CM: Najib's Integrity Pledge signing 'empty and hollow'

The Penang chief minister has dismissed the act of BN leaders signing the Integrity Pledge as "nothing but an empty announcement that rings hollow".

Lim said that the pledge lacks a clear commitment to ensure clean electoral rolls and to make a complete and public declaration of assets.

"If Najib (Abdul Razak) and BN are sincere in proving their integrity, then they must do what Pakatan Rakyat has done in making a full and complete public declaration of assets of the Penang state executives, including the chief minister," said Lim.

Lim added that, instead, BN leaders such as Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan (right) have avoided agreeing to make a public declaration of assets on the flimsy excuse that it could endanger their safety.

"If BN leaders are honest and transparent, then they should have nothing to hide," said the DAP secretary-general.

"If they have nothing to hide, then why are they afraid to commit to publicly declaring their assets?" Lim queried.

"If they cannot even perform this simple exercise, then there is no point in signing an Integrity Pledge," he stressed.

Lim was responding to Najib and other BN leaders’ act of singing Transparency International Malaysia’s (TI-M) Election Integrity Pledge yesterday.

The move was reportedly aimed at showing the ruling coalition’s seriousness in conforming to fair play at the coming polls.

Taib Mahmud adds to the irony

Lim said it was ironic that the Integrity Pledge had been signed in the presence of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, who has been the subject of intense scrutiny and public demands for accountability regarding his and his family's extraordinary wealth. 

The irony, he added, would have been completed if it had included Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (left) who is involved in the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) "cows and condos" scandal.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman - who has been in the middle of a scandal involving a RM40 million donation to Umno Sabah - should be included as well, Lim mocked.

"Unless their personal assets are declared publicly, then signing the Integrity Pledge would be an empty gesture to hoodwink voters into believing that BN leaders are clean," he claimed.

"The truth is that, by failing to declare their assets publicly, they may seem clean, and sound clean, but they are certainly not clean," Lim alleged.

Lim said that BN must practice what they preach by guaranteeing clean electoral rolls in the coming general election, which may be called in April or by the latest, June.

"If they cannot even provide this guarantee, then Malaysians cannot expect the next polls to be a clean, free and fair one."