2023 Activities
2023 saw C4 Center’s re-entry into the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR Process (COMANGO). It was necessary for us as the leading anti-corruption NGO to showcase the many areas where corruption has an impact and to amplify the need to address corruption by establishing the links between corruption and everyday issues. In fact, many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may not be achieved if corruption as an underlying issue is not addressed at the societal, legislative, and policy level.
We also had extensive engagement with various ministries, namely the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), and the Legal Affairs Division under the Prime Minister’s Department. Our engagement with the MOF was to advocate for the legislation of a Government Procurement Act (GPA) that will serve to curb leakages and corruption within the public procurement sector. C4 Center has been heavily invested in driving the need for a comprehensive and equitable procurement act, which has also led to us collaborating with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to conduct a workshop for understanding the principles and processes behind public procurement targeted at journalists, the legal fraternity, CSOs, and the general public. UNODC further collaborated with C4 Center to carry out a conference and panel discussion on this subject with experts from around the world, including local experts from public universities. Our engagement with MOFA allowed us to introduce a new approach to identifying the intersections between corruption and human rights. C4 Center was also invited to conduct an introductory talk on corruption to MOFA officers.
We also conducted an Ombudsman Roundtable Discussion to understand the need to legislate on an Ombudsman office. We are currently preparing a report on the challenges and benefits of an independent Ombudsman office to reduce government and civil service maladministration and abuse of power. We were also invited by the policy division of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to discuss and prepare a road map for the continuation of the National Anti Corruption Policy 2019-2023 (NACP) to the newly minted initiative, the National Anti Corruption Strategy (NACS), in Melaka in June.
There has also been a significant increase with youth engagement through private and public universities. C4 Center was invited to conduct talks at Brickfields Asia College, Help University, Taylor’s University, Nottingham University, and Monash University. These were also opportunities for us to introduce our card game, Build My-Town (BMT), which educates players on how a parliamentarian conducts their work and how dirty money contributes to corruption. In a big step forward in C4 Center’s visibility, our card games can now be found in major game stores and bookstores.
C4 Center is proud to announce that we published our first book titled State of Corruption: Power, Politics and Policies in Malaysia, available for sale in major local bookstores as well. It is an introduction to the history of how the nexus between business and politics was cultivated throughout Malaysia’s history post-independence, the methods of corruption that are practiced within the Malaysian ecosystems, and how grand corruption continues to be perpetuated using the various tools and policies available to politicians and business elites.
Looking forward – 2024
2024 looks to be an exciting year for C4 Center and myself as we have planned many innovative programs and initiatives to further strengthen the fight against corruption. To help us navigate this new road, we have new members who joined C4 Center throughout 2023. The team comprises a pool of young, critical, talented, but most importantly, passionate individuals dedicated to combating corruption.
C4 Center is also proud to share that we are an organization that practices DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives as part of our organizational values and culture. Unity in diversity is a strong force that allows for diverse opinions and ideas to take shape to better allow us to innovate responses and initiatives to combat corruption.
We will further uphold the principles of good governance – clean, competent, conscious, and credible in our work philosophy.
2024 looks to be an exciting year for C4 Center and myself as we have planned many innovative programs and initiatives to further strengthen the fight against corruption. To help us navigate this new road, we have new members who joined C4 Center throughout 2023. The team comprises a pool of young, critical, talented, but most importantly, passionate individuals dedicated to combating corruption.
C4 Center is also proud to share that we are an organization that practices DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives as part of our organizational values and culture. Unity in diversity is a strong force that allows for diverse opinions and ideas to take shape to better allow us to innovate responses and initiatives to combat corruption.
We will further uphold the principles of good governance – clean, competent, conscious, and credible in our work philosophy.
Read our the full 2023 Annual Report for more!
