I welcome the recent announcement by MACC that they will present the declaration of assets and property of the cabinet and parliamentarians at the commission’s portal beginning 1st of October 2018. I myself am already in the process of declaring my assets. It is a positive step towards the anti-corruption reforms that was promised under the Pakatan Harapan Government to curb the spread of corruption especially among the elected leaders.
It is also to increase transparency and the trust of the public administration, to prevent conflicts of interest, illicit enrichment and false accusation of their wealth and to monitor wealth of politicians and public servants. Studies show that an asset declaration open to public scrutiny helps ensure leaders do not abuse their power for personal gain.
I do hope that with the initial step of declaration, a proper asset-profiling system will also be introduced to determine how many assets personnel are expected to have based on their positions, years of service and their present and past emoluments. This is important to monitor periodically by forensic accounting experts and investigators so that the accumulation of assets based on years of service is reasonable and not excessive.
With that I also want to challenge all the opposition, including the head of opposition Dato Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to follow along to declare their assets in view of the interest of the people of Malaysia and also in line with the spirit of transparency and accountability.
I also urge for the members of parliaments especially those from GPS to follow along with the directive and also declare their assets. GPS has constantly claim to be PH-friendly and will support policies that are in the interest of Sarawak. Asset declaration and anti-corruption reforms are an important part to uphold the interest Sarawak.
We, Sarawakians have suffered and been left behind in many aspects in the State due to corruption and abuse of powers by even our local leaders and thus such anti-corruption reforms are not just essential, but clearly for the interest of the people of Sarawak.