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  • Essay / Corruption: causes, effects and ways to prevent it

    Recently, the World Bank and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have highlighted corruption by publicly declaring it the number one enemy. It was a threat globally and also in Malaysia. According to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (2016), corruption can be described as an act of giving or accepting payment or reward in the form of high value money or in kind for carrying out a task related to one's job description.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay There are many causes that lead to corruption. According to Sumah (2018), corruption trends are strongly influenced by the political and economic environment. Individuals are willing to pay or provide compensation to escape restrictions when officials are allowed to decide based on regulatory discretion. Additionally, lack of professional ethics and weak laws can regulate corruption. This also leads to a lack of accountability and oversight institutions. Apart from this, customs, traditions and demographics can lead to corruption. Sumah (2018) states that different countries have different attitudes towards corruption. Then there are also different customs; in some cases, a “thank you” in the form of a gift of service is an expression of courtesy, and elsewhere it is considered bribery. Rasuah (2013) also argues that personal weaknesses are the reasons why the person himself indulges in corruption. Their attitude towards a luxurious lifestyle makes them indulge in corruption due to a lack of morals and ethics. Weak leadership is also the main cause of corruption. Ineffective and weak leadership leads to less supervision and control over employees. Furthermore, modern development factors can increase the rate of corruption. Developers wanted to get a good deal and a location for their projects and construction. To get the deal, they are willing to pay for it at a higher cost. Last but not least, corruption is caused by social and cultural factors. As we can observe in today's life, money or gifts are given to a certain person who achieves good results or performance. In our eyes, we do not consider it an act of corruption. But when the person giving money or gift has a different intention, it will be considered bribery in one way or another. Corruption can affect people, society and the economy. “15 Effects of Corruption” (2019) indicates that corruption has a significant impact on people. There will be a lack of quality in services. People may have to pay to demand quality. This is seen in many areas, such as electricity, distribution of aid funds, etc. Apart from this, we as a people will experience a lack of proper justice. People will suffer from inadequate justice when there is a lack of evidence or even the facts are erased. This helps criminals move freely to commit even more crimes. According to “15 effects of corruption” (2019), corruption can lead to unemployment risks. Even if highly qualified people want a position in a company or workplace, they will not be offered it. If employers did not become corrupt, there would be a chance to create more jobs. Apart from this, there will be a failure of areal research. Specific research requires funding from the government. Thus, some agencies responsible for procurement have corrupt agents. These people approve research funds for researchers who can bribe them. Similarly, society will also be affected by corruption. Contempt for public servants will occur. People started looking down on the corrupt official by talking about him negatively. Often, lack of respect for public officials can generate distrust. Even lower ranking officers would ignore higher ranking officers. In addition, the phenomenon of corruption can lead to a lack of respect for leaders. If politicians indulge in corruption, those who know about it will lose respect for them and will not like to vote for such politicians. The public will lose respect for the nation's leaders such as the prime minister or presidents. “15 Effects of Corruption” (2019) also mentions that corruption could lead to a lack of trust in the government. Citizens vote based on their trust in him to become a leader. Yet people lose self-confidence if they become involved in corruption and may not vote next time. Additionally, an aversion to accessing corruption-related positions could also arise. Sincere, honest and hardworking people develop a dislike for this position, even if they love it because they believe that if they get to this position, they must also be involved in corruption. The country's economy would then also be affected by corruption. According to “15 Effects of Corruption” (2019), a decrease in foreign investment could occur due to corruption. There are many cases in which foreign investment in developing countries has declined due to heavy bribery within government agencies. Lag in economic growth and lack of development are also causes of corruption. If the area is not suitable, most new industries wanting to start in a particular region will change their plans. Businesses don't want to set up there if there aren't good roads, water and electricity. This hinders the economic progress of the region. Corruption can lead to differences in transaction ratios. Some countries have ineffective standards monitoring institutes. In other words, these standard testing institutes are corrupt to the extent that they are able to approve the sale of poor quality products in their country. Corrupt activity can happen anywhere. But there are a few places where corruption is most likely to occur or are known as "hot spots." According to “5 Ways to Reduce Corruption and Where It Exists” (2016), corruption can occur in a government official, whose job is to review, report and maintain all land records. Recently, many legal cases have originated in a land dispute. About this agency, if people pay attention to their professional responsibility, land disputes can be significantly reduced or resolved more quickly. This would represent quite significant corruption regulation. The medical sector is another form of career in which corruption is endemic. In villages and towns, there are many public hospitals and public health centers. But ordinary people are almost never treated properly in public hospitals. Medicines and other services required for public hospitals are inadequate. The poor, who depend solely onpublic hospitals, suffer because they cannot afford treatment. “5 Ways to Reduce Corruption and Where It Exists” (2016) indicates that the Ministry of Finance can be a place where corruption occurs. Quite a few workers are unethical. They take bribes and leave the person who did not pay the tax without responsibility. For example, paying income tax. Moreover, the police and officers department is one of the places that lead to corruption. We are surrounded by a lot of violence and criminals do their job without fear. This is due to the fact that some officers did not take their job seriously. Finally, there is the Department of Judiciary (“5 Ways to Reduce Corruption and Where It Exists,” 2016). In our country, justice is very late. Result: the number of cases increases every day. If trials are quick, people may understand that they will have to be punished if they commit wrongs or crimes. So people will try to bribe. Corruption can happen in any situation and any place. First, it happens when policies and procedures are absent, unclear, or poorly enforced. Due to this situation, people will not take it for granted and ignore all the stated policies. Second, it is when the employee's training is inadequate. The training is designed to increase technical skills, knowledge, efficiency and ethics to accomplish any specific job in a much better manner. But nowadays this type of training is not practiced and this situation leads to a decrease in employee loyalty towards this company. Additionally, this happens when controls such as audits are lacking. Auditing techniques are used by auditors to determine the quality of their clients' financial information. When auditors do not regularly verify financial information, clients can easily cheat with the other party. The “Conditions that May Enable Corruption” mentions that corruption occurs when communication and reporting lines are unclear. Lines of communication may include a chain of command requiring workers to interact only with their immediate supervisor rather than forwarding comments or complaints directly to higher-level members of the organizational chart. Some irresponsible supervisors will take this opportunity to engage in unethical activities without permission from higher-level members. Another situation of corruption occurs when the supervision and performance of the employee is inadequate. When the employee himself feels that his performance is declining, it causes disappointment towards employers. To get things back to normal, employees will give bribes to employers for the sake of the future of their careers. Corruption can flourish when employees have a high level of discretion in their decision-making. Discretion exists when workers have the right to choose whether to act or not, to approve or not, or to agree under certain conditions. Thus, some of them will turn their back on certain conditions because they are already accepting a bribe from the person in question. Furthermore, this unethical problem occurs when employees have developed a close relationship with external stakeholders. Finally, it happens when accepted ethical standards are lacking. Ethical standards such as responsibilities, honesty, transparency and fairness are not put into practice.