Malaysia’s civil servants urged to sign corruption pledge
Malaysia’s anti-corruption tsar has challenged government bodies to join a programme that encourages civil servants to sign a pledge to remain free of graft.
Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, urged all government ministries, departments and agencies that have not yet joined the programme to do so by the end of this year, at a press briefing in Putrajaya on November 27.
The Corruption Free Pledge, which is Dzulkifli’s own brainchild, encourages both senior civil servants and those in lower grades to voluntarily sign a pledge and take an oath that they will carry out their duties with integrity and never engage in any corrupt practices.
Promise to be good
The programme aims to promote probity in public service by fostering individual responsibility, collective accountability and greater transparency in participating governmental bodies.
Organisations that join the programme have to publicly disclose the pledges that are made by individual civil servants, while their leaders are required to issue a guarantee to members, stakeholders and customers that they will prevent corruption.
As of 7 November, a total of 666 governmental organisations had signed the pledge, which has the acronym IBR in the Malaysian language. These included 22 ministries, 381 departments and 86 statutory bodies, according to the Malaysian national news agency Bernama.
The MACC chief commissioner attended a signing ceremony at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which has adopted the programme (Image courtesy: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas).
The big push
“This year, MACC is targeting all ministries, departments and agencies of the federal and state governments to sign the IBR before year-end,” Dzulkifli said at the briefing, as reported by The Malaysian Insight.
“With the commitment of all parties, including ministers, the chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa and ministry secretaries-general to combat corruption and abuse of power, I am confident the civil service will be corruption-free by 2020.”
Aggressive enforcement along with corruption awareness and prevention programmes implemented by MACC have helped to ensure that corruption and abuse of power would not become a culture among civil servants, he claimed.
Malaysia’s anti-corruption tsar has challenged government bodies to join a programme that encourages civil servants to sign a pledge to remain free of graft.
Cleaning up corruption
Earlier in the day, the MACC chief commissioner attended a signing ceremony at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, which has adopted the programme. Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, minister for natural resources and environment, was also present.
According to Dzulkifli, the NRE was rated by Malaysia’s National Audit Department as being among the ministries with the best performance when it came to defeating corruption and the abuse of power, The Star reported.
At the ceremony, Wan Junaidi launched a new NRE Corruption Risk Management Plan, which covers both the ministry and the departments and agencies that fall under its remit.
Other organisations to enrol on the programme over recent weeks include the Ministry of Home Affairs, which signed up on Wednesday 29 November, and the Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad, which signed on Friday 24 November.
About Liz Heron
Liz Heron is a journalist based in London. She worked on daily newspapers for more than 16 years as an education correspondent, section editor and general news reporter. She was Education Editor of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and has contributed to a wide range of British media including The Independent, The Guardian and the BBC.
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Appreciate the initiative taken by the Govt. of Malaysia, with an objective to making the great country corruption free by 2020 ! Such action, on the part of the Government of Malaysian, can be termed as the unique and best in the over all interests its citizen in particular and the humanity in general . There is no doubt that a corruption free country can take best care for its citizen and can always serve the humanity! Best wishes for effective implementation of the Government directive !