COMBATING CORRUPTION WILL NEVER SUCCEED WITHOUT STRONG POLITICAL WILL - HUSSAMUDDIN YAACUB

29 JAN 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s anti-corruption initiative will never succeed without strong political will and awareness of every layer of society to mobilise efforts to eradicate corrupt practices. Combating the never-ending corruption which can destroy civilisation requires major reforms of each party, in addition to revisiting and rebooting as well as eliminating the practice of giving bribes. In an open letter to leaders and Malaysians published by Sinar Harian today, Karangkraf Media Group chairman Datuk Dr Hussamuddin Yaacub said zero-tolerance towards corruption should be adopted by all parties, not just the government because this ‘pandemic’ needs to be controlled before the society loses their faith in the leadership.

“Revisiting, rebooting and reforming a corrupt system take time. It involves the formation of a strong ‘fortress’ in facing corrupt practices at any level of society. “We must work together and carry out our respective roles in this ‘jihad’ against corruption, including through social media if we want to build a better Malaysia as well as restore the country’s moral and economic values,” he said. According to Hussamuddin, in this challenging economic environment and pandemic situation, the country is also facing integrity issues and misconduct involving civil servants, especially among law enforcement personnel that are responsible to safeguard national interests and security.

“We have to admit that we are now facing a situation that we had never experienced before - the COVID-19 pandemic, hunger, moral issues, power struggle, disunity, especially among the Malays who make up the majority in this country. “These may lead to deception, the loss of trust in leaders, abuse of power, water issues, looting of property and nature by greedy hands, floods and other problems. What makes the situation worse is that all the formulas and strategies implemented seem not to be working,” he said. Hussamuddin pointed out that although Malaysia has been independent for 63 years, the issue of leakage still exists which resulted in the country dropping to 57th place in the Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) last year compared to 51 in 2019.

“We need to strengthen existing institutions such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity to become respected bodies in upholding the value of integrity for the sake people,” he said. Malaysia dropped six spots to 57th position among 180 countries in the Transparency International (TI) CPI for 2020. Transparency International Malaysia president Dr Muhammad Mohan said Malaysia’s score also deteriorated to 51 out of 100 points on the CPI survey, compared to 53 in the previous year. Hussammuddin said Malaysia should put an end to normalisation of corruption as it would destroy the country’s economy, widen the gap between the poor and the rich, threaten socio-economic stability and give a very bad impression to foreign investors. He said the people, as the country’s asset, can play a role by inculcating the principles of Rukun Negara and avoid from pointing fingers and put the blame on others as well as doing self-reflection as all religions are against corruption and malpractices. - Bernama