CSO Platform advocates for transparency, accountability enhancements in Madani government

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KUCHING, Feb 1: CSO Platform for Reform believes Madani government could enhance elements of transparency and accountability to guarantee good governance.

In a statement today, CSO Platform said for example, appointments for Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) and Statutory Bodies positions need to go through a transparent appointment mechanism to ensure they are answerable to the Parliament.

“In addition, the proposed Office of the Ombudsman, announced in May last year should be tabled and established,” it said.

On the same note, CSO Platform called for a Bill to be presented on the separation of powers between the Attorney General’s Office (AGC) and Public Prosecutor’s Office (PP) to improve the legal institution in Malaysia.

In addition, it said, the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is also important in improving national governance in terms of transparency and accountability.

Apart from that, it said that the declaration of assets by ministers and cabinet officers is also necessary to shows elements of transparency and accountability to the people.

It also said the existence of an independent property declaration unit needs to be separated from the Prime Minister’s Department, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) so that the body has full access to the information to facilitate investigations into the declaration.

“This model can be seen in Singapore where the country established the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) for the purpose of conducting random audits to verify the accuracy of the property declaration,” it said.

Yesterday, Transparency International Malaysia reported that Malaysia’s score and ranking on global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023 improved to 47 points compared to the past three years. — DayakDaily