KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — Senator Datuk Paul Low insisted today that he will not follow former deputy minister P. Waythamoorthy in leaving Putrajaya, despite continued calls for him to go.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of integrity and transparency said he still has a mission to complete before heading for the exit.

“I can only comment that I am not resigning … Why should I resign? I’m not finished with my plans,” Low told reporters after a forum on corruption in the Malaysian Institute of Integrity here.

“I’m not a quitter, I don’t quit easily. I know what I’m doing and I’m clear on what I need to do. So I do it.”

Low said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took a “brave step” in appointing him as a minister from his post as Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president.

“What happens if I fail? … I have to fulfil the trust that’s given to me by him and the people,” Low said.

But Low also said the decision to quit from a ministerial post should be left in the hands of an individual.

Low and Waythamoorthy were appointed by Najib after Election 2013, but both came under attack almost immediately.

Low’s inclusion in the Cabinet is regularly targeted when issues of corruption and the country’s performance in anti-graft indices are released, owing to his portfolio and history as TI-M chief.

On February 10, Hindraf chief Waythamoorthy resigned as deputy minister to protest against Putrajaya for allegedly delaying promised reforms to improve the welfare of the country’s ethnic Indians.

It remains unclear if the Hindraf chief has also quit as a senator.

Waythamoorthy, who returned from a self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom in 2012, went pro-government last year and took a pool of Hindraf leaders and supporters with him, armed with a belief that Hindraf’s support for Barisan Nasional would result in a better life for the country’s ethnic Indian community.

Hindraf was banned by the federal administration following the historic rally it organised in 2007 to demand rights for the community.

But several months before Election 2013, the government lifted the ban, earning accusations from critics that the move was merely a political manoeuvre to win the Indian vote.