SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) call for politicians to declare their assets applies to those with access to public funds at both the federal and state levels.
MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Kota today urged state governments to emulate the Federal Government's move to have members of Parliament declare their assets.
She said it was the duty of every politician and MPs with fund allocations to do so.
Such a move, she added, was necessary to prevent abuse of power.
“We urge state governments to declare the assets of each of their state assemblymen, not just their executive councillors. We will have an ideal situation where we call on local councillors to do it, too.
“State governments have an abundance of resources. Selangor is one of the richest states and they have access to more funds and resources.
“Whenever you have access to the decision-making (process) which involves public funds, this is where you need to be transparent,” said Latheefa today.
She said this after witnessing the signing of MACC’s Corruption Free Pledge (IBR), which was led by Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari at the state secretariat building.
Amirudin and his 10 executive councillors signed the IBR.
More than 300 Selangor civil servants also took their IBR oath.
Latheefa described Selangor’s commitment to fighting graft as a big step in the right direction.
“The first step is to sign the IBR and the subsequent steps are transparency. That is why we also reminded Selangor on their Freedom of Information Enactment which centres around transparency which in turn, lessens graft,” she said.
Meanwhile, Amirudin said Selangor had taken some time to sign the IBR as it wanted to have certain procedures and infrastructure in place first.
“However, we have been consistent in fighting graft. In the Selangor Economic Action Council meetings with the executive councillors, as well as government-linked companies, we make it mandatory for board members and excos to sign a document which states that they are free from any links of the decision-making process. This practice was also extended to local councils meetings, too.
“Before signing the IBR, it was our stance that there is no point to the pledge without a mechanism in place. It took us one to two years and now, it has become a culture and we solidified our commitment with the IBR,” he said.
On Selangor’s stance on asset declaration, Amirudin said it has been in practice since 2010 and that the information could be accessed via its official website.
Amirudin said he declared his assets when he was the Youth Development, Sports, Cultural and Entrepreneurship Development exco.
He said he believed all his excos have declared their assets at the Selangor state legislative level.
On whether the Selangor state assemblymen would follow suit, Amirudin said they were ready to do so to ensure good governance and transparency.