A brand new ‘independent’ initiative - the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (or its acronym C4) - will be launched by several top activists on Jan 16.
Speaking on behalf of the C4 project, the centre's director Cynthia Gabriel said the launch, to take place in Selangor, will reveal more details on the group's plans for the year.
She named three other prominent personalities as key prime movers of C4 - former Transparency International executive director Richard Yeoh, former Suhakam commissioner Simon Sipaun and Islamic Renaissance Front chairperson and director Ahmad Farouk Musa.
Other than focusing its work more in Sabah and Sarawak, where corruption levels have gone unchecked, Gabriel added that the initiative is guided by four principles - clean, conscious, competent and credible - and spurred by the mounting calls among Malaysians for clean governance and an end to corruption.
She stressed that C4 is a timely and crucial addition to the country's changing political landscape and it plans to compliment the work of other civil society organisations.
"It has been work in progress for awhile now," said Gabriel when contacted by Malaysiakini.
"This new initiative is about fighting corruption, about stopping wastage and promoting transparency in government, and it covers the local, state and federal governments. It cuts across the board, including those in Pakatan Rakyat states," Gabriel added.
Gabriel said C4 aims to promote open government policies at all levels of government, and to campaign for policy and legislative reform as well as to promote freedom of information.
Incidently, C4 is the plastic explosives used in the 2006 murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in a jungle clearing in Shah Alam.
Prime Minister Najib Razak's two former bodyguards, who were convicted for her murder, were however freed by the Appeals Court last year which ruled that there were "serious misdirection" by the earlier High Court judge's decision.
Kickbacks in Scorpene deal
Gabriel, who is also one of human rights group Suaram directors, has been at the centre of a Paris court case investigating alleged kickbacks paid to Malaysian officials in the RM7.3 billion sale of two Scorpene submarines by France.
Najib, who was defence minister, has repeatedly rejected accusations of involvement in the death of Altantuya - who allegedly served as a translator in the multi-billion ringgit military transaction - as well as graft in the 2002 submarine deal.
Cynthia said the C4 team will monitor compliance of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, local laws aimed at nipping corruption and to ensure accountability of the public sector in the spending of taxpayers’ monies.
"The team also aims to strengthen citizen education especially in rural areas and semi-urban areas to recognise corrupt practices and ensure an end to the practice, and more focus will be in East Malaysia," she stressed.
The C4 initiative, said Gabriel, comes in the wake of a series of disturbing events, from New Year's Day price hike protestors being probed to Catholic newspaper - The Herald - editor Lawrence Andrew being questioned by police and the latest being, Malay bibles seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais).
She added that while most Malaysians suffer the realities of price hikes, "we watch in disbelief how the sins of corruption, excessive spending and wastage are passed onto the people by the government through raising taxes and cost of essential items."
Speaking on behalf of the C4 project, the centre's director Cynthia Gabriel said the launch, to take place in Selangor, will reveal more details on the group's plans for the year.
She named three other prominent personalities as key prime movers of C4 - former Transparency International executive director Richard Yeoh, former Suhakam commissioner Simon Sipaun and Islamic Renaissance Front chairperson and director Ahmad Farouk Musa.Other than focusing its work more in Sabah and Sarawak, where corruption levels have gone unchecked, Gabriel added that the initiative is guided by four principles - clean, conscious, competent and credible - and spurred by the mounting calls among Malaysians for clean governance and an end to corruption.
She stressed that C4 is a timely and crucial addition to the country's changing political landscape and it plans to compliment the work of other civil society organisations.
"It has been work in progress for awhile now," said Gabriel when contacted by Malaysiakini.
"This new initiative is about fighting corruption, about stopping wastage and promoting transparency in government, and it covers the local, state and federal governments. It cuts across the board, including those in Pakatan Rakyat states," Gabriel added.
Gabriel said C4 aims to promote open government policies at all levels of government, and to campaign for policy and legislative reform as well as to promote freedom of information.
Incidently, C4 is the plastic explosives used in the 2006 murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in a jungle clearing in Shah Alam.
Prime Minister Najib Razak's two former bodyguards, who were convicted for her murder, were however freed by the Appeals Court last year which ruled that there were "serious misdirection" by the earlier High Court judge's decision.
Kickbacks in Scorpene deal
Gabriel, who is also one of human rights group Suaram directors, has been at the centre of a Paris court case investigating alleged kickbacks paid to Malaysian officials in the RM7.3 billion sale of two Scorpene submarines by France.
Najib, who was defence minister, has repeatedly rejected accusations of involvement in the death of Altantuya - who allegedly served as a translator in the multi-billion ringgit military transaction - as well as graft in the 2002 submarine deal.Cynthia said the C4 team will monitor compliance of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, local laws aimed at nipping corruption and to ensure accountability of the public sector in the spending of taxpayers’ monies.
"The team also aims to strengthen citizen education especially in rural areas and semi-urban areas to recognise corrupt practices and ensure an end to the practice, and more focus will be in East Malaysia," she stressed.
The C4 initiative, said Gabriel, comes in the wake of a series of disturbing events, from New Year's Day price hike protestors being probed to Catholic newspaper - The Herald - editor Lawrence Andrew being questioned by police and the latest being, Malay bibles seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais).
She added that while most Malaysians suffer the realities of price hikes, "we watch in disbelief how the sins of corruption, excessive spending and wastage are passed onto the people by the government through raising taxes and cost of essential items."
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