Aliran is tickled by the Prime Minister’s so-called pledge that he would give more bite to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if voters hand the Barisan Nasional its coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority in the coming general election.
We’re bemused because the federal government does not need a two thirds majority to give teeth to the MACC as it does not require a constitutional amendment. What it does need, though, is political will and commitment from the federal government to ensure that the MACC is fully and fiercely independent.
A truly independent anti-corruption watchdog would not only catch ‘ikan bilis’ but also the elusive ‘sharks’, many of whom have connections with people in high places. This also means that the MACC would be empowered to catch people at, for instance, ministerial level, if need be, without fear or favour.
Additionally, the “pledge” appears to be a thinly veiled threat to voters, thereby making it sound more like a bargaining chip.
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Anyway, even if the BN proposal to make the MACC truly independent requires that the existing law pertaining to the MACC be amended, we are confident that Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians, who have been clamouring for an independent watchdog all along, would fully support the amendment.
Indeed, the rakyat as a whole would give their wholehearted support to this noble endeavour to put a stop to taxpayers’ money being abused by certain individuals.
We therefore call upon the Prime Minister to take immediate steps to unleash the MACC before the next general election.
Dr Mustafa K Anuar
Honorary Secretary
28 February 2012
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
Dear Reeaders, How can we trust a ‘musang”, which has the right to the chicken coup. Even a small coup had been cleared clean, a bigger coup will tempt him to do the unthinkable. He can’t even manage to do anything substantial currently with respect to MACC, where TBH and Sabrini cases were hung indefinitely with no justice in sight and those responsible punished. It goes to say that those responsible ‘had the upper hand’ on the power that has? MACC has no bite and no credibility and ‘makan gaji buta’ all the way. Reports of corruption in the management of mosque funds were not attended to, according to the ‘shoe throwing Imam”. … These corrupt cultures in the mosque and Islamic management centres are rampant in Bangladesh and it will be rampant if unchecked in Malaysia. Corruption is every where and it is part and parcel of our system nowadays, a norm and an accepted way of life preach by UMNO…. How do you expect the low ranking government servant law enforces to ‘behave’ if their bosses and their leaders live by that corrupt examples.… Read more »
The present legislations are more than enough to deal with the corrupted ones ! Is Najib saying that a shot from the MACC is insufficient and the MACC needs to have a machine gun to stop the crimes in the country(?)
Or may be Najib needs more … to deal with all (culprits) from Umno, what a joke and excuse to trick the voters to vote for the corrupted ones.
He must thinks the voters are just two years old or just have the brains of a mouse like all those deceitful and corrupted … from Umno ! Or are they immune to the present legislations and as a consequent he needs more powerful laws to handle them !