"The book says people expect you to negotiate.
It's true. A policeman pulled me over in Manila, the
Philippines. I said I had no money on me and he said he would take a
check. Later my bank called
to notify me that a policeman was presenting a check on my account. I
explained the situation, and the bank clerk said ‘you gave him too much.’ So the
next day I returned to that intersection to track him down and demand a
refund. He said he already spent the money, but the next time my family
needed a police escort for a wedding or funeral, I could count him for
the service."
"The book talks about people who think
their organization is like a goose laying golden eggs, and it's not your
business whether the goose lives or dies. This is true in my country,
Vietnam. The farmer work very hard to make rice but the government buy it with lower price. The
government sells it with high price to the consumer. Some government
officers who have authority for purchasing rice try to put money into
their private pocket, so they become richer. Only the farmer becomes
poorer because they do not have enough money to continue growing rice.
Most of farmer they try to sell their farm and go to the city to find
another job. That is the reason why the rice are scarce on the market,
so the price of rice going up. So, the goose dies."
"These were told from my parents. It is true that Hong Kong was a corrupted
city in the 60s and 70s. Almost everyone in the government department
will accept bribery. Many people feared police and fireman because they
all don’t want their assets took away from them. People whom want to
success must bribe or being friend with the government agent. The
economy keep corrupted until the anti-corruption investigating
department invent, the ICAC. No matter
it is a business person or government agency, whoever bribes got arrest.
Economy start being successes after the integrity system have been made.
Although those corrupted years have been past, early level schools in
Hong Kong are still teaching the integrity system described in the book."
"I remember in China when I was young, my parents had to buy gifts and give
money to the school officials so I can get into a better school. As time
went by, China realized corruption was getting worse and tried to stop
it by giving harsh punishments such as the death penalty. Now when
people know death penalty is the consequence of receiving bribery, many
people have stopped this action. Like the book says, 'wrongful
self-dealing, big or small, is a decision calculated on the risk of
getting caught.' When I read the book's section about 'corruption
discourages investment because it increases risk,' I thought about the
banking system in China. Citizens do not deposit their money
into the bank because it might collapse. They hide their money at
home, where crimes are committed. If banking systems have integrity,
they have money to make investments."
"My father was a senior bank manger in Mumbai, India. One day one of his
bosses came up to him and asked why he was not accepting gifts from the
clients after the loans are passed. My father at that time said that
that is called bribing indirectly to get the work done, and that he will
not do it. Hence, fighting against the system of bribery starts from
one’s self-conscious, followed by
nation and world. It is true as the books says, 'Not everyone is
doing it. The people who aren't are as hard to count as the people who
are, so you tend see what you want to see.'"
"I remembered an incident that I witnessed back in my country (India). I
had seen a rich man bribing a police officer to close the case against
his son. The officer refused to take the bribe and told the man to leave
his office. I agree with the book that if corruption were the culture,
it would be done out in the open as all other cultural rituals."
"In my country, Vietnam, it’s hard for the government to collect
electricity fees, so there are no funds for continual service. Many
people are trying to theft electricity. I know one case: my neighbor.
One day the electric officer caught her. Instead of paying the fine, she
tried to bribe the officer. The officer received the cash and did not
report her. The effect of corruption was the government cut off the
electricity 3 days a week. Like the book says, 'corruption erodes the
infrastructure.'"
"In Vietnam I knew one guy who was rich. He did not give his mind to
improving his studies. He was a student at the Medical school. His
family bribes the professors who grade the exam to let him pass the test
without study any things. He got the good job at hospital. One day, he
was faced with surgery he couldn’t handle and the patient died. This
is an example of 'corruption as a matter of life and death.'"
"The person you gave a bribe to will next time
ask for more grease than the first time, and the next and so on. So it
would have been much better to refuse to pay the bribe, circumvent it,
report him to his boss, or go find someone else to do the business with.
But what if there is no way to get around it, his boss is also corrupt,
and there is no one else to do business with. Do you try to find some
other line of work? In some countries there is no such option. You have
to pay the bribe otherwise you don't support your family. Do you refuse to pay
and see your family eating rice four times a day? Fortunately,times are
getting better and people can afford to not pay the
bribes and fight the corrupt system."
"My story supports the book's point that 'corruption varies from person
to person, even day to day.' Last summer, I flew out of Ho Chi Minh City
(Saigon) Airport back home to the U.S. The first time I went through the
security checkpoint, everything was okay. But I was early and couldn’t
check in yet, so I decided to go back out, luggage and all, and wait
with my relative. After I went through the security checkpoint the
second time, I was asked by the checkpoint screeners to give a little
cash for some ground coffee packages I had in my luggage, which,
according to them, was illegal for me to bring home. Later, I would
find out that the duty-free shops in the airport sold ground coffee."
"As far as I am concerned Professor, you are the reigning authority on
upholding integrity working in developing countries with corrupt
environments. A lot of the points mentioned linger in mind once one is
done reading. For example, that it is not whether the Minister of Health
or the nurse has done the worst of corruption that matters the most, but
how much medicine is kept away from the public. I have seen by my own
eyes crates of medicine complete with seals of foreign donors being sold
in pharmacies owned by relatives of government officials in Djibouti,
while needy patients died in local hospitals.
"Also, how weaving the fabric of integrity matters far more than catching the bad guys. For example, the Marxist government of Ethiopia that was deposed in 1993 had instituted stiff penalties to participants caught in corruption (mainly to appease the World Banks and the IMFs of the world). This did nothing more than sharpening the sophistication of corruption and forcing the participants to learn on how to become more elusive. Nothing like basic education was even thought of which would have been more effective in prying off the strong hold corruption had on the basic fabric of society. Since I come from that environment where corruption is the lifestyle, this is a perspective or picture that people or governments generally fail to see.
"Sometimes black markets are caused by inept bank policies. This presents the westerner with the moral obligation not to participate in any form of corruption not only because s/he leaves behind the consequences, as you say, but also because they are far more aware of it. The people of my country would not have the faintest idea as to what the correlation between corruption and economic or social development may be. Less tangible than the daily survival grind.
"This is the best account of the subject in its concise completeness and fully developed insight that could only be reported by an insider."