PETALING JAYA: Economist and former civil servant Ramon Navaratnam has questioned Perikatan Nasional’s commitment to fighting corruption in the civil service, saying it has shown no political will to do so after being in power for more than a year.
Commenting on the recent crackdowns on syndicates in the civil service, he said it was time for structural changes in the public sector, but this required radical reforms.
He said the rising national deficit and debts and political instability were taking Malaysia to a tipping point and the country would be in serious trouble if nothing was done immediately.
Navaratnam was once deputy secretary-general of the treasury and he has also been head of Transparency International-Malaysia.
“The economy is chugging along, but there’s no structural change,” he told FMT.
He said he was disappointed that no figure in the current government had spoken about abandoning the New Economic Policy (NEP) and fighting cronyism and corruption.
He said it was the abuse of the NEP that had caused the civil service to underperform.
“What went wrong is the rot at the top, which flowed down to the civil service. Many would say if my boss can do it, why can’t I?
“We have everything except the political will to perform efficiently, be more accountable and have more integrity.”
Navaratnam called for changes in the composition of the civil service to reflect the multiracial population of the country and for civil servants to be indoctrinated to accept that Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians, not just Malays.
He said that laws could be put in place to regulate, for instance, the award of government scholarships to be based on needs and not race.
“But it will be impossible unless the government of the day uses this criterion at the top. If your top leadership is corrupt, don’t expect your civil servants to be honest,” he said.
In the past year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has busted several syndicates in the civil service. Last week, it broke a cartel controlling more than 150 companies that monopolised RM3.8 billion worth of government projects.
MACC chief Azam Baki has said heads of department were turning a blind eye to ethical problems to protect their departments’ reputations.
This month, MACC also busted an immigration ring involved in faking temporary employment passes. More than 21,000 foreign workers are suspected to have used the syndicate’s services.
Malaysia’s score in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index for 2020 dipped two points from the previous year. The country ranked 57th, behind Saudi Arabia, Mauritius and Italy. - FMT
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