Abstract
In 2015, a huge corruption scandal that led to high-profile arrests of senior FIFA officials gripped the world. Dubious financial transactions and reciprocated favours taught us that corruption is more widespread than often imagined. Coincidently, 2015 was also the year in which Syed Hussein Alatas’ The Problem of Corruption was published posthumously. Alatas (1928–2007) was a Malaysian sociologist best known for writing The Myth of the Lazy Native (1977), in which he documented and refuted the racist European stereotypes of South-East Asians the year before Edward Said took a strikingly similar approach in his seminal Orientalism (1978). Those who know Alatas’ work typically hold him in high regard but regrettably, he is not known to the extent that he deserves, not even within Asia. Ironically, we may understand why this is the case via Alatas’ own concept of ‘the captive mind’ (Alatas, 1972), which refers to a disbelief that non-western knowledge can compete with western perspectives. With the recent publication of The Problem of Corruption, there is an opportunity for the neglect of Alatas to be rectified.
Since The Problem of Corruption was written more than 30 years ago it does not follow some of the conventions that we are now accustomed to. For instance, arguments are occasionally supported by anecdotal evidence which staunch empiricists may consider as not rigorous enough. Furthermore, the book is not divided into neat chapters, but is made up of three parts that make up a relatively short 127 pages, which may explain why some points lack satisfactory depth. Nonetheless, this book contains well-written, captivating and insightful discussions that will interest those concerned with corruption, and perhaps also those interested in ‘white-collar crime’. In this regard, Alatas bravely breeched criminological territory on ‘crimes of the powerful’ much earlier than it became popular to do so. A newspaper article from 1983 provided in the book’s appendix in which Alatas is quoted extensively criticising corruption also shows that he was comfortable engaging in ‘public sociology’ many years before the concept was even coined.
After a brief but useful preface written by Alatas’ son Syed Farid Alatas, an accomplished scholar in his own right, the father discusses some methodological challenges in studying corruption, notably that it is discreet, hidden and therefore hard to examine. This does not deter him though as throughout the book Alatas persuades the reader that corruption causes great social harm, and can even reach the level of ‘tidal corruption’ where it is routine among powerful elites. Alatas details the consequences of corruption, starting with the obvious abuse of power and loss of public funds, but also considering environmental damage due to excessive exploitation, ‘brain drain’ due to promising talents emigrating, and the unhealthy psychological frustrations that people must endure when living in a corrupt context. Thus, it is clear that this book is not just theory for the sake of theory, but theory for the sake of activism against corruption.
Alatas, writing in an original tone that strikes a fine balance somewhere between authoritativeness and sarcasm, offers a broad definition of corruption that includes financial misappropriation but also illicit ‘gifts’, ‘prizes’ and ‘statuses’. Alatas proceeds to comprehensively list the elements of corruption in his usual systematic, logical and definitive manner, enabling a complex concept to be clearly demarcated. Alatas spends considerable time tackling the question of whether corruption can ever be legitimate, such as when it facilitates progression or development. This is in response to a trend at the time that saw corruption as serving a necessary function in the development of postcolonial societies, or as even being part of the fabric of some cultures. Alatas rejects corruption as ever legitimate and instead reminds readers that there have been successful anti-corruption efforts in history that serve as an inspiration for what can be achieved. His cure is to strive for more effective governance, accountability, regulation and punishment. Those who are aware of the rampant corruption that remains today may say it proves that Alatas was naively utopian in his quest for corrupt-free societies; others may say it is the reason why The Problem of Corruption deserves urgent attention by scholars who should build on Alatas’ passionate and distinct approach.