Weeding out corruption

Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering

2016-08-29 13:21
Translated by DOMINIC LOH Sin Chew Daily

Weeding out corruption.

To bring the country to the league of developed nations, it is imperative
 that we weed out corrupt practices involving public institutions
 and senior government servants, to which the MACC has an
inevasible obligation - 

In order to seriously fight corruption in the country, the MACC is mulling to review the MACC Act 2009, in particular with reference to Section 23 involving corruption by civil servants, in a bid to further empower MACC officials in handing down harsher punishments on civil servants implicated in corruption cases. In the meantime, this will also serve to better monitor the 1.6 million strong civil servants in the country, making them liable to investigative probes once they are found to be living a lifestyle beyond their incomes.

This is yet another positive move by the new MACC chief which has in general won the applause of the public. Since taking over the top corruption-busting office, Dzulkifli Ahmad has already detained three senior government servants suspected of corruption and money laundering in KL, Melaka and Kelantan.

We believe the anti-corruption agency is indeed determined to purge the country's civil service of malpractices and corruption so that they no longer taint the country's reputation and credibility.

However, corruption has been deeply rooted in the country's public institutions and the detention of a handful of corrupt officials will not fix the problem at all. From the legal point of view, amending the existing act would strengthen enforcement and curb the misdeeds.

According to the existing Section 23 of the MACC Act, an official with relatives bidding for a government project will only need to inform the selection panel and absent himself from the panel meetings in order to be seen as not contravening the law.

As a matter of fact, such relationship often makes it very much easier for the relatives to successfully bid for a project. Abuse of power can only be eliminated if the Section 23 is amended to bar direct relatives of government officials--including those of cabinet ministers and elected reps--from bidding for government projects.

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