Coverage by: Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: None of the three governments since the 2018 general election has been able to implement the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP), says the Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4).
Its programme coordinator and MyGovt Reform Tracker report author, K Sudhagaran Stanley, said the three years of power struggle after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government fell in February 2020 came at the expense of reforms and public interest.
“PH successfully initiated 11 reforms like the anti-hopping law and environmental governance, but they ultimately failed to truly commit to sweeping changes,” he said during the launch of the report today.
The NACP was introduced by the PH government in 2019 as a comprehensive policy to end corruption, and outlined six priority areas vulnerable to corruption – political governance, public sector administration, public procurement, corporate governance, legal and judiciary sectors, and law enforcement.
Sudhagaran said that PH under Dr Mahathir Mohamad had committed numerous contradictions and reneged on pledges such as the decision to not ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the appointment of Azhar Harun as chairman of the Election Commission.
“He (Mahathir) also appointed Latheefa Koya, a politician from PKR, as head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) without obtaining Parliament’s approval as a political move to check-mate Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.
Sudhagaran said that when the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin came into power in March 2020, it cast aside accountability and good governance in favour of “clinging on to power”.
“PN’s law minister, Takiyuddin Hassan, had essentially declared the re-emergence of patronage politics when he announced that all MPs who did not hold positions in government would be made heads of government-linked companies,” he said.
He said that apart from failing to amend the Environmental Quality Act and introduce climate change legislation as planned, PN withdrew the tabling of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) bill.
Ironically, he said, the memorandum of understanding which the current government entered with PH paved the way for the passing of several legislations such as the automatic voter registration, the anti-hopping law, and the restoration of Sabah and Sarawak’s position as signatories of the Malaysia Agreement.
“Despite making progress on a few fronts, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government completely failed to legislate police accountability, replacing the IPCMC bill with a watered-down Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) bill,” he said.
PETALING JAYA: None of the three governments since the 2018 general election has been able to implement the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP), says the Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4).
Its programme coordinator and MyGovt Reform Tracker report author, K Sudhagaran Stanley, said the three years of power struggle after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government fell in February 2020 came at the expense of reforms and public interest.
“PH successfully initiated 11 reforms like the anti-hopping law and environmental governance, but they ultimately failed to truly commit to sweeping changes,” he said during the launch of the report today.
The NACP was introduced by the PH government in 2019 as a comprehensive policy to end corruption, and outlined six priority areas vulnerable to corruption – political governance, public sector administration, public procurement, corporate governance, legal and judiciary sectors, and law enforcement.
Sudhagaran said that PH under Dr Mahathir Mohamad had committed numerous contradictions and reneged on pledges such as the decision to not ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the appointment of Azhar Harun as chairman of the Election Commission.
“He (Mahathir) also appointed Latheefa Koya, a politician from PKR, as head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) without obtaining Parliament’s approval as a political move to check-mate Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.
Sudhagaran said that when the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin came into power in March 2020, it cast aside accountability and good governance in favour of “clinging on to power”.
“PN’s law minister, Takiyuddin Hassan, had essentially declared the re-emergence of patronage politics when he announced that all MPs who did not hold positions in government would be made heads of government-linked companies,” he said.
He said that apart from failing to amend the Environmental Quality Act and introduce climate change legislation as planned, PN withdrew the tabling of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) bill.
Ironically, he said, the memorandum of understanding which the current government entered with PH paved the way for the passing of several legislations such as the automatic voter registration, the anti-hopping law, and the restoration of Sabah and Sarawak’s position as signatories of the Malaysia Agreement.
“Despite making progress on a few fronts, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government completely failed to legislate police accountability, replacing the IPCMC bill with a watered-down Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) bill,” he said.
