PETALING JAYA: DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang has called out Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki for not uttering a word on the Global Corruption Barometer Asia 2020 report released four days ago.
He asked if his “thunderous” silence meant he was satisfied with the findings by Transparency International (TI) which said 71% of Malaysians thought government corruption was a big problem while 39% felt corruption had increased in the last 12 months.
In a statement today, the Iskandar Puteri MP said the MACC must answer each of the observations pointed out in the report, such as 30% of Malaysians saying the government was not doing enough to fight corruption.
He said while the approval rating for MACC was 74%, most of the key institutions and individuals, including MPs, government officials, religious leaders, judges and magistrates, business executives, bankers and army leaders were perceived to be involved in corrupt practices in the TI report.
“As Parliament will be considering the 2021 budget for MACC tomorrow, the chief commissioner should table a report on the findings so that MPs can debate the budget proposals.
“If it does, this will mean MACC is fulfilling its accountability to Parliament,” he said.
The TI report surveyed 20,000 people across 17 Asian countries. Malaysia’s portion of the study was conducted between July 2019 and June 2020.
In a statement accompanying the results, TI-Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan said Malaysians were still very hopeful.
“It is clear that the rakyat believe we can all fight corruption and have not lost faith in law enforcement or public services despite their experiences.
“If the government wishes to improve its image among the rakyat it serves, the government needs to get its act together. The National Anti-Corruption Plan has to be implemented and enforced without delays, amendments, watering down or U-turns,” he said.