By Debra Chong
PETALING JAYA, Dec 5 — The beleaguered Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) might be changing leadership this January 1 but opposition leader Lim Kit Siang (picture) is sceptical that Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed can wipe the mud off its name.
The MACC No2 has been named to replace Datuk Seri Abdul Said Hamdan and promised several plans and measures to redeem the national anti-graft body’s integrity and public confidence, which plunged when political aide Teoh Beng Hock fell to his death from its Selangor office during an investigation.
“I will introduce several plans and measures to redeem MACC’s integrity and public confidence,” state news agency Bernama reported the caeer anti-graft officer saying today after launching the Integrity Conference 2009 in Penang.
But the DAP Parliamentary leader remained unconvinced..
“Under Abu Kassim, can MACC redeem itself and restore public confidence, which has plunged to lowest ebb in nation’s history, as an independent, professional and fearless fighter against corruption?” the Ipoh Timur MP asked in a statement today.
“Or will MACC be ‘more of the same’ as under Ahmad Said?” he added, cynically.
Lim noted that Ahmad Said, who was chief graft buster since May 2007, had failed to live up to his earlier promises to clean up corrupt practices.
Instead, Ahmad Said’s 30-month leadership had caused the country to plunge 22 spots to No 56 out of 180 countries in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by global corruption watchdog Transparency International’s (TI) — its worst ranking ever, said Lim.
“Malaysians will not forget Ahmad Said’s infamous saying that as far as the MACC is concerned, there is no difference between corruption involving a few ringgit and corruption involving a few hundred millions of ringgit,” the veteran politician added.
He also said the public would not forget Ahmad Said’s other black marks during his term as MACC chief, such as going after “ikan bilis” (anchovy) instead of “ikan yu” (shark), and most infamously, the mysterious July 16 death of Teoh.
“The Malaysian public want to have an anti-corruption agency which has teeth and which can send to jail the corrupt, regardless of position or status, responsible for Malaysia’s continuing plunge in international competitiveness,” Lim said.
The DAP adviser said his party and its political partners would fully cooperate if Abu Kassim proved he could lead the MACC “as an independent and professional anti-corruption body like Hong Kong’s ICAC”, on which it was modelled, and not remain a puppet of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
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Lim Kit Siang is the best candidate to head the MACC.