Corruption in Morocco, a Review of Tahar Ben Jelloun's Novel

Tahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan author who lives in France and writes in French. He was born in Morocco but then he moved to France. The interesting thing is he admires the Indonesian author named Pramoedya Ananta Toer, a well known Indonesian writer who had been jailed in the Suharto era for his criticism. Once he came to Indonesia to see Pramoedya but he could not meet his idol since he was warned not to see Pramoedya. He realized that it is better not to see him for Pramoedya’s safety. This book is inspired by Pramoedya’s book that focuses on corruption. He wrote the book with Moroccan setting.

The original title of this book is L’homme rompu which means broken man in English. Murad is the name if the main character. He works in the corrupt bureaucracy of Morocco. He is an engineer in the government. He has the authority to examine and approve or decline projects proposal from private sectors. This is a lucrative position in the bureaucracy since many people want to give him bribe.

He married to an ambitious woman named Hilma who came from a respected but greedy family. Hilma is very ambitious. She just wants to be rich. She does not care about the way to achieve it. For her wealth is number one. Murad, on the other hand, is an honest man. He wants to live a clean live. He wants to apply the moral principles that he learns from his religion – Islam. He wants to stay away from illegal practices. But the consequence is hard. He earns very little from his salary while he has a greedy wife. Furthermore his corrupt environment gives presses him to join the club. Murad can’t stand the pressure from his wife, his need and his colleague. One day he received the bribe.

The bribe gives him better financial condition but worse emotional condition. Everyday he worries about his secret money. He is suspicious to everything and everybody. One day the bank manager is suspicious at him. The police then investigate him.

Murad thinks that his assistant, his superior involved in a conspiracy to set a trap for him. He is sure that his position makes many people envy because it is a goldmine for corruptors.

The first part of the novel is written in the third person but then it is written in the first person. Perhaps the first part is designed to give a better introduction to the setting and the next part is designed to describe more vividly the emotional situation of a corruptor. If this is the writer’s intention, then it works. The novel successfully describe Murad’s psychological situation. How he struggles to overcome his financial problems, love problems and emotional problems after receiving the bribes are clearly exposed. Better financial situation at the cost of his emotional and personal life is the result of his actions. He has a close relationship with his own cousin Nadia who is a beautiful widow.

In short, perhaps the author wants to convey his message that dirty money won’t solve our problems. Maybe it can solve financial problem but more serious problems will come. At the end the bigger problems will be more difficult and more fatal than financial one because it ca break the whole family. So don’t do corruption.

The novel has been translated into many languages including English. It is just translated into Indonesian language and sold in Indonesian market. The unique relationship of the author with the Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer perhaps will help the marketability of the novel.