ACA should emulate the example of Suhakam and submit annual reports to Parliament on its fight against corruption

(Penang, Thursday):  The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should emulate the example of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and submit annual reports to Parliament on its fight against corruption.

Although there is no statutory requirement for the ACA to submit annual reports to Parliament as in the case of Suhakam, the ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Zaki Husin can introduce such an innovation to demonstrate the agency’s commitment to the principles of public accountability and  transparency and be an example to all public agencies and bodies.

The Malaysian public have often read about ACA  statements about its various investigations into high-profile cases, or police reports lodged with ACA, such as:
 

• allegations made by former Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid in his statutory declaration in  October 1999 that former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had amassed a fortune of RM3 billion while in government through 20 "Master Accounts";
• the RM 11 billion Perwaja Steel scandal;
• investigations of the then Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director-general Tan Sri Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman, who later became Bank Negara Governor;
• corruption reports against Cabinet Ministers including the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin and the Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz;

The Malaysian public are entitled to know the outcome of these ACA  investigations  and the best way for such a public accounting for the  ACA would be by way of an annual report to Parliament.

This would also be the best vehicle for the ACA director-general to respond to public concerns as for instance:
 

• Whether  there are certain categories of personalities who are “untouchables” as far as the ACA is concerned, whose activities are completed out-of-bounds for any ACA investigations.  This question becomes very urgent and relevant because of the long-drawn-out three-week silence of the ACA  on the Internet website alleging corrupt practices by Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud.  Is Taib Mahmud one of the “untouchables” for the ACA?
• What the ACA  is doing to raise and improve  Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International’s annual  Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which  has plummeted from  23rd placing in 1995, 26th  in 1996, 32nd in 1997, 29th in 1998, 32nd in 1999 and 36th in 2000.

 (22/2/2001)