Fighting corruption under the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) for 2012 is aimed at continuing work on political funding initiatives, according to the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) annual report 2011.

The aim of this initiative is to increase transparency and accountability in the political funding process by introducing regulations for political parties.

The annual report said work on integrity pacts too would continue with the implementation of the full integrity pact on another large scale project that would have great impact.

NONE "We also plan to enhance efforts to deliver initiatives such as the introduction of a transparent consultation process for new laws as well as political financing," the report says.

The Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) that started in 2010, would not just continue, not just with the recruitment of signatories, but with the expansion of the model implemented in the pilot Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project, to a number of companies.

The report further said that the scope of the companies would be broadened, by focusing on other segments such as government-linked and public listed companies, as well as the small- and medium-sized enterprise segment.

The aim of the CIP is to get companies to adopt a self-reporting model, where corporations themselves look to assess the strength of their integrity systems, identify an action plan to improve their systems, work to close gaps and take measures to report any efforts made in the interest of transparency.

The government is studying details of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI CPI) report and would continue to work with Transparency International, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and all other relevant agencies, to ensure the required improvements.

The big wins in 2011, in fighting corruption after the NKRA was introduced in 2010, were:

  • Integrity Pacts: 132,459 integrity pacts had been signed between the government, its suppliers and vendors;
  • Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP): About 64 companies under the Entry Point Projects for the Economic Transformation Programme pledged their commitment to the CIP, heralding a new era of public and private sector involvement in fighting corruption;
  • Prosecution within a year: Over 424 cases were processed and 249 cases completed by special corruption courts in 2011. The court was set up on Feb 22, 2011 where 14 such courts are located in eight states comprising three sssions curts each in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, while Pahang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Sabah and Sarawak have one such court each;
  • Whistleblower Framework: Following the passing of the Whistleblower Act on Dec 15, 2010, enforcement agencies were advised on its implementation through the issuance of guidelines by the Legal Affairs Division and a set of instructions issued to public prosecutors;
  • Compliance unit: The creation of a compliance unit in all five key enforcement agencies - Royal Malaysian Police, Road Transport Department, Royal Malaysian Customs Department, the Immigration Department and the MACC each have their own respective units to monitor and ensure proper conduct among their officers;
  • Reward and Recognition guidelines: In June 2011, guidelines on rewarding civil servants who reported instances of corruption and which lead to successful prosecution were issued; and
  • Public Service Reform Booklet: Published in 2011, this booklet is a collation of all changes made by ministries and agencies in the way of reforming bureaucratic processes and procedures.

The struggle to combat corruption was started with serious planning and strategies, since the introduction of NKRA and the first round of success for the government endeavour in 2010 included the development of the Convicted Corruption Offenders Database with a

The initiative has had far reaching effects beyond its initial objective as the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has "adopted" the listing and they would disallow these listed offenders from entering the United States.

MACC continued to maintain a rising conviction rate of 74 per cent in 2011, a three per cent increase from 2010 and a substantial improvement from the 2009 figure of 54 per cent conviction rate.

The fines imposed by the courts also increased in 2011, reaching almost RM10.9 million as compared with RM9.49 million in 2010.

- Bernama