Corrupt ecosystem needs to be looked into for betterment of country
SHAH ALAM - The ecosystem of corruption plays a big role in shaping the political landscape in the country, says #BangsaMalaysia project coordinator Nathaniel Tan.
For the betterment of the country, the activist said the matter needed to be looked into.
He said corruption culture still existed in the nation and nothing has changed until now.
“It is just a matter of who gets caught, why and when as well as who wants to be punished.
“I think if we really want significant ground-breaking changes, these are the things that should be looked into,” he said.
Tan said Malaysia has a long history of corruption with a kleptocratic state and was practising a specific infrastructure to it.
“There is a culture to it, almost like an infrastructure and ways of how things (corruption) are done and all these are basically intact.
“Sometimes this person steals a few more billions and the others steal a few less billions but the core of it being they are using the state as a piggy bank and a way to extract money,” he said.
He said this during Sinar Daily’s Wacana English Edition programme entitled “Malaysia’s Progress: Where are we now?”, which was aired on Sinar Daily’s digital platforms, tonight.
Tan further said the corrupt ecosystem was a mixture of money and politics dominated by political figures and tycoons.
He said basically, the tycoons would donate money to the politicians and the politicians would then award contracts to the tycoons.
This, he said was a recurrent cycle.
Commenting further, Tan said the scenario was the defining centre of gravity in Malaysian politics.
“Until that changes, I do not think the country is anywhere near getting out of the roots of the problem,” he said.
Besides Tan, the other panellists on the programme were Association of Women Lawyers vice president Daniella Zulkifili and Crisis Management and Conflict De-escalation consultant Zarra Z. Rawi.
The programme focused on issues concerning social transformation and opportunity as well as equitable development especially for the youths and the underserved communities.
