NST Leader: Brotherly nations join hands to fight crime
Squabbles over the proprietorship of traditional songs, cuisine and costumes flare up every now and again but have petered out peacefully. There is deference though. Malaysian literati often pay obeisance to Indonesian greats, such as novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer and poet Chairil Anwar.
When intellectuals from both nations fraternise, the Malaysians would subtly switch to an "Indonesian accent", as if yielding to cultural dominance. There is this stark metric though: almost three million Indonesians have entered Malaysia—1.8 million illegally—in search of work. They have also carved out "Little Jakartas" in Malaysia's urban centres.
It seems like a win-win situation: Malaysian employers get low-cost labour while Indonesia reaps billions in wage remittance. There are also long-settled Indonesians-turned-Malaysians through the centuries.
Now, in more pragmatic times, Malaysia and Indonesia again have set aside rivalries to tackle a mutual problem: international corruption, cross-border crimes, money laundering and human trafficking. The bilateral cooperation seeks to strengthen anti-corruption initiatives through information sharing and the judicial process.
One such initiative is the cross-border cooperation between the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission. This is to tackle sophisticated and transnational corruption, uncover intricate money-laundering networks and analyse their methods.
While the focus is on the digital money trail, they will likely loop in human trafficking, specifically illegal migrant labour enabled by law enforcement complicity. Recent cases have shown the wisdom of pursuing such cooperation.
In the follow-up to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal, Indonesia seized the superyacht Equanimity as part of global investigations. An Indonesian judge and trade ministry official allegedly fast-tracked palm oil export permits that circumvented requirements to benefit Malaysian companies. A Malaysian company was allegedly embroiled in land rights corruption and deforestation in Indonesia to cultivate oil palm.
Against this sordid backdrop, the two nations aim to plug legal vacuums and loopholes that had subverted justice. Weeding out root causes of such crimes is also being planned. It entails dismantling a seedy political system that facilitates cross-influence of oligarchs, high-powered politicians and top government officials.
These efforts make past and present quarrels seem like playground scuffles.
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