An anti-corruption watchdog urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to ensure transparency in public procurement to minimise the cost of doing business in Malaysia.

"Procurement process is an area where corruption is widespread due to several factors such as ambiguous requirements, non-transparent bidding processes as well as too many bureaucratic procedures," said Ramon Navaratnam, the newly-minted president of Transparency International Malaysia (TI-Malaysia).

While Abdullah had two years ago promised that the government would implement an open tender system for public procurement, few such tenders were announced.

Navaratnam, in one of his first public statements after he was elected leader of the anti-corruption body on Saturday, nevertheless welcomed the recent initiatives by state-owned investment agency Khazanah Nasional to improve procurement processes in government-linked companies (GLCs).

In responding to Abdullah, who defended the government's record in fighting corruption in Parliament yesterday, Navaratnam said there were areas which were not in line with government's stance in promoting transparency and integrity.

Open local council's accounts too

He mentioned the recent case of the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council's (MPPJ) decision not to allow taxpayers to scrutinise the local government's detailed accounts.

"We urge the prime minister to ensure that local council employees adhere to same principles of transparency and accountability that he has been promoting.

He said that TI-Malaysia believed that this issue involving MPPJ must first be resolved before the government bestows the status of city to Petaling Jaya later this year.

"This will provide the public with assurance that issues of concern are being properly looked into," said Navaratnam.