KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Opposition MP Lim Kit Siang today asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to call for a special sitting in Dewan Rakyat to reset how the nation will address corruption going forward.
The Iskandar Puteri MP noted that the fight against corruption was far from over with the jailing of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who led the government from April 2009 to May 2018, echoing a recent comment by another former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“Would all political parties agree to a beginning in the fight against corruption?” Lim asked in a statement.
He also asked Ismail Sabri to declassify the report compiled by the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) — an advisory panel formed to assist the Pakatan Harapan government in its early days after being elected to power in 2018 — said to contain its recommendations on public policies.
“Will all the ministers of Ismail Sabri’s jumbo-sized Cabinet agree to convene a special parliamentary session on corruption?” Lim asked.
He noted that Malaysia is still plagued by financial scandals, the latest being the RM9 billion littoral combat ships (LCS) for the navy, and expressed dismay that a Royal Commission of Inquiry had yet to be formed to scrutinise the procurement deal.
The LCS contract has been reported to be the largest procurement deal for the Defence Ministry that started in 2013 to equip the navy with six armed vessels capable of close-shore battle and is supposed to be fully delivered by end of next year.
But recent declassified documents found not a single vessel has been completed despite cost overruns.
Lim said he also met Tun Daim Zainuddin who had chaired the CEP and the latter had expressed regret that their report had yet to be made public.
He noted that Daim has gone on record highlighting the shortcomings of past policies like the race-based affirmative action National Economic Policy that continued to live on long past its intended expiry date, and which the former finance minister said needed reform to be needs based.
“I call on Ismail Sabri to declassify the CEP 100-day report which was submitted to then prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who never submitted it to the Cabinet,” Lim said.
He suggested that the special parliamentary sitting could be scheduled for October 24 before the tabling of Budget 2023 on October 26.
“If Ismail Sabri is prepared to do so, this will be the greatest National Day celebration present which a prime minister could give to Malaysians,” Lim said.
