Corruption fighter Robtel Neajai Pailey grew up in the US and studied at Oxford University before coming home to her native Liberia as an idealistic 25-year-old, determined to do something about the endemic corruption plaguing her country.

In 2008, Liberia ranked 138th out of 180 countries for corruption according to Transparency International.

Wanting to change this, Pailey, now at Oxford University’s Department of International Development and an activist in Liberia, started to work for the Liberian government.

“I saw corruption not only in the public and private sectors, I saw it on the streets, in the churches, mosques and schools. It was everywhere in everyday life in Liberia,” she told FMT during an exclusive interview after a recent seminar on anti-corruption policies jointly organised by The Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC), the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center (ROLACC), and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity.

“It wasn’t just about money,” said Pailey. “It was a part of most daily human interactions and affected everyone.”

She realised there was a need to talk about how most people were inadvertently complicit in corruption.

“We can point our fingers at the public sector official who steals a million dollars, but when people engage in smaller-scale corruption, we tend to look the other way,” she said, giving examples of misusing office resources or selling someone used items as brand new.

“I wanted to change the definition of corruption, to expand it so it’s not so narrowly focused on government officials or high-level private sector businessmen,” she added.

This ambition inspired her to write a children’s book to tackle the roots of corruption in her home country.

The book, called “Gbagba” which means trickery or corruption in the Liberian Bassa language, tells the tale of two siblings who go on a journey to the Liberian capital city Monrovia. Throughout their journey they see people committing different forms of corruption.

She wanted, through the book, to give children the verbal tools to be able to talk about corruption and integrity, and to question the confusing ethical behaviour they often see among the adults in their lives. The book was an instant hit in Liberia.

As of 2017, Liberia’s corruption ranking had improved from 2008’s 138/180 to 122.

In the same period, Malaysia’s corruption ranking fell from 47 to 62.

While Malaysia may still be ahead of Liberia in the corruption stakes, that is hardly a cause for complacency or celebration. After all, Liberia is actually improving.

So what lessons can Malaysia learn from Liberia?

Malaysian Institute of Integrity deputy chief executive Ahmad Fadzli Ahmad Tajuddin insisted that the fight against corruption in Malaysia should not focus on throwing people in jail, but on correcting their values.

He told FMT the institute had conducted many programmes to teach integrity to children, but such courses needed to be more widespread to have any real effect nationally.

Meanwhile, The Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 provides protection to people who voluntarily come forward to reveal information on corruption, and GIACC official Muhammad Salim Sundar said any person who reports corruption to any enforcement agency can claim protection under the act, which gives them confidentiality.

Whistleblowers are also given immunity from any civil, criminal or disciplinary action that may arise as a result of their reports.

“Because of this, people should no longer be afraid to lodge a report against any high-level officials,” he told FMT. “The number one thing that everybody needs is integrity.”

He claimed that this lack of integrity was why all their eradication programmes and initiatives seemed unsuccessful.

“Everybody should report instances of corruption even if it involves high ranking officials in their company or government department.”

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was set up in 2009. It was the successor to several earlier agencies with similar aims.

But while the authorities could have the best enforcement with the heaviest penalties, Salim said, this would not be enough to guarantee and end to corruption.

“Despite all this effort, even today we are still discussing how to educate people to prevent corruption. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink,” he said.

However, Salim remains optimistic. “We should educate young children so that when they take up positions of power we will see the positive results,” he said.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik has championed anti-graft-related education for young people through Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) classes, which will be made a mandatory subject.

“We won’t have corruption as a single subject. Instead, we will incorporate it as a topic in the syllabus of the CCE, which we will reintroduce in all primary and secondary schools next year,” he said.

He added that MACC had provided the ministry with the proposed anti-graft syllabus.

Maszlee said pre-schoolers would also be exposed to the topic, but through play-focused activities rather than heavy subject matter.

Salim agreed on the need for anti-corruption education in schools but Ong Ewe Hock, deputy chairman of the Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia, argued that the responsibility should not just lie with teachers.

“Parental responsibility and influence must be added into the equation. Schools alone cannot teach children integrity,” he told FMT.

He said the debate around the now-postponed repayment scheme for National Higher Education Fund borrowers showed that raising children must include imbuing personal responsibility, such as honouring commitments and contractual obligations.

“This is the fundamental quality that needs to be built in a child before he or she even begins school,” Ong said. “Integrity is a habit that needs to be cultivated from the start.

“Good values have to be nurtured, not just through teaching. It comes from the family and the community.”

He added that in Malaysia, there were many additional opportunities to nurture a culture of integrity through sporting events, festival celebrations and community projects.