Why Malaysia must learn from 1MDB to prevent future corruption

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison in his second major trial involving the multibillion-ringgit 1MDB scandal.

The High Court ruling on 26 December found Najib guilty on all 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power in the illegal transfer of RM2.2bn from 1MDB, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, into his accounts.

This ruling addresses the heart of the matter, though the former prime minister still has avenues for appeal. The whole trial centred on abuse of power and the lack of accountability and integrity of the prime minister’s office and his governing system.

To understand the root cause, one has to flip back into history on how integrity and accountability were lost in the Malaysian governing system.

It began in full force in Malaysia’s political and governing system after Dr Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister in 1981.

Mahathir’s era and his legacy made the position of the prime minister powerful and immune from real public scrutiny. Power has been used to avoid public accountability.

These developments affected the integrity of the office, resulting in a lack of public trust in political leaders and institutions in later years – leading ultimately to the 1MDB scandal and Umno’s loss of political power.

The Official Secrets Act and media controls were used to ensure information was in line with the elites in power, cementing this culture of unaccountability.

This is why Umno is seen to react so strongly to the loss of such invincibility over the 1MDB issue, which is clearly against public interest that demands equality before the law.

Yet from this entire episode, there seems to be a lack of learning and reflection among politicians, especially from Umno and Pas, on the roots of the grand corruption in the 1MDB scandal.

In Malaysia, it appears the powerful can only be brought to court when an opposition party later comes to power. This makes it seem as though the institutions are helpless without direction from the political elites.

This is why the court decision in the 1MDB case has been crucial to the moral fabric of the nation. The courts are considered the last resort for enlightened law and order officials on the importance of taking action to protect integrity, accountability and justice in public life.

The ability to act against the powerful in spite of political pressure should be the way forward if Malaysia is to become a country that has zero tolerance for corruption.

Hopefully, politicians on both sides of the divide, who are either celebrating or mourning the court decision, will work hard to ensure that political elites who are part of governance are made accountable for their actions.

Learning the lessons from 1MDB and acting on them to ensure grand corruption does not happen again is far better than celebrating or mourning in a partisan way.