Malaysia unveiled plans on Monday to beef up its Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and make it a more independent body, in response to calls for faster progress on a four-year-old government pledge to tackle graft.
The ACA reports to the prime minister, not parliament, and has been criticised for apparently bungling politically sensitive cases and failing to secure enough high-profile convictions.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is stepping up the pace of reform after his government suffered a heavy electoral setback last month, said the ACA would be transformed into a commission, with an independent advisory board, by year-end.
"I have always believe that, given the weight and importance of its work, the ACA must be given freedom to carry out its responsibilities," he said, adding that it must undertake its duties "without fear or favour." But he dismissed suggestions that the move, which came less than a week after he announced sweeping changes to the judiciary, was prompted by the election showing.
"My critics will say anything. If I don't do it, they said Pak Lah has forgotten his promises," the prime minister, using his nickname, told reporters afterwards. Corruption watchdog, the Transparency International, welcomed the news. "This is a breakthrough which we didn't expect," said Ramon Navaratnam, head of the Transparency International Malaysia unit. It ranked Malaysia 43rd out of 179 nations on its 2007 corruption perception index. Singapore, one of the world's least corrupt nations, was fourth on the list.
"The ruling party has learnt a bitter lesson from what has happened at the elections," said Abdul Wahab Jaafar Sidek, head of Malaysia's Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group. "We compete for capital and we have to compete in term of best practices." Abdullah said the new Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption would hire an extra 5,000 officers over the next five years, more than tripling the total number to 7,000, and table an annual report to a new, special parliamentary anti-graft committee.
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