AN ombudsman would greatly help in fixing governance issues so that sustainable development can take shape, said Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel.

Gabriel said that such a body would serve to check government activities in the interests of citizens.

“There is a need for an independent ombudsman to watch over the civil service and the whole area of procurement,” she said at a multi-stakeholder discussion on the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysia Plan in Kuala Lumpur today.

“If you look at how big the mess is, from the time applications for tender are opened right up to the awarding of tenders, or worse still, the implementation of projects, there are so many areas that need fixing.”

Gabriel criticised the Pakatan Harapan government for overlooking conflict-of-interest issues in the appointment of party members and supporters to helm government-linked companies.

“We are already seeing conflict-of-interest issues not being taken seriously by the PH government,” she said.

“Party colleagues being appointed to GLCs; sons, daughters, everybody’s coming in. Nepotistic politics. I really think this needs to be fixed in order for us to combat issues of poverty and ensure infrastructure reaches the poorest of the poor.”

Gabriel described the bureaucracy as “a rotten system” that the PH government inherited after it won the May 9 polls.

“It was a system that was broken and was not working. So going to Sabah and Sarawak from Putrajaya, you find allocations for building roads and infrastructure support often doesn’t reach the people it’s supposed to reach because of corruption, wastage, and leakage.”

“We have so many examples in the auditor-general’s report which showed just that – how the money was mismanaged. If it happens in Petaling Jaya, imagine how bad it is in Sarawak.”  

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told Parliament two weeks ago that Ombudsman Malaysia would be set up to investigate and freely report any complaints against government agencies to bolster integrity and accountability.

The existing Public Complaints Bureau will effectively be replaced by Ombudsman Malaysia.

Dr Mahathir added that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission would be made into an independent body.

“The prime minister is quite spot on. We, the Malaysian citizens, voted to oust corruption and a corrupted regime. So this needs to be fixed.

“Poverty is so linked to bad governance and corruption. Why is it that Sarawak has dilapidated schools? It’s because aid is not reaching them.  

Gabriel added that law enforcement has been “questionable”.

“If you look at MACC, they have been catching ikan bilis (anchovies) all this while. Suddenly they found mussels within the new government.”

“It is really about institutional reform. It’s about making sure that the law is there for them to do their job.”

Present at today’s discussion was Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia senior director of research Hezri Adnan, Malaysia Civil Society Organisations for Sustainable Development Goals Alliance co-chair Denison Jayasooria, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, and representatives of various groups.

The groups, which have interests in protecting the rights of the indigenous people, eradicating poverty, and protecting the environment, gave their feedback on the recently tabled 11th Malaysia Plan mid-term review.

Saifuddin told participants that the government would get civil society groups to engage with the Economic Planning Unit, headed by Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali.

He said that the PH manifesto team were not consulted for the review.

“I don’t blame the EPU people. They probably never had the opportunity to consult the Barisan Nasional manifesto team because there was no team.”

“For some of you who have friends in the cabinet, start whispering, and if they don’t listen, shout,” he said, adding that Wisma Putra has formed a consultative council and have met academicians today.

“We want to meet the civil society groups and representatives of the corporate sector in different types of meetings. We really have to bring all stakeholders onboard.” – October 29, 2018.