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WINDOW ON ASIA

The Changing Perceptions on Corruption

Shahed Latif
BACK tn the 1960a, during my third year m the Civil Service, t first . came acroa* the offer of blark money (or an act of favour It wax an extremely act of
favour, entirely within my discretion. I had at my disposal government fund* of Ra H crore for various development projects and If I dcpo*lt«l that money with a particular private bank. I would be paid half per cant that i* Rs 4 lakh in aolid caah No queatlon asked and I stashed away the money quietly tn a fixed deposit account. After 25 years today, through one single act of favour, I could have accumu latcd at least 50 lakh Taka without ever again Indulging In corruption.
Just once is enough. But that ia never the case. Like the man-eating tiger, onee you taste the easy ways of procur ing ill-gotten money, you are always on the look out for more such money-eating op portuntlles. Once corrupt, al ways corrupt Thus if I had taken that 4 lakh rupees, I would have gone for more and more and made quite a few crores by this time, provided, of course. 1 managed to escape the strong arms of the succes stvc Martial l^w governments, since Pakistan period, who like the hunters of man-eating tigers, often caught the money-eating bureaucrats and locked them up tn Jails
However, the changing per ceptions of corruption and bribery In our society have seen to It that such Jail birds once released are properly rehabilitated In our society Their Ill-gotten wealth not only remained fhtact. many of them flourished during the subsequent periods as tne vic
Um* of the past regime*.
Back in the 1950* and also I960*, thing* were entirely different. I always went to school by the public bus although my lather had an offl ctal car at his disposal. So was the case with all my friend* whose father* also enjoyed similar facilities But no more: office care keep on wailing for the children at the school gates In the afternoon.
A Journalist ■ friend of mine made a unique distinction between need based and greed based corruption. Misuse of office car or telephone are essentially need-based In fact, the perceptions have changed further and unless payment of solid cash in involved, it I* hardly corruption at all. Even payment ol bribe* tn cash are further classified Into need and greed categories
Take for example the feed Ing of 200 guests during the marriage of a high official’s daughter: after all. hts position demands certain standards and whether he likes It or not. can afford It or not. there must be a huge feast befitting the occasion, ft amounts to a dire need and Often there are per sons willing to foot the bill Strictly speaking. the high of fictal did not touch any black money. Like in a magic, things arc managed according to the level and status of the official Involved. The relaxed attitude towards corruption has created ample avenue* of escape. The society would not accept anything less than a huge party — so why bother about the archaic values of the past.
It Is indeed amazing how thg perceptions have changed
over the years. I remember, back in the 1950* when, as a high-school student. I first tame across Ihe after-effects of corruption. Our neighbour, an engineer working in a government department, was caught red handed by the Anti-corrupUon people and his wife kept on crying for days and months, not because her husband was in Jail but she had two grown up daughter* and then nobody would marry the bribe-taker"* daughter*. In deed both of them were sent Off to England for higher studies and I have not met them ever since They were good students: perhaps they have now good careers as well as husbands.
After 40 years, a similar incident would not worry the mothers of marriageable daughters. In fact, the Ill-got ten money would constitute double plus point in order to secure good Jamals (husband). After all, money is money — nobody would want to see
whether it is black or white.
Not that everybody Is corrupt; it has become extremely widespread since 1972 primarily because the cost of liv Ing had becorhe totally mad , to say the least. It is so much 'wild' that tt lost for good any meaningful relationship with the salary level*. During 1970. a* a Deputy Secretary In the I a ho re Secretariat, my monthly pay cheque was Rs 1400 equal to the value of 10 tolas of gold whose value today Is Tk. 60,000. In those days. It was not a very high salary but adequate for a comfortable living. I could afford my own car with three gallons of fuel every week costing Ra 10 only.
Within the next two year*, there was no question of af fording my own car. Life degenerated into a struggle to afford the essential milk powder for my four year old son. Two years later, I started using the office car to send him to school. By that time, my father had passed away along with the old values Once I remember, the scarcity of essential goods were so acute that I brought from abroad cans of milk pow der and edible oil. To be frank, I was always on the look-out for opportunities to go abroad and augment my salary — both In cash and kind.
Obviously, these were not corruption but much worse than that The Intensifying search for ways and means to make both ends meet according to the standards to which I was used to since my birth, regressed Into a degenerating system where my official func tions as a decision-maker had been seriously Jeopardised
And It was not only me For each one of u* working within the large compound of the secretariat, the administrative capacities continued to be eroded at a rapid pace. Yet there was no sympathy from
return largely cor,-I sis Led of a that bureaucracy %wa* the root of all evils ... They were trying to sabotage the J^tiallsl ambl U?”* the 8ov^rnment to
Shortly we began fo- ,uffcr from the evils of both th( systems - the market economy and the central planningTpcr haps the management j of a practical economy away / from the classrooms is too serious a matter to be left to\ the
Given the demoralising situation. the changing Perceptions of corruption was inevitable. Like a falling meteorite. the downhill month proceeded tn a relentless inanner and we reached the bottom with the advent of tHe new regime during early / 198Os when corruption became the most prominent national^nstl tution. The level of notoriety became the yardstick to n*ea sure administrative succfess Project* were prepared And approved depending on /the potentials of private offtakes of profits It was the wordt of times of corruption for private gains by notorious bribe-Maker*.
At the beginning of 1990s, the best thing that has .happened in our country 'is the reestablishment of our fcith in what we had learned at the schools : CHEATING NEVER PROSPERS Inspite of a few hundred crores lying in the secret bank accounts, the inevitable end is the Dhaka Central Jail.
Honesty is still the best policy 25 years back I did the right thing by refusing the offer of Ra 4 lakh.