closing another chapter of my life

As I am taking up a new post, I will no longer be writing any entries on this blog. I have moved its contents on this new site and make them available as I feel that the articles and previous entries are still useful information to be dessiminated. All of us must keep our pledge to fight corruption in this beautiful country of ours. I wish the new torch bearer and all of the officers and staff of the Bureau every success.

I gave 3 years of my life to fight for a good cause. It is now time to move on for another good cause. I am sad but at same time happy. Sad to leave good people behind but happy being given another chance to make a difference. Often life gives us brief moments with another...but sometimes in those brief moment we get memories that last a life time...

Global Corruption Barometer 2009

Transparency International (TI) has released its Global Corruption Barometer 2009.  You can download the full report at http://www.transparency.org .  This is the first time that Brunei is included in the survey.  I did mention in my previous posting entitled Why is Brunei not on the CPI survey? in explaining to you why Brunei was never included in any of the surveys made by Transparency International.  To be honest with you, I was very nervous and anxious on what the outcome of the Report would say about Brunei and our efforts in fighting corruption in this country.  There was no word from TI when they told us that they were conducting the survey as they wanted to make sure we did not interfere.  They even told us that we might not like the outcome of the survey.  I knew I would be shooting myself on the foot should the result turn out to be very negative.

But, when the Report came out today, I am very pleased to know that Brunei is given a very positive ranking.  On the overall score, Brunei is in the number 2 spot just behind Singapore out of all the 69 countries and territory surveyed seen as least corrupt (Table 1).  Brunei is given an average score of 2.3 and 5 being the most corrupt.  Singapore is given a 2.2 average score and Hong Kong 3.2.  Traditionally we benchmark our efforts in fighting corruption with these country and territory as both Singapore and Hong Kong are traditionally seen as success stories in fighting corruption.  One interesting finding on the percentage of respondents who reported paying a bribe in the past 12 months, Brunei only reported 1% as opposed to Singapore 6%, Hong Kong 7% (Table 3).  This means that for every 100 people only 1 person paid a bribe in the last 12 months compared to 6 in Singapore or 7 in Hong Kong. I will not mention here which countries are seen as very corrupt as you can actually see the tables in the Report.

One area of concern which perhaps confirm my fear is the public perception on the sectors perceived to be most affected by corruption (Table 2).  The table indicates that 44% respondents surveyed perceived the Business/private sector as most affected by corruption whilst 33% saw the public sector or civil service perceived to be most affected by corruption. This Table actually puts Brunei in the same category as those countries traditionally seen as having an effective anti corruption mechanisms and program in the public sector.  

There is no denying that when the Bureau was set up, its mission was to fight corruption in the public sector.  But as time goes by, the growing importance of the private sector as an engine of growth has now been fully recognised.  That is why in our new strategic framework for the next 5 years (that I hope I could release soon), we will be shifting our focus on private sector corruption.  Our laws will be revamped.  I have forwarded our proposals to the Attorney General.  The cases of Enron and Madoff in the USA where billions of dollars of peoples' monies and investments were simply either squandered or stolen had as much more dire impact to thousands of people than the $10 bribe that was paid to get a licence approved.  

I am committed to empowering the members of the public in joining us in our fight.  You are our important stakeholder 1) report to us and 2) say NO to corruption.  As a start, I have expanded our formal complaints mechanism.  You no longer need to come to the Bureau if you do not want to.  You can call us via our available fixed and mobile lines or sms us. You can now file your report online on our website http://www.bmr.gov.bn or email us or simply log on our Facebook Anti Corruption Bureau Brunei Darussalam and become a fan.  These are all the many channels that we now provide you to report to us or file your complaint.  By making the channels to file your complaint easier, I know that the public will be more confident in coming forward with information or complaints of corrupt practices. I know that corrupt officials will become more conscious that their corrupt behavior will be exposed by you as you are now equipped with better tools to file your complaint.  Someone once told me that "ethics and integrity can be ensured if there is a continuous public scrutiny".   Already there are encouraging results. For instance since the start of our existence in Facebook, we have reached 1000 fans.  We have now received valuable information and complaints of corrupt practices via this new channel.

In my next posting I will highlight to you on some of the important statistics especially on the number of investigation papers opened and the number of cases that have been brought to court.  I will keep you updated.

Pelancaran Dialog Bersama Dengan Persatuan Guru dan Ibu Bapa Mengenai dengan Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah Brunei Darussalam

Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah ini merupakan salah satu pendekatan yang diambil oleh BMR sebagai langkah awal untuk mendidik pelajar-pelajar tentang pentingnya Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah. Disamping itu juga, ianya merupakan usaha untuk menanam nilai-nilai murni kedalam diri mereka agar menjadi masayarakat yang berakhlak mulia dan dapat mempraktikan nilai-nilai tersebut dalam kehidupan seharian mereka nanti. Adalah diharapkan langkah-langkah ini akan dapat memberikan kesan positif terhadap pengawalan serta pencegahan rasuah pada masa yang akan datang.

Bagi menyalurkan nilai-nilai tersebut kepada pelajar-pelajar, ketika di sekolah, guru-guru adalah penyalur bagi nilai-nilai ini dengan fakta-fakta yang tepat dan betul. Manakala di rumah, ibu bapa atau penjaga pelajar-pelajar adalah merupakan pembimbing nilai-nilai murni ini kepada pelajar-pelajar tersebut secara sepenuh masa sehingga pelajar-pelajar tersebut akan menjadi orang yang berguna dan bakal menjadi pemimpin dimasa nanti.

Sehubungan dengan itu, adalah bersesuaian bagi BMR mengadakan Majlis Dialog Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah Bersama Dengan Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru-Guru Sekolah dengan kerjasama Jabatan Perkembangan Kurikulum, Jabatan Sekolah-Sekolah, Bahagian Pendidikan Swasta Kementerian Pendidikan dan Jabatan Penjagian Islam, Kementerian Ugama. 

Saya ingin menghayati dan mengimbas balik petikan sabda Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Muda Mahkota  Pengiran Muda Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah Ibni Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, sempena Majlis Pelancaran Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah Dalam Kurikulum Kebangsaan, bertempat di Dewan Utama, Pusat Persidangan Antara Bangsa, Berakas, pada Hari Sabtu, 6 Zulhijah 1426/ 7 Januari 2006.

Petikan sabda antara lain berbunyi:

“Pendidikan pencegahan rasuah yang disemai dari awal lagi dikalangan penuntut merupakan strategi penting bagi membina dan melengkapi sebuah masyarakat yang bencikan rasuah. Generasi muda adalah bakal pemimpin akan datang. Seharusnya mereka ini dididik untuk memusuhi rasuah….”

Daripada petikan sabda tersebut, BMR komited dan meningkatkan lagi strategi dalam Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah dengan mempelbagaikan lagi kaedah pembelajaran disekolah-sekolah dan dipusat pengajian tinggi dinegara ini. Salah satu daripada inisiatif yang diambil oleh BMR ialah mengikuti sistem pembelajaran SPN21 dengan mengintegrasikan buku-buku Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah kepada “e format”  secara berperingkat-peringkat supaya pelajar-pelajar dapat memperolehinya secara “on line” melalui computer.  BMR akan membuat kajian semula dan mengemaskinikan isi kandungan pembelajaran tersebut mengikuti keadaan semasa. BMR juga akan sentiasa menyokong dan mengikuti Perkembangan SPN21 yang berjalan pada masa ini.

Sebagai salah satu langkah menuju ke arah kefahaman dan toleransi sifar terhadap rasuah, Biro ini telah membuka satu halaman web didalam Facebook. Dengan adanya Biro Mencegah Rasuah dalam Facebook ini, masyarakat umum akan dapat berinteraksi terus melalui papan discussion board atau pun member cadangan atau pandangan bagi memantapkan lagi usaha usaha BMR. Saya percaya dengan social networking site ini akan menambahkan lagi pendedahan masyarakat dalam aktiviti memerangi rasuah dan ini sedikit sebanyak akan menunjukkan kepada masyarakat umum dan antarabangsa yang kita di Negara Brunei Darussalam ini bersatu dalam memerangi gejala rasuah.

Dari segi pencapaian, Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah di Negara Brunei Darussalam telah pun menarik perhatian daripada negara-negara jiran. Diantara  lawatan-lawatan kerja dalam Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah yang pernah dibuat termasuk  lawatan daripada Michel Bonnieu, Senior Regional Legal Advisor, United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, lawatan daripada Allan Jones yang mewakili The Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia, lawatan daripada bekas Timbalan Pengerusi Komisi Pembanterasan Korupsi (KPK) Indonesia dan lawatan daripada Ir Ahmad Jais, Timbalan Pengarah Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia yang mana mereka-mereka ini telah datang ke Negara Brunei Darussalam untuk melihat dan mempelajari bagaimana Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah dilaksanakan.

Seperti yang telah diterangkan oleh Pengerusi Majlis tadi, tujuan Majlis Dialog Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah Bersama Dengan Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru-Guru Sekolah ialah bagi mendapatkan maklum balas atau pandangan daripada ibu bapa atau penjaga pelajar-pelajar mengenai dengan projek Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah ini. Saya berharap ibu bapa yang hadir pada hari ini akan dapat memberikan buah fikiran atau pandangan yang positif mengenai dengan program Pendidikan Pencegahan Rasuah di sekolah-sekolah.      

Tanggungjawab rakyat

Tidak dapat dinafikan tanggungjawab memerangi rasuah harus banyak dipikul oleh Kerajaan terutama sekali oleh Biro ini. Akan tetapi untuk mempastikan kejayaan di dalam usaha kita memerangi rasuah secara habis-habisan itu, rakyat dan sektor perniagaan juga patut sama-sama memikul tanggungjawab ini. Sebagai rakyat, kita juga adalah pengguna kepada perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan yang disediakan oleh jabatan-jabatan dan agensi-agensi Kerajaan. Disini saya ingin menggariskan sedikit hak dan kuasa-kuasa biskita sebagai rakyat di negara ini untuk mempastikan tidak berlaku rasuah di negara ini.
1. Fahami hak-hak biskita. Biskita haruslah memahami hak-hak biskita dan juga keistemewaan biskita yang biskita berhak untuk mendapatkannya. Sebagai misalan biskita harus memahami daripada tekad pemedulian orang ramai (TPOR) berapa hari permohonan lesen biskita boleh disiapkan. Sebagai misalan yang lain juga biskita berhak untuk mendapatkan maklumat bagaimana untuk mendapatkan biasiswa untuk anak biskita untuk melanjutkan pelajaran diluar negeri dan keputusan akademik yang perlu dicapai. Dengan memahami hak-hak biskita ini, pemegang kuasa akan tahu yang beliau berhadapan dengan rakyat yang bukan mudah untuk dimanipulasikan ataupun 'ditumbuk rusuk' untuk mendapatkan suapan.
2. Kuasa biskita sebagai pengguna. Sebagai pengguna kepada perkhidmatan, biskita berhak untuk mendapatkan perkhidmatan yang terbaik terutama sekali perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan yang dikenakan bayaran. Kuasa membayar inilah kuasa biskita sebagai pengguna supaya perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan yang diberikan sentiasa diperbaiki.
3. Galakan orang yang biskita pilih menjadi ketua untuk sama-sama memerangi rasuah. Di mana-mana biskita berada biskita akan berhadapan dengan ketua-ketua baik yang dipilih mahupun yang dilantik, seperti ketua kampung, penghulu, Yang Berhormat wakil Majlis Mesyuarat Negara, pengerusi persatuan ataupun pertubuhan dan sebagainya. Biskita mempunyai hak untuk mempastikan orang yang dipilih atau dilantik itu mengutamakan kejujuran dan amanah dan sama-sama mahu berusaha untuk membendung rasuah baik di dalam kesatuan ataupun pertubuhan atau kampung ataupun mukim yang mereka terajui.
4. Berikan sokongan kepada kesatuan ataupun pertubuhan yang menggalakan good governance. Badan-badan dan kesatuan-kesatuan seperti persatuan guru dan ibubapa, majlis perundingan kampung dan majlis takmir masjid antaralain mempunyai fungsi yang mengutamakan kejujuran dan badan badan seperti ini adalah berfungsi sebagai 'check and balance' kepada pemegang-pemegang kuasa dan amanah. Dengan adanya badan-badan seperti ini pemegang-pemegang kuasa akan sentiasa 'conscious' bahawa kuasa dan amanah yang mereka jalankan akan senantiasa di mata-matai oleh biskita.
5. Belajar untuk membuat aduan. Setiap jabatan diwajibkan untuk mengadakan peti-peti cadangan dan aduan. Biskita perlulah memahami tata susila untuk menghadapkan aduan. Aduan-aduan tersebut biarlah yang bertujuan untuk membuat pembaikan terhadap perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan yang diberikan dan bukannya untuk mencela pegawai-pegawai kerajaan.
6. Laporkan rasuah. Biskita mempunyai hak untuk melaporkan rasuah ke Biro ini. Malahan jika biskita ada di pinta rasuah oleh pegawai kerajaan adalah menjadi satu kesalahan jika biskita gagal untuk melaporkanya. Akan tetapi pastikan aduan tersebut adalah benar dan bukannya yang direka-reka ataupun untuk membuat fitnah kerana ianya adalah menjadi satu kesalahan jika aduan yang dibuat ke Biro ini direka dan tidak benar.
7. Jangan galakkan rasuah. Mungkin biskita mengatakan memberikan 'secawan kopi' (rasuah yang kecil) itu tidak mengapa terutama sekali jika biskita dapat perkhidmatan yang cepat dan menghindari 'red tape'. Akan tetapi rasuah kecil itu sama seperti sel kanser. Sewaktu kecil mungkin tidak mengapa akan tetapi jika dibiarkan ianya boleh menjadi besar dan berleluasa. Bila ini berlaku ianya akan memudaratkan semua pihak yang mana akhir sekali semua rakyat akan menderita. Lihat sajalah negara-negara disekeliling kita yang mempunyai masaalah untuk membasmi rasuah kerana ianya sudah berakar umbi sebagai adat resam mereka. Yang menderita adalah rakyat mereka sendiri!

Corruption= monopoly of power+too much discretion-(accountability+transparency+integrity)

The above is a simple formula to understand why corruption occurs in the public sector. Corruption like theft is a crime of opportunity. You increase the opportunity for corruption, then corruption will likely to occur in your department. On the other hand, if you increase the risks of getting caught in other words reduce its opportunity then the risks of corruption will likely to decrease as well. Consider this, if you leave a $100 dollar bill on the table of an empty room and leave it there unattended, you can bet the money will most likely get stolen. This is because the risk of the thief getting caught is almost nil. So the opportunity to steal gets bigger. If you dont believe me try to slip a $100 bill under the wiper of your car screen and park your car in Gadong overnight! But if the same room is provided with cctvs or entry to the room is recorded then your $100 bill will mostly likely be returned as the risks of getting caught become higher. Corruption is very much like theft. To reduce it we must increase the risks of getting caught. This is where strengthening the institutional mechanisms and procedures that enhance good governance shall become our number one priority in order to fight public sector corruption and other forms of malfeasance. I have seen too many occassions that poor governance does contribute to higher risks of corruption or abuse of funds. That is why I once said that corruption is not just about bad people but it can also be because of bad governance. The lack of check and balances in the collection of funds or in the award of tenders are amongst those that I have come to deal with. Consider this real case of the hospital staff accused of stealing the patients' registration fees. The court had to acquit those charged simply because the prosecution failed to prove how much each staff stole as it became apparent during the course of the trial, there was no control on who had access to the drawer in where the monies were kept!
So really if a department has someone who can exercise a full monopoly of power with absolute discretion in the exercise of it coupled with the lack of ATI (accountability, transparency and integrity), no matter what the organisation or department is and believe me in whateever Ministry it is, there will be corruption or other forms of misuse of funds!

Corruption is fearful of transparency

One of the strategic initiatives since I took office at the Bureau is to make sure that the Bureau is as close and as transparent as possible to members of the public as they remain the most important stakeholder in our fight against corruption especially in the areas of public sector corruption. They are the whistle-blowers on excesses of public servants especially corruption. We receive a large bulk of our first information or complaint from members of the public. However, I have always felt that the Bureau can make more improvement on how we can reach out to the members of the public. Thus amongst the initiatives that I took was the revamping of our official website www.bmr.gov.bn which amongst the many services provided, the possibility for them to file their complaint or information anonymously online. You can click the tab 'submit information' under 'services' and just follow the instruction. Under this system, the member of the public can also find out the status of his complaint and information that he provided to the Bureau.
I should however inform the public that there is absolutely no legal right for members of the public to force the Bureau to investigate every single complaint or information they filed in. Infact it will be ultra vires and illegal for this Bureau to initiate investigation that it has no legal powers to investigate! The Bureau does occasionally receive information that it has no jurisdiction to investigate for example on family feud over land or spousal dispute on property and sometimes information or complaint that reveal possible offences that the Bureau is not the competent authority to investigate for instance on theft or cheating. In such instance, we would normally advice the complainant to approach a more relevant authority or if the complainant could not be contacted, the Bureau would refer the information to a competent authority in accordance with the existing laws.
Whilst the Bureau will try every attempt permissible under the law to be transparent, there are clear sets of parameters that we cannot go beyond. Members of the public should always be reminded on the following:
1. The Bureau cannot disclose to anyone the identity of any person who is a subject of investigation of this Bureau or the details of the investigation to any person without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

2. The Bureau cannot disclose to members of the public our intelligence apparatus and infrastructure as this can seriously jeopardise on how the Bureau can function effectively. 

3. A member of the public cannot force the Bureau to investigate further into an information which the Bureau has deemed to be vague and has not disclosed any offences which the Bureau is competent to investigate unless of course new and more reliable information is provided.

4. It is an offence for members of the public to make a false report or mislead the Director, deputy director or any officer of the Bureau.

I really hope that members of the public to fully utilise our newly revamped website. Over the coming months, we will be providing more content into it.  I certainly welcome any comments and suggestions on how we can improve this website further either through this blog or via email or by simply writing in to our office. One further initiative that we will introduce in the coming weeks is on the use of Facebook to reach out further to members of the public especially the younger adults. I see that Facebook is a very good networking tool to get people connected  especially those who share the same cause and aspirations. It can be an effective tool to champion our anti corruption cause either in communicating our various anti corruption activities as well as in creating the "buzz" that everyone in Brunei must say NO to corruption.

With all these initaitives however at the end of the day, we need to go back to the original mission of this Bureau that is to fight corruption in the country especially in the public sector. The Bureau will always be on the look out and learn for new ways and methods on how we can execute our 3 key strategies of the Bureau in fighting corruption which are through effective law enforcement, educating the members of the public on the evils of corruption and finally through corruption prevention initiatives. Like what I have always reminded officers of the Bureau, the key charasteristic that all officers of the Bureau must possess is the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn.

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World Governance Indicators: How Brunei ranks within ASEAN

In my previous posting I talked about why Brunei is not in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking of the least corrupt countries due to the lack of the available data.  As a country we need a minimum of 3 independent surveys and so far I am told there are only 2 sets of independent surveys available. However, the World Governance Indicators (WGI) a research project commissioned by the World Bank did come up with some sort of an indicator known as the Control of Corruption.  The WGI captures six key dimensions of governance (Voice and accountability, Political Stability and Lack of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of law and Control of Corruption) between 1996 and the present.

The Control of Corruption Indicator for Brunei was based on 2 available data, Political Risk Services (www.asiarisk.com) and Global Insight Business Conditions and Risk Indicators (www.globalinsight.com). You can download a full report on Brunei by visiting (www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance) which shows how we fare in all the 6 dimensions of governance. The website provides an interactive database of the whole of the six indicators. However I am more interested to show you how we fare in the "Control of Corruption Indicator". Although the WGI does not rank countries, you can however use its interactive database to make a comparative ranking between the countries surveyed. So I came up with the graph on the left of the 10 countries that make up ASEAN for 2007 to see how we fare amongst our neighbours. We are slightly edging above Malaysia in number two spot but the graph clearly shows that we still have a lot of room for improvement if we were to compare ourselves with Singapore.