In the spirit of promoting nation building, TI-Malaysia would like to being the attention of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Special Cabinet Committee on National Governance (JKKTN) certain issues regarding effective corruption prevention in the Mass Rapid Transit 3 (MRT3) project.
According to the latest post by CIDB on 6 September 2024, the current government estimates the project cost of MRT3 at RM45 billion, (down from RM68 billion, as proposed in 2018). While the costs have been reduced significantly, the public procurement project is one of the biggest of its kind and impacts millions of citizens directly, regardless of whether they are residing in the Klang Valley or not.
As the saying goes, prevention is always better than cure. To be sure, our track record has been far from satisfactory, looking at the recent Auditor General’s report of the unaddressed wastage in public procurement and the statement by Deputy Chief Commissioner of the MACC that close to 70% of complaints received by the MACC involve public procurement.
After various scandals such as the Port Klang Free Zone, National Feedlot Corporation, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, Solar Panel project and the Littoral Combat Ships scandals, it is high time that the Madani government admit that there is something lacking in the monitoring and delivery of public procurement projects, which has resulted in ballooning of costs, wastages, obsolete procurement, malfeasance and corroding of investors’ faith in the country.
In this regard since the early 2000s, Malaysia has been dabbling with the use of Integrity Pacts as a means to ensure integrity in Public Procurement.
A publication as early as 2012 by the MACC, titled Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Malaysia, states, ‘The Integrity Pact (IP) is a tool developed in the 1990s by Transparency International to help the government, businesses and civil society to prevent corruption in public contracts. Civil society groups are roped in to monitor the contracting process as has been done in several countries who have introduced the Integrity Pact that has successfully reduced public expenditure.’
However, despite the accurate description of the mechanism, the implementation in Malaysia has been lacking in a specific and important aspect. By way of background the integrity pacts in Malaysia were introduced via a circular by the Ministry of Finance, and the model includes commitments for contracting authorities and bidders concerning integrity and anti-corruption, as well as sanctions for non-compliance (once convicted in court). However, what is missing is that it does not establish an independent monitoring mechanism. Hence, to be put it crudely what we have in Malaysia is “a few extra documents” to be signed between the contracting agency and the contractors, instead of a tripartite agreement signed together with an independent expert monitor, comprised of technical experts outside of the government, who are tasked to monitor and publicly report on the progress and quality of the project delivery. This is particularly relevant for mega projects and projects which are of public interest.
Criminologist, P. Sundramoorthy had remarked in 2022, “Just signing this piece of paper and saying ‘yes, I will abide by all of this’ won’t make a difference. If that is the purpose of this pact, is it even worth implementing?”
As far back as the conception of the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) in 2019, the government was keen on strengthening the Integrity Pacts to comply with international best practices, under strategy 3 initiative 3.1.3. of the NACP. However, this has yet to be achieved, but it appears to be reported as completed, based on the information in the new National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
According to the NACS and the MACC, the government is keen to work together, in partnership with civil society to eradicate and prevent corruption. If this is sincere and true, then it must be demonstrated in practice, rather than rhetoric. We urge the MoF and JKKTN to meet civil society and experts from professional bodies, business chambers and academia to establish an Independent Expert Monitor, with defined roles and sufficient authority to monitor the delivery of the MRT3 project via a proper integrity pact. For best results, consultation should commence before the tender documents are finalised and set in stone.
We stand at the pivotal time in Malaysia in the fight against corruption be it petty or grand corruption. Will we change the tide or will the same old story repeat itself? Using the Integrity Pact tool in proper form complete with external third party monitoring will surely go some way to make the right difference.
End
Note to Editors: For clarification on any and all official statements from Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M), kindly refer to its President, Dr Muhammad Mohan (mmohan@transparency.org.my)
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