OPINION Pg8

HERALD
www.oheraldo.in

o= HERALD o=
Vol No CIX No: 73
Corruption: The Mother of Poverty
Goa, Saturday 14 March, 2009 Corruption always causes poverty, since the losses caused by it are invariably greater than its gains, says TEOTÓNIO R DE SOUZA

Third (class) A
ntónio Barreto, a prominent Portuguese so- leaders and sports barons as the most corrupt. It
ciologist and political analyst, sounded a grim was also interesting to note, that despite new leg-
warning, in his weekly Sunday column of the islation to curb corruption during the past decade,

Front?  popular Portuguese daily Público of 8 March 2009,

to the growing number of the Portuguese who
tend to believe that there are better values than
including the creation of a Council for Prevention of
Corruption, the corruption has only increased. So
much so that Portugal fell in the ranking from 28th

W
hat happens when four Left parties and half a dozen regional
outfits join hands on the very eve of elections to formally
project themselves as an alternative to the two main
contending alliances led by the Congress and BJP? You get a ‘Third
Front’; the ideologically inclined Left parties in bed with mostly
opportunistic elements that are unwilling to make a commitment now,
in the hope that they can strike a better bargain in post-poll negotiations.
That is precisely what Thursday’s grand alliance hosted by former
Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda at Tumkur, in Karnataka – ostensibly
on the plank of decentralisation of power – turned out to be. The Third
Front comprises CPI(M), CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc, Telugu Desam (TDP),
Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Janata Dal-S (JD-S) and Bhajan Lal’s
Haryana Janahit Party (HJP).
Mayavati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK are
also officially members. But neither of the party chiefs was present.
Jayalalithaa sent one V Maitreyan, who carried a letter from the supremo
saying she could not come in view of the “protests” she had undertaken
in Tamil Nadu. The only protest she undertook was days ago; a single
day’s working-hours ‘fast’ – from 9 am to 5 pm – to highlight the plight
of Tamil citizens trapped in Sri Lanka-LTTE war. Did it leave her too
weak to make the journey?
Mayawati’s case was even more amusing. Insiders say she has made
it clear that she will join the Front only if she is projected as its prime
ministerial candidate. BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra,
who attended on her behalf, said so in so many words: “It is the aim of
the BSP to make Mayawati Prime Minister.”
Thankfully, both the TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu and JD(S) chief H D
Deve Gowda have said they are not prime ministerial candidates.
However, no one can ever believe Deve Gowda entirely; his record in
Karnataka over the last few years speaks for itself. Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
chief Naveen Patnaik, who severed ties with the BJP in Orissa recently,
stayed away.
Of all the ‘Third Fronts’ floated in the last two decades – the BJP-
supported government led by V P Singh in 1989-90, the Congress-
supported governments led by I K Gujral and Deve Gowda from 1996
to 1998, and the recent, short-lived UNPA – this one seems the most
shaky.
At the same time, objective conditions have never been better for a
third alternative. For the last decade, the vote percentage of regional
parties in national elections is rising, and national parties have become
increasingly dependent on making the right partnerships to come to
power. Today, both the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA are in
difficulties, and the voter is looking for better choices.
But the operative word here is ‘better’, not just ‘choice’. What sort
of front is it in which the probable projected PM candidate’s party is
being honest or regard as naïve those few who still
cherish honesty. I liked his quote from the old phi-
losopher Socrates to remind the Portuguese that
if the dishonest had discovered the advantages of
being honest, they would grab it, even be it for
dishonesty’s sake! A pretty suave manner of mar-
keting honesty to the dishonest in the land of
“brandos costumes”.
I wish to present here some random reflections
and some conclusions drawn from a PhD thesis that
was successfully defended last week by Armando
Rui Teixeira Santos, Professor in the Department
of Law at the Universidade Lusófona (Lisboa), a
long-time journalist and owner of the weekly Se-
manário since 1993. I was invited to be the re-
search guide of this thesis in the Department of
Political Science and International Relations.
The theme selected for research was “The Po-
litical Economy of Corruption: The case of Luso-
phone States”, a fascinating subject that has been
causing heartache in these times of worldwide
crisis. None will disagree that corruption is not the
exclusive domain of any scientific area, though
politicians may rightfully lay a greater claim to it.
The thesis was a multidisciplinary exercise, shar-
ing conceptual tools from Political Science, Eco-
nomics, Law, and History. My defense of the con-
cept of the ‘History of the Present’ may explain my
interest and justify my involvement in research
projects of this type. It represents also my efforts
for discovering Portugal to Me. I had already guid-
ed the candidate in his MPhil dissertation a couple
of years ago, and it turned out to be the first anal-
ysis of the kind undertaken in Portugal outside the
realm of legal studies. The onset of the financial
crisis motivated me to take up the theme for a
deeper analysis in a PhD thesis.
To recall what I wrote thirty years ago in my
doctoral thesis published as Medieval Goa (New
Delhi, Concept, 1979, pp 152-153): “If the decline
of the city (Goa, the capital of the Portuguese east-
ern empire) was gradual and the breakdown was
never complete, this was due to the resilience its
organisation had achieved. It was its constitution-
ally determined corruption that kept the Estado
da Índia from falling apart.” That organisational and
Tongue in Cheek
HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS
constitutional corruption could not leave the judi-
cial system untouched.
Diogo do Couto, the Portuguese chronicler and
founder of the Goa Historical Archives, was writing
in the early seventeenth century that in Goa “one
who has more power can have more justice and this
cobweb does not catch anything else than mosqui-
toes; a Gujarati is arrested and condemned for squat-
ting while urinating; a Hindu is put in irons for quar-
relling with another of his kind or for abusing him;
but if a favourite of the authorities or a wealthy
person breaks open the safes of a Hindu and takes
away his goods by violence, it is considered a light
issue and permissible.” It was not without good
reason that among Goans who migrated to Manga-
lore it was common to curse and wish ill to some-
one by saying: Goyncho nyai tumcha matear pod-
dum (May the justice from Goa fall upon your head),
because it could be an endless procedure that
would lead nowhere, but would not fail to exhaust
those involved and their material resources.
One of the key issues to be studied in the PhD
Election Time
research under review was to know if the long Por-
tuguese experience in corruption in its Asiatic
empire, covered by the MPhil dissertation and now
included as one of the three long appendices of
the PhD thesis, made Portugal immune and resist-
ant, or rather more fragile in the context of the new
crises.
Basing himself upon the findings contained in
the reports of the Bank of Portugal, the reports of
the Transparency International Corruption Percep-
tions Index and upon a CATI (Computer Assisted
Telephone Interviewing) poll specially structured
for the purpose of this study, the researcher comes
to the conclusion that Portugal is not more corrupt
than Italy, Spain or most East European Countries.
He points out that in Western democracies there is
a nexus between the media and scandals that are
perversely used to magnify and project “scandals
of corruption” in order to make political gains. Most
noises subside after electoral gains are assured.
Curiously, nearly 70 per cent of the respondents
confirmed this trend and considered the political
to 32nd place from 2007 to 2008. From among the
other Lusophone countries, Macau ranks 43, Cape
Verde 47, Brazil 80, S. Tomé e Príncipe 121, Mozam-
bique 126, East Timor 145, and Guinea-Bissau and
Angola 158.
One of the most interesting features of the the-
sis is where it seeks to prove that corruption always
causes poverty. This is illustrated with a diagram,
where the losses caused by corruption (triangle
represents the dead-weight) are shown as always
greater than the gains of corruption. It is also con-
cluded that there is a correspondence between the
transparency rankings of the countries and their
respective GNP, excepting cases like Angola and
Timor, both oil producers with patrimonial income
that do not need to overburden the citizens with
taxes. In the case of Macau the income from casi-
nos has a similar effect as in the previous two cases.
For the rest, there is normally a correspondence
between the levels of corruption and the levels of
GNP. The levels of corruption are also reflected in
other indices of public welfare or lack of it, such as
education, health, civil liberties, etc, to which the
Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has drawn the
attention of the world in recent times.
The great challenge facing the world is now
linked with the State initiatives to nationalise banks
and engage in Keynesian projects. But are the gov-
ernments prepared to check themselves while
seeking to check the financial institutions? That’s
what the next April summit of G20 will have to find
out. In the case of Portugal, it has fine legislation,
has entered the path of good democratic practices,
there is no spiral of corruption to point to, but polit-
ical stability and laxity of controls of democratic
politics, and the old tradition of counting on “pa-
drinho”, lead to a low and chronic or endemic type
of corruption.
Congratulations to Dr Armando Rui Teixeira San-
tos for his insightful and courageous analysis, and I
wish him fresh insights and courage following his
participation during the coming weeks in the Geor-
getown Leadership Seminar of Edmund Walsh School
of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Wash-
ington DC. A rare and privileged opportunity indeed,
but well earned.
By Adelmo Fernandes

unwilling to enter into any kind of seat sharing arrangement with even
a single of its ‘allies’? Mayawati’s BSP plans to field candidates for nearly
500 of the 542 Lok Sabha seats, barring only the North-Eastern states.
The BSP will be contesting against nearly all the parties in the Third
Front.
In the last election, Mayavati’s BSP contested 435 seats across the
country but managed to win only 19, all from Uttar Pradesh. And it is UP
that is the basis of her claim to the PM’s ‘gaddi’. As her representative
so cogently pointed out, the Left party ‘strongholds’ – West Bengal (42
seats), Kerala (20 seats) and Tripura (2 seats) – together have less than
UP’s 80 seats.
The BJP has described the launch of the Third Front as a political
‘nautanki’. The Congress has said that it is a ghost that puts in an
appearance every once in a while; only to help communal forces. These
may be unnecessarily unkind and factually incorrect remarks, but the
point is that the Third Front is just a medley of discontented parties
with ambitious but mercurial regional chieftains like Mayawati,
Jayalalithaa and Gowda, which the Left is struggling to hold together.
All of them want to be PM, but not a single one would be able to hold
a coalition together. Post-election, it will be each one for him (her) self.
T
his happened five years ago. The chap at our doorstep looked quite
familiar. I was a bit puzzled. I asked my better half if she could place
the guy. She seemed more puzzled than me. Yes, now I remem-
bered. I had seen him quit a few times on the local TV channels. Yes, you
have guessed it right. He was indeed our local politician. The reason he
was at our doorstep? When elections are close by, the politicians cannot
be far away. Indeed elections have a great levelling effect. It is during this
time that our politicians identify themselves with the aam aadmi (and
aam aurat).
Elections are round the corner once again. That is the only time the
common man gets to shake hands, and probably even hug, these now
powerless people who hope to be in power again very soon.
Having said that, elections mean different things to different people.
For the politicians, of course, there are hectic days ahead. Knocking on
every door in the locality is no mean task. The response of the aam aadmi
varies from not opening the door at all to welcoming the guest with open
arms. Some may even click snaps along with the politicians. The photog-
raphy session will be an exercise in futility if he is not elected.
All this running about could take a toll of these politicians. Many could
be shedding a considerable amount of body weight. But then, once in
power, there will always be time to regain the weight and even improve on
it. Hard work for a fortnight or so can mean a life of luxury for the next five
years, till the next elections. It is also a time when candidates make tall
promises and long speeches. “Since a politician never believes what he
says, he is surprised when others believe him,” wrote Charles De Gaulle.
For the party leaders it is all about bargaining and seat-adjustments. No
leader worth his salt would like to win fewer seats (because of seat-ad-
justments) than their party could otherwise win. Hence the principle of
give-and-take comes into force. For the party workers it is work time
once again. It also time to pocket a pocketful of crisp notes. It is all
about making hay while the sun shines. After all, the politicians can-
not survive without these cronies and the musclemen who parade as
party-workers.
For these party workers it is work during the day, and at night it is party
time. That is probably why the nomenclature ‘party worker’ suits them just
fine. Well, the model code of conduct does come into force. It would be in
the fitness of things to also have a moral code of conduct for most of our
politicians contesting the elections. Indeed they would do well with a les-
son or two on morality.
Once the model code of conduct comes into force, nothing, absolutely
nothing, can be depicted by the politicians that will even remotely remind
the electorate of the party the candidate belongs to. But then today’s
politicians have discovered other ways of wooing the voters. One way is
to send SMS to the voters after the party-workers have made a list of the
mobile numbers of the voters. So just as we have a voters’ list, we also
have a list of the mobile numbers of the voters.
Elections are the one time when we hear about the Chief Election
Commissioners and other election commissioners. They go into oblivion
after the elections, till the next elections.
What do elections mean to the aam aadmi? Many would consider it a
waste of public money as mostly the same corrupt faces come back to
power at every election by hook or by crook. Some are hardly bothered
about the elections, as they go on with their everyday lives. There are also
those who watch the tamasha as politicians engage in party hopping and
have strange bedfellows. It is rightly said that in politics there are neither
permanent friends nor permanent enemies, only permanent interests. Yes-
terday’s enemy could be today’s friend and probably tomorrow’s enemy again.
And when it is voting day some are grateful for the elections as they get
an extra holiday in the calendar year. They probably even head to the beach
or just laze in bed the whole day without exercising their franchise. But
the multitude of voters think it is their moral duty and responsibility to
cast their vote. Yes, indeed, every vote does count. Your vote can bring
about a change. So vote you must! 

Letters to the Editor

Adding Sarpanchas
Sidonio Mendes, Chandor
A well-documented article on grassroot empow-
erment (Herald, ‘Opinionated’, 6 March), by Dr J
C Almeida, IAS (Retd) focuses on exemption of
Zilla Panchayats in a small state like Goa, and to
place his point he equates our Legislative Assem-
bly to the Zilla Parishads of bigger states like
Maharashtra. The writer, learned as he is, feels
that this whole intermediary exercise could have
been avoided had the Goa Government placed
its proposal at appropriate time, similar to ex-
emption agreed upon for states like Nagaland,
Megahalya and Mizoram.
Decades ago another such drastic event bi-
furcated many well-set Village Panchayats, sim-
ply because a notification created an opportuni-
ty for a segment of 2000-odd voters to have a
separate Panchayat. Thereby the historical amal-
gamation and parochial affinity of many villages
100 Years Ago
PRIMEIRO DIARIO NAS COLONIAS PORTUGEZAS
14 March 1909
Vancouver authorities sued
Eleven persons sued the authorities of Van-
couver demanding $20,000 in compensation
for their criminal detentions in March 1908,
under a law which was nullified at a later stage.
India following 1818 law
In the House of Commons, Mr Buchanan, re-
plying to a series of questions, said that India
is still following the Law of 1818 to prevent
any internal revolt.
Atrocities in Belgian Congo
Lt Arnaud, a Belgian Officer, was sentenced to
12 years of forced labour for atrocities com-
mitted by him in Congo.
Trident-bearing Bose arrested
Kedar Nath Bose was arrested on the last Sun-
day night when he was stealthily following a
Sub-Inspector of Police, armed with a trident,
and bent on harming him.
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was disturbed, and it looked as if the only fancy
of some hotheads was for the numeral ‘paanch’.
In no way has this segmentation of Panchayats
helped Goa in its development, other than add-
ing a few more Sarpanchas, and consequently
maybe a few more marriage proposals. And the
major contribution of this episode of segmen-
tation of Panchayats in Goa we see today is the
“felicity” of toppling games.
Vote – but for whom?
Marcos Alemao, Varca
I gracefully accept the recommendations of our
beloved Archbishop Filipe Neri to cast our votes
for the party which is more secular and corrup-
tion-free and which will rule the country with-
out any discrimination among citizens (Herald,
8 Mar).
But which party? Congress? BJP? Both are not
reliable parties. The Congress party, which claims
to be secular, is not really so. There is no security
to the Christians in our country under Congress
rule. The Congress party in Goa is an anti-Goans’
party and also most corrupt.
On the other hand, the BJP is a well-known
communal party which promotes only Hindutva.
I feel that the candidates contesting as inde-
pendents or under regional outfits will do bet-
ter than these national parties. They are free to
join or support any party which is broadminded
and secular.
Entirely between them
Nataline Gomes, Panjim
Apropos Vikram Varma’s letter to the editor
(Herald, 4 Mar), defending the legality of the
ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act, I
fully endorse and support his view that the ordi-
nance was perfectly legal and within the ambit
of the Constitution.
Firstly, it is blatantly wrong to call it the ‘Ci-
dade Ordinance’. Though this might appear juicy
to headline writers, this is an ordinance which
will correct past wrongs and ensure that if land
has been acquired and given to a party, it is en-
tirely between the government and the party.
A personal dislike for a company or its owners
cannot be an excuse for bashing anyone who
defends them. In this case, Varma only pointed
to the spirit of the Constitution, which makes
passing this ordinance completely legal. Too bad
Tottering Pakistan Words of Wisdom
Letter of the Day Michael Vaz, Merces Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Inconsiderate driving
Pakistan today is in worse shambles than ever Richard Bach’s bestseller Jonathan Livingston
before. An uneasy democracy on the brink of
Seagull is an uplifting fable of a seagull, Jonath-
collapse is loosely holding the shattered coun- an, who decides he is much more than just a
J Sonnex, Cansaulim try together. There is utter chaos and the rule of
seagull, who wants something else out of life.
law seems to be eroding treacherously. It consists of fewer than 100 pages, includ-
It has been mentioned in Herald recently that Goa is set to improve the condition of its roads in Though Pakistan is our immediate neighbour
order to lower the number of road accidents. May I venture to suggest that in order to help ing many dreamy photographs of gulls in ac-
it has never enjoyed democracy in its true sense. tion. The book is now a symbol of the alter-
prevent the increasing number of accidents, it is not the roads that are in severe need of improve- Whenever a civilian government has been set
ment but the majority of people using them. native or New Age spirituality that emerged
up after tremendous extraneous pressure, es- in the 1970s – yet, as many have noted,
People drive without due care, displaying a lack of even basic common sense when they are pecially from the West, it has survived in patches
behind a wheel. There isn’t any lane sense, main roads are total chaos, and even on narrow country Jonathan’s experience in the story is an alle-
and that too shakily. gory for the life of Jesus Christ.
roads, oncoming vehicles hog the road and rarely slow down. Drivers turning right do so on the The Taliban has been wielding its clout over
wrong side of the road, thus forcing any approaching vehicle to slow, or stop, even though they Jonathan is different from other birds in
Pakistan as never before. After successfully tak- his flock: “For most gulls, it is not flying that
have right of way. Two-wheeler riders use mobiles, ride two abreast, and also drive in the centre ing control over the Swat valley it has been eye-
of the road, only occasionally producing a hand signal when turning. All vehicles pull into main matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it
ing Peshawar as its next target, which could bring was not eating that mattered, but flight.” His
roads without even slowing at junctions, often without looking. Riders do not wear protective it closer to the Pakistani capital. That can pose a
head gear. father tells him that “The reason you fly is to
potential danger not only to Pakistan and its eat”, and that flying for the sake of it is not done.
Often, mum, dad and two or three children are carried merrily along on a bike, regardless of neighbours but to the whole world as well. With
the dangers, as dad happily weaves in and out of the traffic. Pedestrians stroll casually, sometimes Jonathan spends his days experimenting
the state of affairs across the country it won’t be with high-speed dives and flying very low over
three or four abreast. Motorists do not halt at road junctions and pedestrian crossings. On over- a surprise if the military would take over Paki-
taking and finding they cannot go ahead because of oncoming traffic, they cut back into the flow the water. One day he tries a dive, and is able
stan once again. to accelerate to a hundred and forty miles per
without any care, forcing the vehicle behind them to brake. No-entry signs are completely ig-
nored. hour, “a gray cannonball under the moon”.
Before improving roads, improve every driver’s road sense. Insist on proper tests, observing Love affair with Goa The next day, he goes even beyond this, over
traffic signs, being courteous to other road users, pedestrians included. Dogs and livestock are Alf Tupper, UK/Goa two hundred miles per hour, the fastest a gull
not the problem. Narrow country roads are not the problem. But driving without any consider- Many congratulations and thanks on your edito- had ever flown.
ation for others, driving at night without lights, often while wearing dark clothing, driving errat- rial re the Russian land racketeers (Herald, 7 Yet, the next day, Jonathan is summoned
ically in the centre of the road, without using basic common sense – these are the root causes of March). This was the first piece of positive jour- to stand before the gull Council. For his ‘reck-
all accidents. nalism to be published about the long and very less irresponsibility’ he is shamed and ban-
Until people learn to drive properly and with care, many more lives will have been lost to worrying problems facing foreigners who have ished from the flock. He is told he does not
selfish, inconsiderate people, and many more will be injured unnecessarily by those who think bought property in Goa, and followed all the understand the purpose of gull life – to eat to
they own the road immediately they find themselves behind a wheel. guidelines and advice given by Goan advocates, stay alive as long as possible.
Consideration and care at all times ought to be every single road user’s mantra. Goa is pictur- builders and developers alike.This situation has Jonathan later meets a group of more ad-
esque, and the country roads part of its appeal. Is it too much to ask of those using the roads to vanced gulls, gulls like him who fly for the
treat others with care and respect?
damaged Goa’s reputation in the UK. The Goan
sake of it. They take him into another dimen-
government should now publicly declare an
amnesty on all illegal threats of confiscations of sion, a sort of heaven for gulls, and he is told
that some people are uncomfortable with it. Golden Goa is fast becoming a centre of in- that he is a one-in-a-million gull, because he
FN property and at least give those involved
ternational drug trafficking. In every city there some breathing space. has learned the lesson of life: that it is not
Tourism vs culture are so many liquor shops and bars, giving a boost just to ‘get through’ but to seek your own
A joint committee could be then set up be-
Viraj Dessai, Quepem to the liquor trade in the name of promoting tween the lawyers acting for the foreigners in- perfection in some way.
Due to boost to the tourism industry, social and tourism. The easy and widespread availability of volved and the government, and perhaps call in It is easy now, 35 years on, to overlook the
cultural values in Goa are badly affected. I am of alcohol is playing havoc with Goan youth. Chew- the services of the Indian Arbitration and Concil- originality of the book’s concept, and though
the opinion that tourism is responsible for erod- ing paan and gutka, and then spitting in public iation Council, which would end this nightmare some find it rather naïve, in fact it expresses
ing Goan culture. places is the bad gift of tourists to us. we are enduring. timeless ideas about human potential.
There are many illegal activities goes on like As well documented, the foreigners involved Like the British explorer of the same name,
Under the pretext of promoting tourism, the
ecological balance of this land is being damaged. gambling, molestation of minor children, etc. are in the main aged 50+ and not troublemak- Jonathan Livingston knows that “The gull sees
Even though the government may get revenue farthest who flies highest”. If pondering big
There are encroachments on the coast, govern- ers or drug barons, just ordinary people who fell
from it, tourism is turning into a means for erod- changes in your life, this book may inspire the
ment reserve forests, destruction of mangroves, in love with Goa many years ago and wish for
ing Goan culture. confidence you need.
etc. Illegal constructions are rising rapidly. that love affair to continue.