Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) strongly urges the Kajang by-election candidates Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Chew Mei Fun to sign TI-M’s election integrity pledge as a public declaration to uphold integrity, practice good governance and combat corruption.

The polling scheduled for March 23 is the third by-election since the 2013 general election, and the significance of the candidates signing the election pledge is as vital as ever. Clean, free and fair elections need to be ensured which will fairly reflect the will of the majority.

TI-M urges the Election Commission to safeguard the electoral process and guarantee all the necessary measures are in place to prevent the occurrence of election irregularities, such as: effective indelible ink, clean electoral rolls and efficient monitoring and operations of the 18 polling centres.

TI-M’s election integrity pledge was initially launched on March 19, 2012 in view of the 13th general election, to push for greater integrity in the local political realm. The pledge was signed by 25 candidates from numerous political parties, including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

TI-M launched the election pledge initiative encouraging hopeful candidates to make a public declaration on their commitment towards “observing the principles of truth, integrity, accountability and ethical conduct” in the fight against corruption.

TI-M’s election pledge emphasizes the core values required by candidates when discharging their duties as public officials, which include:

Ensure that public funds, resources and facilities are not used for campaigning;
Adhere to the Election Offences Act 1954 and regulations, including, but not limited to, Election Spending Limits and vote buying regulations;
Ensure that their actions and decisions are for the benefit of the general public and not self-serving. They should practice transparency and openness through full disclosure to and free access to information by the public.

The pledge also encourages direct citizen engagement in monitoring their politicians, as the voluntary pledge requires candidates to open a social media account (via Facebook or Twitter) to promote direct communication and interaction with civil society. By signing up to this initiative, Wan Azizah and Chew will be recognising their responsibility to live up to the levels of integrity and ethics expected by the public.

TI-M therefore invites both candidates to sign TI-M’s election integrity pledge in order to open themselves up to the public and declare their commitment to transparent and accountable governance for Malaysia.