'Are you the solution or the problem?'

ONE question is often on Datuk Paul Low's lips these days: "Are you the solution or are you the problem?”

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department would ask this to his fellow colleagues, government officials, and the people he meets. The query does not seek an admission of guilt, and it doesn’t really matter what answer he receives.

“What I am really trying to tell them is... that everyone should do some soul searching and say to ourselves: we should be the solution," says Low in an interview with Astro AWANI recently at his office in Putrajaya.

In the Cabinet, Low’s portfolio deals with integrity, transparency, governance as well as human rights. He is also often called the ‘Transparency Minister’.

Ever since he resigned in May as the president of Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) to take up the minister-ship, he became the public's punching bag of choice, and the accompanying barrage of colourful comments.

From being accused of being bought over with his new position so that he can be 'silenced' by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to being a mere “window dressing” for Barisan Nasional, the 66-year-old has probably heard them all.

"... and they also ask me: How low can you go?" Low shares, chuckling as he shares the kind of angry comments he receives, which he jokes "could probably break a Guinness world record".

But he is getting used to it. The soft-spoken Low shrugs because he simply refuses to let such negativity get to him. For him, if one gives in to criticism, even before fighting the good fight, one has already lost.

"I know that I am here on a very difficult task. If I were to ask 10 persons, 10 of them would say it is extremely difficult and maybe nine would say I would not succeed. But if I have that attitude then basically I shouldn't have come in at all, because that is defeatist of me,” he says.

Having agreed to take up this mantle — given only 24-hours, and a prayer, to decide by Najib himself — Low believes that he was tasked by God to bring about change to help stop the country from continuing a downward spiral.

“If nobody changes things around, then I am very sorry for this country. Within 5-6 years we will find ourselves in much bigger trouble than we are today, purely because the leakages are there... many areas of mismanagement begin to escalate,” he says.

But can just one man with grand visions begin to win a battle against a scourge such as grand corruption?

While he admits that it was sometimes 'lonely' being a one-man-army, he also says that it is "not as bad" as some might think.

He says that one of the big questions is: 'Was there even political will from the government in the first place?'. He responds to that by saying: "I sincerely believe that there is...of course not everybody agrees but all I need to do is believe in one or two persons, at least the PM or DPM(deputy prime minister) and maybe some ministers who believe the change that I am about to bring in is necessary. You can't convince everybody," he says.

But having support for a vision of a corrupt-free government one thing. It is a totally different matter whether the same people "support or back off when the crunch comes” to implement and execute, Low admits.

At the moment, he says, there are no strong resistances to what he is doing. At the same time, Low senses "some reluctance to change" in terms of 'attitude and culture'.

That's why Low says he employs a 'soft' approach by first convincing the leaders on top, so that reforms can trickle down to the ministry and lastly, to the front line desks.

"The issue now is how do I now carry the execution of my plan through each ministry...that requires certain amount of changes and transformation within the ministries themselves."

And because he does not have "the authority to go into all agencies to make the change", this "change" would therefore depends a lot on the top civil servants and ministers in charge.

"I will only succeed in making the change if these people come on board and help me. The ownership of any change will come from them. I go with building consensus selling the ideas. Equipping and supplying those people in any ministry," he says.

Though the task is huge, it was quite surprising when Low shares that the manpower and budget does not need to be so. He says that the only money he needs at the moment for his department are funds for research and making use of existing manpower from other agencies.

"Such a ministry is totally new. I have not heard of any such ministry in other countries. So I don't come in with a contingent of staff that has already has their competency and skill-set to deal with issues like that. I need to build my own staff up, and make use of existing human resources in other ministries," he says.

Low knows that he would be wasting time to trying to find a magic bullet that solves everything immediately.

"Many people think fighting corruption is a quick bang", he says. But Low wants to see things in the long run. He does not want 'cosmetic changes' but those that are sustainable.

That's why he is using terms like crafting “frame works” and “laying down building blocks”. One of his biggest plans that he announced is the Governance & Integrity (G&I) monitoring body that Low is attempting to put in place in every ministry. He also wants to make the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission more independent, and also put in reforms over political funding.

"Talk is easy", says Low. "Every body can talk. Why don't you do this you do that, or you should have done this or that? People don't realise that whatever you want to do there are limitations to so many things... resources, people, the right timing and so many things lah," he shares.

He says that while being a government man, he now cannot be as vocal as before, but regrets that people do not know that he speaks up within government meetings. "What is required of me is to speak my mind during cabinet meetings and in other meetings with the government so it's not a problem. But people of course don't see that unless they are working here."

Low says that everyone must ask themselves" what are you personally doing when fighting corruption? First thing is: Are you practicising it or not?"

Low says that he understands, being from the business sector himself, that it was not easy to make a stand. "(When the police ask you to settle), what do you do? Do you make a stand? If you are in business, even worse. You have a deal that is there. Are you able to walk away from the deal? Probably no."

"Probably what they will say is: I will pay what is necessary, I blame it on the government for not taking action and not resolving the problem. Of course when they see a minister like me talking about fighting corruption then I will blame it on this guy lah," he says, adding that it comes with the territory, being both the face of the government and the face of anti-corruption.

Malaysia's problem of corruption is getting worse, at least according to the various perception surveys.

For a man such as Low, who has had a successful career in business, think tanks, and NGO work — and does not really need anything more in his life — he really needs just one more thing: People who can help him, and be the solution.

Or at least stop being the problem.