G25, the group of prominent and influential Malays, has called on political parties to vet their potential candidates for honesty and integrity before fielding them to contest in the coming elections.

Members of Parliament and assemblymen should be people of good character, and free of unethical practices that could make them “hostages” to corruption when they hold office and positions of power, the group said in a statement.

“There should be a process in every political party to ensure that candidates standing for elections meet the criteria for honesty and integrity before submitting their names for the elections.

“This will be in line with the call from the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) that Umno should set an example for political parties to refrain from corruption and abuse of power in the coming elections,” the statement said.

It said that the government should fight money politics by taking into account G25 and the coalition of 70 non-governmental organisations’ proposals to enact a law to lessen pressure on business contributions and ensure fair elections.

The civil society group said with the 14th general election looming, the proposals must be implemented “in a substantive and comprehensive manner to make the process credible and respectable in the eyes of our people and the world.”

“When politicians indulge in illegal money politics to win the elections, they tend to get sucked into a web of intrigue and deceit, from which they find it difficult to get out.

“Consequently, the country suffers from a bad reputation with regard to good governance, as seen in our unfavourable ranking in the world Corruption Perception Index,” the group said.

G25 said there was an increase in citizen initiatives taken by various groups to make Malaysians more aware of the culture of corruption.

Among them was the recently launched e-platform by the Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) that enables people to report those they suspect to be living beyond their means to the MACC.

“Citizen participation will help the MACC investigate more cases, especially involving those in positions of power.”

The group also called for the Whistleblowers Act 2010 to be reviewed as soon as possible to remove restrictions to the kind of information whistleblowers are allowed to disclose and to whom they can disclose to.

“It is essential that government servants, who make the reports against their superior officers, are protected from harassment such as being charged under the Sedition Act 1948 and the Official Secrets Act 1972,” the group said.

G25 also praised the authorities for putting together anti-corruption campaigns, and new MACC chief Dzulkifli Ahmad’s hands-on approach in the programmes and brave statements that had “set a sense of urgency and purpose in going after the corrupt”.

The group said the government must allow the MACC to charge those implicated, including politicians. – June 5, 2017.