No room for Malaysian culture of compromise and saving face

Last week, retiring deputy chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Datuk Seri Zakaria Jaffar admitted that the agency was in the midst of investigating the country’s “most powerful person”.

Of course, Zakaria stopped short of pointing the finger at who this "most powerful person" is, but his restraint was characteristic of the general Malaysian culture of non-confrontation.

Even while addressing the proverbial elephant in the room, Zakaria, like many top civil servants, will find it hard to discard the non-confrontational posture that has also earned Malaysians glowing accolades for being accommodating people.

But this “budaya” of compromise and making concessions, when practised in the context of politics and leadership, threaten to worsen the crisis of leadership that we are currently facing.

The one question I get asked most now when I travel is, how is it that a prime minister who has lost so much credibility from even within his own ruling party, still be holding on to power?

How do we as Malaysians explain how it is possible for a leader who has admitted to receiving billions into his bank account from an unnamed source, and who has all but removed from power anybody capable of forcing his resignation, can still so nonchalantly go about business as usual?

The fact remains that if not for the old-guard of Malaysian leaders who are still finding ways to reach a win-win situation for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, our embattled prime minister would likely have long been removed from power.

A prime example of this “saving face” tendency was best shown with a plea by highly-respected veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin earlier this month for Najib to be spared from criminal prosecution, so as to ease his resignation.

Kadir, who likened Najib to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, said what was more important was not punishing Najib, but “saving our country”.

Kadir’s reasoning, unfortunately, is precisely the kind of mentality that has gotten Malaysia into this current mess to begin with.

We are a people obsessed with keeping face, and allowing even those who have done wrong, some semblance of a dignified exit.

How many bailouts and scandals in the past have gone unresolved, often with the people responsible being quietly allowed to retire with a spotless reputation and comfortable stash of a retirement fund?

If Najib is found guilty of corruption, he must be dealt with the full force of the law, if not only to show the seriousness of his crimes but to send a message to all others in positions of leadership that nobody is above the law.

If he is cleared of any wrongdoing, then there must be no shadow of doubt of the integrity of the investigations and he must be accorded the respect of an innocent man.

Whatever the outcome, there must be no shades of grey when it comes to standards for transparency and clean governance; there must be no compromises.

Malaysia has already made itself the object of pity and ridicule around the world – from international news agencies to stand-up comedians – the state of our country’s politics has made us household names for all the wrong reasons.

When we come out of this political deadlock, the one lesson we must learn is that the culture of compromise has no place in a government that is free from graft.

We must remain rigid and relentlessly pursuant of accountability if we want to ensure Malaysia does not see another 1MDB scandal or RM2.6 billion “donation” case. – October 18, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.