Make ACA Accountable To Parliament

Make ACA Accountable To Parliament

12 June, 2008

PETALING JAYA: The Anti-Corruption Agency should be directly accountable to Parliament ratherathan the Prime Minister’s department to make it effective.

This call was made by Transparency International Malaysia president Ramon V Navaratnam after he officiated the launching of this year’s Asia –Pacific Human Development Report published by the UN Development Programme with the theme “Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives” in Kuala Lumpur Thursday (12 June).

He told Sin Chew that, “Making the ACA accountable directly to Parliament would make it more effective.”

Citing the UNDP report, he said the efforts at the national level must include strengthening anti-corruption agencies and one way of doing this is to put it under parliament.

The ACA in Malaysia is directly under the control of the Prime Minister and the perception is that despite various police reports being lodged against ministers and government leaders, the ACA could not act unless given the go-ahead of the PM’s department.

Navaratnam said efforts to curb corruption is to crush it from the top. He also highlighted the two- pronged approach in the UNDP report – top-down and a bottom-up.

He said People should be upright at the top and there must be systems in place to help them keep upright. While the bottom-up strategy should involve the media as one of the principal groups with potential to monitor and expose corruption.

On the report’s recommendations, he said media can report on corruption only if they are free to do so. They must be free from both government and business interests.

“But the media too can be corrupt. Some people will pay you to write good stories about them or not to publish bad ones about them. So how does the media address this problem?” he asked journalists covering the event.

He said civil society organizations can educate and build capacity to fight corruption and citizens can put pressure for reform.

“But NGO’s too can be corrupt,” he added.

However, he pointed out that the UNDP report has highlighted the fact on a regional level, the media, education system, NGO’s and medical services are less corrupt compared to the police, registry and permits, judiciary and tax office in that order.

Navaratnam also said another highlight of the report is that the police and judiciary are perceived as highly corrupt in the region. The contributing factors are low salaries, inadequate resources, harsh working conditions and pressure from above.

Again citing the report, he said what makes the police and judiciary corrupt is that they are in positions of power.

“Unquestioned power of the judiciary can be a source of potential corruption even as it protects its independence,” he said.

On cooperation on the international level to fight corruption, Navaratnam pointed out that Malaysia has yet to ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption. (Sin Chew Daily)