IN DEFENCE OF 'CORRUPTION' (Dawn, Friday, September 10, 1993)

Dawn, Friday, September 10, 1993

IN DEFENCE OF 'CORRUPTION'

By Adil Ahmad

Talk about corruption and accountability has been fashionable for quite a while in our very fashion conscious society. Everybody talks about corruption, and the havoc it plays into our everyday lives.

The cop, the taxman, the water-man, the electricity-man, the gas-man, the phone-man, and every other official kind of man comes in for a lot of stick as the 'aggrieved' pick daintily at caviar and sip all manner of exotic brews brought in from distant lands. What exactly is it that they are talking about? What is this 'corruption'? And if so many people feel so strongly about it, then why is it so enduring?

In the Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary corruption is variously defined as 'to make putrid, to taint, to debase, to spoil, to destroy the purity of, to pervert, to bribe'. One thing that immediately becomes very clear from the above is the undesirable nature of corruption. The caviar picking, brew sipping lot are indeed right in their condemnation. There is nothing in the definition of corruption that would endear it to any civilized society. So how has it become so

all-pervasive that certain sections of society are actually lobbying for its institutionalization? Has the 'rot' sunk so deep that we must now accept it as part and parcel of our existence? Or is there some other explanation?

A civil servant, on the usual condition of anonymity, opines as follows. “Power corrupts. I used to hear this said when I was a little kid. It did not mean very to me then. But now I have little kids of my own, and I love them, and I want the very best for them. My position in government pays me 5000 rupees a month. I can make a thousand times that amount given my job authority. I think of how far my 5000 takes me every month. My wife is constantly on my case. My children lead a wretched life, from their quality of education to the quality of the air they breathe. My employers, the government, is not sympathetic to my plight. In my working environment there are strong ethnic resentments and conspiracies. The public automatically classifies me as corrupt the moment they hear that I am a civil servant. I can see it in their eyes. They all think I have a few millions stashed away in some Swiss account!”

It's a no win situation he says. “There is no longer any job satisfaction given the politicization of the service. So what am I doing here? I don't know! Maybe I am on the verge of conversion. The million dollar question is whether I should leave the service flat broke and with a clean conscience, or well heeled. The conscience can take a backseat. With money in the bank everything will fall into place. And I don't have to make my money off widows and orphans. In my line of work the petitioners have got plenty of money to spare, and they will gladly part with a handsome amount to gain my favor.”

Another one bites the dust? Who could blame him if he did? He is disenchanted and bitter with a system that puts his integrity to the test everyday of his life, and offers in compensation a laughable remuneration given the cost of living, and one which is grossly disproportionate to the responsibility and authority of the job. The system is lopsided. We have lived with it for so long that our entire approach to problem solving has become lopsided. Corruption is the great equalizer. It is that dynamic free market force which puts the planes of demand and supply in balance. The laws, procedures and policies have not kept pace with the changing times. While we have squabbled and bickered over petty plots, and ‘pajeroes’, and picnic parties, an entire generation has grown up as if in the jungle.

While the legislators have legislated for personal profit, society has degenerated into near chaos and anarchy. The law of the jungle settles the issue. The survival of the fittest is guaranteed. The traffic sergeant with eleven kids will necessarily have a hungry look on his face. Why he has eleven kids is a different story. But he is stuck with them now. And should I get stuck with him I can expect no mercy.

But why should I get stuck with him, or any other official looking man for that matter? "They are every where. You cannot avoid these servants of the public! The only place where you can be free of their influence is under a banyan tree! Even there you can never tell. Tree tax, would you believe?!"

It is true that in our society the urge to control has often prevailed entirely upon the will to expedite. Lengthy, complicated procedures very high on form filling and nepotism have enabled control by a few in the name of national interest. Growth, modernization, and the move towards a sophisticated society have been sacrificed at the alter of status quo. In such circumstances, corruption is a great expeditor.

In business, as also in life, time often translates to money. Hence, 'speed' money. If you have worked it into your project cost you don't think twice about it. The service you get in return is absolutely incredible. Also, you make a friend for life since you both now share a secret! The way 'speed' money whizzes around in our society makes for a system at once very efficient and, for those not conversant with 'speed' budgeting, full of despair.

"You pay a bribe once, and you are stuck with it for life,” says one irate God fearing businessman. “Thereafter nothing will get done without a greasing of the palm. One must be strong and resist the pressures of the bureaucracy. Instead of budgeting for 'speed' money, I build in extra time into my completion schedule. Good projects never lose, even if they take a little longer coming on line. You outlast the system's patience, and when the official looking men make a wrong move, you go for their jugular." 

Well said, and with feeling. But what of the members of the public who don't want to wait? Who are prepared to cut corners, and who live by the doctrine of 'speed' money? They are the ones who cause this cancer in society. Their mad dash, hell bent for leather approach to free enterprise leaves a lot of old fashioned entrepreneurs battered and bruised.

Chinese wisdom has it that as long as you cannot forgive the next man for being different, you are still far from the path to wisdom. I don't for a moment believe the Chinese would condone the corrupt, much less forgive them. But then the corrupt don't appear as any different from the rest of us. Even their conscience is sometimes clear depending on their proficiency at rationalization.

So is Chinese wisdom attempting to tell us that the corrupt, the sinners, are also human beings. Slightly warped, even demented human beings, but human beings nonetheless, capable of receiving God's forgiveness? Capable of repenting and turning a new leaf? That these very corrupt keepers of the national trust have the training, competence and capability to turn this great nation around, and take it into the twenty-first century ahead of the pack?

The ranks of the corrupt must be cleansed in a manner that rehabilitates the officer and makes him a useful, highly motivated servant of society. Someone who can administer ten thousand fields, and yet remain contented with that one measure of rice a day.

For those amongst the public servants who need more than one measure of rice a day to get by, a whole filed can be put at their disposal provided their intelligence and sincerity of purpose result in high levels of productivity for the balance number of fields in their charge.

The masters, the public at large, the beneficiaries of the pubic servants' high yield, are a very large hearted lot. In the present day scenario their large heartedness is severely put to the test through repeated belt tightening caused by a servant cadre that is increasingly untrained, unconcerned and unrepentant.

There is plenty more Chinese wisdom to learn from, and the one which particularly appeals to me says".... rather light a candle than complain about the darkness." If corruption in society touches the individual, then the individual must fight against it, effectively. Corruption in official circles constitutes just the tip of the iceberg. To be rich and to lead a luxurious life in the midst of pathetically impoverished, suffering humanity is the vilest form of corruption there can be.

Legitimately made fortunes cease to be the only criteria. The manner in which these fortunes get spent decides the status of the individual in the eyes of society. Each one of us, irrespective of our employment status, is guilty of corruption at some point in our lives. It is our God given ability to rethink a mistake, and chart a new course, which makes for optimism and hope.

I cannot resist quoting one last pearl of Chinese wisdom that puts into clear perspective the virtues of a corruption free society. "... He who does not lose command of himself lives on. He is not effaced by death but has eternal life."