WHAT CORRUPTION??
Corruption in agents, client, and streams

The term corruption is often vaguely used for any improper money charge and any improper money offer, or even any improper way to acquire money or goods and services. But the concept should be confined to tapping the money flows associated with government administration involving government agents. The necessary condition for talking of corruption is the owner of an asset changing hands (the government or a victimized citicizen) does not approve of it, but is unaware or powerless. this is however not sufficients to talk of corruption like walfare, illegal taxation, paying low wages that would not be accepted under free market choise and so on.
Another halmark if corruption is that it is not a power situation with a winner and a looser, but one where either a public official embezzles money he is trusted with, or one that results from a deal of some sort, reflecting the advantages of the parties and hence the power they perceive to have over each other: you have the document, the medicine, the educaton, I have the money. You produce the diamonds, I have the guns to keep the owning or taxing entity at a distance.Some basic concepts are useful for comprehension and neat discussion. The government spending flow meant to execute government tasks (like education, roads, security) is called the downstream. Under propriety, the flow reaches the (final) executors of the work done. The payments by customers of the public administration (like tax payers, licence holders, customers of paid public services) form the upstream.
Together, customers and executors form the clients of the public administration.
Corruption arises when a public administration individual or agent ceases to behave according to the rules he is hired to follow. He can engage in embezzlement: this is tapping money directly from the downstream or the upstream in his own office to his private property. Corruption can also be done by contract. Then, an executor agrees to "buy" his rights to execute for money by paying money directly to an agent. Or, a customer agrees to "buy" his rights to buy a public service by paying money directly to an agent.Corruption by contract can be by the agent's or by the client's initiative.

Hamidah binti Abdul Ghani