A visit to get anti-corruption experience

A two-day working visit of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko to Singapore began on December 9. And judging by his tweets, the focus of his negotiations with the leadership of this island country is taking over Singapore’s experience of fighting corruption.

“Fighting corruption is our priority. We must be transparent. Cooperation with Singapore will give a powerful signal of trust for the investors. The more effectively we fight against the corruption, the better investment climate we will be able to create and the more investments we will be able to receive. We are impressed with the results of Singapore’s anti-corruption policy, investment climate, and new technologies. This is what we also need to implement,” this is what Poroshenko wrote on Twitter about the result of negotiations with the leaders of Singapore.

Everyone remembers how on June 19 Petro Poroshenko presented Vitalii Yarema as a candidate for the Prosecutor General’s post. In particular, back then, in a form of advice to the future law enforcer, the Ukrainian president quoted the words of the “Singapore wonder” Lee Kuan Yew: “Start with putting three of your friends to jail. You definitely know what for, and people will believe you.” But things have not been moved an inch.

According to the President’s press service, Poroshenko and acting director of the Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau of Singapore James Low agreed on training of Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine workers in this structure.

Besides, during the meeting with Singapore’s President Tony Tan Keng Yam, Poroshenko thanked Singapore for its unflinching support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and readiness to share its experience. “We are impressed with the results of your anti-corruption policy, investment climate, new technologies, and new synergies. This is what we also need to implement,” he said.

In his turn, both the President of Singapore and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong emphasized during the meetings with Poroshenko that territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of borders are the principles that must not be broken. Indeed, it is important for our country to hear such statements in support of territorial integrity.

The Ukrainian president, whose next destination after Singapore is Australia, told his interlocutors that Ukraine is doing everything possible to promote the international independent investigation of the Malaysian Airline MH17 crash, led by the Netherlands. “We have to demonstrate joint effort not to let such tragedies repeat in the future,” he emphasized.

During the discussion of cooperation in science and technology area, Singapore’s prime minister underlined Ukraine’s potential in the sphere, where our country “has a lot of outstanding scientists.”

Another positive aspect is that both parties emphasized the necessity to resume the negotiations on free trade between Ukraine and Singapore, as well as on international macro-financial aid to Ukraine.

The Day addressed experts with a request to explain the reason for Singapore’s successful experience of fighting corruption, and what Ukraine should learn from this state in the first place.

“FIRST OF ALL, WE NEED TO LEARN THREE THINGS FROM SINGAPORE”

 Pavlo SHEREMETA, former minister of trade and economic development of Ukraine, president of the Kyiv School of Economics:

“I think that we need to learn three things from Singapore in the first place. Firstly, Singapore is the top country according to the ease of doing business. We are number 94 on this rating, and it is just a disgrace. We rose by 16 positions during the last year, but we need to go 94 positions higher to compete for the first place.

“Secondly, Singapore has a surplus budget, or at least, it has had it for a long while. They treat such thing as the budget rather responsibly. Our budget deficit is more than 10 percent. This is fatal. Countries do not live with a budget like that. It is incompatible with life. That is why we have so many problems and that is why we are forced to hang on to either Russia’s or International Monetary Fund’s support. This is not the question of war, because the war totals up to about two percent of the GDP. Meanwhile, the general deficit is more than 10 percent. Conversely, Singapore’s budget has a surplus.

“And the third thing. Total government expenditures from the budget make up 15 percent of the GDP in Singapore. And in Ukraine it is 52 percent of the GDP. I would say that we have capitalist revenues and socialist responsibilities. We even have expenses we do not have the money for. By the way, in Singapore 5 percent from this 15 is spent on the defense sector. And in our case it is only 1.5 percent out of 52, and we are virtually in a state of war. We need to learn from Singapore how to use state funds.

“To sum it all, I would learn from Singapore, firstly, how to simplify business management, secondly, how to create a surplus budget, and thirdly, how to cut off state expenses.

“It is clear that the fight against corruption must be the top priority, and it is good that the president talks about it in Ukraine and abroad.”

“WE HAVE LEGISLATION, BUT IT IS NOT ADHERED TO. IN SINGAPORE IT IS, AND PRECISELY TO THE POINT”

 Viktor MASHTABEI, former ambassador of Ukraine to Singapore, associate professor of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“Firstly, it is law. Singapore has well-developed legislation acts, which apply not only to immediate executors, but their relatives too. And the consistent implementation of these laws guaranteed what we are talking about now. But it does not mean corruption does not exist there at all. There are few cases of it, but comparing to us, it can be said corruption is equal to zero there. Everyone knows that if someone, heaven forbid, should get caught red-handed, this person is doomed to not having a career in both politics and business. And one more detail. Everyone quotes Lee Kuan Yew’s phrase: ‘arrest three friends, and the path to normal life is open.’ Do not forget that Kuan Yew himself was a lawyer and he perfected this legislation with his colleagues.

“I once sent the information on how it was done, including the legislation part, to our relevant authorities. It would be enough to learn, read, and implement.

“But there is a difference, we have legislation, but it is not adhered to or implemented, while over there it is, and precisely to the point.”

Judging from your experience, is it easy to implement all this in Ukraine, or do we need to invite the head of the anti-corruption bureau from Singapore over to achieve zero corruption rate?

“The problem is not about the head of the anti-corruption institution being from a different country. The problem is to explain to our citizens that it is for their own benefit, and warn everyone. The problem is not that bribes are accepted, but that they are given in the first place. And as you know, they are given by people who came to ask for something. The following issue is rather clear: make transparent procedures. And no special institution for this is necessary, but we love this legacy of the Soviet time. In any situation we are creating an institution, and there is a saying from the Soviet times too: ‘if you want to ruin a business, create a committee or something like that.’ That is why it might be better, but everything depends on how this work will be organized.

“We have to understand: firstly, the legislation, secondly, the implementation system, and thirdly, people’s readiness to implement this on the level of government structures as well as in everyday life. All the procedures involving both the population and the government must be transparent and clear. By the way, in Dubai (we don’t necessarily have to use Singapore as an example) you can use a computer at any store and check what the city authorities are doing, what is being built and where, with what money, and what the progress is. Moreover, you can get a car and go check that everything corresponds to reality.”

How can this transparency be transferred to our Ukrainian environment? Do we need to involve foreign officials in this, as the Ukrainian government is doing it now?

“Educate people. It is not about the officials, but about how people think. If we turned officials into bribe takers, the process of officials’ selection and education must be changed. We need to have citizens with an adequate understanding of their function. Of course, they must be rewarded for it in some way. You should know that Lee Kuan Yew said: ‘A person in the government system should not be paid less than they would be in a similar post in some company. Otherwise we will have the wrong people.’ It is a way out too. By the way, the prime minister of Singapore has a bigger salary than the president of the United States of America.”