C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel says it is imperative for BN to show its commitment to combating corruption.
C4’s Cynthia Gabriel says corrupt leaders must be shown the door as they have no place in politics.
PETALING JAYA: Civil society group Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) has voiced its objection to politicians linked to corruption cases being nominated to contest in the coming polls (GE14).
Urging the public to reject such candidates, C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel said it was appalling as corruption involved the large-scale misuse of public funds.
She referred to former Felda chairman Isa Samad, who was reportedly proposed as a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate in Negeri Sembilan.
Isa was detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during investigations into alleged corruption in the agency, but no charges were brought against him.
Cynthia also noted speculations that Wanita Umno head Shahrizat Abdul Jalil might be fielded by BN in the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat, despite her link to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) controversy in 2012.
Shahrizat had stepped down as the women, family and community development minister at the end of her term as a senator amid a graft probe into NFC whose chairman is her husband.
“It is really appalling that BN would do this while MACC is vetting (BN) candidates. What kind of joke is that?
“What we need is for corruption to be wiped out completely and the corrupt leaders to be shown the door as they have no place in politics.
“It is imperative for BN to show its seriousness in combating corruption,” she said after the launch of GIAT’s “Good Governance Agenda for GE14: The Pillar To Reforming Malaysia’s Future”.
Cynthia said Malaysia’s ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 had fallen seven rungs.
Over the last three years, Malaysia’s ranking fell 15 places, she added.
At an earlier news conference, Cynthia said GIAT (Governance, Integrity, Accountability and Transparency) had approached all political parties to incorporate key reforms in their election manifestoes.
She said the parties generally agreed that GIAT’s demands were in line with democratic principles meant to achieve good governance which should be promoted and upheld.
“We however wish to register our disappointment in Umno and MCA as they have yet to respond to our request to meet to discuss the key reforms,” she said.
“GIAT would like to take this opportunity to particularly applaud PPBM for being the first of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties to receive our GE14 agenda and for having proposed the adoption of all the key reforms proposed by GIAT in PH’s GE14 manifesto.
“This move is indeed a positive step in the right direction as it would pave the way for building a nation that upholds principles of good governance,” she added.
She also acknowledged that BN’s GE14 manifesto offered to introduce a political financing law and the creation of an ombudsman to investigate public complaints concerning public institutions.
However, she asked why these reforms had not been implemented during BN’s six-decade rule.
Last month, GIAT offered a five-point good governance agenda for politicians to adopt in GE14.
It concerns endorsing legislation to affirm the independence of institutions, most importantly MACC and the Attorney-General’s Chambers; enacting a national freedom of information law; reviewing the Official Secrets Act 1972; requiring by law that all cabinet members, MPs, elected officials and senior public officials publicly declare their assets; improving participatory democracy within all levels of government, including holding local council elections; and requiring by law that all political parties publicly declare all forms of income and expenditure.
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Sumber C4 urges voters to reject candidates linked to graft cases