I agree with Perikatan Nasional Chief Muhyddin Yassin that there is no need to debate the “root cause of corruption” remarks of the PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang, as it is as clear as day that the remarks are unMalaysian, irrational, extremist, without any theoretical, theological or factual basis.
Islam is one of the great religions of the world and teaches human being to be good, but Hadi has no problem in condoning corruption and working with Najib Razak, one of the masterminds of the monstrous mega 1MDB financial scandal.
Islam does not differentiate among the races but Hadi keeps spouting irrational, extremist and racist views. There are some 1.8 billion Muslims in the world as of 2015 – roughly 24% of the global population – and the majority of Muslims globally (62%) live in the Asia-Pacific region like Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey while only about 20% of the world’s Muslims live in Middle East-North Africa region where the religion originated in the seventh century.
Corruption is not a racial or nationality problem but Hadi continues to identify corruption with race or nationality. There is not a single Muslim-majority among the top 10 countries regarded as least corrupt, while three Muslim-majority countries are among 10 countries regarded as the most corrupt in the world.
When the Transparency International started its annual Corruption Perception Index in 1995, Malaysia was way ahead of India, China and Indonesia which were respectively ranked No. 35 with 2.78 points (India), 40 with 2.16 points (China) and 41 with 1.94 points (Indonesia) out of 41 countries surveyed. Malaysia was in 1995 ranked No. 23 and scored 5.28 out of 10 points.
After 27 years, in the TI CPI 2021, Malaysia is ranked No. 62 out of 180 nations with a score of 48 out of 100 points as compared to China which is ranked No. 66 with a score of 45 points, India ranked No. 85 with a score of 40 points while Indonesia ranked No. 96 with a score of 38 points.
All the three countries of China, India and Indonesia have made great strides in fighting corruption, particularly Indonesia which has improved its score from 1.94 points out of 10 to 38 points out of 100, but Malaysia is among the few countries which had regressed to the extent that a former Prime Minister had just been jailed for a monstrous mega financial scandal which would have been covered up if there had not been a change of government in the 14th General Election in 2018.
Instead of spearheading the battle against worsening corruption in Malaysia, Hadi has come out with a perverted version to give racial twist to the problem of corruption in Malaysia – something the voters of Malaysia must not forget when they go to the polls in the 15th General Election, whether this year or next year.
Hadi has only confirmed that the 15th General Election will, among others things, be a contest between the Rule of Law versus Corruption.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 4th September 2022)
