PUTRAJAYA, 9 Nov 2009: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the setting up of a special team by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is meant to provide clear guidelines to elected representatives in discharging their duties.
The setting up of the committee would also allow the MACC to understand the requirements of Members of Parliament and assemblypersons, he said.
“As elected representatives, they are required to resolve and attend to all kinds of problems faced by the people, things like payment of school fees, health matters, attending events and so on.
“This forced them to sometimes look at whether or not government allocations can be used. This is something that the MACC should explain to them,” he told reporters after chairing the 21st Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia Implementation Council meeting today.
He was asked to comment on the setting of the special team by the MACC to check misappropriation of funds by elected representatives.
The MACC said in a statement yesterday that the team, managed by its inspection and consulting division, would conduct an overall study of the rules, systems and procedures, and the internal control mechanisms used by elected representatives in spending the funds allocated to them.
PAS and unity talks
On the move by PAS to reject the Malay unity talks with Umno, Najib, who is Umno president, said it was up to PAS.
“It’s a matter of principles. Whatever we do, it must be based on what is good for the religion and the people.
“If we can look at it from that point of view, then any move to minimise squabbles among us is a good move, that’s all I have to say; if they say they don’t want it, then it’s up to them,” he said.
On the Pakatan Rakyat‘s intention to register itself formally as a coalition, Najib said, “It’s up to them. Whatever it is, we cannot determine their course of action, we can only determine our course of action.”
He said that the opposition pact had been trying to work out some form of cooperation since the last general election but it appeared that they had serious differences. — Bernama
Nicholas Aw says
Setting up a special MACC team to provide clear guidelines to elected representatives in discharging their duties is a waste of public funds.
For that matter, all government officers should know that it is not only morally wrong but also an offence to claim more than what they are entitled to. Looking at a hypothetical situation: A government officer is entitled to claim a distance of 150km from Point A to Point B, but in his claim form he makes a claim for 180km. Obviously this is wrong.
Likewise, everyone — be they MPs, state assemblypersons, government officers or private sector employees — is aware of their financial entitlement. Most of the time false claims are made due to the greed of the claimants.
There is no need to set up a special MACC team to provide clear guidelines. There are already sufficient guidelines. MACC, just go do your job and go after the corrupt in a transparent manner and not carry out selective investigations, which you are doing now despite your denial mode.