Allow ACA To Act Independently, Make Corruption A Common Platform For National Unity

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Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Must Allow ACA To Act Independently And Make Corruption A Common Platform For National Unity If Malaysia Is To Reverse Its Continued Deterioration In Transparency International 2004 Report Of No. 39 From No. 37 In 2003.

Speech
- Pusat Bandar Branch Dinner
by Lim Guan Eng

(Johor Bharu, Saturday): Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah Badawi must allow the Anti-Corruption Agency(ACA) to act independently and make corruption a common platform for national unity if Malaysia is to reverse its continued deterioration in Transparency International’s 2004 Global Corruption Report. All Malaysians regardless of race and religion and are united by the common hate of corruption and the anti-corruption campaign can be a positive moral force that unites all Malaysians.

Transparency International had identified negative perceptions as one of the reasons why Malaysia’s position in the Corruption Perception Index(CPI) for 2004 as compared to 2003 went down by 0.2 points from 5.2 to 5.0 out of 10; and deteriorated two places from 37^th to 39^th. Transparency International Malaysia (TIM) president Tunku Abdul Aziz . had said that no one believes Malaysia is serious about tackling corruption decisively. Tunku Abdul Aziz added that the ACA is seen as utterly ineffectual, not truly independent and not trusted by the public.

DAP fully agrees with Tunku Abdul Aziz as corruption reports lodged by DAP with the ACA are seldom acted upon. Among the 146 countries surveyed by Transparency International in 2004, Malaysia was positioned at 39 with a score of 5 out of 10. In 2003, Malaysia was at No. 37 in a survey covering 133 countries, having scored 5.2 out of 10.

The clearest example where ACA is seen as utterly ineffectual, not truly independent and not trusted by the public is the failure of ACA to act against money politics in UMNO despite possessing clear and concrete evidence as well as reliable witnesses such as Pahang Menteri Besar Menteri Besar Pahang Datuk Adnan Yaakub and Information Minister Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir.

Datuk Adnan Yaakub had attributed to his defeat in the UMNO Vice-Presidential elections to money politics stating in Utusan Malaysia on 2 October 2004:

"Kalau ada bukti pun, saya tidak akan tampil ke hadapan, sebab saya tidak mahu kawan-kawan saya sulit disebabkan oleh saya dan saya tidak mahu melihat kawan-kawan saya lucut jawatan. "Saya tidak akan kemukakan kalaupun saya ada bukti dan yang mustahaknya, kita serahkan kepada pucuk pimpinan parti untuk mencari mekanisme yang terbaik menangani masalah ini."

Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir was even more direct when he said that this UMNO General Assembly was the worst case of money politics in his 34 years of national leadership involvement in UMNO. Corruption involves making a decision entrusted for private or monetary gain.

Clearly money politics or voting because of monetary gain comes under the purview of the 1997 Anti-Corruption Act. The ACA should carry out its statutory duty by investigating and taking action against money politics in UMNO. Any failure to do so would not just be a betrayal of public and legal trust but also the wrong impression that UMNO is above the law or enjoys legal immunity.

Only when ACA has the courage to tackle the scourge of corruption at the source, can the problem of corruption in Malaysia be dealt with. If corruption is not dealt with at the top levels, how can we expect to succeed in controlling it. For instance the police has been criticized for its inability and incapacity to face mounting crime, so serious until top police officers can be threatened with bullets.

Such helplessness by the police in solving crime and protecting the public is not helped by deep-rooted corruption within the police. The Chairman of the Royal Commission Of Police Force Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah said on 10 August 2004 that corruption exists at all levels in the police force. We should not just blame police corruption but should blame the top political leaders for failing to show leadership by example.

If the top political leadership shows their political will to wipe out corruption, then corruption would not exist at all levels in the police force. How can the police dare to be corrupt if their masters are not corrupt? Only when there is no corruption in the police force can crime be effectively dealt with.

As a start ACA should have the freedom to investigate and act on money politics within UMNO to wipe out corruption at the highest levels. There is no reason why Malaysia can not succeed when our neighbour Singapore retained its status as the cleanest country in Asia at No. 5 on the Transparency International list. Being clean has distinctive advantages in bringing about economic progress and prosperity as shown by Singapore’s developed economy.

Malaysia’s position in Transparency International’s CPI will only improve if the ACA regains public trust by carrying out its duty of investigation and taking action against money politics in UMNO. If Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi desires such an improvement to trumpet the success of his anti-corruption drive, he should act decisively to lift the ban on ACA taking action against those involved in money politics within UMNO.

(23/10/2004)

* Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General