Analysis: Malik Riaz

Malik Riaz’s journey to summit by becoming the owner of one of the biggest housing society of
Pakistan accompanied hardships, ethical challenges and trade-offs with his inner moral self. The
fact that he started from humble beginnings and with no formal education makes achieving the
pinnacle of success that he has achieved in a country like Pakistan, which is ranked 117 th out of
180 countries on a Corruption Perception Index and is ranked fairly low on the Global
Entrepreneurship Index, ever more inspiring, but at a cost to him by having to make immoral and
unethical decisions to stride ahead and cross the barriers to success constantly and swiftly. One
cannot deny the fact that he is a self-made person, unlike many other contemporary successful
businessmen, who had privileged backgrounds and powerful support to succeed in life, yet
blaming the system (or) status quo to justify your unethical dealings and practices can never be
acceptable.
In response to whether I would like to be a businessperson like him or not, would mean whether
my values and perception of morality and ethics would justify his actions to climb the ladder of
success. My ethical and values framework would never justify bringing harm and misery to
others for my own success, I would never be able to justify bribing others, grabbing lands which
belongs to others. I also realize that perhaps majority would argue that if a person doesn’t
employ these unethical means then he wouldn’t become as successful as Malik Riaz in a country
like Pakistan. I believe that if every person starts acting in a morally and ethically correct manner
to business dealings then perhaps the initial few people may struggle and face stiff hardships and
may not succeed as much, but they surely will pave the way for others following, as I believe
that we collectively need to change how the system is operating currently and change our
perception that bribing, nepotism and performing immoral acts is not the only way to success.
Apart from this my religious beliefs that I will be accountable and answerable to all my actions
in this world in the hereafter will always keep a strict check on my actions as I believe that this
finite world is a just a means to success in the hereafter. Thus, I would try to become successful
like him by following ethical and morally correct ways and perhaps would be content with the
limited level that I would be able to achieve and set a precedence and be a role model for others
to follow that our country needs and that it’s not always the material success that matters but also
inner peace and satisfaction.
If I were Malik Riaz and was starting my own construction firm in an environment where
corruption was norm, then I would beforehand prepare myself that I would have fight the system
and never integrate my dealings into how the system operate there and that compromising my
values and ethics to gain success is not inherently satisfying. I know that in a battle of right vs
wrong, the right always wins but not without facing struggles and hardships, I would also have to
be mentally prepared that I will have to struggle in my battle but also that it would be worth the
struggle.
Pakistan has witnessed several successful entrepreneurs, although majority of these haven’t faced
the similar unethical or immoral backlash as Malik Riaz has, but one could argue that these
people had privileged backgrounds and they didn’t have to make such compromises at every
aspect of their life. Yet one name that comes to mind is Haji Muhammad Naeem, owner of
Savour Foods. He also started out from very humble background and with little to no education
and worked his way up from having a single open stall to owning and operating fully fledged
restaurants in different cities of Pakistan and without facing any ethical or morally related
backlash from the society.

Evaluation and Analysis of Malik Riaz using Conventional Ethical

Framework

Teleological Perspective

This perspective states that an act is morally correct if it brings greater benefit as compared to the
loss that it creates. Malik Riaz’s justification for his immoral acts would be that he also
contributes philanthropically to the society, but what he doesn’t realize that his actions are a
great loss to our country and he is questioning the judiciary and law system in our country. The
society will start to question every institution and this will bring chaos to our society. Thus the
impact of his immoral acts and the harms that they have caused far exceeds the benefit that his
philanthropic works brings.
Deontological Perspective

Deontological ethics focuses on the actions or intentions rather than their consequences.
According to this approach Malik Riaz’s actions have been unethical and unlawful and therefore
they cannot be justified by this perspective as his acts have brought harm and misery to society..
Therefore, we cannot claim his actions to be ethical in the deontological framework.
The Relativist Perspective

This perspective promotes the idea of moral relativism and concludes that if a certain action is
deemed morally correct in a society then it is justifiable. According to framework, to some
extent, his actions may seem reasonable because there would have been times where his only
option would have been to involve in immoral acts. Perhaps one could argue that the only way to
succeed in Pakistan is to exploit the existing system as one can either face failure in trying to
fight the system or use it to his advantage.
The Virtues Perspective

Bribing, corruption, lying, and exploiting the system are such acts that are considered wicked
according to his approach, Thus, his actions are not justified according to his approach.

Islamic Approach

Islam along with the act and action itself also takes intentions into consideration and concludes
that purity in intentions also matters. Given that nobody would know about the clear intentions of
Malik Riaz, one cannot clear conclude in this regard, but he himself openly in the media had
accepted that he had bribed the system, trying to justify that was his only way to prosper. Yet in
Islam it is clearly mentioned that “The one who gives bribe and one who accepts it, both are in
the hell fire”. Thus, he cannot justify his own actions according to Islamic ethical frameworks.