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Call on Abdullah to issue a  directive to all Barisan Nasional Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar to adhere strictly to his pledge for a “clean, incorruptible, modest and beyond suspicion” administration and not to  use  any public funds or government resources for campaigning for the  next general election on pain of dismissal Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Penang,  Sunday): The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is to  be commended for beginning to “walk the talk” in his pledge for “a clean, incorruptible, modest and beyond suspicion” administration after his first hundred days in office, with the arrest of former Perwaja Managing Director Tan Sri Eric Chia and Land and Co-operative Development Minister Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam, the former for breach of trust involving RM76.4 million and the latter for corrupt practice involving shares with the value of some RM24 million.  The question asked by all Malaysians is whether the two Tan Sris mark the beginning or the high point  of the crackdown on corruption – whether they are the biggest fishes to be caught in the crackdown or an earnest of  bigger fishes which  would be brought to court and justice.  Abdullah said in Penang yesterday that  the crackdown on corruption has nothing to do with the general election,  as it is the responsibility of the government to fight corruption at any time. The Prime Minister is right that  the government's action to eradicate corruption had received strong support of the people, but he should also be aware that just as one swallow does not make a summer, the arrest and the arraignment  of two medium-sized fishes cannot be equated with an all-out war against corruption, when it is clear to all that the “big fishes” are still scot-free.  It must be conceded that never before in the nation’s history have there been such high hopes that firm and sustained actions would be taken against the corrupt who are powerful and influential, as never before in the nation’s history has corruption become so deep-seated, grave and rampant – resulting in Malaysia plunging 14 places in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from 23rd placing in 1995 to 37 position in 2003.  As Abdullah had asked the people to tell him the truth, I wish to send him a message from ordinary Malaysians regardless of race, religion or political affiliation – that they applaud him for the crackdown on corruption, but they will be greatly disappointed if this is not the mere beginning of a full clean-up of the rot which had infested the system, hauling in bigger and bigger fishes to court.   Malaysians are also concerned that Abdullah’s battle against corruption cannot last or  be sustained, unless he makes fundamental institutional changes where the success of the battle against corruption does not depend on one man but on a national integrity system, which is characterized by an independent Anti-Corruption Agency answerable only to Parliament, a truly independent judiciary, a meaningful and effective Parliament, a free press and a vibrant civil society.  Abdullah is correct  when he said yesterday that from what he read in the newspapers, the people are supportive of the government's action to fight corruption, but the people want the “big fishes” who at present are still scot-free  to be sternly dealt with and be deprived of their long-standing  immunity from prosecution, and even more important, institutional and systemic  changes to ensure that the Anti-Corruption Agency, Parliament, the judiciary, the press and the civil society can all play their full role to check and stamp out corruption to give a new meaning to “Malaysia Boleh” – with the country internationally recognized as among the world’s ten least corrupt nations! In this connection, Abdullah should  issue a  directive to all Barisan Nasional Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar to adhere strictly to his pledge for a “clean, incorruptible, modest and beyond suspicion” administration and not to  use  any public funds or government resources for campaigning for the  next general election on pain of dismissal from all political offices  – so that the first general election under his premiership goes down in history as the most “clean, free and fair” of all eleven general elections held since Merdeka in 1957,  which is also free from the 3M abuses of money politics, media manipulation and abuses of government machinery and resources. (15/2/2004) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman