LOYALTY TO ROYALTY

It’s not always easy to handle royal matters in the Malaysian system of parliamentary democracy where the Malay Rulers play more than a ceremonial role in  the system of  constitutional monarchy.

…Under  Article 32 of the Federal Constitution, as Head of State, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong takes precedence over all persons in the Federation. He serves as the symbol of democratic rule and national solidarity and is revered as protector of the Islamic faith. The Constitution provides that he shall not be liable to any proceedings whatsoever in any court except in a special court established under the Constitution. The Raja Permaisuri Agong, the King’s consort, comes next in the order of precedence.

While the Constitution gives the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong wide powers with prescribed roles and functions in all three branches of the Government, it also provides for the country’s Paramount Ruler to act on the advice of the Prime Minister in all matters concerning national interest. Parliament convenes at his pleasure and cannot be dissolved without his consent. Indeed he is one of the three components of Parliament, the other two being the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) and the Dewan Negara (Senate). Bills passed by Parliament do not become law until he grants his assent. If the situation warrants it he may, on the advice of the Prime Minister, declare a state of emergency and suspend Parliament…

…At the State level the Head of State is the Sultan (Yang Di-Pertuan Besar in Negeri Sembilan and Raja in Perlis). or the Yang di-Pertua Negeri in states that are not under the Malay Rulers. The Menteri Besar heads the State Government, except in Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak which are headed by the Ketua Menteri (Chief Minister).

Under the practice of parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, the power of the people is exercised through Parliament with executive powers lying with the Cabinet. For any act of Government to be exercised the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong receives the advice of the Prime Minister, the Minister in charge or other relevant authorities…

*excerpt from THE KING, THE MAN (2006)

It’s not easy having to accomodate the adat and daulat of the nine Malay Rulers and the customs and traditions of the four states under the Yang Di-Pertua Negeri, each with its own idiosyncratic rituals and protocol. As head of Islam in their respective states, the nine Malay Rulers play a significant role in consolidating the many aspects of the Faith, including its practices.

The relationship between the Menteri Besar and the Sultan/Raja/Yang di-Pertuan Besar and the Royal House is therefore of the utmost importance in ensuring that matters of state and royal affairs are executed smoothly and amicably. For if the relationship is not smooth or amicable, there will arise tensions and pretensions!

Perhaps official matters are easier to handle than personal ones as protocol and government procedures fall under strict regulatory practices and there are clear guidelines to ensure there are no abuses or shortcomings in the state ethics, etiquette and decorum.

Handling the personal idiosyncracies and ethical standards of both the Ruler and his chief minister is more difficult. This is where slip-ups and errors of judgement may occur! This is where the Ruler and his chief minister may not see eye to eye and the relationship is strained!

What if the State Ruler and his family want  to undertake certain things like acquiring land or a business which are not within the State Government’s jurisdiction to approve? What if  H.H. wants to confer the state awards on his birthday on people whom the State Government committee find unsuitable? Clearly some dispute will arise and each side will perceive the other as being unreasonable and overstepping their line of duty.

Therefore, the rakyat’s pledge of loyalty to royalty must be reciprocated by the pledge of loyalty by royalty – that is, loyalty to the customs and traditions of Islam  and the laws of the land which govern the rakyat’s lives whether our blood is red or blue, black  or white!

Attached to this mutual loyalty is mutual respect! To gain the respect of the rakyat, the Malay Rulers must demonstrate the highest standards of conduct and behaviour. The rakyat in turn must show the highest regard for the Malay Rulers and the government.

At the heart of the Malay Muslim world is Islam’s tenets and teachings to uphold honesty and truthfulness, justice and fairness, integrity and honour! The government, the country’s laws and good governance are only the formal aspects of life! The same principles apply in our daily lives!

 

 

 

ADAT ISTIADAT

Sunday 7 APRIL 1968

Absented myself from Istiadat Bersiram to avoid any further unpleasant argumentation with H.H. on the subject of gambling. Latest report from CPO at 11 pm last night said that moderately heavy rain had fallen at Sri Menanti preventing people from visiting the gambling booths; licenses had been issued the operators for games of skill only; the Kuala Pilah police as well as additional men from Seremban had been deployed at the gambling site and these men had kept all the booths under close observation. It  seemed impossible that any heavy gambling could have been carried out under the circumstances…

 

Monday 8 APRIL 1968

7.30 am Proceeded to Sri Menanti in ceremonial dress with wife, arriving at the Istana at 8.30 am. 8.45 – 9.52 am Arrival of VVIPs i.e. Rulers Representatives, Diplomats, Federal Ministers, Lord President, Speakers of Federal Parliament. Tun Razak arrived late. 9.55 am The Tengku arrived as Representative of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

10.22 am The Installation Ceremony proper started and proceeded without a hitch. A new Bentara did not follow the ludicrous procedure of standing on one foot while announcing the commencement of the ceremony. The mengadap menjunjung Duli part of the ceremony was simplified: the Undangs, Pengulus luak and datos lembaga did not have to crawl and laboriously climb the seven tiers of the singgahsana as for the installation of the late Yam Tuan and the lembagas of the four Undangs paid homage in a body, not individually as before.

I read out the Loyal Address without any nervousness. The Speaker Dewan Rakyat and Dato Wong Pow Nee congratulated me afterward for having delivered the speech in a calm, unhurried manner. H.H. also read out his speech from the throne with conspicuous distinction…

 

ADAT AND DAULAT

18 APRIL 1967                                                                          9 MUHARRAM 1387

Public Holiday for the funeral of H.H. Tuanku Munawir.

Had early lunch at 11 am and proceeded to Sri Menanti, arriving there at 12 noon. Large number of people already gathered at the Istana, in black and bare-headed (latest adat dictum decided by royal decree). At 12.45 pm the S.S. (State Secretary) and I were called up by the Tengku Ampuan who enquired who the new Ruler selected by the Undangs was. I said I hadn’t been informed by the Undangs who had decided not to disclose the name until the actual announcement at 2.15pm. 2pm Ceremony began.

The Undang of Jelebu deputising for D.K. (Datuk Kelana) announced that T.J. (Tengku Jaafar) had been unanimously selected by the four Undangs as the new Ruler. There was a stunned silence following the announcement. Apparently everyone expected T. Muhriz would be selected. The “daulat Tuanku” response from the assembled people was therefore not over-enthusiastic. The orphaned children cried but not T. Muhriz.

The funeral at 4 pm was carried out without a hitch. A very large number of people attending the funeral.

 

19 APRIL 1967                                                                     10 MUHARRAM 1387

Handed to S.S. Undang Jelebu’s typed proclamation of T.J. as the newly elected Y.D.B. of N.S. ( Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan). The S.S. suggested that now the new Y.D.B. had been constitutionally elected there was no point in continuing to tell the white lie. So I rang up the Jelebu Undang and obtained his permission to disclose the whole secret to members of EXCO…

 

 

* entries in the diary of Tan Sri Datuk Dr Mohamad Said bin Mohamed ( M.B.N.S. – Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan, 1959-1969)

 

 

INCLUSIVENESS

“inclusiveness” is a much-used word these days. Lest the word becomes just another cliche or slogan, we should try to understand its meaning and implications more clearly.

Put simply it means “the act of including or embracing all sections of society or a party”. It implies among other things “the generosity of spirit, compassion and understanding” one shows in dealing with people who are not part of one’s immediate group.   

In his inaugural address, the UMNO President specifically calls for a new inclusiveness in the party spirit. He urges the Malay political party to embrace the other ethnic groups in its plans and strategies. While remaining true to its original cause of championing Malay interests, UMNO can afford to be more generous true to the spirit of 1 Malaysia. In handling the Malay cause itself, UMNO can be less exclusive and consider the aspirations of the other Malays in the country. 

For too long the UMNO members have considered Malay interests to be their sole prerogative. Throughout its history UMNO has given itself the monopoly over the Malay cause, often putting aside the efforts of the other Malay groups. It was as though UMNO alone cared if the Malays languished or prospered!

While this is an effective political strategy to maintain UMNO’s standing, more and more it is proving to be ineffective in rallying support from the electorate who see the UMNO club as being too exclusive, its members as being too arrogant and self-serving.

To translate the President’s call for greater inclusiveness, UMNO members must extend their hand to the greater community – to the other Malays and the other ethnic groups – for greater collaborative efforts. The interests of the Malays or any of the other ethnic groups are nobody’s monopoly but their own. We decide what we want for ourselves and we strive to make it work. This is the strength and the conviction that must be imbibed in and by all Malaysians.

 

MASJID DAN PERNIAGAAN

Saranan Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir untuk menjadikan masjid suatu medan perniagaan dan ummah yang mengunjunginya peniaga yang dapat menjana pendapatan lumayan tidak tepat sama sekali.

Bukan sahaja idea ini menyimpang daripada peranan masjid dan tanggungjawab anggotanya untuk mengendalikan aktiviti keagamaan, ia akan mengelirukan ummah Islam yang akan menganggap perniagaan lebih menarik daripada amal ibadat.  

Perbandingan yang dibuat dengan Masjid Nabawi di Madinah atau Masjidil Haram di Mekah juga perlu diteliti dengan lebih mendalam. Benarkah perniagaan di sekitar kawasan masjid ini dilakukan oleh anggota masjid untuk menjana pendapatannya? Adakah peniaga yang berjual di sekeliling kawasan masjid ini menghulurkan sebahagian daripada keuntungan mereka kepada tabung masjid?

Jika benar pun ini berlaku, saya masih menkhuatiri saranan Mukhriz untuk membangunkan usahawan untuk Kariah Masjid ( muka 5 Utusan Malaysia, 19 Oktober).

Mengapa perlu dibawa perniagaan ke venu yang harus menumpukan segala usaha ke arah memupuk pendidikan moral dan keagamaan? Mengapa peranan utama  ini dikelirukan dengan matlamat perniagaan?

Soal-soal penting seperti membentuk ummah Islam yang tinggi darjatnya harus difikirkan dengan lebih teliti memandangkan ketipisan pengetahuan dan iltizam tentang perkara ini! Bengkel-bengkel pendidikan dan pendedahan harus diadakan dengan lebih teratur yang memberi pedoman dan ajaran tentang penghalusan akhlak dan budaya, peninggian integriti dan ketelusan, peningkatan kemahiran keibubapaan – bukan kemahiran berniaga yang sudahpun dijalankan dengan meluas oleh UMNO dan agensi -agensi yang lain!  

Jika benar UMNO hendak memupuk semangat kekitaan atau “inclusiveness”, yang sepatutnya disarankan oleh Mukhriz ialah  sifat keterbukaan masjid yang perlu diterjemahkan kepada aktiviti aktiviti di mana pakar -pakar dalam bidang sains sosial diundang untuk membantu anggota masjid dalam usaha seharian.

Elok juga sekira-nya bengkel-bengkel ini dimanfaatkan oleh kaum lain untuk menyambut laungan SATU MALAYSIA! Alangkah baik jika kaum bukan Islam didedahkan kepada ajaran Islam untuk memperkukuhkan pengetahuan serta menjalin sillaturrahim antara kaum.

 

BAWDY JOKES

What a let down!

Just when I thought the UMNO leadership is dead serious in transforming not only the party constitution but the culture and thinking of its members through in-reach and out-reach reforms, there came a series of badly executed jokes from the party leaders including, surprisingly, an otherwise earnest party President!

The brilliant oratorical feat of the UMNO President would have gone down in history as the best had the opening address been complimented/ complemeted by an equally impressive closing! Which the substance of it was… until it was thought necessary to play up to the galleys by inserting a few bawdy jokes! 

Then true to UMNO culture, the crowd was roused to near-delirium with the heart-crackling and tear-trickling euphora of party solidarity. The UMNO members from all levels of the party hierarchy were united in spirit and recharged to translate the calls made by the top leadership into grassroots reality. The branch and division chiefs of the three wings will go home  empowered with new energies to execute the President’s and Deputy President’s bidding in their domain of political power and influence.

No doubt I will be accused of being a disgruntled, grouchy, frustrated, ill-informed kill-joy of an armchair critic – turned – citizen journalist with nothing better to do than to snoop into the habits of the UMNO Malays/ malaise. All of which I probably am at different points of my perjuangan demi bangsa, agama dan negara! And of course bahasa!

But I can’t for the life of me understand why it is necessary to turn bawdy and raunchy when you are trying so hard to be serious and knock sense into your congregation! To my own disadvantage I suppose, I can’t accept the fact that in order to be popular one has to give in to the popular culture that has penetrated the otherwise sedate – beradat dan beradab – Malays!

I can only think of one explanation which of course can be refuted at will! The Malays are basically orang kampung, simple out-of-town folk who are at their best when they are chatting informally in the kedai kopi. Here, the true Malay genius and wit surfaces as well as their folksy political insights.

The formal ambience of the PWTC dewan set up for a party general assembly can be intimidating or exhilarating depending on your own particular perspective. However, the etiquette of the event would normally require a certain level of formality in attire, demeanour, language use and behaviour! This the Malays must understand and accept whatever their level of achievement! Their leaders especially must maintain a certain level of decorum which the crowd will observe and emulate!

True – you would want lighter moments in an act of communication! A measure of informality always wins hearts and minds! A few bawdy jokes gives the occasion a magical air of exuberance. Which it did!

But it left sour grapes like me wondering! Was it really necessary to veer away from the seriousness of the event and its pleas and take away some of their bite? Why leave that bad taste in the mouth?

I would have liked to preserve in my mind a picture of the UMNO President and all the President’s men earnest and serious instead of schoolboyish and impish!

 

SHARED DREAMS

About 4 Temperaments

Overview The Guardians

The Idealists

The Artisans The Rationals

All Idealists (NFs) share the following core characteristics:

• Idealists are enthusiastic, they trust their intuition, yearn for romance, seek their true self, prize meaningful relationships, and dream of attaining wisdom.
• Idealists pride themselves on being loving, kindhearted, and authentic.
• Idealists tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, and they are focused on personal journeys and human potentials.
• Idealists make intense mates, nurturing parents, and inspirational leaders.

Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self — always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the “not visible” or the “not yet” that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships; they strive for a special rapport with their children; and in marriage they wish to find a “soulmate,” someone with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

Princess Diana, Joan Baez, Albert Schweitzer, Bill Moyers, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mohandas Gandhi, Mikhael Gorbachev, and Oprah Winfrey are examples of Idealists.

A full description of the Idealist is in People Patterns or Please Understand Me II

A List of Famous Idealists

Idealist Quotes

Idealists as Mates

The four types of Idealists are:

 

 

 

Champion | Counselor | Healer | Teacher

 

 

 

HUMAN DESTINY

God has unique ways of shaping man’s destiny – ways that our puny human minds sometimes find difficult to understand!

Typhoons, earthquakes and other natural disasters which man has no control over, indiscriminately kill people and unfairly destroy their lives. We grieve and mourn the losses but quickly mend the broken pieces and start afresh with renewed dreams. We heal and hope for better times ahead!

In the same way God destines greatness for some people and bottomless despair for others. Fate rewards some and punishes others sometimes unfairly to our naked eyes. Their efforts are decried and their failures redeemed in ways we ordinary humans cannot fathom!

Obama gets the Nobel prize prematurely, Isa wins Bagan Pinang with a thumping majority – victories which appear man-made and contrived! After all you can easily lobby for titles and awards these days, and you can persuade people to support you especially when you are beloved! The games that humans play, especially politicians, are intricate and intriguing! Always, they are inspired by the belief that they are doing it for the people they are destined to lead.  So they connive and contrive to make things work!

But I believe God has a bigger plan up there! Giving Obama and Isa their hearts’ desire is the best way to extract from them their best efforts! Putting them in the glare of publicity and national interest is destiny’s way of getting them fully committed to the cause!

 

For Obama it is world peace, for Isa it is political integrity – tall orders indeed and orders to be seriously heeded!

For those of us who dream of the good old days when integrity was pure and honour uncontaminated, there is hope of a paradise regained. For the realistic and pragmatic among us who are prepared to make compromises along the way, let’s hope we are guided by the basic values inherent in your culture and religion.

I believe that honesty and integrity have a deep religious grounding and it is this that must be propelled to the forefront of national development! The rakyat need to be continuously reminded of and reeducated in basic morality! 

HUMAN DESTINY! GOD’S WILL!

 

LESSONS LEARNT

God has a way of catching up with each one of us – however fast we run! If only we will heed the tell-tale signs and symptoms and sometimes the clear warning bells that ring amidst our hectic human pursuits!

On Thurday night seven friends met up for a cosy home-cooked dinner at Fadzi’s! The congeniality was indeed informally cosy but the food was exquisitely nouvelle cuisine and the fashion elegantly haute couture! As always when more than two women meet, there was animated prattle and copious chatter as we downed the delish delicacies of fine dining in- between faint promises to diet and exercise the next day!

Some of us are always more particular about this and that and more fussy in our pursuits be they personal habits, skills and expertise or physical and mental activities. Some of us are more laid back and relaxed and live our lives with greater equanimity and a wonderful tolerance!

Some of us, because of or in spite of our upbringing, are more driven and anxious to prove our worth while others have imbued loads of self-esteem along the way so do not feel the need or necessity to show what they can do. In other words some of us are more competitive, more inclined to undertake challenges and risks! Some allow others to work out life’s inequalities!

Which is exactly what I did or didn’t heed on Thursday! I decided to be hip and creative and steam my late mother’s tested sri kaya nangka in a pumpkin – for style and good taste!

With all good intention I had meticulously trimmed the pumpkin and scooped out the seeds to transform it not into Cinderella’s carriage but a beautifully fluted serving bowl. Then I proceeded to lovingly pour the nangka egg custard into it and left it to steam for about 45 minutes giving extra time for the pumpkin to cook.

Presto! It was perfect – so I thought! As if nature’s bounties are not enough I placed it in a fluted turquoise glass plate which matched the blouse that I was wearing – and off I went to Fadzi’s, quite smug that I had created a new desert jackfruit pumpkin egg custard which would surely go down well with the girls!

Well  – of course there were the greetings of OOHs and AAHs which women ceremoniously shower on one another for good cheer! They thought my pumpkin desert looked inviting enough! Until dessert time…

The minute I sliced into the nicely cooked pumpkin the superficial sri kaya nangka  top sank and out oozed oodles or rather a puddle of watery sauce which surrounded the pumpkin like the moat guarding Prince Charming’s castle!

I persevered! Undaunted by dismal failure I proceeded to surgically cut out pieces of pumpkin, spoon out bits of jackfruit, egg custard and sauce and forced them on Vim, Zainab, Zaini, Ayesha, Leyla and our gracious host Fadzi – for a final anti-climactic verdict!

Not bad! Not bad! Quite nice! Creative! they all politely said amid my not-so-humble apologies! In the spirit of 1 Malaysia and the political fervour gripping the country we displayed the greatest spirit of integration, of accomodation and understanding and the highest level of mercy and forgiveness! I swallowed my pride and admitted my shortcomings but not without engaging my friends in a discussion of what could have possibly gone wrong and how it could best be remedied!

There were indeed lessons to be learnt by proud humans from the humble pumpkin and the modest nangka!

I’d like to share  with all of you my mother’s recipe for Sri Kaya Nangka:

Squeeze and mix 5 pandan leaves with  1 3/4  cups castor sugar and 2 cups eggs (10 eggs broken into a cup) until the sugar melts and a thick foam forms on top. Pour in 2 cups of thick santan and mix well. Sieve custard mixture into a pyrex dish lined with an inch of diced nangka. Steam for about 30 minutes until the sri kaya is firm to the touch.    

( Instead of santan use double cream, instead of nangka use whole kernel sweet corn and instead of pandan use a mixture of rose and vanilla essence – for  Western flavours)

ENJOY!

***Use a pumpkin only when no other vessel or vehicle is available or when you want to catch your Prince Charming or the next by-election seat!

                                                                      PUMPKIN POLITICAL SURVIVAL

 

CORRUPTION DEFINED

Definitions of corruption on the Web:

• corruptness: lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain
• putrescence: in a state of progressive putrefaction
• decay of matter (as by rot or oxidation)
• moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles; “the luxury and corruption among the upper classes”; “moral degeneracy followed intellectual degeneration”; “its brothels, its opium parlors, its depravity”; “Rome had fallen into moral putrefaction”
• destroying someone’s (or some group’s) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity; “corruption of a minor”; “the big city’s subversion of rural innocence”
• inducement (as of a public official) by improper means (as bribery) to violate duty (as by commiting a felony); “he was held on charges of corruption and racketeering”
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 
• In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption often refers to spiritual or moral impurity, or deviation from an ideal. Frequently, this takes the form of contrasting a pure spiritual form with a corrupted manifestation in the physical world. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_(philosophical_concept) 
• Corruption may refer to: * Putrefaction, the decomposition of recently-living matter. Other meanings of the term use this as a metaphor. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption 
• Corruption or bastardisation is a way of referring to certain changes in a language. The most common way that a word can be said to be corrupted …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_(linguistics) 
• Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_(political) 
• Corruption is a 1968 British film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, from a screenplay by Derek Ford and Donald Ford, and featuring Peter Cushing …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_(film) 
• The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery; The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or …
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corruption 
• corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality; “debauch the young people with wine and women”; “Socrates was accused of corrupting young men”; “Do school counselors subvert young children?”; “corrupt the morals”
• corrupt – lacking in integrity; “humanity they knew to be corrupt…from the day of Adam’s creation”; “a corrupt and incompetent city government”
• corrupt – bribe: make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence; “This judge can be bought”
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

 

Published in Monograph No 65, September 2001
Corruption in South Africa, Results of an Expert Panel Survey

 

There is no room for a comprehensive discussion of definitions of corruption. However, some of the more well-known ways in which corruption has been defined, include:

“the giving, offering, or agreeing to give a benefit to an official or agent and the receiving, obtaining or agreeing to receive or attempting to obtain a benefit by a public official or agent”;5  

“the violation of formal rules governing the allocation of public resources by officials in response to offers of financial gain or political support”;6  

“behaviour which deviates from the formal duties of a public role because of private-regarding (personal, close family, private clique) pecuniary or status-gains; or violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private-regarding behaviour”;7  

“the abuse of public roles or resources for private benefit”;8  

“the abuse of power, most often for personal gain or for the benefit of a group to which one owed one’s allegiance. While the term ‘corruption’ is most often applied to abuse of public power by politicians or civil servants, it describes a pattern of behaviour that can be found in virtually every sphere of life”;9  

“a symptom of something gone wrong in the management of the state where institutions designed to govern the relationships between citizens and the state are used instead for the personal enrichment of public officials and the provision of benefits to the corrupt”;10 and  

“C(corruption) = M (monopoly power) + D (discretion) — A (accountability). In other words, the extent of corruption depends on the amount of monopoly power and discretionary power that officials exercise and the degree to which they are held accountable for their actions.”11

From the above definitions, corruption appears to be more than bribery (to which it is often reduced in legal definitions), and relates to various forms of mismanagement, abuse or misuse of mainly public authority, office, duties, trust or resources, for private, personal or sectoral interest, benefit or gain.

How should corruption be defined and understood? What are examples of corrupt behaviour? One of the most intractable debates in the anti-corruption literature is that around definition, despite the fact that most people, most of the time, know corruption when it is encountered. Corruption is a highly complex and diverse phenomenon with many different manifestations. It can be grand or petty, incidental, systematic or systemic. It can be judicial, administrative, legislative or political in nature. It can occur in the public, private or civil society sector. It can involve groups or individuals. Academics from various disciplines (including lawyers, historians, moralists, economists and political scientists) and international organisation experts define it in various ways.

Definitions of corruption