PUTRAJAYA, Jan 10 ― The Youth and Sports Ministry wants to be the first ministry to have an Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer stationed in the minister’s office. 

Its minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said he will submit an application to the MACC for the placement.  

"I want to continue implementing changes and among the measures to be taken is to place an MACC officer in the minister's office to strengthen and enhance integrity, in the process curbing all forms of corruption, especially in the minister’s office,” he said. 

Speaking to reporters after the ministry’s monthly gathering, where he also delivered his New Year message, Syed Saddiq said the Youth and Sports Ministry wants to lead where good governance, efficiency and trustworthiness are concerned, through the implementation of five integrity-based plans, including the placement of MACC officers. 

The other plans include the open tender process for contracts, corruption risk assessment reports,  complete audit reports and the declaration of assets for officers in the minister’s office. 

According to Syed Saddiq, out of the 25 ministries evaluated by MACC, the Youth and Sports Ministry was placed at 16th place in 2019, compared to eighth before that, in the list of ministries on high risk concerning embezzlement, corruption and abuse of power, which was an improvement for the ministry. 

 Meanwhile, Syed Saddiq also welcomed the move by the Public Service Department (PSD) to put on hold its decision to abolish the Critical Service Incentive Payment (BIPK) for 33 critical schemes that was supposed to have taken effect on Jan 1.  

"We want to ensure our young professionals, especially those in the health sector, are taken care off in the best manner possible, and the move to suspend the earlier decision is a pleasing one,” Syed Saddiq, who had been critical of the PSD decision right from the start, said. 

The PSD, in a statement yesterday, said the decision to abolish the BIPK has now been put on hold pending a reevaluation with stakeholders and a cabinet decision. ― Bernama