Note: This write-up was first published on December 27, 2019 in Express Tribune blogs, with a different heading given by the editor. It can be seen at https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/92407/corruption-in-pakistan-is-not-limited-to-politicians/

Corruption is commonly understood to be the giving or taking of money to commit an illegal act benefiting the money giver, while enriching the money taker. It is also invariably implicit that such benefit is at someone else’s or the state’s cost. The bribe can be in cash or in kind; high value material things – like a plot of land, a house / apartment, a car, jewelry, gold, et cetera.

A further, generally accepted feature of financial corruption is that the bribe recipient is a person in authority; like a government functionary, but it can also be persons in authority in non-government organizations, be it a NPO or a commercial business. For example, a procurement person in a well-reputed company (a person in authority) gives out a lucrative contract to a particular vendor for a bribe in return, even though on merit another vendor deserved it.

The Oxford dictionary defines corruption to be: (1) dishonest or illegal behavior, especially of people in authority, and (2) the act or effect of making someone change from moral to immoral standards of behavior.

Taking a cue from this, my contention is that financial corruption should really be understood as an effect of something else; something critical missing or weak in a society which allows financial corruption to occur, and even to flourish and become the norm. What then is this missing element, or the root cause of corruption?

I believe that financial corruption is actually the manifestation, or the result, of the loss of morality in a society. The corruption of morality occurs when a society no longer distinguishes between basic rights and wrongs, when it freely compromises on fundamental ethical and more values. And when it becomes so hypocritical that the citizens in that society regard themselves as being upright and holier-than-thou, and while castigating others, usually politicians, government officials and other public figures, as being corrupt, they are committing immoral, unethical or illegal acts themselves.

Society’s moral corruption can occur for several reasons, and the process of decline may take several years or even several generations. But when it becomes ubiquitous, deeply permeating all segments of a society, it becomes the way of life, spelling eventual anarchy. Yes, perhaps the most publicized manifestation is financial corruption, involving persons in power. But it inevitably spreads and envelopes all levels of officialdom, even down to the pettiest level of your ordinary traffic constable for example.

But to reiterate, financial corruption is a manifestation of the actual disease – moral corruption. In a morally corrupt or bankrupt society, practically everyone, irrespective of their vocation or position or socio-economic status, ends up living everyday life compromising without any qualm, on basic morality to some extent or the other, if not also the law, for some personal gain. Ponder on this point for a moment and myriad examples of moral corruption of everyday people from all walks of life will come to mind. Moral corruption breeds highly negative behavior traits, like arrogance, intolerance, bigotry, insensitivity. All of which tend to become contagious and ubiquitous, resulting in class and gender exploitation and the gradual but sure breakdown of what can be called a civilized society.

Consider for example, butchers injecting water into meat to increase its weight; builders using sub-standard building materials; doctors prescribing medicines of a favoured manufacturer; witnesses for rent available outside city courts; tax-dodgers; plagiarizing academics; cheating students; hoarders; the list is endless. Even otherwise upright and law-abiding citizens in a morally corrupt society become guilty, when they commit seemingly innocuous acts, which nevertheless inconvenience others at the very least, and at a higher level, inhumanely usurp others  rights. Even a seemingly ‘harmless’ act of double-parking a car (just for a ‘few’ moments in the justification of the perpetrator) is moral corruption. Just like many other misdeamours we may do in daily life, blithely not regarding these as breaches of basic morality at all. Why, even wasting precious water routinely, just because we can afford to do so, is moral corruption.

At the government in power level, perhaps the worst outcome of moral corruption is the failure to put in place the rule of law, the failure (for lack of real will more than anything else) to provide even basic human rights to the people (security, water, food, healthcare, education) and above all, the failure to provide timely justice. Obviously moral corruption at the government level is far more damaging, negatively impacting many more people and destroying the very fabric of what can be regarded as a civilized society.

History is replete with examples of morally corrupt leaders wielding power in countries in all continents. And accelerating their slide into moral corruption is invariably an ever bloating ego and an ever deepening conviction that they were born to rule. Such leaders, even if democratically elected, will routinely lie, make false promises of good times coming, increasingly compromise on principles and values, become intolerant of dissent, lose awareness of the issues, pain and suffering of the masses, bend or break the law themselves if needed, develop around themselves a coterie of sycophants and ‘yes-men’, victimize political opponents, and in short do whatever it takes to stay on in power; even carry out genocide. Recall Slobodan Milosevic?

January this year, a police posse in Sahiwal shot and killed a man and his wife and their young teenager daughter, sitting in a stationary car, in front of their 3 other younger children, also with them in the same car. Someone video-recorded the whole barbarity using a cell-phone and the video went viral. All cooked-up claims of the shooters soon proved to be outright lies – that the people killed were terrorists, that they were armed, that they first shot at the police, etc. Open and shut case of an extra-judicial killing? The trial of the killers however took 9 months, ending with them being set free, for ‘lack of evidence.’ The government has ‘appealed’ against the verdict, but can one believe this is anything more than buying time till the case is eventually forgotten by all? Just like countless other cases of justice denied have been forgotten over time by a society which has becomes morally corrupt.

So what is worse – financial corruption or its root originator, moral corruption?

Thus what we really must address is the all-pervading prevalence of moral corruption in our society. At a holistic level, this responsibility first lies with the government, and then with our political, religious, spiritual, corporate, and community leaders. At the micro level, the responsibility of building a morally responsible and upright society falls on each and every one of us who can influence others to tread the right path – parents, elders, academia, employers, bosses, the media, writers, celebrities, and still others. But all these potential reformers can only succeed in arresting the decline of morality if above all, they are ready to lead others by personal example.  Can this, or will this ever happen? I leave it to you to decide for yourself. But one thing I am sure of – if financial corruption is to be eventually eliminated, moral corruption must first be overcome.

By Zohare Ali Shariff
The writer is a communications professional, a passionate wildlifer, an ardent traveler and a published author.