Ten-Point Consensus of "Round Table Conference on Corruption -
Assembly of Voices"
Media Conference Statement
(II)
by Lim Kit Siang
(Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): I
have written to the Acting Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, communicating
to him the Ten-Point Consensus reached at the "Round Table Conference
on Corruption - Assembly of Voices" last Sunday, for the information
of the Cabinet.
The Ten-Point Consensus were as follows:
- Public and Periodic Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by all members
of Parliament and State Assemblies.
- Amendment of the law to provide for confiscation of ill-gotten gains
of the corrupt.
- Amendment of the law to provide for a statutory presumption that a
public officer having extraordinary wealth or leading a lifestyle disproportionate
to his known sources of income should be deemed to have committed an offence
of corruption unless he can give a satisfactory explanation.
- Greater transparency in funding of political parties.
- Restructuring of the Anti-Corruption Agency as an autonomous body independent
of Executive control and which is directly responsible to Parliament. 6.Restoration
of an independent and impartial Judiciary.
- A Free and Investigative Press.
- Greater accountability and transparency in the whole machinery of government
and the privatisation process.
- Amendment or repeal of laws which inhibit a climate of openness, accountability,
equity and justice, such as the Official Secrets Act, the Internal Security
Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the enactment of a Freedom
of Information Act.
- Create a new culture of integrity in political life, administration
and the public service with zero tolerance for corruption through inculcation
of moral and ethical values in the family, school and religion.
In my letter to Anwar, I have also proposed that the Cabinet should
take a policy decision that Malaysia make a bid to host the 9th International
Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, which would be
an international announcement of the country�s seriousness in combatting
corruption.
I also suggested to Anwar that Malaysia should send a strong delegation
to the 8th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) to be held in
Lima, Peru from 7 - 11 September 1997 to bid for the hosting of the next
IACC in 1999.
The IACC has become a gathering of all who are involved in the battle
against corruption, investigators, prosecutors, judges, Members of Parliament
and representatives of the civil society like the professions and NGOs.
Malaysia�s delegation to the IACC meeting in Lima should comprise all these
elements to show that Malaysia has come of age in our commitment to wage
an all-out war against corruption.
(15/7/97)
*Lim Kit Siang - Malaysian Parliamentary
Opp