5/24/2013

C for Corruption, C for Commercial Crime


Corruption is said to have replaced the 5 Cs into one big C. The trial of Kong Hee and his 5 church elders is drawing a lot of attention to this island for corruption. And this is what political commentator Kumaran Pillai had to say. He ‘maintains the trial of the City Harvest leaders does not mean that Singapore's political, religious or economic systems are "inherently corrupt" or that its leaders "have become unethical"’.


I choose to disagree. My view is that our economic system is inherently corrupt. It is based on the fundamental assumption that human beans are corruptible. That is why civil servants and political leaders must be paid humongously high salaries, ‘to prevent them from being corrupt, by paying them so well that the temptation to corrupt is removed’. Now am I right in saying this? Please correct me if this is not true.


The corruption case involving the City Harvest Church is an anomaly. People don’t become corrupt if they are being paid very well. Or they have not been paid very well, so the inherently corrupt economic system vindicates itself.



Another way to look at this case is that there is no corruption at all, as the accused and the believers believe so. In that case, our economic system is not corrupt at all and Kumaran is right.


So, is our economic system inherently corrupt? Many will think so and many will think not. It is one’s personal value, upbringing and principles that will likely bring about one’s conclusion either way. There is no corruption, there is corruption, there is no corruption, there is corruption…. the petals are getting lesser as each one is peeled off.

Isn’t this a futile exercise to argue either way? A comforting word from Dr Wolfgang Sachsenroder, a visiting politics professor at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.  ‘Corruption in Singapore has not yet reached a stage where the public should be alarmed.’


Singaporeans can feel more relax as there are rooms for more corruption before our squeaky clean image is damaged.

26 comments:

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

What most folks call "corruption" and "greed", I just lump into one big concept called "human nature".

Humans, because of the nature of their brains, are easily fooled. They are so easily fooled that every human being deludes themselves -- to varying degrees and periods. That's why over the centuries our species has developed methods -- cognitive (like logic; both formal and informal, the scientific method etc) and technological (like measuring instruments) to help us overcome our brains quirkiness for self delusion.

Being "conned" by others is essentially self-delusion being exploited by savvy operators -- for e.g. politicians, marketeers, religious leaders, Ponzi schemers and other con artists. Before any form of "corruption" can occur, the human brain's propensity for being conned must be well and truly "controlled" by the con artist/ criminal. "Corruption" is some form of ACTION. No action, no crime.

If there is power and authority, then there will be corruption. That you can take to the bank (also probably corrupt).

Is there cause for alarm?

No. You are never going to rid the world of corruption. Your best bet: accept that occasionally you will lose value, and proceed caveat emptor.

The State (The Absolute Power of a given territory) is inherently corrupt. And thus so is the government (the executives and executors of that Absolute Power).

However, it is pointless to allow that to deter you. There are always ways in which the individual-- imperfect and deluded as he might be -- can WIN.

So just relax and pursue happiness. :-)

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

cock-ups, cover-ups, condemn, contempt

jjgg said...

Just a thought...how can I be wrong when I'm in power..if I'm wrong lets just change the rules to say that I'm right...if the system is corrupt then how can the people empowered by the system not be corrupt..hehe

patriot said...

No land is free of corruption if it is populated by two legged animal known as human beings. The Catch lies in whether corruption is legally worded to make it not a criminal offence. Public organization such as Town Council manage by political party is not corruption nor it is unethical if residents manage by the Housing Ministry are all uniformly catered to. However, in Sin, some constituencies were told that their upgradings will be behind or later if the Ruling Party is not elected. It is definitely not corruption though very threatening and intimidating and it is anything but fair.

As for been and being paid millions of Sin Dollars per year to be CEO and Cabinet Member. It is never corruption as the people were well informed about it transparently, even loudly to justify the quantum. Sinkies accepted the arrangement and the Rulers got elected election after elections.

So far so good for Sinkies; both Rulers and the People.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Did Sinkies accept the arrangement of obscenely high salaries? No, they just passed the law and threw it into the face of the Sinkies without needing or wanting to ask them if it is ok.

patriot said...

By the way corruption is not just the taking of undeserved rewards in the forms of money, favour and gratification etc.
The more corrupted one is the BRIBE OFFEROR, the One that initiates the offer to tempt the Receiver of the offer. Offeror is just as sinful as the One who ask for the bribe.

The one that willingly submits to undeserved, unlawful and unjustifiable demand is just as guilty as one that offers or takes bribe.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Matilar very good post. Guess you are not high and got your daily blowjob fix at jb. A very good post but as you expected, I still need to say knn to you to make your day. Hehe

patriot said...

Sinkies sanctioned all the Policies dished out to them all in the Last many decades. That itself is implied acceptance and to have the Ruling Party elected in all past elections means they supported all the Policies.
It is not fair to say that the Rulers threw the Policies into the faces of the People. It was and is the absence of protestation from the People(voters) as well as the results of elections that enboldens the Rulers.

patriot

agongkia said...

Seems like Corruption and Commercial crime are the only words one can find in dictionary.
Its Criminal breach of trust because of that Charbor.
C for CBT ,C for Charbor.....C for Chee...
C is the root of all evil.

Anonymous said...

The new 5Cs - corruption, commercial crime, con, cronyism, cover ups.

Weeds grows when the land is unattended. Greed grows when the people is daft and allowed themselves to be taken advantage, exploited, conned.

The world is full of lies. Stop voting for any party that serves the elites rather than the commoners.

bond

Anonymous said...

The best way to minimise corruption is not to pay themselves millions of salary. THAT IS JUST A BIG FAT LIE AND ONLY VERY DAFT PEOPLE WILL BELIEVE THAT. Do not keep insulting the intelligence of the voters.

The best way is to have a multi party governing system based on percentage of votes (not seats) so all the party members are subjected to scrutinization and accountability.

patriot said...

The more parties to form the Government the better for then they can check and balance one another

patriot

Anonymous said...

Corruption in Singapore has long been legitimised. Where got corruption? Must be joking, right?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

patriot:

>> The more parties to form the Government the better for then they can check and balance one another

Or there is the also valid opposite possibility: they will collude with each other to deceive the public.

Ask yourself: which scenario posits a better chance of "personal gain"? I submit the latter is more probable.

Even if people don't like each other or are on opposite sides of the political divide, they will benefit MORE by agreeing to cooperate with each other.

Add to that the Absolute Territorial Power of The State, and you have a recipe for a big, corrupt government with no checks and balances.

You cannot leave the government to have their own checks and balances. Checks and balances have to come from OUTSIDE the system.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? means "Who watches the watchmen?"

In the western democracies the cheeks and balances come from social institutions which simply form out of the freedom to form such institutions. So you have a free press, a free internet, freedom of expression and speech which allows even the most vulnerable individuals a voice, non-affiliated and non political citizens organisations -- religious institutions, private organisations, clubs etc. which are not "controlled" by government by laws and regulation. Then there are also the artists: writers, film makers, musicians, visual and performance artists, social entrepreneurs etc.

Is there corruption in the western democracies? Of course. The tendency for corruption is HUMAN NATURE, which may or not be influenced by any particular culture. However if you are corrupt in the west, you will get caught eventually, thanks to free and independent social institutions like a free press and citizen whistle blowers.

The key here is to FLATTEN the power and DISTRIBUTE it; to LIMIT the power the government has beyond its function to essentially keep the peace. The government IS NOT, and can never be an instrument of freedom. The government is the agency which REMOVES FREEDOM, for e.g. there is no freedom to murder, steal, defraud, assault, molest, trespass, disturb or destroy property which is not yours.

Another important point: there must be separation of powers -- the executive (PM and Cabinet), legislature (parliament) and the judiciary (courts) must be kept separate -- at all times, and it is up to the citizens with their social institutions to do this, and keep on doing it.

I'll go one step further: DIRECT ELECTION of the Chief Justice, but candidates are NOT ALLOWED to campaign, and campaign donations are STRICTLY ILLEGAL. Also set the term at 2 years max.

Modern nations are not "ruled" by government. They are under the Rule of Law, an the law is "blind" to any ideology, politics and hidden agendas…or at least should be.

patriot said...

Where there are humans there are corruptions, for corruption is man made.
.
Rule Of Laws had morphed into Rule By Laws in most regimes to facilitate staying in power. So, on top of corruption there is despotism to contend with.
Is Democracy the cure or at least the way to rein in corruption? Me agrees it may work, however it wont help much to fight corruption.

Corruption is one aspect of living that all humans have to live with. Moral discipline and education are some ways to counter it. Another way is to let the corrupts vie for their quarries, fight over their turfs and expose each other and be known to the people and the authority.

Does Democracy rein in corruption? Maybe in having more whistle blowers and hence got more corruption cases exposed and that is about it. Democracy is not very effective in corruption control as most are not interested in it unless one is an involved party or badly affected by it.

At the end of the day, only a clean and efficient government can bring down corruption, both as a role model as well as having the moral authority to prosecute corrupted folks. And the MOST IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE ASPECT OF A GOOD CLEAN GOVERNMENT IS THAT BY ITS' OWN INTEGRITY AND PROPRIETY, CORRUPTION IS GREATLY REDUCED

patriot

Anonymous said...

There is only one way to stop corruption - no one pays tax. No money, no need to corrupt cos nothing to corrupt. When singapore is poor, no corruption. When singapore is rich (reserves wise not people), so much corruption going on. Why bother to be rich? Why cannot be simple, honest and down to earth?

Anonymous said...

Thats the reason the gov should not keep so much reserves but the reserves should be distributed back to the people who build up this country. So many of those already left this world dishearted, betrayed, poor, tormented and sad after spending years building this country up with their sweats and blood. There were no foreign workers then, they were all singaporeans who did the construction works under the hot, blazing sun with no protection, technology, human rights only a faith that their offsprings will spring and not slaved.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@600:

>> There is only one way to stop corruption - no one pays tax.

I doubt that would stop corruption -- which arises from the "short-term thinking" of human nature , but I do like the idea of not paying any taxes ;-)

>> Why bother to be rich?

Because it is awesome and sure beats the alternative!

>> Why cannot be simple, honest and down to earth?

Because it'll piss you off, and you'll end up complaining on the internet all the time :-)

@606:

>> reserves should be distributed back to the people who build up this country.

Good luck with that. It's like trying to get your $5 back from the toothless hooker who just blew you, and left you feeling with "unfulfilled expectations".

When the govt has already taken your money, consider it a "sunken cost" and just get on with your life.

>> So many of those already left this world dishearted, betrayed, poor, tormented and sad after spending years building this country up with their sweats and blood.

Oh, please. It's not that bad. Singaporeans don't work that hard. And if you are "sad" that is your own very fucked up problem. If you are consistently "sad" in Singapore IMO you are an ungrateful, spoilt little cunt who richly deserves the mental torment and spiritual anguish. ;-)

>> There were no foreign workers then, they were all singaporeans who did the construction works under the hot, blazing sun with no protection, technology, human rights only a faith that their offsprings will spring and not slaved.

Sound to me that you want an easy shake-legs job, with high pay, in an aircon mansion with all the latest gadgets. If that's what you want, then you should join the PAP and become a minister :-)

Anonymous said...

'Singaporeans don't work that hard'

- you are very wrong. they were all dead by now cos no money to seek any healthcare remedy and the hospitals just chased them away. Construction workers in those days do not have cpf, medisave or whatever to tap on. You have not really know about the real singapore. I suggest you take up a volunteer work to get enlightenment.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@555:

If you don't run your own business, please don't insult me by telling me what "hard work" is.

You have NO idea. Not a fucking clue.

Anonymous said...

Businessmen do hard work?
Then he/she is not qualified to be businessman/woman.
Business people only make their workers work hard and they themselves play hard, then only can they be qualified ad SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PEOPLE OR COMMONLY KNOW AD BOSSES. Bossing around and exploiting all the employees.

Anonymous said...

Yes, big bosses are invariably slave drivers and manipulators. They are also usually cheaters, cutting corners wherever and whenever they can for workers welfares, product and service qualities and even plant time bombs into products so that they need repair or replacement fast, usually soon after the warranty and guarantee.

Many cheat by using inferior quality and substandard materials. They charge prices of original parts and brands but use generic replacements.

Bosses exploit their workers and customers to generate the most profits. Most are without conscience and some are downright evil. Those in financial products are the worst, using all kinds of schemes to cheat the customers who get nothing in return except pieces of worthless papers that cannot even be used to wipe the arse.

There are small time towkays who work with no time to ease their arse or relax their mind, these are buroh(low quality) business people. Because they work along the workers, they are merely high class employees, not real businessman.

Successful businessmen make the workers to bring them the money and kowtow(be grateful/thankful) to them. More often than not bosses are heartless schemers. Dog eats dog society is a creation of business people. Hell awaits them.

Anonymous said...

I got no brain, so I am useless to others, be they boss or government. No one wants me for I got no brain for them to exploit. And I no exploit and cheat others.
You angry ? Bcos your brain works wrongly. Go for a scan and have it repair.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Wow! Boaster cock, you! :-)

Anonymous said...

I am an employer lah.

I employ the government
by helping to pay for their
millions salary hoh.

You know not ?

Knn !