The avalanche of corruption scandals unearthed in Malaysia involving billions of people’s money making corruption nearly a way of life that plagued all strata of institutions and society and can pave the pathway to the destruction of the nation and people.
Hearing of billions of ringgit being stolen whether it is 1MDB, SRC or LCS or many more other abbreviations, in an ordinary course of business, should have sent shock waves to all in Malaysia.
However, did it really send shock waves, or the identity politics of race and religion can once again subdue the shock waves?
With the worry over corruption being normalised in Malaysia, a natural question arises of whether Malaysia will become a failed state.
In this context, it is an interesting exercise to juxtapose Malaysia’s socio-economic-political life over the last couple of decades with the “template” for poverty and becoming a failed state described in one of the world’s bestselling books – “Why Nations Fail” by MIT professor of economics Daron Acemoglu and Harvard political scientist James A. Robinson.
The authors, both recognised as leading specialists in contemporary political economy and development economics, suggested a novel explanation behind the vicious cycles of poverty and misery in which some nations (not all) find themselves based on a synthesis of about 16 years of original research analysing historical patterns over about 10 thousand years and with a geographical spread over all five continents.
Their original theoretical framework is underpinned by multiple complex political economy theories such as the model of franchise expansion, game theory, the models of kleptocracy and oligarchic society etc. – all hidden behind the simple and intuitive language of the book