Ethics and Corruption

What is corruption? Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It is damaging to a country because decisions are taken not for the public benefit but to serve private interests. Corruption undermines good governance, fundamentally distorts public policy, leads to misallocation of resources, and particularly hurts the poor. There is a case in 29th July 1995, where the collapse of the Sampoong Superstore in Seoul, South Korea, represents an example of a structural collapse attributed in large part to corruption. The collapse of this structure left 937 people injured and had a death toll of over 500 innocent lives. Due to that, Engineer’s integrity and ethical standard will be put to test when involving project worth millions dollars. As the saying goes, “money is the root of all evil,” it is not unusual to find engineers who are tempted by the amount of money that they are entrusted with; whether to fully utilize the money in the project or to fulfill their individual greed. Hence, engineers need to be truthful. The level of truthfulness in engineering is very high, much higher in everyday life. It imposes what many consider an absolute prohibition on deception, and in addition it establishes a high ideal of seeking and speaking the truth (Martin & Schinzinger, 2005). Being truthful keep the engineers away from corruption and cutting corner.
One of many ways to prevent corruption and unethical practice of cutting corner in engineering field is the development of honest and ethical engineering culture by creating or increase awareness of ethical practice among engineers since large amount of money or projects are often being handled by engineers. This is important in a sense that engineers must aware of the types of corruption as well as the punishments and consequences for involving in corruption. Punishments such as retracting the title of engineer and blacklisting the particular individual in the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and more