“Public Participation in promoting integrity and eradicating corruption.”

The fight against corruption cannot be won without citizen’s support, participation and vigilance. The media, civic and business associations, trade unions and other nongovernmental actors play a crucial role in fostering public discussion of corruption and increasing awareness about the negative impacts of corruption.

Two factors determine to what extent nongovernmental actors can contribute their valuable resources to government’s efforts to combat corruption. On the one hand, the legal framework for civil society to gather and operate creates advantageous circumstances or, in some countries, obstacles and disincentives. On the other hand, a government’s and an administration’s general attitude toward cooperating with nongovernmental actors may be more or less cooperative, open and fruitful.

Public Participation in promoting integrity and eradicating corruption depends upon following key Roles:-

 A. Policy dialogue and cooperation between governmental and nongovernmental actors.

B. Raising awareness and educating the public about corruption issues.

C. Public scrutiny and access to information.

A. Policy dialogue and cooperation between governmental and nongovernmental actors.

Civil society’s contribution to a country’s fight against corruption can take various forms, from awareness raising and educational programs to active and officially recognized participation in the analysis of existing legislation or institutional procedures. Concerning the latter, civil society can advocate reforms that are perceived to be most crucially needed. In this respect, some governments have actively engaged in co-operation with non-governmental actors, seeking to make use of the civil society’s expertise and resources. For example In the Philippines, government and civil society actors have formally engaged in joint steps to combat corruption in the public sector. This coalition aims to monitor lifestyles of public officials and employees, in order to detect and eradicate possible corruption and graft. The civil society actors in this coalition assume the task of gathering information on the lifestyle of government officials. Such information is then validated by the participating agencies and investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman.

B. Raising awareness and educating the public about corruption issues

The second key function of non-governmental actors in the fight against corruption is education and awareness rising about corruption issues among the general public. This role is being recognized in a growing number of countries, such as Cambodia, Fiji Islands, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore and Vanuatu. The governments of these countries have started supporting civil society in this function. In Korea, support from government to civil society organizations anticorruption activities may even include financial support. A non-governmental research institute should be tasked to develop an educational program on ethical and governance issues. This program should be taught to children and young adults in the national public schools, enlisting the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, including encouraging teachers to educate their students about ethics issues at schools and in higher education. Similar cooperation has taken place in schools in Malaysia.

The involvement of teachers in spreading education about ethics issues will be one of many components of the overall awareness campaign, which encompasses the use of mass media (investigative documentaries, case studies of successful prosecution cases, serials etc.), interaction with public office holders, and the introduction of changes in the curriculum being taught at schools through a consultative process involving teachers and the Ministry of Education.

In addition to these projects in the educational system, which aim to instill ethical behavior and attitudes within the population from an early age, other countries have also engaged in more general anti-corruption campaigns addressing the entire population. Hong Kong, China’s and Korea’s anti-corruption agencies, for instance, conduct regular media campaigns on corruption issues. Several projects should be launched in our country also, including the dissemination of information brochures and books and the broadcasting of anti-corruption campaigns on radio and television.

C. Public scrutiny and access to information

The third key role the public plays in the fight against corruption is to monitor and scrutinize actors and hold them accountable. This scrutiny is a powerful means of preventing corruption and a key supplement to legal provisions and institutions. Civil society actors may indeed contribute a large share to monitoring and investigating government and business activities and thereby deter corruption.

The media are particularly important non-governmental actors in scrutinizing government’s and public administration’s work. By screening government, political figures and the business sector, they may perform an important watchdog function. They may trigger investigations and thereby allow for the detection of corrupt acts. Media reports about corruption further contribute greatly to educating the public. Frank reporting requires freedom and independence of the press and access to information. In some countries, improvement of these preconditions would render the fight against corruption more successful. It is generally considered that access to information goes beyond routine publication of documents; effective control also requires that governmental or administrative institutions disclose files for scrutiny upon request.

Government should use information technology, especially the internet, to grant easy, quick, cheap and direct public access to a growing number of documents. Such information includes reports on audits, budget documents and legal materials. The scope of such public information differs significantly among and within the countries and depends on the policy of every single department or institution. Until recently, the public service culture in many countries favored secrecy. This attitude persists in certain countries today; state security is generally cited as a justification. These countries stand firm about giving their citizens access to information, even though their constitutions usually postulate a fundamental right to information. Nonetheless, often as a result of civil society pressure, more and more countries have adopted freedom of information legislation (Australia, India, Japan, and Korea).