Khamis, 25 Ogos 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Highbury was my special home, says Fabregas

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 08:53 AM PDT

Fabregas attends a news conference in Monte-Carlo August 25, 2011. — Reuters pic

MONACO, Aug 25 — Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas, who will soon be playing regularly at the Nou Camp in front of 99,000 fans, said he felt more at home at Arsenal's former ground Highbury than any other stadium in the world.

The 24-year-old midfielder, who returned to Barca last week after eight years with Arsenal, repeatedly referred to Arsenal as "we" at a news conference today before tomorrow's Super Cup final against Porto.

"I never felt at home as I felt at Highbury at any other stadium in the world. It wasn't my decision (that they left) it was the club's decision, it was what they needed in that moment.

"But Highbury was a special thing that I don't think will happen anymore, but we have to make... Arsenal have to make the Emirates their own home now and with their own cabinet of trophies to start all over again."

Arsenal have not won a trophy since moving the short distance to their new 60,000-capacity ground, but at least they will have another shot at the Champions League this season after surviving a playoff against Udinese yesterday.

"Yeah I watched it (on TV) and became a bit scared when Udinese scored and got the penalty, but I think after we saved the penalty the game became more comfortable for us and I think we played very well," Fabregas said.

"I'm very happy for Arsenal and their fans because they deserve to be in the Champions League.

"It's a big boost for the club and the players because it is a very difficult season and I am sure from this they will get so much confidence they can move forward."

Despite his fondness for his former team, Fabregas also stressed how happy he was to be with Barcelona, the club for which he played as a boy.

"I came to Barcelona to get better, to compete, and obviously to win trophies as well but that's not the only the reason. I'm certainly happy to have opportunities such as this one.

"This (Super Cup final) is part of the achievement of last year's team and I'm lucky enough to be part of this great club and I would like to thank my fellow players who had a magnificent season last year.

"Now I'm lucky enough to be one of them, to be able to play tomorrow and we hope to be champions."

"It's my first trip with the team. I'm really excited and very happy to be part of this great side and to see how things are done here.

"The team has treated me extremely well and I think we are in great shape, with this team you can just fight to the bitter end and give your all knowing that everybody trusts you and that everybody works together.

"What I have found most striking in this side is that there's great humility. They have won everything but they still want to keep winning.

"I know 90 per cent of the players and they made it very easy for me. It's going to be a very difficult season, we play every three days basically from now until the end so we will have to be mentally very strong and take care of ourselves." — Reuters

Guardiola laughs off claims of Barca invincibility

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 08:07 AM PDT

Guardiola said success simply meant a bigger bull's-eye on his back. — Reuters pic

MONACO, Aug 25 — Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola laughed off claims that his team were unbeatable or that they were the best Barcelona team of all time today.

Barca, who won the Champions League last season and the La Liga title losing only twice in 38 matches, have been acclaimed as the best club side ever. They go into Friday's Super Cup final against Porto seeking their 12th trophy since 2007.

While Porto coach Vitor Pereira described Barca "as the best team I have seen in my lifetime" before trying to stop Barca at the Stade Louis II, Guardiola said his team could easily be beaten.

"First of all we are not unbeatable. Each team can beat us. We receive a lot of compliments because we have won 11 prizes in the last four seasons," he said.

"But the more successful you are the harder it becomes and the harder your opponents want to beat you.

"We have to try and forget the past. The most important match is the next one so let's try to focus and keep going and for the players to show to the world they still have desire."

Trying to keep in perspective where his team stands in the pantheon of Barca teams of the past, he also said they had not yet proved themselves as the best Barcelona team ever.

"I have always had ridiculously good teams. We forget that the former team won three titles, and the team before that won six titles, so to say this squad is better than other squads cannot be said. This current squad needs to prove it on the pitch.

"It will be decided by history. We try to do the best we can afterwards people will be able to judge whether they like it or not," Guardiola said.

He was also full of praise for Porto who won the Europa League last season and the Portuguese title without losing a game.

Porto have sold some key players since last season's triumphs, and Guardiola said: "They are being sold for €25 to €30 million (RM80 to RM120 million) because they can make it. Everyone in Europe would like to have these players, they are a really strong side in every way.

"They won the league without losing a match – look at their statistics, they are impeccable.

"Otamendi, Orlando, Moutinho, the two wingers, Hulk, all the players are extremely valuable and can play in any major European team, but they are already playing in a very big European team in Porto."

The mutual apprecciation did not end there with Porto coach Pereira, who took over when Andre Vilas-Boas left for Chelsea at the end of last season, describing Barca as the best side he had ever seen.

"However, we are not coming here just to watch Barca play. We are here on merit after winning the Europa League last season and we are here to win the Super Cup.

"Of course Barca are difficult to beat, but I believe in the players I have and the game plan I have worked out which hopefully will see us win the game."

He also denied reports in England that Chelsea had made a bid for Uruguayan defender Alvaro Pereira, who is not expected to play against Barca.

"As far as I am aware there has been no contact from Chelsea for any of our players," he said. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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How many species on Earth? 8.7 million give or take

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 11:38 PM PDT

SINGAPORE, Aug 25 — Scientists have yet to discover, or classify, about 90 per cent of the plant and animal species on Earth, which is estimated to be home to just under nine million species, a study says.

The study, published in the open-access journal PLoS Biology yesterday, vastly increases the estimated richness of life on the planet. More than 1.2 million species have been formally described and named so far.

A bug crawls on a leaf at Sundarijal Nagarjun National Park, northeast of Nepal's capital Kathmandu on July 24, 2011. Scientists have yet to classify many species on Earth. — Reuters pic

Scientists have long tried to classify life on Earth and to finally figure out how many species there are but estimates have varied wildly from three million to 100 million.

The quest is no mere scientific fancy. Humans derive huge benefits from the richness of life on the planet, from foods to medicines, to clean air and water. Knowing how many species there are and taking steps to ramp up the search and description could lead to more discoveries that benefit mankind.

The recent surge in extinction rates only made the quest more urgent, the scientists said.

"With the clock of extinction now ticking faster for many species, I believe speeding the inventory of Earth's species merits high scientific and societal priority," said Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, who led the study.

Some UN studies say the world is facing the worst losses since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago.

Species are classified according to a 250-year-old taxonomy system. This groups life into a pyramid-like hierarchy, with species at the base, then genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom and domain.

Mora and team studied existing species databases and taxonomic data. They wanted to see if there were numerical patterns in the rankings, working on the assumption the higher taxonomic categories, meaning those at the top of the pyramid, are much more completely described than those as the bottom.

They examined well-known groups and found the relative numbers of species assigned to phylum, class, order, family and genus follow consistent patterns.

Applying this pattern to less well-studied groups could yield a reasonable estimate of total species numbers.

The result was 6.5 million species on land and 2.2 million in the ocean depths. The study had an error margin of 1.3 million in total.

The results suggested 86 per cent of existing species on land and 91 per cent of species in the ocean still await description, the scientists concluded.

"The diversity of life is one of the most striking aspects of our planet," the scientists say in the study. "Hence knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science. Yet the answer to this question remains enigmatic."

Writing in an accompanying commentary to the research, Robert May of the Zoology Department at Oxford University lamented the rapid rate of species loss, due to land clearing, pollution, climate change and other factors.

"It is a remarkable testament to humanity's narcissism that we know the number of books in the US Library of Congress on February 1, 2011 was 22,194,656," wrote May, until recently the president of The Royal Society.

But it was remarkable that science "cannot tell you to within an order-of-magnitude how many distinct species of plants and animals we share our world with," he added. — Reuters

Basketball helped Lithuanians survive Soviet gulag

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 11:16 PM PDT

VILNIUS, Aug 25 — Forced labour camps were meant to crush opponents to the regime of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, but basketball helped them to survive, an exhibition in former Soviet state Lithuania shows.

Around 150,000 Lithuanians were sent to the camps, known as gulags after their Russian acronym, and another 132,000 were deported to live in far-flung parts of the former Soviet empire by 1953. About 50,000 perished due to lack of food, illness, harsh weather and hard labour.

Visitor Algis Tomas Geniusas points to pictures of Soviet gulag labour camp basketball teams during an exhibition in Vilnius on August 24, 2011. — Reuters pic

"In a place where everyone was forced to fight for himself, it was necessary to find something that could unite people and preserve their pride. Basketball became such a thing," said Vilma Juozeviciute, the curator of the exhibition.

The show opened yesterday at the former headquarters of the feared KGB secret police, which is now a museum, in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

The exhibition has been timed to coincide with Lithuania's hosting of the European basketball championships, which begin at the end of August.

Pictures displayed on a green wooden wall with a basketball board and a barbed-wire fence on top depict political prisoners and deportees playing basketball or proudly showing their team jerseys with Lithuanian names, such as Zalgiris, now a famous club from Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city.

Some pictures captured fans absorbed by the game and cheering their side, and who, it seems, had forgotten for a moment about their hardships.

"To be able to play basketball at the gulag allowed us to feel human again, not only like a slave, and to survive the captivity," Juozas Butrimas, 84, told Reuters at the exhibition.

He said he was arrested by the KGB and sent to a forced labour camp in Russia's coal mining region of Vorkuta above the Arctic Circle in 1945 for being a member of an underground anti-Soviet organisation.

Butrimas happened to play basketball at a local team in the town of Panevezys before the KGB arrested him and three other teammates. Two of them never returned, while Butrimas came back to Lithuania 21 years later.

Lithuania this year marks the 70th anniversary of the first Soviet deportations after the Baltic state was occupied by former Soviet forces under a secret pact with Nazi Germany.

Basketball became popular in Lithuania after the small Baltic country won the European basketball championships in 1937 and 1939, when it also hosted the championship.

It will again host the European championship on August 31-September 18, a fact which inspired the runners of the KGB museum to make an exhibition of archive pictures and documents on basketball as a means of survival in the Soviet labour camps.

The first basketball teams appeared in the early 1950s, but they sprang up across the labour camps after Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's death in 1953, when restrictions were eased, Juozeviciute said.

Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians and others also teamed up and played the sport in the camps.

"Basketball means so much to me, and I am so proud that we are having this championship here," said Butrimas. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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Hathaway mocked for ‘One Day’ Yorkshire accent

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 06:39 AM PDT

Hathaway arrives for the premiere of "One Day" in New York August 8, 2011. — Reuters pic

LONDON, Aug 25 — British film critics have poured scorn on US actress Anne Hathaway for her northern English accent in the movie "One Day", calling it variously "another Hollywood stinker" and "all over the shop".

"The Devil Wears Prada" and "Rachel Getting Married" star said she had worked with a dialect coach to get the voice of Yorkshire "lass" Emma right in the film based on David Nicholls' popular novel.

She also told the BBC that she watched the popular British television soap opera "Emmerdale", set in Yorkshire, to train for the part.

The preparation did not pay off in many viewers' eyes, however, as critics queued up to pounce on her pronunciation of a notoriously tricky accent.

"The Oscar-nominated actress's every line is masked by one of the most honkingly rubbish Yorkshire accents you've ever heard," wrote Robbie Collin in the Telegraph newspaper.

The review drew comparisons between Hathaway as Emma and Dick Van Dyke as Bert the London cockney in "Mary Poppins", deemed one of the worst ever offenses against a British accent on the big screen.

Jan Moir of the Daily Mail questioned Hathaway's suitability for the role in One Day, arguing that she is far too glamorous to pull it off.

As for the accent, she added: "Just like nothing can camouflage Hathaway's incandescent beauty in One Day, nothing can hide the awfulness of her fake Yorkshire accent.

"Really, it is quite something to behold. For it is a nomadic accent — it was born under a wandering star. It's all over the shop."

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian was kinder on Hathaway's delivery, saying "it's not as terrible as all that" in a two-out-of-five star review.

But he went on to liken the actress to "Geoff Boycott in drag", a reference to the famous former Yorkshire cricketer renowned for his thick accent and gruff demeanour.

Some commentators have stuck up for Hathaway, with the Evening Standard's Henry Hitchings arguing that British audiences are too proprietary about their accents.

He also said that Hathaway's "nomadic" accent could be a deliberate way of portraying her character's "anxieties about her fragile, transitional existence."

Last year Hollywood star Russell Crowe was the target of some derision for his accent in blockbuster "Robin Hood", and walked out of a radio interview after it was suggested his character sounded like "an Irishman who took frequent holidays in Australia." — Reuters

Former Michael Jackson manager dies aged 63

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 01:54 AM PDT

Dancers perform "Thriller" during a tribute to Michael Jackson at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, September 13, 2009. — Reuters pic

LOS ANGELES, Aug 25 — Frank DiLeo, who managed Michael Jackson during much of his 1980s superstardom and returned to the King of Pop's side in his final days, died yesterday from complications of past heart surgery. He was 63.

His wife Linda and business associates issued a statement saying they were "deeply saddened by the loss of the legendary, iconic and highly respected music industry figure."

DiLeo began working in music in 1968 with CBS Records and moved around the industry before landing at Epic Records where he was vice president of promotions when Jackson's smash album "Thriller" was released in 1982.

"Thriller," with hits such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean," remains the best-selling album of all time.

In his book, "Moonwalk," Jackson said of DiLeo that he "really worked hard and proved to be my right hand during the years ahead." DiLeo managed Jackson's Bad tour and stayed with him for several years during the 1980s.

Even after their unexplained split, the pair remained friends. In 2009, before Jackson's sudden death in June by drug overdose, DiLeo returned to the "Thriller" singer with plans to help him through his ill-fated "This Is It" comeback concerts.

"He was not only one of the great veterans of the music business, he was a beloved friend to me and all who were lucky enough to have had him in their lives," John Branca, co-executor of Jackson's estate said in a statement. "He was one of a kind. He was a character. He was an original."

In the early 1990s, his company Frank Dileo Management handled the careers of Taylor Dayne, among others, and he was co-president of Savage Records.

More recently, DiLeo was working the career of teenage pop star Manika whose songs include "Just Can't Let You Go."

He is survived by his wife, two children and one grandson. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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Harapan Komuniti: Dialog dengan Jawatankuasa Pendengaran Selangor ‘baik’

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 02:32 AM PDT

Wakil dari Harapan Komuniti tiba di pejabat Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim untuk mengambil bahagian dalam pertemuan Jawatankuasa Pendengaran mengenai tindakan Jais awal bulan ini. — Foto oleh Choo Choy May

SHAH ALAM, 25 Ogos — Pertubuhan bukan kerajaan Harapan Komuniti hari ini berkata pertemuan dengan Jawatankuasa Pendengaran kerajaan negeri Selangor berhubung kontroversi pemeriksaan Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (Jais) ke atas sebuah gereja awal bulan ini berjalan dengan "baik."

Harapan Komunit yang menganjurkan majlis makan malam muhibah di Gereja Methodist Damansara Utama di Petaling Jaya pada 3 Ogos lalu — sebelum ini berkata doa kesyukuran, lagu keagamaan dan kuiz tentang Islam diadakan dalam program itu tetapi menafikan usaha memurtadkan umat Islam yang hadir.

"Pertemuan berjalan dengan baik," kata peguam Harapan Komuniti Datuk Kenny Ng kepada pemberita selepas pertemuan selama sejam dengan panel Jawatankuasa Pendengaran yang dianggotai Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Mufti Negeri Selangor Datuk Setia Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid dan timbalannya Datuk Abdul Majid Omar.

"Kami percaya ia akan membawa kebaikan kepada semua," tambah beliau menjawab soalan-soalan yang dikemukakan pemberita.

Pengarah Jais Marzuki Hussin enggan memberi sebarang komen berhubung pertemuan dengan jawatankuasa itu.

Setiausaha politik Khalid, Faekah Husin berkata pejabat menteri besar akan mengeluarkan kenyataan apabila tiba masanya.

Semalam Khalid berkata pertemuan Jais dan Harapan Komuniti itu dibuat untuk mendapatkan penjelasan mengenai pemeriksaan itu.

Khalid juga berkata Jais akan menyerahkan satu laporan lengkap berhubung pemeriksaan itu kepada jawatankuasa itu dan bukan terus diserahkan kepada Sultan Selangor.

Harapan Komuniti juga sebelum ini berkata mereka tiada sebarang hubungan dengan Gereja Methodist Damansara Utama dengan menegaskan dewan gereja digunakan untuk majlis makan malam.

Kiub ais punca keracunan, pelajar maut selepas buka puasa

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 02:14 AM PDT

Liow berkata siasatan terperinci masih dijalankan. — Foto fail

PUTRAJAYA, 25 Ogos — Laporan awal mendapati kiub ais merupakan punca keracunan makanan yang menyebabkan seorang pelajar berusia 11 tahun meninggal dunia selepas menikmati juadah berbuka puasa yang dibeli di sebuah bazar Ramadan di Klang awal bulan ini.

Ujian ke atas sampel sisa muntah dan najis untuk mengenal pasti punca keracunan makanan yang menyebabkan pelajar Tahun Lima Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sungai Binjai, Klang meninggal dunia dan lapan ahli keluarganya yang lain mendapatkan rawatan di Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah.

"Berdasarkan laporan awal, kiub ais merupakan punca keracunan makanan," kata Menteri Kesihatan Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai dipetik Bernama Online.

"Kita masih menjalani siasatan terperinci untuk mengenal pasti punca dan sumber sebenar yang menyebabkan mangsa dan ahli keluarga lain mengalami keracunan makanan," katanya kepada pemberita di Hospital Putrajaya di sini.

Pada 9 Ogos, Nurdini Mohamad Ali, 11, meninggal dunia setelah muntah dan cirit-birit selepas menikmati juadah berbuka puasa manakala ahli keluarganya dimasukkan ke hospital selepas mengalami simptom yang sama.

Semua mereka didapati makan juadah otak-otak dan air batu campur dibeli daripada bazar Ramadan sama.

Liow menasihatkan orang ramai agar segera mendapatkan rawatan sekiranya mengalami simptom keracunan makanan.

"Jangan tangguh untuk mendapatkan rawatan sekiranya mengalami keracunan makanan. Kita mempunyai pakar dan kalau mendapatkan rawatan awal, kita boleh selamatkan," katanya.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Colonised minds

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 05:32 PM PDT

AUG 25 — Last month, our prime minister spoke about the colonisation of the mind. "We might not be at war but there is the threat of the colonisation of the mind, our spirit and character," he said.

I happen to agree with him that there is indeed a threat of the colonisation of the mind, but perhaps not in the way he thinks.

I personally was not affected by the London riots, but my local area, Clapham Junction, was one of the areas of London that was badly affected. For days after I felt very angry every time I walked past boarded-up shops on my way to my local train station.

A friend of mine asked if such things could happen in Malaysia. Of course not, I said, because our authorities would get the water cannons and tear gas out at the first sign of trouble.

From the Malaysian side I heard and read a lot of comments about how such trouble hasn't taken place in our country because "God still loves Malaysia", or "see what happens when you have too much freedom." Even our political leaders have weighed in with comments like "this is why we don't allow demonstrations."

As someone who has been to rallies and demonstrations, and witnessed teenage boys smashing up the windows of one of my local shops, I can categorically tell you that riots and demonstrations are two different things.

Yes, some demonstrations descend into violence and riots, but that is the price a democratic society has to pay sometimes. There may have been riots or disturbances in the former Communist countries and some in America during the Vietnam War, but would you rather live in the USSR, or the US?

To me, a colonised mind is one that cannot tell the difference between a gathering of citizens intent on change through peaceful means, and a gathering of groups intent on malice and mayhem.

Then there is Ashraf Haziq Rosli. What a thing to have happened; as we Malays would say, "sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga". The mugging was sickening, but many people have been very generous and donated to "do something nice for Ashraf,"

Sadly it was a Malaysian poster who denigrated the effort, somehow claiming that there was no need to do anything for Ashraf because of the government's policies.

I have also read similar spiteful comments from other Malaysians who either ridiculed Ashraf for being out during troubled times, or poured scorn over Umno for the "publicity", or questioned the need for "paying" RM20,000.

Sad, isn't it? Londoners (and people elsewhere) were so moved by his plight that they were willing to club together to help him out. The people who donated the money didn't care about Umno, or the Malaysian government, or whether he was black, blue or white.

Malaysians (some, not all), on the other hand, can't even discuss what happened to him without bringing up race, politics and the government. Another sign of the colonised mind, perhaps, that some of us are unable to display a generosity of spirit towards a young man who had suffered a bad experience in a foreign land.

I would also like to mention Tahir Jahan. His son was one of the three men who were deliberately run into and killed in Birmingham. It would probably be fair to say that he single-handedly defused the very tense atmosphere in Birmingham (and possibly the entire country) by saying the following when many were itching for revenge: "I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, whites: We all live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another? Why are we doing this? Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home, please."

Powerful words, from a man who had just lost his son. So powerful that even the leader of the odious English Defence League was moved to say the following: "That was so f***ing dignified. We're going to hold a minute's silence for that boy ..."

That, in case you didn't know, is like Ibrahim Ali promising to hold a minute's silence out of respect for the death of a non-Malay. The British have embraced Tahir Jahan as a quiet hero. And in case you were wondering, yes, he is a Muslim. You see, to the British his religion didn't matter, it was how he behaved that matters. Thanks to Tahir, many more are beginning to admire the way his faith is sustaining him.

Compare his quiet dignity with the behaviour of some Muslims in our country every time they think they have been slighted or "insulted". Another example of a colonised mind, I fear: so many Muslims in our country are so used to thinking that the world is against them that they are unable to think objectively and rationally about anything and everything.

You know, I could write about the lessons the British could learn from us. How we prevent riots from happening. How we bring up our kids. But what would be the point in that? I would merely be perpetuating the view that some of us have about ourselves and our country — everything Malaysian is good, and everything Western is bad.

I don't deny that the riots have been very bad. It is frightening to think that there are people who think nothing of destroying things just for the "fun" of it, or because they can.

Yet out of the terrible things that have taken place, the British have shown an extraordinary kindness and generosity towards those who have been affected. Whether the victims were black, white, brown, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, English, Indian, Malaysian simply did not matter.

Would we Malaysians show the same kindness and generosity if a real disaster happened here? Or, true to our colonised minds, would we degenerate into pointless sniping about Christians helping Muslims (and vice-versa), Umno/the government milking the publicity, and how immigrants are a bad lot who always start trouble?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Corruption in Malaysia: I’m only bad if I steal

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 05:16 PM PDT

AUG 25 — Some of us in class did not mind being the photocopy errand boy. In those days of disrespecting copyright of academic books outright — which is another topic for another warm afternoon — the errand boy makes a bit.

Even if you made half a sen from each copy, it adds up to a few McChickens. The senior class knew of course since they'd do it too when it was their turn. You have to find a photocopier who can meet the deadline, you'll have to wait or return and at times urge them on. They were all small operators, so when machines break down as they often do they reprioritise orders.

They don't collate them, therefore you drag them home on the public bus and spend an hour stapling them. Then you head back to school in the morning, drag the bags, collect money and distribute them.

The class in time inclines to the person less likely to overcharge. The market corrects itself, eh?

Then there was a time when I was 12 I sold a 30-sen Hari Raya greeting card for RM3 to my friend's rich cousin. They were by my description some of the most exotic cards ever designed and produced by a primary school which will end up impressing the Raya pants off any friend he send it too. The spin was good.

Both examples draw me to the issue of corruption. Not that they are examples of corruption but that they exemplify why it is difficult to identify what is fair in everyday life.

Corruption 101?

Corruption is a peculiar concept. Most of us do not need someone to explain to us what it is, but when asked to explain it to others we are then trapped by a series of general phrases. Dishonest, breach of trust, perversion of integrity and duty, the leveraging of office to gain, insincere and many others.

There are laws outlining them, but the argument has to be made on how the law has been broken which is why it is difficult to establish corruption.

Compare it with your garden-variety crimes which have evidentiary requirements but are less complex, like stealing. You either walked out of the supermarket with items stuffed in your pockets, or grabbed the wallet from some guy in the swimming pool locker.

I mean even things like gifts, the receiving of them, is hard to establish the corrupt value in it. Which is even more pertinent in this holiday season where hampers emerge at all our corporate doorsteps.

William H. Shaw and Vincent Barry in "Moral Issues in Business" postulate some easy filters to determine if a gift is indeed morally questionable.

First you look at the value, I suppose if all or any RM200 hampers are directed to the front desk of Prasarana in this season, MRT contracts would be OK compared to perhaps them paying for design and redecoration of their office space.

(Prasarana Nasional Berhad runs Malaysia's largest infrastructure project ever, the Mass Rapid Transit for Kuala Lumpur, which might come up to RM50 billion. But you might want to ask MRT Co the final cost of the project since they are set to be formed and then take over the project from Prasarana at its infancy for reasons only best known to the prime minister.)

Second, the purpose of the gift and third the circumstances it was given or received. Which already moves into the subjective part of the assessment.

Fourth being the position and sensitivity to influence the person receiving the gift. Gifts don't just come in red boxes, so in the same example above, senior directors in Prasarana should be wary of what they get over the holidays.

Obviously Shaw and Barry are at sea when it comes to Malaysia with their final three filters: the accepted business practice in the industry, company policy and the law.

The filters are not protection, they are points of consideration.

Without overstating the obvious, reducing corruption in Malaysia would require all parties to continuously revisit the issue and play their role with an understanding that the complexities of corruption, even it comes to plain gifts.

How then about overextended companies relying on government bailouts, CEOs rewarding themselves irrespective of financial results, firms spending on dubious programmes after they are instructed by higher-ups and ignore minority shareholders, government leaders who have very good assets and more?

Ethical discussions and self-regulation help corporations avoid the meltdown of morals in the economy and lose their collective conscience, but you can't feed on that alone.

We are all useless, long live our leaders

Corruption is not about ill-gotten gains alone, less mentioned is how it destroys a country's potential.

I'll state three.

In a corrupt society, individuals spend more time squeezing money out of an enterprise rather than see how they can better the enterprise. All parts of a contract are stripped down to where there is margin for profit.

A road contractor — most often a sub-contractor — will try to keep a higher margin of profit than usual because he has palms to grease. He is not worried that the roads are tarred badly, he probably hopes they are. Because a road that goes bad quickly will need another re-tarring contract.

Second, products and services are themselves stripped down so they are easier served. If the government procures telephones, then the basic components of a telephone become essential for the supplier. Any innovation that someone in the firm might have is seen as unnecessary unless it directly reduces cost.

But to increase client value, the bosses will shake their head and repeat the mantra, give them exactly what they ask for, nothing more. Risking more only increases expectation and cost.

Malaysia does make an exception when what is completely untested new technology or stuff that is "canggih" (cool). It does not matter if the man-management and basic leveraging of IT is poor in government departments, but if you can like get a biometric machine and make service even worse, then my government will pay for it.

Because you see the supplier can charge world-class prices without worry. We love our gadgets here in Malaysia, especially when they can shoot green laser lights.

Third, it leads to the low-wage trap for a layer of people in corporations. How? If companies get their contracts or revenue through their relationships with government rather than the value proposition of the company, then the biggest contributor to your company are your "special leaders."

It will be entrenched that it really does not matter if your company can actually do what it promises to do, but that the right people own your firm. It then naturally skews the income and profits to the top end of the firm, the capitalist class.

Hire many in the bottom of the pyramid but pay them less. They will be happy to earn (less than they deserve) doing not so much and the federal government will be happy there is employment, even if they their incomes are trapped.

MACC will save the day

The final challenge is the enforcement against corruption, and here comes the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).

I'm not going to kick them over the past. Let's assume that they intend to fight graft.

The knee-jerk to their previous missteps is so telling. They showed media last month their new interrogation rooms in Putrajaya fit with large digital clocks.

Corruption is complex and the perpetrators are not your illiterate crooks stealing plastic folders at the reception of the Agriculture Ministry.

The problem is not going to be solved with large digital clocks. They have to move away from 19th-century criminal detection methods of questioning people for hours and days without evidence, forcing them to confessions and then defending the integrity of the confessions in court.

The complexity of most corrupt acts and the sophistication of the perpetrators go beyond thugs with badges forcing the truth out of you. The thugs might need to know what to ask, they might need to be educated enough to read past the cover of the Companies Act 1965.

This is exactly why they are stuck with minor infractions that they are capable of dealing with. A bribe from karaoke owner to an enforcement officer or a clerk who processes a payment for a "makan pagi" (morning snacks) for 10 that never happened.

The MACC doesn't need an interrogation room or more officers, it needs more lawyers and accountants.

The nature of corruption as it gets more refined and hard to spot in a world of mergers, Internet transactions, matrix-induced conflicts of interest, liberal accounting standards and cross border financial movements, the men and women who fight corruption have to keep up.

At the end of the day, the sad thing is a fair number of people will get away with corrupt acts. That is a given. What a society strives for is proof of real vigilance through your tax ringgit, that there is every chance the corrupt will be caught or live with the fear of being caught.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Khamis, 25 Ogos 2011