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:

  1. Public and Periodic Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by all members of Parliament and State Assemblies.
  2. Amendment of the law to provide for confiscation of ill-gotten gains of the corrupt.
  3. 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.
  4. Greater transparency in funding of political parties.
  5. 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.
  6. A Free and Investigative Press.
  7. Greater accountability and transparency in the whole machinery of government and the privatisation process.
  8. 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.
  9. 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