ALL members of parliament, including those from the opposition, will be required to declare their assets to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“As the opposition has exercised its power to criticise, they must also declare their assets,” said the prime minister after launching myPortfolio system in Putrajaya today.

The implementation will be left to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamed Ariff Md Yusof, he said.

“We have to go through the speaker before this is initiated,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government has included five suggestions from the National Anti-Corruption Plan into the ministers’ key performance indicators.

“All the ministers will have to ensure that the members of administration declare their assets to MACC.

“They will also have to start a gifting policy and ensure the policy is implemented in their ministries.

“During my first PM tenure, I was given 26 cars. I handed them back and they are now in a museum in Langkawi. But moving forward, the ministers cannot accept any gift more than RM500 in value.

“They can only receive food and flowers,” said the 93-year-old.

The eighth special cabinet meeting on anti-corruption also made procurement transparency a priority at the ministries. 

The meeting also decided to adopt a more effective mechanism on the issuance of permits and licences in the agriculture sector. 

“We will also monitor the way APs are used to ensure there’s no corruption,” said Dr Mahathir. 

The meeting, spearheaded by the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIACC), also agreed for all government projects to undergo technical evaluation before they are signed.

“In the past, the previous government just signed a RM52 billion rail project without having it evaluated by the technical department. And now we are stuck.

“The role of the technical departments is important to ensure adequate monitoring and accountability.” – May 14, 2019.