Educating Youth on Transparency

With the lunching of agent lang, official “spokesperson” of an inter-agency anti-corruption campaign in year 2010, the anti-cooruption message is now not only being targeted at adults , but also Malaysian youth. According to Agent Lang’s official factsheet, the mascot is coloured in black and white as symbolise that corruption has no grey area, while his superpowers include an eagle-eyed ability to spot and eradicate corruption with his twin swords. The five government agencies involved in this new campign comprise the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Police (PDRM), Road Transport Department (JPJ) and Royal Customs and Immigration Departments. This also reflected in the setting up of a single hotline number (1800-88-6000) for the public to lodge reports of graft.

The reaching out to Malaysian youth to combat corruption mirrors effort by other governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from around the world. Over the past years, issues of ethics, anti-corruption and transparent governance have begun to resonate globally among an increasingly younger, well-connected and more politically and socially aware generation.

In November 2006, the Guatemala declaration on young people’s engagement was signed. This was part of the 12^th International Anti-Corruption conference in Guatemala, highlighting the role of youth in promoting honest and ethical governance. According to this highlighting, most of the asean countries have ran a video clip competition in order to share ideas and values with other youth. Additionally in an effort to support anti-corruption campaign, MACC have introduce anti-corruption education in universities through a clab named Sekretariat Pencegahan Rasuah Institut Pengajian Tinggi (SPR-IPT). This club will be functioning as MACC’s eyes,ears and also as official spokesperson of MACC in spreading the word.

Global and national efforts have also been going, with unconventional media being used to raise awareness. One of the activities was PSA Video Competition, a video clip competition among universities students entitle “Corruption is about harm”. This competition have reach its target audience as anti-corruption message have been presented in creative way which is nearer to youth heart. Importantly, all the activities can raise awareness on corruption.

From Asean countries, SPR-IPT and the rest of the world, it is clear that to nip corruption in the bud, the key is the education of youth. In line with this, the lunch of Agent Lang shows that Malaysia through MACC is very committed to endure corruption in Malaysia.