Corruption - Malaysian Parliament must act

 

MP SPEAKS | The Malaysian Parliament must act on the Global Corruption Barometer for Asia 2020 report released by Transparency International yesterday which reported that more Malaysians regard their MPs as corrupt as compared to the people of seven other Asian countries – Bangladesh, Taiwan, Myanmar, Philippines, China, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Transparency International reported that 36% of Malaysians surveyed think that their Members of Parliament are corrupt, as compared to 18% in Bangladesh, 17% in Taiwan, 14% in Myanmar, 12% in the Philippines, 11% in China and 6% for both Cambodia and Vietnam.

Nine other countries have scores where there is a higher percentage of people who think their Members of Parliament are corrupt, namely 39% for Thailand, 42% each for Japan and India, 43% for Nepal, 44% for Sri Lanka, 50% for the Maldives, 51% for Indonesia, 56% for Mongolia and 65% for South Korea – but this should be no consolation for MPs in Malaysia.

Malaysian MPs should be ashamed that 36% of Malaysians surveyed in the Global Corruption Barometer for Asia 2020 regard them as corrupt.

As a Malaysian MP, I expect Parliament to act swiftly and promptly to establish the honour and integrity of Malaysian MPs.

A Select Committee on Corruption and Integrity should be set up by the Dewan Rakyat which should have the overall term of reference to raise public integrity in Malaysia to be among the top 30 countries in the world.

But it should have as its first task to look into the Global Corruption Barometer for Asia 2020 and the question of the integrity of Malaysian Members of Parliament.

The Select Committee on Corruption and Integrity should also look at other aspects of the Global Corruption Barometer for Asia 2020 – that 72% of Malaysians think government corruption is a big problem and that 39% of Malaysians believe that corruption is on the rise.

Based on the Global Corruption Barometer for Asia 2020, my worry is that the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2020, which will be released in two months, will see a regression in both the TI CPI score and ranking.

All that good work of the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government in its fight against corruption and to establish public integrity is being undone by the nine-month-old Perikatan Nasional government.

Do we see in the Budget 2021 a greater commitment to fight corruption and establish Malaysia as one of the top 30 countries in the world in public integrity before 2030?

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LIM KIT SIANG is the DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri. - Mkini

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