Selangor Assembly wants MACC to be fair

Selangor Assembly wants MACC to be fair

Tuesday, 17 March 2009 10:34am
©The Sun by Karen Arukesamy

SHAH ALAM (March 16, 2009) : The Selangor state assembly today passed a motion urging the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should "seriously and freely" investigate all corruption and abuse of power allegations according to merits without case preferences.

Also passed was a motion to declare the freedom for the state and its subsidiary companies to make contributions in the interest of social responsibility to those they deem fit to receive these as laws and policies allow.

The first motion brought to the Dewan by Dr Abdul Rani Osman (PAS-Meru) while the second was brought by Dr A.Xavier Jayakumar (PKR-Seri Andalas).

In his speech when tabling the motion Xavier said that the state hoped that state owned companies will be involved in programmes that benefit the people in the state especially the poor- as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.

Raising the issue pertaining 46 cows that were donated to Bandar Tun Razak mosques and suraus by a Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS) subsidiary which became the subject of scrutiny by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) he said: "MACC was so quick to investigate and say that there was a strong case and evidence of abuse of power against the Menteri Besar when not even a single cent when into his pocket."He said comparatively this did not happen when numerous reports of abuse were lodged against the former Menteri Besar with clear cut evidence.

Later during his support for the motion tables by Abdul Rani, Ng Suee Lim (DAP-Sekinchan) called for the MACC to be placed under the purview of Parliament instead of the prime minister’s department to ensure its independence and fairness to all parties.

"If it is under the prime minister’s department and say the prime minister and his deputy are allegedly involved in corruption – will MACC dare investigate their bosses?" he asked.
"It seems like the MACC is only interested in investigating small cases but do not dare touch big cases involving Barisan Nasional leaders," Ng said.

Citing the Malay acronym, Ng said MACC is more like Suruhanjaya Pelindung(protector) Rasuah Malaysia instead of Pencegahan (Prevention) and that all it is worried about are ‘cars and cows’.He also said that when Sungai Panjang (Datuk Seri Mohammad Khir Toyo’s constituent) touches on the ‘cows and cars’ issue, MACC took immediate action."What is the connection between the two? I suspect there is some kind of connection between them," Ng said, challenging Mohammad Khir to respond.