Corruption And Malpractices

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Corruption and Malpractices

The corruption and malpractices are the means of getting the right or wrong things done out of the ordinary way by using unethical practices. Human beings have a unique sense of survival and a drive to outsmart the fellow beings. Outsmarting the fellow being is an inherent human quality related to human survival and esteem. The human energy discharged for outsmarting another cannot be contained. It is a continual discharge and a society must be geared to absorb these energies through properly wired absorption circuits. If not regulated it can short circuit creating social chaos. A classroom of a school can be taken as a typical example. The children are in a constant competition and some are even backed by their parents. Some study hard, some try to use the powers of parents while another excels in sports. A school has multiple activities that a student can excel and outsmart the peers. Every one wants one thing in common in this particular aspect of life. It is to be prominent which is helpful for survival and to boost up the self esteem which ultimately contributes to the sense of security.  The complexity of the efforts taken inside a classroom is very less and straightforward, yet it represents the struggle with in a society. A classroom is comparatively in control since it is still a sub culture that has justice, law and order to a greater extent. It has very little room for politics. Only some parents try to influence the teachers by giving generous gifts. But our teachers must be praised for the protection of moral values, maintaining the discipline, law and order to a greater extent with in our classrooms which has given us much stability as a nation.

The world of the adults is different. The methods used to outsmart the fellow beings are totally depending on the values of the society one lives. The common characteristics of a third world society like ours are confusion, lawlessness, cheating, very high percentage of poor people, widely spread corruption, extremely limited opportunities etc. Taking advantage of the prevailing situation, many resort to Corruption and Malpractices to outsmart the fellow being or the society. It is a very bad short circuit. Winning a business contract, admittance of a child to a popular school, get away from a traffic offence on the road, obtaining a false certificate by offering money, gifts or bribes are all parts of corruption and malpractices of modern day. In Sri Lanka, this dangerous vice that came to existence more rampantly in early eighties has now outgrown attacking every barrier that stood on its way. Virtually most of the government officials who hold authority expect some kind of gift to discharge the duties that they are being paid for, from the common tax payer’s money. This practice has taken an ugly form since late. Today, the mighty political figures to municipality garbage cleaner expect some favour to do their job. In worst cases, people use power, authority and money to get away from criminal offences. If the trend continues unabated, there will be a time that poor and innocent will be implicated in crimes for the rich and powerful to getaway. The judiciary itself is under tremendous pressure in trying to maintain the justice under the rapidly deteriorating social conditions. In each occasion a rule is bent for some body’s favour, he is outsmarting or cheating his fellow beings and the society at large. The out comes are the social injustice, moral imbalance, insecurity and frustration in general. When a one person cheats, invariably another is victimised as a result. When a leader cheats, the whole society is victimised. It is not necessary to emphasise the level of cheating, corruption and malpractices that are taking place at very lower levels. It is almost every where in varying degrees and we all go through them. A great nation with noble ethics and traditions just try to forget all of it and expect money even to let a person to visit his sick brother in the hospital if he is without a visiting pass. While all types of corruption and malpractices despite their magnitude are contributing for a gradual and steady de generation of moral values, it is more interesting to analyse the destruction done at national levels by the political and government officials which affects the entire nation with a greater impact but not so obvious to the general public. The common people of the country have no understanding of the dynamics that are associated with high level procurements and how negatively they affect the nation. The dynamics of high level corruption has come a long way that it has been evolved into the level of a highly resistant virus. Those who are involved in the process continually invent methods to outsmart the rules and regulations that are in place to control wrong doings. As a result, a great majority of political leaders and government officials are not interested in solving grass root level problems that most of the time does not require major investments. Instead they look for options, that awarding of a high value contract which promises to resolve the problem. A business community is out there to sell ready made and high tech solutions with attractive commission packages for those who are in authority. Since the moment somebody comes to a position of power that can take decisions, most of them do fall prey to the solution sellers  ultimately  wasting national wealth for no useful purpose.

This illegal money making process does two major damages to the society at large. One is the complete discouragement of finding any practical local solution for the problem which is the most cost effective and efficient. Having gone through this process for a very long time, our bureaucracies are in a mind set that solutions can be found for our problems only by purchasing machinery, equipment and systems from other countries incurring colossal expenses. Making foreign purchases and receiving commissions has become order of the day. If an odd character in the system tries to find a solution or voice his opinion in favour of a local cost effective solution, he will be tactically side lined and silenced by the system itself. This is the exact reason why ‘Research and Development’ inventing new technologies never take off the ground despite the availability of world class engineers and scientists in our land. In the year 2002, I was the appointed head of an engineering team to design and develop an ultra light aircraft. The project was entirely indigenous. I was amazed by the professionalism of our pilots, aero technicians, welders, machinists and surface finishing technicians. It was the best project that I ever handled in my entire carrier. The professionalism, enthusiasm and the inspiration of those who involved, created an ultra light aircraft which was flown in public on 17 Dec 2003 as the final item of the air show held to commemorate the centenary celebrations of Aviation technology. This aircraft is on display even today at the museum. While the success of the project was a reason for joy, the sheer lukewarm attitude of the personnel in authority at the time about the capabilities of our own people and the possibility of developing our own aviation technology was a shocking disappointment. Instead of developing our own technology, our leaders go shopping for seemingly good products paying the wealth of the country for the purposes of earning handsome commissions. Most of our educated scientists contribute to ‘Research and Development’ programs in other countries in utmost disgust for not providing opportunities in their own motherland.

The second is the purchase of machinery, equipment and systems paying enormous money which in turn does not fully cater the requirement. There are two distinct reasons for this misery. First is the creation of a requirement that is not in existence merely for the purchase of a product which offers generous commissions to personnel in authority. Politicians and bureaucrats pay billions and purchase such systems which have no real application which ultimately die a natural death. These leaders waste people’s money merely for the commissions they get. The bulk of the money goes out of the country owing to this selfish psyche. Another reason is that any technology developed in another country is generally developed to operate with in the unique climatic, economical, social, and geographical environment of the particular country. Also the general educational and skill level of the population that is going to operate the system as workers also matter in the sustainability of technical applications. The people in authority do not consider any of above important factors when determine the products they buy. But justify their actions on paper and get all required approvals for the favoured suppliers and products who comply to their ulterior motives. Installation of factories that cannot find raw materials to function them to the full capacities, purchase of over sophisticated equipment that our operators find it difficult to operate  which makes them out of service soon, termination of after sales service soon after the purchase etc are a few examples. These are not imaginations, but first hand experiences of being a helpless member of such technical evaluation committees in the past.

This political and bureaucratic value system also rejects the intelligent, honest and innovative leaders creating many unpleasant barriers for their progress with in the organisations they serve. When the intellect, common sense, wisdom and consciousness are repeatedly challenged, many capable people who can contribute to the betterment of the country leave the organisations they serve in half way of their carriers in bitterness. This process has been taking place for a considerable time, now almost all the government institutions suffer from the shortage of required leadership. This situation and mind set is the most destructive thing that is happening at present with blessings of certain other countries who want to keep us pined down for different reasons.

The human history full of social injustices, wars and many forms of destructions prove that corruption and malpractices are an integral part of the human race since the times immoral. Moral and immoral values are two sides of the same coin. Religions as old as the human race play a major role in balancing moral and immoral behaviour of people in any society. Every religion very precisely defines the moral and immoral values and also preaches the out come of both. Therefore any society with a reasonable level of education is conscious about the right and wrong.  Yet people discharge a proportionate combination of moral and immoral behaviour depending on the environment they live. It is a result of the remarkable ability of humans in adjusting according to the environmental demands. Though it takes a considerable time for people to adjust, the adjustments can be made assimilating into completely new social orders. The people who do unethical things consciously, for mere survival in Sri Lanka live as perfectly law abiding citizens when they move to a different country which has a higher degree of respect for law and order. If they do not do it, their survival is at stake. In Sri Lanka a road traffic offender may get over the offence by giving a bribe to the authority. But if the same person tries to do it in Singapore, the person will end up in jail. Even though it is difficult to adjust at the beginning, the Sri Lankan immigrants perfectly adjust to respect the law after living in an orderly country for couple of years. After some time, they uphold the system and always appreciate it after gaining the understanding that the respect for law and order is the most efficient protective mechanism for everybody’s survival. This same issue has another very important dimension. As an example, in Sri Lanka, roads are not standardised, no proper road signs; cows  cross the roads , pot holes on the middle, no proper parking areas, too many vehicles squeeze in narrow roads, pedestrians have no road discipline, drivers are not properly trained, bus drivers compete with each other with no regard for others using the road etc. On such a road, even the most decent driver may commit an offence due to its confusion. If data is collected to compare the number of traffic offences committed per kilometre in Sri Lanka   with a country with proper roads, the value will contain a wide gap. Even the most decent Sri Lankan driver can be easily caught for traffic offences often owing to the prevailing circumstances on the roads. His efforts in trying to get over it by using unethical practice, though not justifiable, entail his right to survive. If he commits the same offence on an orderly road in an orderly country, it is an offence that can jeopardise the lives of others and disturb the equilibrium of a stabilised road network. In such a system, an offender is more deserve to be punished for not adhering to traffic laws of the road which is not due to confusion of the system but due to his personal negligence. If the offender tries to get over the offence by bribery, it threatens to endanger an orderly system that already functions justly. Therefore in such systems, strong mechanisms are in place to ensure that bribery and corruption does not take place which can ultimately destroy an entire way of life of a society. Like wise when people are placed in a social system that has reasonable methods to earn, own a house, obtain a job, educate the children, obtain health services, has security etc creates less offenders. A habitual offender in such a society will soon be identified as a destructive social element and automatically become a social outcast by the society itself. The breeding rate of social outcasts in developed societies is comparatively at a very slow rate due to this phenomenon.

The feudal society that existed in post colonial Sri Lanka was just and comparatively much cleaner in terms of vices. The less complexity of the economy, less social glamour, strong social values and limited needs were the controlling mechanisms of the time. In Sri Lanka, the bribery, corruption and malpractices was not an issue until the early eighties in the past. It was a well identified vice and those who got involved even in a very minor level were penalised by the law. The famous sinhala movie ‘Sagarayak Meda’ directed by great cinema star late Mr Gamini Fonseka depicts a story of a doctor who was jailed for getting implicated in taking a minor bribe. The film casts the agony of the family and it goes on to portray the strong social value that prevailed in the society at the time. That society was peaceful and comparatively more just. People respected the law of the land and there were no means available for any body to get away from wrong doing by using bribery, corruption or any other unethical means. The invasion of the market economy after 1977 as a result of globalization was a major turning point in the history of Sri Lanka that infused a different set of values into the social order of the island. It was the second major social transformation of the country after the independence that needed strict level of control and management in every sphere in order to minimise the down grading of social values. But quite unfortunately the regime of Mr JR Jayawardena blindly copied the ‘Singapore’ economic model and only concentrated on the money making process. The adjustment of the social value system amidst the newly introduced market economy was not controlled. The provision of lands, infrastructure, housing, sewerage and waste management, environmental issues, power, market regulation etc for newly established export industries were not properly planned. As it was not planned every issue was a problem. The foreign investors who are veterans in handling third world bureaucracies enticed our bureaucrats to endorse their requirements at a very high social cost. The government officials and politicians who handled the regulatory issues related to the market economy were the pioneers who committed the first sins of corruption and malpractices of modern generation. The market economy created an environment that anything can be assigned a monetary value and money can buy anything that anybody wants. Money became the most sought after ingredient. The method of earning does not matter much in the process. Many in the middle of pushing industrial transactions through negotiating with the government, sub contracting and service provisioning make big money while making no real contribution to the economic growth. Money brings power, security, fame and all the luxuries of life. It can take people to highest echelons of society in a short period. It is one of the dangerous yet a typical characteristic of any market economy. Those who run ahead in the race of money making are in a struggle to achieve the ‘American dream’ which is a global phenomenon. The ‘American dream’ is a term coined to denote the dream of many people who immigrated to America. Owning a luxury house, a motor vehicle and a lucrative job that can sustain the life style is included to this.

Running after the ‘American Dream’ at any cost has become the goal of many people. Even today, with the current productivity levels, the ‘American Dream’ is a reality only for a small minority. Entire economic activities of the country are focused on the process of building luxury houses mainly in Colombo, buying limousines, patronising expensive clubs, womanizing, overseas travelling and social life for a very small minority that are lucky enough to run ahead in the race. The expectation of achieving the ‘American Dream’ has created an environment of fierce competition. People who are involved in the process hardly hesitate to do whatever it takes to achieve the ‘American Dream’ while a greater majority live in sub standard housing struggling to make the ends meet with meagre incomes.

The government servants or the people employed by the government exceed 1.2 million in Sri Lanka. This number is an extraordinarily higher percentage of the total population when compared with any other country. This segment of the country’s worker population is mainly involved in the administration, regulation and service sector. They are entitled for a reasonable monthly income, leave, low interest loans, working hours and retirement benefits. This population segment consume most of the country’s income while make no direct contribution to the production except very few. The farmers, factory workers, workers in Middle East including housemaids, masons, welders, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, small scale industrialists, fishermen etc have to produce enough to sustain the 1.2 million government employees with their perks. When the governments get inadequate income to pay the salaries, it obtains loans and print money driving the inflation up. Most of the government officials get caught in the process of achieving the ‘American Dream’ in their own ways. Often it becomes difficult to achieve the over ambitious goals and half way, they shamelessly sell the authority at their disposal in exchange of money. Now it has come to the extremely dangerous levels. It happens at the top most cabinet tender board to municipal garbage collector. While multi billion contracts are awarded for proportionately large commissions, another can burn down an entire court complex to destroy the proceedings of a murder case by the power of money and authority. Corruption and malpractices take place in the local police station, municipality, school, hospital, local government, grama sevaka, prison and in all other places that authority is vested. Today, virtually getting anything done is possible through illegal means despite the magnitude of the illegality of operation. All it matters is how much one can afford. While thousands die in the battle field another tries to buy inferior military equipment to get commissions. Junior military officer provides information to kill his superior in exchange of money. In present context, the rules and regulations have become a tool for illegal money making by those who hold authority. The rules and regulations are quoted to bargain the price it takes to get around it. The large numbers of government servants who are vested with authority are responsible for this misuse, abuse and manipulation of authority for their short term personal benefits. Many high ranking government officials own luxury housing, vehicles and educate their children in expensive overseas schools which they cannot afford if they have righteously earned. It goes down the line and even the lowest ranks in the government live beyond their means.

The people who have limited incomes and have no affiliations to the government pay dearly in this environment. Sometimes it is impossible for a poor person to obtain social justice as the rich always buy the decisions in his favour. No one has any idea about our heading for long term disaster. In our unconscious drive towards the disaster, we have already passed many milestones. Those who hold authority and sell it for money do a long term irreversible damage. They justify what they do slowly changing the social value system. Now it has passed the point that giving something to get things done has become an accepted social value instead it being a wrong doing. The rules, regulations or the law has no meaning in most cases. The decent and innocent population who believe that justice exists often get frustrated and give in to the ‘Chicago’ culture.

The prevalence of corruption, bribery and malpractices in a society is indicative of its lawlessness, injustice and the fierce competition of many people for the available limited resources. A society cannot be corrupt and moral at the same time. If a society’s immoral values heavier than the moral values, corruption and malpractices thrive in such an environment. One is a catalyst for the other. Alcoholism and womanizing are two of the strongest means of exerting unauthorised influence on those who hold authority which creates many other social problems. The decadence of such a society is very gradual and steady. Corruption and malpractices are falling into one of the most socially destructive immorality that can destroy even a great nation in a short period of time. It is a steady and definite killer like a cancer.

The deliverance of the nation from this greatest evil will be one of the first priorities despite its complexity. But it cannot be done in isolation without finding solutions for other social problems due to the simple reason that it is only a link of a one vicious cycle. If this widespread evil can be uprooted by having rules regulations, authorities, commissions and by the award of severe punishments for those who get implicated, bribery and corruption cannot exist in this land for the simple reason that we have all of them. It has proven that all the practising religions also have failed in controlling this vice in Sri Lanka. The total number of politicians and officials who make illegal money is a very large number, that external controlling mechanisms cannot control its collective energy. Any government trying to destroy this evil force by mere investigations and punishments will soon find itself out of power by the enormous collective energy of those who make illegal money itself.

Since all most every infrastructural facility that support life styles are in confusion, the people tend to do more offences and are in a fierce battle to grab the limited opportunities. This battle ground of life is the main life line of the corruption and malpractices. As discussed earlier, the natural drive for outsmarting the fellow being has been focused towards the daily survival. Reducing the social tensions by the provision of reasonable facilities for every citizen in a given community is the most practical first step that has to be taken towards the controlling of bribery and corruption. The provision of basic facilities alone will not contain the lust for money. Once certain degree of social equilibrium is achieved through the organised infrastructure, people will still continue to concentrate on money to access the power. The access to power brings security and esteem with it. In present Sri Lankan context, the only ways a person can feel secure is either being a member of the government bureaucracy, politician or being very rich so that they can spend enough to access the power circles in the government. Therefore, the sense of security is a key element that a government has to provide people equally without favouritism or cost. If the complete security for each law abiding individual can be provided with reasonable basic needs, that society will be comfortably stabilise without anxieties. The psyche of making money at any cost will loose its energy to a greater extent. The basic needs and security are two key elements in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The government can assist the people to achieve these two through proper management of resources. Once the basic needs and security are achieved, according to Maslow , the human nature is to turn towards the social and esteem needs. Provision of many alternative avenues to achieve the social and esteem needs and alignment of these efforts in a way that they contribute to the overall socioeconomic development is a possibility through careful planning.

In present society many important factors are not under any form of control. Those who run in the race of making money at any cost achieving basic needs and security in their own ways, resort to various things to achieve the next step, esteem needs. Building flashy houses, buying sports cars, getting into politics etc some of the things done by those run ahead. None of these are bad. But the ultimate expression one tries to impress on the others is the image of being rich and powerful. Therefore earning money is the only way towards the achieving of ultimate esteem needs in the present society. Even the medical doctors who are engaged in a noble profession are caught in the storm. The persons excel in sports, music, drama or theatre ultimately ends up in making money from their talents. This is one of the worst ‘values’ that our societies absorbed from the popular American culture. The societies that value money above everything else easily propagate bribery and corruption. The intended infrastructural organization has to be planned in such a way that can impose certain controls to regulate this money oriented esteem drive towards peaceful and productive goals. The area of esteem needs is full of human energy. In certain individuals it has no boundaries. Once a whole society has its basic and security needs fulfilled, it will have a massive quantum of human energy discharging to achieve the esteem needs. Therefore as a society, the absorption mechanisms should be very well geared and organised to absorb the discharging energies to the betterment of the society itself. In present Sri Lankan society we do not feel pressure of human energy discharged in search of esteem needs as many people are in a struggle to achieve the basic requirements. Therefore much have to be planned and done in parallel with the economic development of the nation in order to absorb the discharging human energy in search of esteem needs.

In many hierarchical organizations in the government, business and services keep their employee’s energies focused in achieving carrier advancement through performance which dissipate much of their energies discharged in trying to satisfy the esteem needs tied up with their professions. As they achieve each level in their carriers, keep them satisfied for a short period and often repeats the cycle until retirement. But more than 75% of the population in any country consist of workers. Some countries keep the worker population occupied from morning to evening without letting them enjoy free time to think about esteem needs while certain other countries have different systems that let them also enjoy the esteem needs. The Sri Lankan culture does not support workaholism or communism as we enjoy the freedom and democracy. Therefore we have to search a democratic model in the free world that can work in our cultural setting. The ‘Canadian Model’ has systems that let the worker community enjoy the basic, security and esteem needs at the same time without making them white collars.  In Canada, the population segments that make most of the money belong to the specialised worker community. Masons, plumbers, welders, carpenters, sheet metal workers, electricians, technicians etc are included to this community. They have a licensing and grading system. Their grading and licence denotes the skill level, reliability, speed and overall professionalism on the job. They take tremendous pride in their level in the vocational hierarchy of their own making. The licence categories and grading provides a stable price tag if his/her services are required. High quality of work is available for higher price. The society accepts them just as a doctor, lawyer or an airline pilot. The worker community enjoy the esteem needs with in their own professions to a greater extent. They earn and enjoy normal lives like the elite in communities while providing their services for the continuous development of the society. In such societies, money alone does not secure any body without credibility and credentials in some vocation.  When the culture values the quality of work, reliability, knowledge and speed, the worker community which is the majority in any country, keep themselves absorbed in their selected vocations rather than looking for opportunities to make easy and big money which is only a myth. That society will have less social tensions created from the money oriented esteem needs.

The promotion of sports among the population is another very effective absorption circuit. The provision of sports facilities adjoining the housing complexes can absorb a considerable quantum of human energy providing the esteem needs. Health, team spirit, patience, tolerance, fighting spirit etc are some of the positive characteristics that can be inculcated through sports. People can get themselves divided into groups in whatever combinations they prefer and fight through sports which are a very effective human energy absorption mechanism which can deliver many positive results in the long run.

The social stability achieved by lucrative jobs that requires sharp skills and knowledge, decent housing, social security, discharging channels for human energy searching for esteem needs and family solidarity can be taken take as a very strong tool to control the vice of bribery and corruption. Therefore the establishment of  infrastructure that support the family lives as outlined in relevant chapters is a prerequisite prior to the embarking on the battle against bribery and corruption. If a family can afford a decent house, education for the children, health care, recreation, freedom for religious worship and freedom of expression without resorting to unethical practices, the father or mother of the family will think many times before committing any offence that will jeopardise the peace and joy of family life. Indoctrination of a nation that committing of illegal acts can disturb their family peace and dignity is possible only if the population enjoy the family living with necessities. Once the harmonious family living is consolidated, the same can be held in ransom to slowly eradicate the destructive vices. Wives, mothers and daughters will be the target population for the most effective indoctrination. Since women have a very respectful and influential position in Sri Lankan families, they will be indoctrinated on their responsibilities in preventing their husbands, sons or fathers making illegal money which expose them to the risk of temporal separation through jail terms, family shame and economic losses in future. In strong families, women have a good control over the rest of the family members. This characteristic has to be utilized in its full potential to eradicate the social vices including the ‘bribery and corruption’. Also women have the most accurate sensing of any bad things that their husbands or children are up to. They can find the cheating faster than any external agency. Once women are indoctrinated that hard work is the only way to keep their families happy but not the money made through illegal means of corruption, they will defiantly oppose any such moves by their loved ones. Once this buzz in generated with in the home itself, it will have a massive impact as one of the effective control measures.

If above proposed controls are to be effective at lower and middle levels, one very important requirement has to be fulfilled with no compromise. That is the complete integrity and transparency at very top. The president of the state and his cabinet of ministers have to be people of complete honesty and integrity. Any action required to be taken to ensure that highest level of honesty, integrity and transparency are maintained in all demeanours of the top is a necessity in order place the control mechanisms in place. A single compromise is adequate to energise a domino effect of fall back of the entire effort of reform. This noble mission is therefore a task rests on the shoulders of head of state. He or she has to be a character of complete honesty and integrity with unblemished and proven track record in order to infuse the required energies into the system to start the process. Leaders of the neighbouring India are classic examples that can be quoted to explain the practicality of this theory. While the leaders of many developing countries get themselves implicated in various scandals have not been able to redeem their countries from poverty. But India having the world’s second largest population and being a third world country, is rapidly gaining territory in the context of development. The honesty of the top political leadership filters down a strong message of cohesion and patriotism. Once the confidence of the nation is rallied around its leadership, people do not hesitate even to make sacrifices if at all required.

In the present context of Sri Lanka, people do not need to make any sacrifices to come up in life. The available resources in this country are more than adequate to make this Island a true paradise on earth that other countries will envy. It requires the reforms based on a doctrine acceptable to the people and executed by a team of leaders of integrity, honesty, discipline and character. The doctrinal guidance is a necessity in this effort in order to keep the development on a steady course without deviations and changes from leader to leader. Once the leaders have to follow a well defined doctrine, they cannot justify their whims and fantasies that often pave the ways for illegal money making. Also the doctrinal guidance helps the people to gauge the performance, efficiency and integrity of the executing authorities elected by the people.

The settlement of people with basic necessities in life, security, provision of alternative means to fulfil the esteem needs, making changes to the money oriented social value system, reduction of fears and anxieties through economic stability, achievements through meritocracy will only create an environment that can have positive resistance to the bribery and corruption. The conducive environment has to be created first before formulating the legal frame work to tackle the issue.

Modern societies that are built and administered under constitutions and statutory bodies have complex laws enforced to control the corruption and malpractices. The functioning of a modern society requires precise regulation of activities that are taking place. The society has to uphold, obey and respect its rules, regulations and statutes that govern it.

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City of Seattle

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