Juanda: Ombudsman Ordinance awaiting assent from TYT

KUCHING (Nov 24): The Ombudsman Ordinance 2023 will be implemented after it has the assent of the Head of State, said Datuk Dr Juanda Jaya.

The Deputy Minister in the Premier of Sarawak’s Department (Integrity and Ombudsman) said the date of its enforcement will be decided later by the state government.

“In terms of the Sarawak Ombudsman structure, it consists of the Chief Ombudsman, Deputy Chief Ombudsman, and three to five more Ombudsman appointed by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri for the duration of three years.

“In terms of administration, a Chief Administrator among the civil servants will be appointed by the minister to manage and administer the Sarawak Ombudsman office,” he said in reply to a supplementary question by Dato Ibrahim Baki (GPS – Satok) in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) here today.

When asked about how the Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan (OACP) can improve the integrity of civil servants, he said an organisation should identify and assess the risks on the tendencies of governance issues, integrity, and corruption in the organisation.

The next stage is to conduct an action plan by identifying initiatives to handle the risks and to decide on the duration of its implementation, he said.

“The OACP is a document for the anti-corruption policy in organisational level with the purpose to handle problems and weaknesses of governance, integrity, and anti-corruption in the organisation.

“It is the responsibility of the said departments or agencies to implement the initiatives outlined in the OACP.

“As such, if the risk assessment process, initiatives, implementation, and observations are done diligently, OACP can improve the level of governance, improve integrity, and prevent corruption, misuse of power, and perversion,” he added.