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The Star - March 23, 2008
Adopt the Integrity Pact way to
show greater transparency
IN response to Josie Fernandez’s
letter “Best way to fight graft” (The Star, March 18),
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has indeed
developed the Integrity Pact (IP) to promote integrity,
accountability and to curb corruption in a move to
reinforce existing framework within the organisation.
The IP is a tool aimed at preventing corruption in
public contracting. It consists of a process that
includes an agreement between a government department at
the federal, state or local level and all bidders for a
public contract.
It also contains rights and obligations to the effect
that neither party will pay, offer, demand or accept
bribes; collude with competitors to obtain the contract;
or engage in such abuses while carrying out the
contract.
The IP also introduces a monitoring system that provides
for independent oversight and accountability. It
encourages companies to refrain from bribing by
providing assurance that their competitors will also do
so. Governments and government officials also have the
assurance of a clear framework that protects them from
dubious offers.
TI-M has signed the Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) to
develop Integrity Pacts with the Federation of Malaysian
Manufacturers (FMM) on Nov 6, 2007; Malaysian Associated
Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (MAICCI) on Jan
31, 2008 and Sarawak Economic Development Corporation
(SEDC) on March 14, 2008.
There are 12 associations and organisations that have
expressed interest in signing with TI-M for the
Integrity Pacts and we sincerely hope that both the
Federal and state governments would not hesitate to
engage TI-M to help out with the renewed commitments to
transparency, accountability and good governance in
their daily operations, and having a code of conduct for
ethics and good corporate governance.
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