On 22/07/08 I received a mail from Tricia Yeoh Director of the Center for Public Policy Studies on a subject matter regarding revamping of the system that manages the recruitment of foreign workers and my answer to her Question “What do you think is a more reasonable solution compared to what takes place currently”? and this is my reply to her.

Thanks for your reply. We are sad but not everybody is sad. To me it is very upsetting, unsettling and stressful. The endemic malaise can make the best system fail. The corruption level here is like cancer stage 2 bordering stage 3 which means critical but not impossible for recovery. Cancer is a biological disorder but corruption is a man made disorder. What men can make men can break. If the government does not have the willpower, the rakyat must have the will power. Hence we must be persistent to break up the chain of corruption which obviously is incestuously engineered to make it complicated by those who will benefit from it directly or indirectly. This root of all evils must be censured and eradicated before we can see any good policies having its rightful place.

Coming back to your Question of "Would be good to hear what options you think are most viable". These outsourcing companies mostly get their license through nepotism or bought at a very exorbitant price (unconfirmed sources says the price is between RM300,000-400,000.) as what I was told. How much truth in it is difficult to confirm. So what do you expect these companies who had put up so much as capital investments will do? Then there is another question of nepotism and conflict of interests. So you can imagine what will be the end results where greed of certain individuals had created havoc at the expense of the country's security and that is also the reason why this country is easily infiltrated by illegal. Even a permit for sourcing foreign maids commands about RM100,000 as according to an article published by Migrant Care March 21st, 2007.(http://www.bangkit.net/2007/03/21/say-no-to-hidden-corruption-fees-on-maid).

Unfortunately judging from the unfolding events, the government is not ready to fully combat this malaise for reason/reasons best known to them. The extent of corruption and abuse of power is beyond comprehension and half hearted fights against it will only make matters worse as in many cases it has mutated and becomes a more potent disease, a scenario similar to non diligence in taking anti biotic. I will quote one or two examples of my personal encounter with DBKL on this new phenomenon called mutation of corrupt practices.

Case no.1.

A few years ago I took over a Restaurant in KL and applied for a Restaurant license. A request of the restaurant plan and neighboring vicinity will be reasonable and which we can produce easily, but instead they wanted a plan or I called it a map of the restaurant and its vicinity of about 3km radius. They were unable to produce the reason/reasons but insisted it is the DBKL's policy. That will make things more difficult as I will need a cartographer to do it and it will be very costly. However they told me they can help and took me to see somebody who can produce such maps per DBKL's specs. I ask them how much and they said "tak banyak, berapa ratus sahaja" Knowing what they are up to I did not want to continue, came home and bought a map of KL from MPH and got the drawing done, but obviously not accepted. My argument with them that the previous owner had the restaurant licensed for umpteen years and why does DBKL needs all this again when there was no change at all to the restaurant and their reply was there is a change of policy. After several calls and reaching their director, I finally got a temporary license. Come next year when the license was due for renewal I face a similar problem. This time I told them that I had done my part and if they insist on those unreasonable syarat syarat, you are at liberty to take me to court and I will know what to do. Knowing that they are knocking against a concrete wall and definitely not worth the while to pursue, they finally told me that they will draw the plan for me and approved it. I got my license all right but whether such plan is drawn or not, I am not sure.

Case no. 2.

A few months ago (I think was in Sept 2007) I wanted to rent a shop house in Brickfields to open a Restaurant. At the back of the restaurant is a piece of empty land which belongs to the shop and I was told by the owner that I can put up a temporary structure for my cook area. I then approached DBKL with the plan of the temporary building. To cut a long story short I was told in the same row a few doors away a restaurant had been fined for RM6000 for putting up a similar structure without approval. The guidelines are simple, you got to have an architect to sign the plan and together with the tenancy agreement, you can only then submit your application. Looks fair but the catch is there, the plan will take 2 to 3 months to be approved. So you are in a catch 22 situation as once the tenancy is signed rental has commenced and the rental is RM8100/month x 2 months will be RM16,200. What if it takes 3 months? So are we prepared to sit down for 2 - 3 months paying rental awaiting approval? However they had got a miracle cure for this. They had a friend who can help and this friend is so precise in knowing what DBKL wants and who to see will be of intense help as the plan can be approved within a week. But again there is another catch here. The quotation which he gave me through fax is simply too exorbitant, RM4900 over and that I have to draw my own plan and his job is to sign the plan and to see the relevant authorities which he claimed is handled by 3 departments. The price looks ideal because it is cheaper than the fine and cheaper than the 2 months rent. Beautiful strategy, but it is not going to work on me. I did not hesitate to give up the idea. I am not only selling my soul, but will be a moron to accept the deal because I have to pay RM4900 over just to get the plan signed and hand it over to the relevant authorities for a extension job that cost just about the same but the poor contractor will have to sweat it out for days to get a fraction of that.

Dear Tricia, from the 2 scenarios, isn’t it obvious that they have re-engineered the mode of taking bribes. Well if that can happen to me, what about foreigners who want to invest here? If I can run away, the foreigners will run twice as fast as me.

PEMUDAH and whatever complaints bureau set up by the Government will be of little use, if the Government is not prepared to subscribe to the universal ideology of good governance and meritocracy. I think I am not far from wrong as what I had written some months ago in my blog here on “Will judiciary and ACA be reformed or remain deformed”. (http://towardsgoodgovernance.blogspot.com/). Hire and Fire is a universal acceptance but in the Malaysian civil service it is alien and we can understand why, Because they are fearful of being judged the same standard and that is why we never hear of any minister resigning in spite of numerous blunders or involved in corrupt practices.