Corruption: Who Cares?

Launched by Henry Bosch AO, formerly head of Australia's National Companies and Securities Commission, Corruption: Who Cares? addresses the global threat of corruption and profiles:

• businessmen who see corruption as a black and white issue with no shades of grey and are ready to pay the cost of such a stand
• a cabinet minister who fought against corruption even in the face of fierce opposition from within his own party
• ordinary citizens who effectively and courageously campaigned to end vote-buying in their countries
• businessman who returned hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid tax and precipitated an industry-wide tax probe

Reviews

“Message of hope..the courage to challenge the corrupt” Jeremy Pope, pioneer campaigner against global corruption,co-director of TIRI and formerly a director of Transparency International

“This small but very powerful book cannot fail to influence your view of life. For many of us, corruption... happens mainly in other countries. This book will change your mind.” Southeast Asian Times, Rod Jensen, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Queensland

“Brian Lightowler details the culture of corruption...through people who have stared it down.” Insights, Rod Ellis

“A very important contribution on a subject which financial experts and economists totally ignore.” R M Lala, Indian author of The Creation of Wealth and other books

“I would like the book to be read by every student of management and public administration, every decision-maker and leader of civil society” Disha ,V C Viswanathan, senior Indian business executive

Extract from Corruption: Who Cares?

Introduction

Nothing provokes a public reaction in open democratic societies quite like revelations of corruption among politicians or business people, or even simple dishonesty over money. Cynics may say the reaction is over the top, out of proportion. Most people instinctively know however that integrity, public and private, is vital for normal interaction in the community, long-term business confidence, social justice and the future of any society. They know from personal experience or the media that the scourge of corruption in many parts of the world is a disease striking at the heart of society.

Even so, people too often want to step round the issue of corruption as being too difficult to tackle. So long as it does not affect them personally, they say in effect, “So what!”. But when we do, then we are turning a blind eye, for example, to the following:

Annual worldwide bribery is conservatively estimated at US$1trillion (US$1000 billion), that is bribery paid by businesses or private individuals to obtain favourable decisions from either government or public officials. This figure does not include embezzlement or misdirection of public funds nor the theft or misuse of public assets, the amount of which is difficult to estimate.

We might wonder if anything can be done about it, or ask, “Corruption, who cares?” But the reply is clear and emphatic:

However widespread the evil of corruption is, courageous and effective action has been taken, by both official bodies and people’s movements, NGOs and individuals, to counter it. In fact the world is now at a favourable turning point in the long fight against corruption, according to members of the World Economic Forum Davos Group. (a group of business executives, law enforcement officers and other experts to address corruption issues).

This book is a response to both attitudes, “So what!” and “Who cares?” It gives, I hope, on the one hand a shock to those ‘good people’ who tolerate the ‘inevitability’ of corruption and on the other, to all those who strive for a world of integrity, up-to-date information, strength and vision.

I first became involved in the fight for integrity at the height of corruption revelations in Queensland, Australia in 1988-9. I remember well sitting down over several mornings for breakfast at 6.30am with five others to discuss how we would address the issue of corruption which had been uncovered by the Public Enquiry into Police Corruption. One morning I put on the table a proposal, later entitled Our Decision for a Corruption-free Queensland, which called on each of us to make a personal commitment to rigorous integrity, making restitution for any past errors, as a first step in answering corruption. The paper said in part, “Any system, however well designed, is only as effective as the people who operate it and the community environment in which it functions. In the final analysis the only effective and durable answer to corruption is incorruptible men and women.” The six of us signed it, restitutions to the tax office and the social security department were made, and we launched the ‘Decision’ publicly in Brisbane on 9 April 1989.

The significance of this is not so much what happened in Queensland, although it had an impact (see page 128 et seq.), but what it led to on a much larger scale in Taiwan. My wife and I lived in Taiwan for seven months in 1991 and were frequently asked by our hosts to speak publicly on what had developed through the programme, Our Decision for a Corruption-free Queensland. The Clean Election Campaign in Taiwan, which was partly inspired by what happened in Queensland, was launched in 1992 and became ‘a raging fire’ against vote-buying and other forms of political corruption. The example of Taiwan triggered similar campaigns in Brazil in 1994 and in Kenya in 1997 and 2002 (for full details see page 130 et seq.). What took place in Queensland may be termed a laboratory experiment for larger action elsewhere. This showed me the efficacy and relevance of individual choice and commitment in any effort to overcome the scourge of corruption.

Niccolo Machiavelli observed, “How easily are men corrupted and in nature transformed.” It was a conclusion based on his experience of politics and statecraft. He would have known that once the nature of individuals is so debased that they accept as normal the practice of corruption then soon thereafter whole societies can go under the influence of corruption. But the obverse can be equally true. Once the nature of individuals is so transformed that they accept as normal the practice of integrity then whole societies can begin to sideline corruption and advance towards new levels of integrity and openness.

For integrity to prevail, we need action not only on the political, legal and investigative fronts, but also on the human level. People in politics, business and the community can be so empowered that they say ‘no’ to bribery and take action for integrity. Is it possible to do this on a scale to make a decisive difference, to develop a cure to the cancer of corruption? My experience with people in all walks of life, from government ministers to owners of small businesses, is that it is possible. In fact, it is happening. I have interviewed many of them, some I know as friends through my work with Initiatives of Change (IofC), formerly Moral Re-Armament (MRA), and others I have read about and researched their actions. This book illustrates where and how positive action against corruption has been carried out in difficult circumstances and demonstrates prototypes for future actions.

In the years ahead I believe the world could achieve the marginalisation of corruption as a major influence, if not its elimination. But first let us look in chapter 1 at the threat corruption poses to civilisation today. Succeeding chapters examine the mounting efforts and initiatives by governments, NGOs and individuals, to minimise corruption and build integrity into the world’s politics and business. The final chapter briefly examines the challenge before us at a moment when, as the Davos Group of experts believe, we could be at a turning point in humanity’s millennia-old fight against corruption.

Brian Lightowler, November 2005