MACC has been working 'round the clock' but it has only caught small fry.
MACC really has to work harder and convince the people that it is doing its job. 'Round the clock' is not enough!
@ The Malaysian Insider on Nov 18, 2009:
Small fry sinks Malaysia's anti-graft drive
NOV 18 - It is all about perception. And internationally, Malaysia is perceived to be doing so poorly in its anti-corruption drive that it sank in world rankings to 56 out of 180 countries.
To be fair, there are now more countries in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain. They measure the perceived levels of public sector corruption – for example, the frequency of bribes – in 180 countries and territories.
But the TI’s latest index revealed yesterday confirms what most Malaysians already believe of the national anti-graft drive. It just isn’t there. And if it, it is pointed at political rivals to the Barisan Nasional, the coalition ruling the federal government.
A day earlier, a survey by the independent Merdeka Centre showed a whopping 74 per cent of those polled were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of corruption and abuse of power issues.
The perceptions are indicative of what people think of Barisan’s drive to clean the Augean stables of corruption. It is a Herculean task, to say the least, and one that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has yet to grasp.
For what it’s worth, the MACC announced it arrested 605 people last year for graft. No big names or big cases were mentioned. Fact is, the big names have had their cases thrown out by the court, showing how weak the cases were.
It is no wonder DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang reflected Malaysian sentiments when he asked for heads to roll in the MACC for Malaysia’s poor rankings in the latest anti-corruption index.
The MACC, equipped with stronger laws, more officials and better equipment, was seen as a fresh start for the maligned Anti-Corruption Agency and the cornerstone of former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s promise of reforms for the country.
Sadly, all it has to show is a political aide that died mysteriously after overnight interrogation and a slate of big cases that have yet to show any results. Examples that come to mind are the Lingam case and the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ).
Instead, the MACC has gone for the small fry that also happen to be opposition politicians. Is it a wonder why people, be they Malaysians or foreigners, think so lowly of the anti-graft body?
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will have to do more to ensure the CPI does not sink his premiership in its early days, as said by Lim.
After all, perceptions count.
And if heads must roll, so be it. Better other heads than the prime minister’s at this point.
All Najib has to do is look at Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is making great effort to quell corruption and the “legal mafia” in his country.
Yudhoyono knows the buck stops with him. Najib should know that, too.
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