TI-Malaysia lauds government's commitment to liberate Malaysia from graft but greater transparency is needed
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) President Dr Muhammad Mohan
applauds the government under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir for making a
commitment to make Malaysia free of graft. However, fighting graft in Malaysia
remain an arduous task as corruption is deeply rooted within Malaysia’s public
sector. This is evident from the Corruption Perception Index released yearly by TI-Malaysia;
whereby Malaysia’s ranking has been deteriorating since the index was
first introduced in 1995.
To improve Malaysia’s ranking, the government needs to:
● Ensure the instituitional reforms must be accelerated,
● MACC (Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission) must be independent from
any interference from the government,
● Closure to high profile graft cases like SRC, Sabah Watergate and 1MDB,
● Greater freedom of information and
● Provide greater transparency when public projects are awarded.
For the mega projects like the ECRL, it will be good for the government to make full
disclosure on the recently announced savings of RM21.5 Billion. Even if it was due
to over pricing, for transparency it will be good on the part of the government to
disclose what was overpriced. As of today, the government has not provided any
details on the breakdown of purported savings made from the ECRL apart from the
total value of savings. The government must walk the talk by showing greater
transparency in all publicly funded projects. There needs to be a system to publicly
disclose sources of funding, tenders, and expenditure on all labour and materials
involved. Countries which demonstrates greater transparency, disclosures and take
proactive measures to counter corruption especially in the public sector will tend to
do well in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) rankings.
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 at +6012 316 2160
(mmohan@transparency.org.my) or to its Manager, Adlina Adnan at +6019 272 7288
(adlina@transparency.org.my).
