DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim's long fight for reformasi, his great mission to take down institutional corruption and entrenched kleptocracy, is now an unstoppable force. The prime minister has no better backing than His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, who has reaffirmed that corruption remains the nation's biggest threat.
The monarch has made it his biggest priority during his reign. After its fangs were retrofitted and unleashed since Anwar assumed the premiership, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) charge against the "sacred cows", especially the titled and entitled, has produced significant results.
Anwar may have expressed disappointment that there was another major corruption case, this time the MACC's arrest of 34 Customs officers linked to contraband smuggling.
Anwar had hoped that from the day the MACC began its offensive, the nation could have steered away from misconduct, acknowledging that most enforcement officers are highly conscientious. Yet, he also acknowledged that the good guys operate within the culture of sakau (kleptocracy) that puts them under duress to be complicit.
Anwar has repeated his stern warnings to enforcement agencies: the government is extremely serious in combating corruption and curbing leakages. His warnings cover not only the departments that are hotbeds of corruption, but every government outfit, and they are being closely watched.
We have to be cognisant that the PM has a lot on his plate. His primary reformasi goal of wiping out high-level corruption, while on course, is inexplicably downplayed by snipes from rivals, even supposed allies.
At the rate of success, it's obvious that law enforcement agencies aren't fixed on piecemeal strategies in the face of well-organised threats to national security. The comprehensive mechanism and well-trained manpower is well regulated by the MACC and police.
The fact is, herds of black sheep have been exposed and indicted, their infestation restricted ever since the MACC was unshackled.
The work continues. What's more practical now is to beef up the MACC's clout, while the police force cleanses itself of contaminants. We would like to think that the PM now has the authoritative muscle to influence the MACC and police to jointly tackle government jobbery.
Think about it: the MACC and police, hand-in-hand, wiping out all known, and even unknown, corrupt elements, especially what Anwar described as "directors-general, agency heads with high salaries who only wish to protect wrongdoings in their organisations".
In plugging leakages, the funds could actually be spent on driving economic growth, helping the needy, improving education and healthcare and raising the salaries of civil servants. Anwar knows only too well of the lack of willpower to fight corruption. Fortunately, the political will to curb graft is now flexing hard.