In a materialistic world people are mad about getting rich by whatever way they can. But wealth earned in haraam ways are not worth the punishment we are going to face on the Day of Judgment.

In the modern world democracy plays an important role to stop corruption. In a small society live ours we all know those who are corrupt. We must throw the corrupt out through fair and free elections. But if the corruption is so widespread how fair and free can the elections be. How unbiased and fair the police force can be.

What we have to realize is we cannot afford the corruption to flourish. Because out economic base is narrow and those needy people living in remote islands need resources for health, education, sanitation and well being. We all know if the corruption is left to spread, we all have to pay and the rule of law cannot exist.

According to ancient history, it is a known fact that sea-shells and fabric were presented to Kings and Queens when visiting them.

Visitors to homes are welcomed and acquainted with some kind of drinks or food. Also, having a cup of tea with colleagues in the government is a gesture of companionship.

Amongst a people who are accustomed to such traditions, it would be difficult to comprehend that a “present” granted in return for a favour is not an ethical thing and to realize that being granted a present in return for a favour done by a person in a certain position falls under bribery.

As this predicament grew and people’s live turned into materialism, the cup of tea slowly transformed to money and other material things. The revenue that the government should earn slowly deteriorated. This started to happened when the people who held influential pots in the government received their “cup of tea” in return for their favours in thousands, ten thousands and millions.

Under no circumstance should it be acceptable to get things done by people in influential position in return for a “cup of tea”. It will fall under bribery. In such circumstances where bribery is not recognized as corruption, the rule of law will not apply. A fair election cannot be held. The rightful revenue that the government should receive will not be received. As a result, the government will be incapacitated to deliver services for the community at large, stagnate the development of the country, the poor will keep getting poorer and the rich will keep getting richer. It is the worst element which paves way for the bereavement, loss of peace and the ultimate destruction of a country. Because of corruption trust worthiness is lost and taking advantage becomes common.

When the common man realizes that there is nothing that can be achieved without bribery, the faith and respect in the leadership is lost leading to the country falling into a form of mistrust.

Stop corruption immediately, stay away from bribery.

However the developments that sprout in the Maldives have had its effect on the Maldivians, thereby increasing their needs and requirements which in turn led to corrupt acts. Secretly carried out activities began to take its toll. Employers were deceived and trusts were broken. This ran perpendicular to the status of the people’s livelihoods. An increase in the difficulties in maintaining a proper livelihood is a major cause for increasing corrupt activities.

An increase in the corrupt activities did not however put a stop to the culture of assigning important jobs on the mere basis of trust and confidence which led to an ever more increase in corrupt activities.

Hence to combat the problem of corruption employment agreements have to be based on clearly identified and written down guidelines or regulations whether it be in a government office or a private company. A complete rejection of the idea of trust and confidence based employments would be difficult among a people with a high regard for the family ties. Trust based employments can also be subject to a set of guidelines or regulations that will assist extensively in maintaining a check and balance system. As part of the reforms taking place a lot of watchdog functions will be carried out in the future by the various commissions. Hence a clear set of written guidelines or regulations will be the tool that will assist them to be on the alert in preventing ill activities.

A written set of guidelines or regulations will assist in preventing the wrongdoers from stepping aside and blaming the innocent persons instead. On the contrary an ineffective mechanism of employing people without a written set of guidelines or regulations will largely confuse the identification of the real culprit.

Corruption decays a society thereby making it difficult to differentiate the bad from the good and the right from the wrong. Therefore to prevent the Maldives from such a state a written set of employment and professional ethics guidelines or regulation should be set up by various agencies that do trade and other agencies as well.

What is corruption?

In simple terms, public corruption is misuse of public office for private gain. In other words, it is a civil servant or a political official benefiting at the expense of the person who comes into contact with either official of the government. Sometimes corruption can be defined as some one gives out money to speed up processing of an application. It may also be awarding of contracts to those who pay sums of money. This in many cases is indirect.

Corruption is just not cases where government officials siphon off money for their own benefit. It includes cases where the systems in the government machinery do not work well and ordinary people are left in a bind to give a bribe for licenses they need.

Corruption is present every where. Therefore, it is not a western idea. It is a concept present even in eastern societies. It may not be alien in societies like The Maldives. In any society, there is a difference between what happens above board and what is under the table. In different societies have their own definitions of corruption. The following four questions can help determine what is right:

Transparency: Do I mind if others know or the media reports on what I do?

Accountability: Do I report my actions to others? Do they hold me to standards?

Reciprocity: Would I feel hurt if others did the same thing?

Generalization: Would it harm society if everybody did the same thing?

In many traditional communities, gift giving is not considered as corruption, because the transaction is transparent and not secret. However, if a gift is presented to a public official secretly for getting something done, then it is a corruption.

Corruption is unfair and it allows those with money or connections to bend the law or government rules in their favor. Corruption harms and undermines trust in government.