transaction or related to a formal transaction, principal/employer

3.3.2 Offering/giving bribe
• Any persons or agents that offer/give/agree to give a bribe (money/ items/services etc.) as a motivator or reward to perform or not to perform any related transaction or related to a formal transaction, principal/employer.

3.3.3 Making a fake claim
• Any person who gives to an agent, or an agent gives to his principal/ employer, a document that he/she knows or realizes contains forged information, which is important to the principal/employer, with the intention of deceiving his/her principal/employer.

3.3.4 Misusing title/position
• Any public sector executive that use their title and position to receive bribery for any decisions or actions related to himself, where the executive, his relatives or his cronies have an interest whether directly or indirectly.

3.4 The effects of bribery

According to Masami Mustaza (2009), he states that there are five effects of bribery are:

3.4.1 Easy ticket to hell.
-For Muslims especially, bribery will ease the path to hell.

3.4.2 Producing an incompetent society.
-The number competent, skilful and knowledgeable people will decline as skills have no more meaning. The skill to bribe is more important.

3.4.3 Selfish society.
- Individuals will only think about themselves without the negative effects on the victims in the short term and to the country in the long-run.

3.4.4 Producing poor quality work.
-It threatens safety and peace. A job granted due to bribery exposes the public to danger due to low quality of work/construction.

3.4.5 Imbalance in the distribution of wealth
-The rich will become richer and the poor will become poorer. The poor will face enormous difficulties in improving their lives since they have no ‘connections', and not enough money.




3.5 The punishment for taking bribe

Anti-Corruption Act 1997 (act 575) states that there are several punishment for those who taking bribes. Among the punishment states is:


3.5.1 asking/receiving or offer/give bribe
Stated in section 10(a), (b) and section 11(a), (b) APR 1997
will be punished with prison for minimum 14 days and maximum 20 years and fine for 5 times value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher

3.5.2 Public officer using his/her post or position to get a bribe.
Stated in section 15 APR 1997 will be punished with prison minimum 14 days and maximum 20 years and fine for 5 times value of the bribe or RM10,000 whichever is higher.

3.5.3 Public officer failed to report give, promise or offer of bribe.
Stated in section 17(1)(2) APR 1997 will be punished with prison: not more than 10 years or fine for not more than RM10,000 or both.

3.5.4 Restraint the duty of anti-corruption officer.
Stated in section 19 APR 1997 will be punished with prison not more than 10 years or fine for not more than RM100,000 or both.

3.5.5 Give a fake information to anti-corruption officer.
Stated in section 53 (3) APR 1997 will be punished with prison not more than 10 years and fine for not more than RM10,000






4.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we should not simply to accept what kind of any gift or money to do something illegal. It can be considered as accepting bribe. We also should be aware on action that we’ve done in order to avoid from taking bribe. Bribery is an illegally action done by individual who wants to get a better or luxury life in a short period of time. Bribery is not allowed only in law and regulation but it is also prohibited by all religion on this world. Bribery also gives negative impact towards our reputation of country, economic and society. Before the problem of bribery become more serious, the authorities must take corrective action to overcome this problem. Individual also should take a responsibility to so that we can together save our nation from the effect of bribery.