Media Statement
by Tony Pua, DAP National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling
Jaya Utara in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 11 July 2013
We welcome the statement
by Performance Management and Delivery Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department
(Pemandu) which admitted that the Government has not done enough to battle
corruption and that “radical reforms” are needed. This comes after the latest Global Corruption
Barometer (GCB) report which showed that the people's perception of the
government's effectiveness in combatting corruption has plunged significantly
from 49% previously in 2011 to a shocking low of 31%.
The Director of
Anti-Corruption NKRA of Pemandu, Ravindran Devagunam said Pemandu acknowledged
the results, saying “the survey clearly shows that what we have done is not
enough. We need to intensify efforts and continue to push for improvements
across the social, political and business arenas.” This is a complete reversal from earlier in
April this year, when Ravindran’s fellow NKRA director Datuk Hisham Nordin told
Bernama, that the NKRA has exceeded the target of the KPI set to fight
corruption in the country.
In the same
statement, Ravindran said among the new measures being implemented are that “Ministers
are currently required to declare their assets to the prime minister as well as
to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)”. In addition, Special Officers to the
Ministers would declare their assets to their respective minister as well as to
MACC starting this year.
Pemandu has
also suggested that “to increased transparency and accountability by
ministries, Ravindran said the Auditor-General’s Performance Audit Report would
be tabled at every Parliament sitting instead of just once a year.”
All of the
above are fine proposals, but they are hardly radical, and clearly do not go
far enough to demonstrate an impact against corruption. When Penang state executive councillors are
already publicly declaring their assets, the policy for Ministers disclose
assets privately to the MACC falls far short of creating a ripple. What’s more, the MACC to date has been part
of the corruption problem and not the solution.
Hence until such a time when MACC is able to show its teeth and prove
its worth, such assets disclosures to MACC will be viewed with disdain.
The move to
table the Auditor-General’s Performance Audit Report at every Parliament
sitting is certainly welcomed. However,
if the Government isn’t even able to resolve the scandals, and punish the
responsible culprits arising from the annual tabling of the Auditor-General’s
Report previously, how would increased frequency of the report improve the
Government’s commitment to fight corruption?
Perhaps the
least credible element of the statement was when Ravindran said the appointment
of Datuk Paul Low, his superior as Minister of Governance and Integrity in the
cabinet line-up is “a clear manifestation of the prime minister’s commitment
towards fighting corruption”.
Ravindran said
“with Low leading the coalition across ministries, NGOs, professional bodies
and business and the Rakyat at large, we believed that the war on corruption
will intensify, bringing about radical changes and deliver greater results.”
Such endorsement
for Datuk Paul Low in itself will extinguish any flickering hopes Malaysians
have for real transformation.
Datuk Paul Low,
despite his past experience as the President of Transparency International, has
at every practical opportunity become the apologist for the Najib
administration, justifying continuity and not change. He has gone on record to reject the
Independnent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), public declaration
of assets by Ministers, offering of the Public Accounts Committee chairmanship
to the parliamentary opposition and even supported the return of Emergency
Ordinance for detention without trial.
To quote The
Malaysian Insider, Datuk Paul Low also “did not do himself any favours last
night when reacting to the survey results that showed that the public’s
confidence in the government’s anti-corruption effort had dropped sharply in
2012. Low said that corruption is a global menace and not unique to Malaysia.”
He said that “the
Malaysian finding is consistent with the worldwide results where 36 countries
viewed the police as the most corrupt.” These
answers are in sharp contrast to his statements when commenting on graft
surveys in his capacity as TI-M president.
Then, he pointed out that the MACC and other reforms introduced by the
government were ineffective in fighting corruption.
Let us be clear
that Pakatan Rakyat wants to see the fight against corruption succeed. However if the above measures are the
standards by which Pemandu deem as “radical”, then certainly Najib’s
administration’s attempts to reduce corruption will fail miserably. Being “radical” in this case, doesn’t have to
be “out of this world”.
The Government
just needs political will to ensure open, competitive and transparent tenders
for mega-privatisation contracts, public declaration of assets by Ministers,
giving teeth to regulatory agencies such as MACC and IPCMC and promoting check
and balance within the Parliamentary system.
The implementation of these measures will go a long way towards
redeeming the decling corruption barometer in the country.
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