Minister should have turned down sponsored flight, say activists

 

Ramon Navaratnam and Cynthia Gabriel say clear guidelines are needed on gifts to members of the government.

PETALING JAYA: Religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri should have turned down the offer of a sponsored flight from Riyadh to Medina, say two anti-corruption activists.

Ramon Navaratnam, a former president of Transparency International-Malaysia said there was an “implied obligation” when accepting gifts at another’s expense. He said the minister should have politely declined the offer by the World Muslim League.

Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism said the sponsored flight could have been a form of bribery if there was a quid pro quo situation, with the sponsor expecting something in return.

Zulkifli had come under criticism last week after a video clip was circulated showing him in a first-class cabin. His office said the clip had been taken on a flight from Riyadh to Medina, sponsored by the Muslim World League, a non-governmental organisation funded by the Saudi government.

It said Zulkifli had flown to Riyadh from Kuala Lumpur on a normal commercial flight. “The governor of Medina, Prince Faisal Salman Abdulaziz, invited (Zulkifli) when he found out that the minister was a graduate of the Islamic University of Medina. The sponsored flight is a mark of the good relationship between both countries,” it added.

Navaratnam said Zulkifli’s flight was a bad precedent. He quipped that politicians could accept various gifts under the pretext of being sponsored.

“To put it simply, if the minister was just a hawker, he wouldn’t have had the offer. So why did he get it? It’s because of his position. Misuse of position means using your official position for personal gain. By that definition, he has erred,” Ramon said, adding that it was not like Putrajaya could not pay for the minister’s flight.

He urged the government to issue clear guidelines on such gifts. There should be clear rules with no grey areas and that this needed to also be enforced.

Navaratnam, a former Treasury secretary-general, said civil servants in his time were only allowed to receive gifts amounting to RM25 in value, at most. “We only accepted flowers and hampers,” he said.

“In this case, the gift was not that extravagant. It’s not like he was getting a fortune or was given the aeroplane. But in principle, it’s wrong. So they’ve got to draw the line, they can’t make exceptions and move in a grey area.

“Just politely tell them that it’s not your government’s policy, that you can’t accept it, then the other governments will respect you for it,” he said.

Gabriel questioned what happened to the gift-giving policy set by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2018, where gifts were limited to food, flowers and fruits. “Is that policy in the trash bin now? What is Perikatan Nasional’s policies on gift-giving?” she said.

She agreed that clear guidelines would help keep such issues away, adding that the onus was now on Zulkifli to show that no “reward” was expected from the luxurious flight.

“The business and corporate sector also now need to be very aware that Section 17A of the MACC Act, an anti-bribery provision, has come into force and they can go after corporations engaged in bribes if proven so.” - FMT