After a meeting with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man reiterated his party’s brand of “mature politics” that went beyond opposing the government.

PAS recently embarked on visits to various government agencies, meeting previously with Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low and with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

“We have come today to support the MACC in its work… the commission is among the agencies that can improve the country’s image.

“This is the approach made by PAS, because PAS does not only hentam (oppose) but instead we meet with the relevant authorities and dialogue with them. We exchange views with them.

“To oppose is easy, but the more important thing is to provide solutions to the problems plaguing the country.

“This is what we call mature politics,” Tuan Ibrahim said after meeting with MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad at the commission’s headquarters in Putrajaya today.

Meetings have also been planned with other government agencies, he added.

PAS was previously criticised for being easily assuaged when Tuan Ibrahim said his party was satisfied with 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s explanation on the embattled sovereign wealth fund’s debt rationalisation plan.

MACC needs more support

Ten PAS and Malaysia National Alliance Party (Ikatan) members spent more than an hour with Dzulkifli, after marching to his office in Putrajaya with banners and flags and handing him a memorandum stating their position on the state of corruption in the country.

The media was not given copies of the memorandum.

Ikatan president Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said he was “shocked” to learn during the meeting that MACC had a mere 1,900 investigation officers in the force.

“That’s too few, especially when we know corruption happens right down to the core of this government system. Plus, it’s (MACC’s) budget has been cut,” Kadir told reporters.

MACC was hit with a three-year budget freeze on its technology and equipment in January, and Dzulkifli had previously lamented that its budget for 2017 was the lowest in four years.

PAS and Ikatan are among the parties that make up unofficial coalition Gagasan Sejahtera (Peace Coalition).