Why? Because legislation is all about character and where do you see it? People who make laws and people who enforce them must have the moral authority over those who are being asked to embrace those laws. Plain and simple. Character is all about ruling by example. The other option is to rule by fear, and for that we don't need governments. Gangsters are bloody good for that.

I am not suggesting that the Anti-Corruption Commission Bill is a futile exercise altogether. It might help us brush our image in the world, at least by showing that we are trying to change it. But will it help us fight corruption? This is one question, which bugs me. I am not sure I know how that is going to happen.

All right. There will be the Commission comprising of a Supreme Court Judge, Comptroller General, Chairman of the Public Service Commission and a retired Secretary of the Cabinet Division. Okay, the President of the country will appoint the Chairman of the Commission. Even better, loan defaulters, people guilty of moral delinquency or corruption, people who are physically or mentally disabled, will not qualify to serve on the Commission. All these are very comforting. At least we know some sensible people will be in charge. There will be some sanity in the whole thing.

But every time another law is made, it reminds of the king's milkman. Remember how a fabled king was suddenly in doubt that the milkman was stealing from his supply! The king appointed one of his courtiers to keep watch on the milkman. Soon the watchman joined the milkman and started to steal from the king's supply. The king appointed another person to keep watch on the watchman. Thus as the king kept appointing watchman to watch watchman to watch the milkman, the shortage in supply of milk got increasingly worse.

Corruption, as a matter of fact, is like a downward spiral, which feeds on itself. You have God, you have conscience, moral teachings, family influence, laws of the society and your own instincts. And all of these boil down to three ultimate considerations. What will happen to you in the life after death? Can you escape punishment by the laws of this world? Are you comfortable with your own reputation?

Now if you think hard, corruption thrives because life after death is a distant thunder, and laws of this world have lost their thunder. Yet the third consideration is the most important one. Are you comfortable with your reputation as a corrupt person? It has a lot to do with your conscience and every other moral teaching and lesson. This is where the person comes to terms with corruption for the first time. This is where he hears the first verdict on whether what he does is right or wrong.

That brings us to the hopeless challenge of a horror movie. Every time the devil is killed, the evil spirit flees the scene and takes on a new body. But the challenge of corruption is even worse. Every time a zombie touches someone, he turns into a zombie. The stronghold of corruption is in the soul, which radiates into another soul that comes in contact with it. Corruption is contagious, and it spreads like a plague.

That is where the Bill comes into question. How can you eradicate a contamination without eradicating its source? The Bill is nice to have, like the constitution, like the police force, like the legal system. But how will it work?

If anyone is found in possession of wealth, which is not consistent with his income, the Commission will have the power to prosecute him. It sounds bloody good to me, and that's exactly what is needed. But what will happen in reality? It will be used to harass the wrong man like other special powers and administrative pockets. It will breed more corruption by creating new scope for favouritism, appeasement and bribery. It will turn into just another watchman to watch the watchman to watch the milkman.

Let us recognise that corruption is a mindset, which will not go away because of a cosmetic touch. It is just as absurd as reforms in the police by changing their uniform. It reminds of General Potemkin of Russia, who had ordered cardboard villages to be propped up on both sides of the road, hiding poverty and squalor during a visit by Catherine the Great. The Anti-Corruption Commission Bill is a Potemkin Village, an eye wash in yet another bid to create the illusion that corruption was defeated because we fought it.

In fact, what are the chances of an honest committee, when dishonesty is so common? Pardon my errant tongue, I don't mean to question the integrity of the would-be members of the Commission. But how will they resist political pressure, to name the least, if everybody else has caved in so far? Besides, they are going to be handpicked, based on political allegiance, and who will wrestle with the hand that feeds him?

So, give me one good reason why the Commission will work, if others have failed? I mean realistically, why should I believe that one elite group would suddenly achieve what eluded the entire police force, court system, army, bureaucrats, politicians, teachers, doctors, lawyers and every other profession and institution in this country?

That doesn't mean we must never try, because it never worked. History has its moments of truth, and it works like a pinball. You have to keep hitting the balls until they fall in the slots. It also follows the law of large numbers, which means the number of success increases as the number of experiment increases.

If anything, the Anti-Corruption Bill 2004 is just another experiment in the success of corruption. It is yet another layer of law, which will chip away the transparency we desperately need, by concentrating power in a cabal of people attached to political strings. To borrow from the lyrics of the famous Pink Floyd song, the Bill is just another brick in the wall. It will hide corruption and provide it the shady damp corner where it grows.

Just one thought for the road. Corruption is like charity, which begins at home.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.