FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE

SEMESTER: MAY/ YEAR: 2013

COURSE CODE: OUMH3203

COURSE TITLE : PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

OUMH3203

Table of Content Page

1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………….……… 2

1.1 CHARACTERISTICS …………………………………..... 3 1.2 TYPES OF BRIBERY …………………………………... 3 - 4

2. CONTENT

2.1 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS ON THE ACT OF BRIBERY ….. 4 - 52.2 LEGAL ANALYSIS ON THE ACT OF BRIBERY ………... 5 2.3 ETHICAL ANALYSIS ON THE ACT OF BRIBERY ……... 5 - 62.4 ANALYSIS ………………………………………… 6 - 7 2.5 RECOMMENDATIONS ……………………………………. 8

3. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………. 9

4. REFERENCES ……………………………………………………. 10

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OUMH3203

1. INTRODUCTION

‘Mordida’ in Mexico, dash in South Africa, ‘baksheesh’ in Middle East, ‘schimengeld’ in

Germany, ‘bastarell’ in Italy and ‘rasuah’ in Malaysia are pointing at the same thing

which is bribery. Bribery treats as one of the condition of ethical problem in working

environment. Bribery happens everywhere in the world and classified as a white collar

crime. The moral severity of the bribery problem is depend on the individual view

because every individual has a different perspective in defining the ethical system, their

own priorities, their standard basis of moral and their purpose and options of actions.

Bribery has been happened between people and government officials for examples to

speed up trade licenses, for police protection and for loan transactions. Ethical problem is

a situation that requires a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must

be evaluated as ethical (right) or unethical (wrong).

In 1970s, the act of paying foreign officials in legal processes or obtaining contracts was

a common business practice around the world. The Watergate scandal, which caused

Richard Nixon’s resignation as president highlighted corporate bribery into world

attention. There are many people become money oriented and thinking of there are no

important of morals and ethics in dealing with other people.

According to the dictionary, bribery is the act of giving, offering, taking or receiving

something in term of monetary or other benefits with the intention of influencing the

recipient in some way favorable to the party providing the bribe. Commonly bribery

purpose is to influence the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or

legal duties. Regardless of who initiates the deal, either party to an act of bribery can be

found guilty of the crime independently of the other.

The co-operation from every part of organizations and management should be improved

in order to overcome bribery. Though there are many isolated cases, some of them are

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OUMH3203just keep secret. However our government has taken some serious actions towards those

people that practice bribery in their line of work.

1.1 CHARACTERISTICS

These are some characteristics of bribery:-

1.1.1. Any positions, titles, designations, jobs, contracts or services, and promise

for any type of job or service.

1.1.2. Any type of compensation, discount, commission, rebate or bonus.

1.1.3. Money, donation, loan, fee, gift, expensive collateral, properties

(moveable or immovable), rights in properties or any other similar benefits.

1.1.4. Any action that prevents oneself from claiming any money or monetary

value or luxurious items.

1.1.5. Any type of service or help such as protection from any penalties,

disciplinary penalties, civil or criminal charges. This includes using one's

authority or preventing from using one's authority to provide that protection.

1.1.6. Any payments, exemptions, settlement of loans, obligations and liabilities

either in whole or in part.

1.1.7. Any offers or promises, with or without conditions, to give bribes such as

any of the above items.

1.2 TYPES OF BRIBERY

There are different types of bribery such as:-

1.2.1 Offering or giving bribe

Any persons or agents that offer or give or agree to give a bribe (money or

items or services) as a motivator or reward to perform or not to perform any

related transaction or related to a formal transaction, principal or employer.

1.2.2 Requesting or receiving bribe

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OUMH3203Any person or agent that demand or request or receive or agree to accept any

bribe as a motivator or reward to do or not to do anything related to any

formal or informal activities.

1.2.3 Making a fake or unreliable claim

Any person who gives to an agent or an agent gives to his principal or

employer, a document that he or she knows or realizes contains forged

information with the intention of deceiving his or her principal or employer.

1.2.4 Misusing title or position

Any public sector executive that use their title and position to receive bribery

for any decisions or actions related to himself, where the executive, his

relatives or his cronies have an interest in directly or indirectly.

Source: Anti-Corruption Agency, Malaysia

2.1 Economic analysis on the act of bribery

Let us look how bribery is considered as an ethical problem in economic aspect.

According to the business dictionary, bribery is the act of taking or receiving something

with the intention of influencing the recipient in some way favorable to the party

providing the bribe. Bribery is typically considered illegal and can be punishable by jail

time or stiff fines if authorities find out about the bribe.

According to World Bank report (1997 p.20)"Bribes can influence the allocation of

monetary benefits (for evasion, subsidies, pensions, or unemployment insurance.) Bribes

can be used to reduce amount of taxes or other fees collected by government from private

parties. In many countries tax bill is negotiable. Bribes may be demanded or offered for

the issuance of license that conveys an exclusive right, such as a land development

concession or exploitation of a natural rescores. Sometimes politicians and bureaucrats

deliberately put in place policies that crate control rights, which they profit from by

selling. Bribes can speed up the government’s granting of permission to carry out legal

activities. Bribes can alter outcomes of the legal and regulatory process, by inducing the

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OUMH3203Government either to fail to stop illegal activities or to unduly favors party over another

in Court or other legal proceeding."

This report shows that bribery give big impact to our economic status. Government

should be worry of the consequences.

2.2 Legal analysis on the act of bribery

In legal approaches, bribery is a serious offence in many countries. For over ten years,

organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the

Council of Europe, and the United Nations have been helping developing countries adopt

legal measures to fight corruption. The various anti-corruption conventions signed by a

wide number of countries represent perhaps the most common element of such work.

Malaysia has its own act under Anti-Corruption Agency against bribery which is

included in Anti-Corruption Act 1997. One of the purposes is to reduce or eliminate the

frequency of bribery. In legal terms, bribery is described as the act of accepting or

offering something of value, such as money, in return for a certain action or influence on

a government official. Bribes can take many different forms, but are always intended to

influence or alter the action of various individuals. Bribery goes hand in hand with both

political and public corruption. According to law, both the recipient of the bribe and the

provider of the bribe can be charged with the offense of bribery. A bribe may be a gift

given to someone in exchange for certain action or influence. Other forms of bribes may

include property, various goods, privileges, services and favors. However, the most

common bribes are given as currency.

4 Ethical analysis on the act of bribery

In moral value of the ethical in bribery, there are a few issues can be raise. There are

some mixture of opinion between bribery and extortion. Bribery said to be illegal

agreement whereas extortion said to be forced upon the victim. Therefore extortion and

bribery can be classified as unethical as well. In reality, it is uneasy to differentiate

between a bribe from extortion. For example in order to release imported containers

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OUMH3203where there are need to have a serious discussion with custom officials. There are many

other examples of where bribery can be happened. The consequences are significant.

Public safeties in term of consumers’ food products to children toys seem not important

anymore. International bribery directly weakens the effort to protect basic human rights.

This is a big complication that should not be ignored.

2.4 ANALYSIS

Let us see why people need to bribe. There are many reasons to practice bribery from the

smaller to a bigger matter. Even though many people that were offered bribe aware of the

consequences and the punishments that they might face, the temptation of making more

money or having extravagant materials that beyond their status or actual salary.When

there are big holes in ethics, people can easily fall to this bribery issue.

There are many organizations or companies or official that prone to the bribery issues.

Here are some examples:

Government official- bribe in exchange for doing something illegal change in his

duties that also misuse his title. Government officials are poorly paid and use

bribery to supplement salaries.

A witness- bribe in exchange of testimony that was not the actual incidents.

Foreign Official- bribe in expected of landing or maintaining important and

significant business contacts.

Bank- Exchange in business transaction to do a favour of something.

Sporting Contests- change the result intentionally.

Healthcare industry- Doctors and pharmacist to prescribe the pharmaceutical

company’s drug or medicine.

Brokers- bribe to convince companies to choose their services over those of

another provider.

Food industries- bribe to give the opportunity to their products in certain outlets

or countries.

Business-To cross over the ‘red tapes’.

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OUMH3203Bribery is not a small matter because the effect is massive. Here stated some of the

effects of bribery to our society and country.

The involved party becoming a selfish individual. They do not have conscience to

do the right thing just because of their own satisfaction.

The unfair result for those that do not have money to but the influence and power.

No more fear and guilt to do thing against moral norm.

Breeds inefficiencies into the system, erodes growth and deprives millions of

people and the services which they deserved.

Decreases the standard of living and quality of life.

Endangered the environment public with the incompetent work or construction.

Can create political instability and economic distortion which is a disaster for a

decent civilization.

Increase in management cost. New entrepreneurs will need to face so tedious ‘red

tape’ before any applications approved.

Looking at the threat and negatives consequences of bribery, there are some measure

needs to enforce in order to curb this problems. Unfortunately, below are some

reasons why the cases of bribery were not exposed to the appropriate actions.

Usually they do not have any black and white evidence.

Feeling the need of helping friends or families as if it is their obligation to

satisfy their demand.

Lack of moral values and commitment to work.

Negative attitude towards their own problems.

Lack of confidence in Government officers.

As the risks of bribery are harmful for economic growth, personalities and illegal it

should not treat as a simple matter. Punishment should be enforced to those irresponsible

individuals.

2.4 RECOMMENDATIONS

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OUMH3203The different levels and types of bribery are clearly defined in most of the countries.

Although there are challenging tasks for the implementation of the actions against

them, there are some recommendations to be considered.

The implementation of the anti-bribery practices and policies to the bribers.

In Malaysia, there is a website formed to list the names of the bribery offenders.

Increase of a fine and imprisonment period.

Develop strong institution that against unethical behaviour.

Check the monopoly power of public officials or any powerful agent.

Make every exchange or transaction accountable by clear codes of conduct.

Institutionalize accountability mechanisms at different levels of government and

limit discretion.

Maintain the good reputation from the smear of immoral act of bribery.

Public awareness of the punishment or sentencing of the bribery by mass media

and internet.

Applying laws uniformly and fairly.

Education and awareness of the punishment and good working ethics is very

important.

Establishing a clear and accessible system for the reporting of any suspicious

behaviour.

Strict enforcement of ethics codes is essential. Those who violate the company

code ought to be punished.

Regardless of the charge or guilt, those that fall to bribery or other related charges

should hire the attorney. Having the professional to assist the cases is very helpful

because the punishment can be severe. The attorney’s fees for handling the case may

vary which are depending on many factors.

3 CONCLUSIONS

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OUMH3203In most community, gift exchanges are very common and considered as symbolic

expressions of interpersonal and social relationships. Gifts also implied as a reward for

assistance and services. Some people may take advantages of this traditional practice in

making an excuse to bribe. Selfishness and avoiding any form of accountability and often

pushed by greed changed a gift into the bribe.

Bribes are driven by selfishness while avoiding any form of accountability, sometimes

pushed by the presumed need to survive and often stimulated by mere greed. People in

business bribe executives to obtain favors or to do something illegal without get caught.

Unfortunately, the phenomenon of bribery is not in a small scale but flooded some

societies ferociously that it endangers the community life and economic mechanisms.

We have seen that high levels of bribery activities have very harmful effects on economic

and political development in any countries that cannot control it. Convoluted regulations

and weak rule of law foster a culture of corruption and informality both in the private and

public sectors.

There are cases of corruption that respond to the unethical nature of the corrupt

individual. But for the most part, the unethical behavior stems from the environment in

which individuals must interact.

In order to fight bribery and informality, it is essential to understand that bribery is a

symptom of overregulation, lack of rule of law, a large public sector. The optimal

solution would be to eliminate burdensome regulations so that an unethical behavior does

not occur. Economic freedom in all possible areas of economy must be advanced to make

sure there are less obstructing economic activity and then improve on the cost of life.

Countries must also preserve the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary to

punish corrupt actions. Economic freedom with a strong rule of law will foster a culture

of investment, job creation, and institutional respect are the essential factors in massively

improving the living standards of ordinary people and fight bribery.

( 2381 words)

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OUMH3203REFERENCES

Lawyer Shop.Com. Bribery. Retrieved on 20 May 2013 fromhttp://www.lawyershop.com/practice-areas/criminal-law/white-collar-crimes/bribery-kickbacks

Elizabeth Spahn. 2008. "International Bribery: The Moral Imperialism Critiques" ExpressO. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/elizabeth_spahn/1

http://www.legalinfo.com/content/criminal-law/crime-overview-bribery.html

http://zaharuddin.net/senarai-lengkap-artikel/38/781-corruption-and-bribery-will-destroy-our-nation.html

Mark Pieth and Huguette Labelle. Making sure that bribes don't pay. Retrieved on 22 May 2013 fromhttp://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/makingsurethatbribesdontpay.htm

Ho Jo Ann, Tee Keng Kok (2011). OUMM3203 Professional Ethics. Open University Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur.

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