CPIB says new polar bear mascot is its ‘friendly’ public face

SINGAPORE – Defending its newest “employee” Kopi Lim, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said the polar bear mascot is part of its new public outreach effort to “bring more insights into our anti-corruption work”.

Kopi Lim, a bespectacled, stuffed polar bear, was introduced to the public over the weekend on the bureau’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. The online profile stated that he is male, aged 24 (in human years) and a graduate of “National Institute of Furry Animals”.

While some members of the public were tickled by the fuzzy new mascot, others wondered if it was a bad prank.

Responding to TODAY’s queries about the mascot, a CPIB spokesperson said besides enforcement, another aspect of the bureau’s work is public education.

“(Kopi Lim) is about public education and reaching out to the masses and this is a friendlier approach … this is the online persona that we can use to reach out to them. We want people to have more awareness of what CPIB is all about,” the spokesperson explained.

With CPIB marking its 65th anniversary this year, the spokesman added the mascot is a way for it to shed more light about its operations and history.

“Throughout our history, traditionally, we are quite closed and we don’t really share much about what we do,” said the spokesperson. “We realise that a lot of people still don’t know what CPIB is and what we do.”

For example, in a video post on its YouTube channel on Monday (Sept 18), several members of the public polled were unable to say what “CPIB” stood for.

With Kopi Lim as the “friendly face” of its public outreach initiatives, there are plans for it to travel around Singapore to attend talks and school learning journeys to spread the word about anti-corruption.

“Maybe Kopi Lim could do a tour of the Corruption Reporting & Heritage Centre and talk more about the initiatives of that CPIB is doing. We have also launched the practical anti-corruption guide for businesses, so he could share that online,” elaborated the CPIB spokesperson.

“We thought that this would be an innovative way (to do that), it’s something that no other agency has done. We thought it would be a way to gather some interest. If there’s a sustained interest, this is something that we can continue.

“Right now, there is interest, so we guess it is working.”

On the brickbats that it has received, the spokesperson said: “It’s their perception, of course. We cannot control that. But we hope (to get) the message out and to cultivate a culture of zero-tolerance for corruption.”

The fuzzy new mascot, however, does not mean the bureau is going to go soft on those who commit crimes. “As far as enforcement work is concerned, we are still very serious and fiercely resolute,” the spokesperson added.