The Allianz Centre for Governance (ACG), launched on 10 December 2024 at the University of Malaya’s Za’ba Memorial Library, was born out of a prevailing concern with what was happening in Malaysia.
It is a concern shared by certain segments of the corporate sector, specifically Allianz Malaysia Bhd and Malaysian academia, and articulated very clearly and forcefully by Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Shah at the university’s 64th convocation on 30 November last year.
Sultan Nazrin said then that the “cancerous cells” of prevalent “corruption, mismanagement, abuse of power, and breaches of trust” are “eroding the nation’s anatomy, placing immense burdens on its people”.
Ours is also a concern with wider systemic factors, what Syed Hussein Alatas, in his book Corruption: Its Nature, Causes and Functions, described as “corruption as a force that totally grips the body politic” and not just “discrete instances of corruption”.
That was written more than three decades ago. Sadly, the situation appears to have become much worse since.
The ACG draws much of its inspiration from the concern shown by the nation’s various stakeholders – some of our traditional leaders, civil society and increasingly, corporate Malaysia and academia.
It is a concern with the prevalence of bad governance at all levels and in many segments of our society.
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN), CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a regular pledge or periodic auto-donation to Aliran
- Become an Aliran member
More than that, the ACG is trying to understand why there is this prevalence of bad governance, and to explore probable solutions.
For example, both Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index and the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators annually provide worrying signs of corruption and governance in more than 150 economies, including Malaysia.
Apart from making for uneasy reading, such reports leave many ordinary people feeling helpless and powerless.
Certainly, there are calls to action, spearheaded often enough by courageous civil society organisations in countries where they exist and are active, like in Malaysia. But often they are spasmodic and not well organised with minimal people’s participation.
This is not too surprising, of course, given repressive laws and heavy penalties imposed for dissent in many countries and the climate of fear that these perpetuate. Often it requires a major scandal, like 1MDB in Malaysia, for the people to rise and seek reforms.
But, even then, as we have seen, such hopes are often dashed when the people are later betrayed by those in whom they have placed their trust.
The realities
We are aware that our politicians – like their counterparts elsewhere – repeatedly talk of “combating”, “cracking down on” and invariably “eradicating” corruption.
Indeed, the current prime minister constantly reiterates the “Madani” (trustworthy) government’s “unwavering commitment to tackling corruption”.
But in the age of the now-infamous “DNAAs” (discharge not amounting to an acquittal), such assertions sound rather hollow.
The ACG is not interested in political rhetoric. What is important is genuine action taken, and policies implemented and enforced effectively for the good of the various segments of society, not just the powerful self-serving few.
We are concerned about conducting evidence-based research that attempts to dispassionately find where the fault lines lie and to propose ways of addressing them.
It is based on this awareness that the research we will conduct and commission, the workshops we will run, the academic and popular publications we will produce will be framed.
Ours, quite simply, is a concern with policy research – research that examines and critiques policy – and not policy-oriented research aimed at publicising policies and strategies which are often problematic and disadvantageous to the wider population, and which would lead to wastage and a further drain on scarce public resources.
ACG’s agenda
The ACG primarily is a research centre with planned output based on two main categories of research.
First, research that we feel the corporate sector ought to be interested in, essentially to develop best practices in corporate governance, based on integrity, transparency, trustworthiness and the wellbeing of the people, among others – irrespective of social, ethnic, religious, gender or economic status.
Second, research that we at ACG feel needs to be done. The ones we are currently conducting with our partners include research on the state and governance of higher education in Malaysia, local authorities and Ramadan bazaars, media and perceptions of governance and corruption, and the police.
To reiterate, the ACG’s research and other related activities are targeted at reaching the grassroots, with the hope of improving their lives.
The aim is to produce credible, valuable research that can be published rather than geared primarily at fuelling any university rankings battle.
What is clear is that the ACG will attempt to conduct, encourage and fund critical research on issues of governance.
The aim, to borrow from Brazilian educationist Paolo Freire, is to help conscientise and empower a variety of stakeholders, to provide a much-needed bridge between academia, the corporate world, civil society and, hopefully, the marginalised and hitherto exploited in society.
Malaysian society will be our initial and ongoing concern, of course, but we foresee the ACG’s focus expanding further afield in due time, to make regional and country comparisons and linkages through comparative studies.
With the support of both the University of Malaya and Allianz, we will ensure the ACG remains society-centred and critically focused, with output that is both of quality and, at the same time, of benefit for the many deserving stakeholders in Malaysia.
Wider change and social transformation, however incremental or even revolutionary, is what we hope our work over the next few years here will help achieve. – Free Malaysia Today
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
