SARAWAK DAP today submitted Najib Razak’s name to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for the prime minister to be vetted prior to the 14th general election.

Najib’s name was submitted to the Kuching MACC office by Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen’s three special assistants – Kelvin Yii, Abdul Aziz Isa and Mordi Bimol.

Aziz was last week arrested by police for allegedly insulting the prime minister in a Facebook post.

DAP also submitted a proposal for the commission to have a rating system for its vetting, where each candidate is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most corrupt or convicted of corruption.

The party said such a system could help the public make “a better decision from a more detailed analysis, rather than just a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ system”.

DAP’s action followed MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad’s invitation to parties to submit the names of prospective GE14 candidates to be vetted, to ensure they are “clean, and not tainted by corruption and abuse of power”.

“We are acting on behalf of the people by submitting Najib’s name to be vetted by the commission,” Yii told reporters at the anti-graft agency’s office in Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho.

“We believe that the best person and the main person that should be vetted is, of course, the prime minister himself. Being the leader of the party (Umno) guarantees that he will stand in the next election.”

Yii said DAP was “assisting him” with the submission, “on behalf of the people who are eager to know that such a show is not just a political gimmick to put the opposition in a bad light”.

Dzulkifli had earlier said Barisan Nasional parties were the only ones to have submitted the names of leaders and would-be candidates to be vetted.

However, Yii said, said there was no guarantee that Najib would submit or include his own name in the BN list of prospective candidates.

“It is important that MACC shows its impartiality and strengthen the public’s perception of the independence of the commission to vet even the prime minister, especially now that he is surrounded by multiple international financial scandals, like the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, which have turned Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.”

The 1MDB scandal is the country’s largest financial scandal in history, and is the subject of investigations in the US, the UK, Singapore and Switzerland.

The US Department of Justice has moved to forfeit US$1.7 billion in 1MDB-linked assets in the US, the UK and Switzerland.

Several people linked to the scandal have been convicted and jailed.

Yii said MACC’s response to and stand on the scandal would “forcefully and powerfully send a message to Malaysians and the world that it is serious about fighting corruption”.

“That is why it is important that the first person they should vet, to determine whether he is free from corruption and not involved in abuse of power, is the prime minister himself.”

Pakatan Harapan had earlier dismissed the vetting proposal, with its president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, saying the pact would carry out its own vetting of candidates.

MACC made the call for parties to have their candidates vetted even though there is no legal requirement for the parties to do so. – September 29, 2017.