ISKANDAR Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang has taken Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to task for not taking the lead in the war against corruption and for not showing concern about the country’s plunging performance in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Malaysia’s position dropped from 57 last year to 62 out of 180 countries this year. The smaller the number in the ranking, the less corrupt a country is perceived to be.
The DAP veteran further expressed concerns that Malaysia’s TI CPI for this year will likely regress to its worst score on record since the introduction of the annual TI CPI series in 1995.
“The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah has taken the lead in the war against corruption when he said yesterday that all faiths denounce corruption as it is a cancer that can ruin civilisations,” Lim noted.
Citing the historic Malay chronicle “Sulalatus Al-Salatin”, he noted how the centuries-old Malacca sultanate was brought to its knees because of the Bendahara Maharaja’s corrupt practices.
As such, His Majesty urged all institutions of higher learning to instil honesty, trustworthiness and integrity in their students, adding that instilling these values must begin at school and be nurtured during tertiary education.
“This begs the question as to why the Prime Minister is not taking the lead in the war against corruption and showing no concern about Malaysia’s plunging performance in the TI CPI,” Lim added.
“The National Integrity Plan (2004–2008) to make Malaysia among the top 30 nations with the least corruption was a dismal failure in 2008, and the National Anti-Corruption Plan (2018–2023) is heading to a flop.
“What is worse is that the Ismail Sabri Cabinet is not setting an example of accountability, transparency and public integrity.”
According to Lim, Ismail Sabri had, on August 27, 2021, announced his Cabinet of 31 ministers and 39 deputy ministers, but 10 months later, only 29 ministers and 32 deputy ministers had publicly declared their assets to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“Can Ismail Sabri explain why the six people who have been conferred ministerial ranks – the chairman of National Recovery Council (NRC), the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Law and Human Rights as well as the four Special Envoys to the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, East Asia and South Asia – have yet to declare their assets?” he questioned.
Lim was referring to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the chairman of the NRC and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said as the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Law and Human Rights.
The four special envoys in question are Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang (the Middle East), Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (the People’s Republic of China), Datuk Seri Dr Richard Riot Anak Jaem (special envoy to East Asia) and Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran (South Asia). – June 15, 2022
