KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — The Najib administration must implement structural changes and not just “personality” swaps if it is to succeed in rooting out corruption, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today
Reiterating previous criticism against Putrjaya’s decision to appoint former Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) chairman Datuk Paul Low to head its anti-graft fight, the Penang chief minister said such a move without accompanying reforms can only be “cosmetic”.
“Creating a new governance and integrity ministry and appointing former TI-M Paul Low to the job is merely an insignificant matter of style over substance.
“Changing personalities without transforming policies that can effectively combat corruption is akin to putting old wine in new bottles,” Lim said in a statement today.
Low, known to be vocal in his days with the anti-graft watchdog, has been accused of being an apologist for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition after seemingly softening his stance upon being made a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
Rather than more such appointments, Lim said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should instead focus on adopting six key integrity measures if his government is serious about fighting graft.
These include the public declaration of assets by all government leaders; implementing open competitive tenders; bar family members of government leaders from involvement in government contracts; protect genuine whistleblowers; remove leaders with extravagant lifestyles and transparency in political donations.
“Failure to adopt the six integrity measures have questioned Najib’s commitment and sincerity,” Lim said, adding that Putrajaya’s pledge to combat graft has been met with a sceptical public.
According to the latest TI-M Global Corruption Barometer, only three per cent of respondents thought the Malaysian government had been effective in fighting corruption, down from 49 per cent in 2011.
Malaysia is also seen as the most corrupt country in the world for business, according to TI’s 2012 Bribe Payers Survey.
The losses from corruption in Malaysia has been estimated from a self-confessed RM27 billion yearly, Lim said citing an unnamed government minister, while Washington-based Global Financial Integrity Report previously said the country has experienced nearly RM1 trillion in illicit outflow over the past decade.
TI’s latest Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index, placed Malaysia in the “very high” risks of corruption on defence procurement and operations, on the same level as Zimbabwe.
Najib had recently said his government is mooting making its anti-graft body, the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC), self-regulated in a bid to tackle the plunging public confidence in its crusade against corruption.
But Lim said the move would be meaningless since there is no public trust in MACC’s effectiveness.
He cited as an example the lack of action against allegations of corruption against Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and also the public uproar over the deaths of former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock and a high ranking Custom official Ahmad Sarbaini under MACC custody.
“MACC can even refuse to act on money politics detected during the Umno elections because MACC regard such corruption as an internal party matter and that Umno’s disciplinary board should act against corruption instead of MACC,” Lim added, referring to several cases involving top Umno leaders in past party elections.
