Political Corruption
what is political corruption?
what is the impact of political corruption?(on the society, on the people)
how can we solve this problem?
In simple terms, political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain. the government uses this power they have over their country and citizens, and abuse it for their own gain. This will result in a corrupted government that uses that country taxes and rates, savings for their own benefits. they might be more focused on themselves than the country and the community, and thus this will result in poor services, infrastructure, and other things provided by the government sector.
Impacts of political corruption
Corruption erodes the trust we have in the public sector to act in our best interests. It also wastes our taxes or rates that have been earmarked for important community projects — meaning we have to put up with poor quality services or infrastructure, or we miss out altogether.
first and foremost, the most obvious impact would be wasted tax and funds obtained from the society. Tax is money taken from the people when they are paying for goods or services. all the money taxed from the people will go towards the government funds, and this money is supposed to fund government spending and various expenditures. the taxes are used to improve the country, such as goods and services, education, healthcare, and other aspects. however, a corrupt government may result in the taxes being used for the government personal purposes and not on improving the country, and thus this may result in our taxes being wasted.
2.worse services, builidngs and infrastructure
government corruption means that the government is either not helping out the country, or it is doing worse for the country and the government has negative intentions.thus, another impact of a corrupted government is resulting in worse services, such as education, healthcare, industries, and poorer infrastructure, and there are many other sectors, for example like laws and order, food production, goods production and many more that may be affected. thus, if the money is not used properly it will result in poor management overall of the country, and the country will suffer.
3. Social and economic impact
The economic and social impacts of a corruputed government may lead to communism, and making it unfair for businesses and companies. for example, large businesses that have established connections with the government, tend to prospore more than smaller businesses who have no connections with the government, or that help the government. n a corrupt economy, resources are inefficiently allocated and companies that otherwise would not be qualified to win government contracts are often awarded projects as a result of bribery or kickbacks.
example of political corruption
for example, malaysia is a country that had many cases of government corruption.one such exmaple is their former and late prime minister, Mr Najib .In 2018, he lost a general election to his former mentor,92 year old Mahathir Mohamed. he Barisan Nasional coalition, which had governed the country since its independence in 1957, was voted out of power.
Following the defeat, Mr Najib properties were raided and both he and his wife were charged with a string of offences.
The real blight of Mr Najib’s political career has been accusations of corruption and mismanagement over the state investment fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad.Mr Najib, members of his family and several allies are accused of embezzling huge sums allegedly used to buy everything from artwork to high-end real estate around the globe.
After his defeat, authorities reopened their investigation and charged the former PM with money laundering, breach of trust and abusing his position
Mr Najib was accused of syphoning hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds from the 1MD soverign wealth fund into his own personal accounts.
Police raids on his family homes seized more than $273m in cash and goods, including luxury handbags that alone were worth more than $10m. Few but Najib’s most ardent supporters believe his claims that these were “gifts”. The trial that started in April relates to a relatively minor 1MDB subsidiary, while hearings in the main case are set to start in August.
He appeared in court for the first of several trials in April 2019, where he pleaded not guilty to seven of 42 charges. He is expected to appear for his second trial in August.
This year, Malaysia ranked 61st out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s annual corruption index. While this is slightly better than the Southeast Asian average, it is far below regional neighbours like Singapore and Hong Kong with similar levels of development and quasi-democratic systems.
Solution and Conclusion
- Power of the people(democracy)
Create pathways that allows the community and the country people to be involved and given equal opportunity to engage and participate in the government voting, have a say in the choices of the country, and what does the country need. thus when people are given opportunity to vote and choose, the government can identify priorities, problems and find solutions.
2. Ultilise technology
Use the power of technology to build dynamic and continuous exchanges between key stakeholders: government, citizens, business, civil society groups, media, academia etc. and then work with them to build up the country.
3. Focus on education
It is ablsolutely essential that greater attention needs to be placed on the line for comprehensive education for the future generation. Such efforts would involve ensuring that school and university curricula are updated and modernized in line with societal changes and developments to reinforce positive ideas and societal values for future generations and protect vulnerable groups of children.
with education, the people of the country would be more knowledgable, and thus when they grow up, they can contribute to the economy, and the country will prosper.
2. create a culture of integrity
Closely connected to the focus on education is the need to create a culture of integrity that is “hard-wired” in society. While such a culture can be fostered and advanced through the comprehensive education of the next generation discussed previously, there is no reason to limit such efforts to only young people. Civil servants, political leaders and private-sector actors — both individually and collectively — can immediately begin establishing and strengthening a culture of integrity that concentrates on high-quality service delivery and professional performance standards, treating individuals with respect and dignity, and — above all else — playing by the same rules of fairness and objectivity.
