KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — As you are reading this, the Anti-Corruption Agency could well be arresting more people in its stepped-up crackdown that has seen some major results lately.
The flurry of arrests since July could be a “sneak preview” of what the long-awaited Malaysian Commission Against Corruption, due to come into being on Jan 1 next year, would be like.
The new-look body, which will be much more independent than the present one, means that the reform of the ACA initiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will become a reality.
Ahead of this, the ACA has been showing in recent weeks that it really means business.
Among the big guns who have been charged for alleged corruption are former Immigration Department director-general Datuk Wahid Md Don and Tourism director-general Datuk Mirza Mohamad Taiyab.
Hardly five months after the new Perak state government was elected into office, two of its executive councillors, Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, were arrested and charged last week.
Then came the arrests of scores of employees and runners of the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre, Puspakom.
Abdullah himself has given the "thumbs-up" to the spate of arrests, saying the ACA was on the right track to fight corruption at all levels.
It shows the ACA is taking action without fear or favour although those suspected are holding influential positions, he says.
ACA director-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan says more "big fish" will be charged soon.
His warning, coming close on the heels on the arrest of the top men at the Immigration and Tourism departments, has somewhat jolted the civil service in recent weeks and people are anxiously waiting to see who is going to be next.
The new commission against corruption will be answerable to a board of directors which will comprise parliamentarians.
And the director-general will be answerable to these directors.
One very important feature of the commission is that it will be given absolute powers to bring cases to court without having to go through the Attorney-General's Chambers.
Prominent crusaders against corruption like Tunku Abdul Aziz, the ex-president of Transparency International Malaysia, and his successor Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, have been clamouring for the ACA to be turned into a truly independent body like its counterpart in Hong Kong.
A former deputy commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong, who was here late last month amidst the ACA arrests of senior civil servants, was encouraged by what he saw.
Tony Kwok Man-wai said the public should look at the high-profile arrests and of the "big fish" being charged with corruption positively.
"I think it is very positive to see many senior governmental officers being charged almost every day in the newspapers.
"It shows the seriousness of the government in combating corruption," said Kwok.
Equally encouraged was Navaratnam, who regards the arrests as "quite unusual" but wants the ACA "whose bosses are more proactive of late to step up the pace".
The Transparency International Malaysia chief then turned his attention to "money politics" which he describes as the "mother of all corruption".
Money politics breeds what is known as "payback time" after elections, which is damaging to politics and good governance, he says.
Ahmad Said says the ACA has received several reports of corruption in the onoging Umno branch elections and is taking "appropriate action".
Like what the ACA has done in cases involving civil servants, the onus is now on the agency to stamp out the menace among the politicians.
To begin with, the use of money to influence election results in political parties should no longer be called money politics.
"It is actually straight-forward corruption and should be called as such to, at least, put some fear or phobia in those practising it," says Tunku Abdul Aziz. — Bernama
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