Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in his inaugural address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on Aug 11, 1947, warned the nation of the plague of corruption. Today it is the hottest topic in Pakistan from drawing room to parliament.

Corruption has been a concern in all civilisations, from ancient India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Greece, Rome and through to our times. All religions warn against corruption and endorse honesty.

Artists, songwriters, filmmakers and conscientious journalists have exposed corruption. Bob Dylan, Habib Jalib, George Grosz, A.R.Nagori and other artists have given us unforgettable words and images, inspiring to the honest, and ignored by the corrupt. Corruption tours are offered in Chicago, Prague and Mexico City. There are museums of corruption in Paraguay, Ukraine and the United States. Yet the tenacity of corruption remains unshaken.

While corruption in developing countries is well-known, it is more disguised in developed countries, where ‘kickbacks’ can be tax exempt as ‘business expenses.’ As Kautilya wrote in his famous guide for rulers, Arthashastra, “It is impossible to not try and taste honey if it’s put on the tip of the tongue.”

Its pervasive presence can be gauged by the euphemisms for corruption in every language: ‘You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours’ and ‘Under the table’ in English, ‘Dessous de table’ in French and ‘Pengar under bordet’ in Swedish (goods can ‘fall off the back of a lorry’ or ‘slip through the cracks’.) The Americans offer ‘back-handers’. In Russian ‘parties come to the agreement’ (Dogovorit’sia).

The Japanese poetically speak of ‘the black mist’ (Kuroi kiri). The Koreans ‘give goods in secret’ (Noemul), the Chinese offer ‘the back door’ (Zou hou mie) or offer Chaqian (tea money). Tea money is used in many countries: ‘Poul-i-chai’ in Iran and Afghanistan, ‘Ashaan ash-shay’ in Egypt, ‘Chai pani’ in Pakistan, a cup of coffee in Syria ‘Finjaan ahwa’ and in Brazil ‘Um cafezinho’ and cash for soup or ‘Chorba parasi’ in Turkey. In Swahili one asks for ‘a small thing’ (Kitu kidogo) and in Italian ‘offer a little push’ (Spintarella).

In Greece, one is offered a ‘Fakelaki’ or envelope, similar to Pakistan’s vilified ‘lifafa’ journalists. In Pakistan, large building projects involve a peti (one lakh) or khoka (one crore) to be given to the building control authority for approving architectural plans, terms also used in India. Honest people may feel pressured to give in to bribery.

Corruption requires an agreement for secrecy from both parties. Kautiliya says, “Just as fish moving under water cannot possibly be found out either as drinking or not drinking water, so government servants employed in government work cannot be found out taking money.”

The Turks say ‘Balik bashtan kokar’ (a fish starts to stink at the head) suggesting corruption at the top is the root cause. However, one may search for more endemic causes for corruption. Increasingly, the measure of a person’s worth is by commercial success instead of character. Marx says: “Money transforms fidelity into infidelity, love into hate, hate into love, virtue into vice, vice into virtue, servant into master, master into servant, idiocy into intelligence and intelligence into idiocy.”

Corruption has permeated all institutions of society, from the small vendor to big businesses, educational institutions, courts of law, law enforcers, sports and even within families who falsify birth certificates of their children to get admission to schools. Some propose it is because we have moved away from religion, which is a regulator of personal morals.

Most agree that corruption flourishes because penalties are not enforced. The mohtasib of the early Muslim empires, was appointed to regulate weights, money, prices, public morals, the cleanliness of public places — including the cleanliness of eating houses and public baths — the supervision of schools, instruction, teachers and students, general public safety, the circulation of traffic, the standard of crafts, doctors and apothecaries. It’s difficult to imagine such power today would be incorruptible.

Marx suggests people need to feel embedded in community rather the workplace. “A man who is estranged from himself and his fellow men cannot possibly be virtuous.”

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist and heads the department of visual studies at the University of Karachi Email: durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 21st, 2021