This, too, shall pass

Corruption at every level of officialdom has been an enduring feature of life in South Asia. Certainly, the man on the street in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh (I can’t speak for Sri Lanka) has to suffer the routine bleeding of hard-earned cash at a time when staple necessaries are escalating in price.

Anecdotally, when visiting relatives on my father’s side in Pakistan, our vehicle was once stopped as we were being picked up from the airport.

“Why are you stopping us?” my uncle asked the official.

“You haven’t paid tax.”

“What tax?”

“You have stuff in the car.” pointing towards our cases.

“What stuff and what tax? There are only clothes in the cases.”

“Clothes tax.”

We paid a hundred rupees and suddenly, the clothes tax vanished, obviously these taxes have the lifespan of mayflies.

Another personal example was when we visited the British High Commission in Islamabad for a visa matter in 2002. After an assault course of checkpoints (this was, after all, less than a year after 911), we reached one barrier which the rotund belted guard simply wouldn’t let us pass through. He asked to see our passports, and after flicking through, he grunted that we didn’t have the right paperwork. To tell the truth, I was surprised he could read everything in the passports at such speed. It had dawned on my father though that this wasn’t about paperwork: the guard expected a concealed bribe inside the passport and all those without one would not be allowed to pass until they had the “correct paperwork”! 500 rupees was the going rate as we found out.

The trouble was, there was very little a bribe-payer could do except pay the bribe. If a promotion, job or vital piece of paperwork was being held up, the bribe would, of course be small compared to the potential loss. Life as an honest official is also difficult I’m told: the corrupt peers of an honest man pressure him to take bribes and if he refuses, use what influence they can to block his advancement. A lone exception has nothing to lose in an investigation and therefore cannot be counted on to loyally cover up for his colleagues.

One wondered whether there was any way in which the common man or honest official could change things for the better. India, of course, has traditional champions against corruption and bribery:

http://goo.gl/fNc5D,

but it turns out there is another way. One which takes advantage of modern technology and brings involvement in mitigation efforts down to every bribe-payer. Very inspired it is too. The BBC has an article on a new website:

http://goo.gl/xAeqD.

Launched in August 2010, IPaidABribe.com is an Indian website which allows anonymous reporting of corruption, which is then added to a public record. What is so good about this idea is that it doesn’t actually ask the already beleaguered victims for any further sacrifice by demanding adherence to unrealistic solutions. “Stop paying the bribes.” (and get nothing done), “Keep reporting the officials.” (to other corrupt officials), “Disengage from the system.” (which is all-pervasive) and the like. This solution means that they pay their pound of flesh as before, but the officials who normally pocket their bribes, and walk away none the worse, are now in a much worse position: the public tally against their name starts to grow; the cost of being corrupt has risen as the founders of the site point out. Other “solutions” (http://goo.gl/KCA2z) will simply rebound on the victims.

I have to say, I’m very taken with the idea. It takes nothing away from those already suffering and can only help eradicate what was thought to be an endemic problem. One just has to hope the idea spreads to other nations similarly afflicted.