PM WANTS MACC TO BE PROFESSIONAL IN ITS DEALINGS

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said
Tuesday it is paramount for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to
be fair and professional, and seen to be so, in all its dealings.

As such Abdullah hoped that each and every officer of the MACC regardless of
position or rank, would carry out their duties to the highest standard of
professionalism.

In this context, Abdullah stressed that dedication, impartiality and
fairness must be part and parcel of their job as anti-corruption officers.

"In that sense, your conduct, while on duty or even off duty, must always be
beyond reproach and in conformity with the laws of the land. If not, all our
efforts thus far to implement institutional reforms may come to naught," he said
in his speech when launching the MACC at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

Stressing the importance of the MACC in carrying out its duties without fear
or favour, Abdullah said that indeed much of the success or failure of the
commission depended on the conduct of its officers in carrying out their duties.

The MACC came into force on Jan 1 this year to replace the role previously
carried out by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and among the objectives was to
continuously eliminate all forms of corruption, abuse of power and malpractice.

Abdullah said that the government did not want the efforts to set up the
MACC to be regarded as mere rhetoric or a rebranding exercise of the ACA.

"Without significant changes to the structure and improvement in its
effectiveness, there are bound to be perceptions about the MACC being impartial,
a toothless tiger, selective in its enforcement, slow in taking actions and
unprofessional in its investigations.

"These perceptions will, in some ways, mar the image of the MACC," he said.

It was for this reason, said Abdullah, that the government decided to review
the structure and powers of the ACA so that the country's anti-corruption
efforts would address such issues and make the MACC a highly respected
anti-corruption institution.

He said the MACC was set up not because of pressure from any party or due to
political or economic consideration but out of the government's genuine wish to
create a respected Malaysian society that practice high integrity and reject
corruption in all aspects of their lives.

Abdullah pointed out that over the years, Malaysia had taken many concrete
and positive steps to reduce the level of corruption in the country and while
steady progress had been made, the perception that corruption still existed
within the public and private sector had neverthless remained.

"If closely examined, it is clear that the integrity agenda is progressing
well. However, perhaps the pace is not as quick as the people would wish it to
be and this has given rise to various negative perceptions," he said.

The prime minister said that as experiences of other countries had shown,
building a nation that embraced integrity and rejected the culture of corruption
was a long and arduous process.

"Neverthless, my government is aware that Malaysians are fully behind the
integrity and anti-corruption agenda. We have heeded the people's call, and
over the past year in particular, a number of concrete steps have been taken to
strengthen the integrity and anti-corruption agenda," he said.

Abdullah said every effort had been made to ensure that the MACC was fully
equipped to be an effective anti-corruption agency.

As such it had been modelled after some of the best anti-corruption agencies
in the world such as Hong Kong's Independent Commission on Anti-Corruption and
Australia's Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Abdullah said the MACC had also been given additional legal powers that
would enable it to investigate certain forms of corruption hitherto out of its
jurisdiction.

This will enable the MACC to widen its net to investigate newer forms of
corruption and to gather evidence more effectively, thus raising its conviction
rate.

According to Abdullah, the MACC would be increasing the size of its force,
including investigating officers, to approximately 5,000 over the next few
years.

"I am confident that these changes will raise the effectiveness, efficiency
and transparency of the MACC and enable it to transform itself into a world
class anti-corruption enforcement agency," he said, adding that the commission
must also be able to stand up to scrutiny.

The Prime Minister stressed that the fight against corruption could not be
mounted, let alone be won by policies, campaigns, laws and punitive measures
imposed by the government alone.

He said the fight against corruption involved the whole society that
includes the public and private sector, non-governmental organisations as well
as individuals.

In his speech at the event which was also attended by his deputy Najib
Razak, Abdullah said he was confident that the Barisan Nasional
government under the upcoming leadership of Najib, would be equally determined
and committed to ensuring the continued success of the integrity and
anti-corruption agenda that the nation had embarked upon.

"At the end of the day, it must be remembered that no change or improvement
in the way we manage our economy or business can be sustained if our attitude to
good governance is out of sync with the people's aspirations or with
contemporary global trends," said Abdullah.
-- BERNAMA