PM Najib said in San Francisco on Sept 24 that the government was very firm in its stand to combat corruption, and he vowed to make corruption the country’s past and not its future.
However, merely three days later, Ernst & Young’s latest study showed that China and Malaysia had the highest levels of corruption among the eight regional countries under survey.
Why is the corruption reality in this country so much different from what the government has envisioned? It all points to the fact that impressive slogans and projects alone will not work in the absence of strong political will.
During a speech at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club dinner, the PM reiterated his faith in the government’s anti-corruption initiatives. He said the government had appointed former Transparency International Malaysian Chapter president Paul Low as the Minister in the PM’s Dept in charge of the implementation of transparency in the government, adding that he hoped the MACC could offer itself as a role model for countries seeking an effective anti-corruption solution.
Is our MACC really that efficient and capable? The recent MACC remarks on the Umno elections could perhaps offer some clue.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdul said money politics during party elections was internal problem of the parties and should be first investigated by their respective disciplinary boards. He said MACC would only step in once the disciplinary boards had sufficient evidence after their own investigations.
So, money politics is not considered corruption but a disciplinary issue? Then what is corruption?
Everyone knows that party and government are often inseparable in Malaysia.. If you hold a party post, you will get a government post as well. As such, many have fought tooth and nail to get into the party leadership, including vote-buying and abusing party or government resources for own campaigning.
Even though someone has thrown in RM6 million for campaigning in the party elections, he can easily recoup his investment if he eventually gets elected and offered a government post. In the end, money politics in party elections will aggravate corruption, a reality no one should overlook.
As if that is not enough, in the recent general elections, the MACC spent RM1 million on its officials but ended up handling only seven cases of electoral fraud complaints.
As for the blatant show of vote-buying in Penang prior to the May general elections, the MACC dismissed it on lack of proof.
The government has been excessively generous when it comes to lending support to the MACC, including the upgrade of its status, allowing the hiring of additional staff, upgrading its facilities and even forking out RM1 million in “living expenses” for its officials during the 15-day campaign period. Unfortunately the massive inputs have not been duly reciprocated.
Early morning this Sunday, the roof of RM6 million Kampung Tebauk mosque in Terengganu collapsed, the second such case this year. Even the MB Ahmad Said was furious, urging the MACC to step in and probe.
Just as the MB has said, Terengganu Darul Iman is now becoming Terengganu Darul Runtuh. Stadium, bus terminus and now mosques… we are just not sure what will come tumbling down next.
Can the MACC keep a blind eye on all this?Of course they can, as they can claim they have a sufficient workload to cope with. All that they do is window-dressing in nature, presenting impressive statistics in their annual reports to the Parliament. Why don’t they just dip their hands into the sea and round up some big sharks?
It seems that they take delight in showing to the world that so far 250 GLCs and private companies have signed the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP). All companies involved in the Economic Transformation Programme’s Entry Point Projects are required to sign the pledge.
However, the pledge has no legal binding. Instead of making them sign the paper, why not put in place an open tender mechanism to boost transparency of government projects?
At a time when the corrupt have become increasingly smart, the MACC cannot afford to stick to its antiquated and passive ways of tackling corruption.-souce; Sin Chew
