MACC to court Chinese, youths in 2014 publicity drive
(MMO) – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will target the Chinese and the youths in its publicity campaign next year, after a recent survey here showed that nearly half of the two groups were unaware of its graftbusting efforts.
The MACC noted that in the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong)’s survey, 48 per cent of respondents aged between 16 and 45 said they did not know of the agency that handled corruption cases, a result which it said was similar to its recent joint study with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
MACC also viewed with concern Huazong’s findings that a whopping 78 per cent of the respondents felt it was not wrong to receive “incentives” from contractors who wanted to start business dealings with them.
“While MACC welcomes the call by Huazong Youth for all political parties to support the amendments to the MACC Act to insert provisions in relation to corporate liability, the MACC will also increase programmes in 2014 to reach out to the public, especially the Chinese community and those aged below 25,” MACC’s community education director Datuk Shamshun Baharin Mohd Jamil said in a statement today.
In a preview of the reforms that MACC was working towards, Shamshun said the agency is also taking steps to amend Section 23 and Section 36 of the MACC Act 2009, which he said is expected to be tabled in Parliament next year.
On December 3, the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Corruption’s 2012 report said that Putrajaya has yet to arm the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) with the necessary powers to tackle existing loopholes in the law involving suspected corrupt government officials.
The recommendations to amend Section 23 and Section 36 of the MACC Act — which deal with conflicts of interests in the awarding of government tenders and powers to order a declaration of assets on graft suspects respectively — were introduced in 2011 but have yet to be implemented, the PSC report said.
Under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009, the MACC cannot charge a government official who awards a project to his or her proxy or family member if that official declares his or her asset and recuses him or herself from the tender meeting.
The report stated that the legal loophole in this section allows the official to commit a “legally right but morally wrong” action with impunity, adding that it had created a “stigma and negative perception among the public that the government is practising selective prosecution”.
Section 36 on the other hand restricts MACC’s ability to force a declaration of assets on graft suspects.
“The PSC and the public also view this issue as an obstacle to the government and MACC to combat corruption effectively because we found that some government officials have excessive wealth which do not commensurate their pay,” the report said.
