PUTRAJAYA: In an effort to combat abuse of power among civil servants, Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he has asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to screen officers at his ministry.
He said this when asked if he would emulate Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri’s call yesterday for his officers to ensure good governance, integrity and to check their tardiness.
“I am guided by the leadership in Wisma Putra and so, I have asked MACC to screen all officers to the minister.
“Not only to screen them but also to continue to monitor them so that all quarters would feel at ease.
“My concern is that sometimes, (employees) at the lower level may do something sinister and in the end, we, the leaders have to be responsible for others’ actions,” he said at a press conference at Wisma Putra here today.
Meanwhile, when asked about his conversation with his counterparts in other countries recently, Hishammuddin revealed that Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Farhan Al Saud was supposed to visit Malaysia this weekend.
However, he said the prince had to delay his trip following the Covid-19 virus outbreak and now would be visiting on March 19.
“We want to make up (with Saudi) and to have geopolitical conversations. I also had a conversation with Qatar Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Turkey Foreign Affairs Minister (Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu).
“So far, all the responses I received have been quite encouraging including my discussion with United Arab Emirates Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah Zayed Al Nahyan.
“UAE is at the forefront of combating the virus and they are more than willing to work with us,” he said.
On reviving the cancelled King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP) project, Hishammuddin said the decision would have to be made by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said once Malaysia’s and Saudi’s relations are back on the right track, the matter will be discussed by the government.
"That's a security issue. So I hope when our relationship (with Saudi) is back on the right track, it will be discussed with the highest level which is the prime minister himself.
"I believe whatever the decision is, it must be based on the interest of the country.
"At that time (under the Barisan Nasional government), the issue was terrorism and there was this urgency to start this centre, but our priority right now is not so much on terrorism, but on a virus which is not visible to the eyes," he said.
On Aug 6, 2018, then Defence minister Mohamad Sabu said the plan to build KSCIP on a 16-ha plot of land in Putrajaya was cancelled by the recently ousted Pakatan Harapan government.
Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had announced during Saudi King Salman Abdul Aziz's visit to Malaysia in 2017 that they would allocate a large plot of land in Putrajaya to build the centre.
The Muslim World League, which is known to promote Wahhabism and Salafism (a very fundamentalist and conservative form of Islam), is a key player in KSCIP.