Its human trait to make money, and do so one needs an avenue in which one is in the “driver’s seat” and call the shots in decision making and could leverage on niche to have financial gain to which others don’t have access. If one has business background and entrepreneurship business is normal route. One is careful with expenses if business is one’s own. Again if you’re professional manager – unless you are well paid, the company has inbuilt check and balance against abuses – then some professional manager will also use their position to make side money. What more politicians in power where the finances available are from national coffers. To many (who otherwise are not businessmen) politics is avenue to make big money because power gives one the leverage to decide in the driver’s seat, one is careless because its not one’s money that is risked. So the bigger the project, the greater the percentage cut. It is always done in the name of public interest. That’s a perfect cover. For example in a major rice producing country, the politician there will say that the country’s traditional rice warehouses will cause rice warehoused to deteriorate and will be replaced by 200 temperature-controlled silos and will look for a crony to construct them at inflated costs to provide the margin for kick back. To preempt others within government from opposing they also will be “taken care of”. One of the “legitimate” excuses is to contribute to political party political funds. So the party takes a portion, and you take another portion with all in complicity. If you prosecute and drag one politician down the rest also will also be brought down including the party, which is not acceptable situation because is the Godfather to all, past, present and future officials to make money! Hence no big sharks are ever caught only ikan bilis to advertise to people whose money are robbed that corruption is tackled. Let it be clear that political corruption is not a local phenomenon; nor is it even regional to Asian, its worldwide varying in different disguises degree and form. Why even in good old Britain where the electorate are more matured about such things and less indolent about needs of public accountability, there were politicians recently exposed to abuse perks privileges from public money. (PM Gordon Brown recently apologised for their expenses, which included claims amounting to thousands of pounds spent on gardening, home furnishings, plumbing, security, for dog food and light bulbs). Politicians in UK or France, even if in the beginning they didn’t know how, will no sooner be taught by their Asian counterparts how to “make a deal” on G-G basis. They will promise to build a bridge (for public interest) even if’s there’s no river because the contract may be awarded to crony and inflated out of some others tax payers money, and one gets it back because the other is crony under patron-clientele ‘I scratch yours and you scratch mine’ exchange in corner of the market!

Life goes on. Its always the same: politicians in power making money, citizenry seeking to stop them because its ‘their’ money, opposition attacking the government on corruption, hoping to convince citizenry to vote them in, in replacement, to do exactly the same thing (maybe in a different not so blatant recognisable way) as their predecessors. Moral of story – you can’t trust anyone taking care of your money for your good. The problem is not solved but mitigated if some how politicians (as in Singapore) exorbitantly paid, or if they like JFK, inherited $100 million and are already rich before he became politician president or there’s strong institutional safeguards against human tendency to be corrupt, such as open tender system and strong anti corruption agency backed by political will or better still, like American lobbying system, legitimizing certain contributions arguably corrupt as legitimate…Why does Ronald Reagan say that politics was 2nd lowest profession bearing resemblance to the first (prostitution)? Its politics gives the power to decide on others’ money, and power as Lord action says corrupt, the more absolute the more corrupt, factoring in human nature

///But if a pencil cost 1RM in the market but inflated to10RM, this is daylight robbery/// – Undertaker888.

We’re in agreement here. Having regard to human nature to be “corrupt”, it is idealistic to hope eliminate it entirely from face of earth (regardless whether present guys in power or replaced by Opposition) but some of these guys are not just making 10 to 30% kickbacks but they sometimes inflate costs by 200 to 300%! Its a state of affairs thats blatant, flagrant and arrogant, and if there’s a word for it, its runaway corruption (like they describe runaway inflation!).

Given, the propensity of politicians to create deals/projects (as an avenue for them to make money) the important control to be exerted to prevent scandals of PKFZ proportion is basically to impose requirements (by institutionalised procedures and regulations) to ensure (1) project viability and (2) competent people to implement the job. This means (1) may tolerate some 30% inflation of costs but certainly not 100% or more….and regards (2) open tender, but if thats not practical, if they still want to award to a crony for obvious reason then that crony should have a track record, capital and experience.

The above (1) and (2) is obvious, considering that although Finance Procedurre Act in place where govt cannot liberally give guarantees, fact is project undertaken by govt agencies depending on govt revenue stream (which is often securitised as in PKFZ case) will have to be credible to the market or else no one wants to deal with the government. So it is a sham for the govt to say (hey the contractor gets his own financing when the fact is the contractor will raise finance from markets securitised against govt revenue ultimately and financiers and investors will always ask for letters of support or awareness or its variants which though not tantamount in law to stature of guarantee, however morally comit the govt to fork out the money at the end.