SHAH ALAM, 21 May: The appointment of the President of Transparency International Malaysia (TIM), Datuk Paul Low as a Minister is deemed to not bring about results if his role is not fully enabled in the newly formed Cabinet.
Paul’s appointment will only be meaningful if changes championed by him to eradicate corruption are received by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s Cabinet.
PAS Research Centre Executive Director, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said previously that Malaysia has established institutions, agencies and anti-corruption laws but the perception of corruption is still bad because there is no political commitment to clean-up the administration.
Dr Dzulkefly said that Paul was brought into the Cabinet with hopes that the Federal Government’s commitment in eradicating corruption can be seen by the people as something positive.
“I remind Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that although Low is from TIM, he will not be able to do anything is his role is not enabled in the Cabinet.
“This means that if Low detects dishonesty in governance and practices such as awarding contracts, acquisitions and so on, he must oppose emphatically, transparently, loudly and boldly,” he said when contacted by TV Selangor.
Paul, a person who does not hold any position in the Umno-BN political party was appointed as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
However, Dr Dzulkefly stressed, Paul’s appointment will not change the negative assumptions of the people towards Najib’s administration sue to a variety of power abuse reported to have previously happened.
“The law is there, institutes already exist, enforcement bodies have also been established by they will all fail if the executive does not have firm commitment to fight corruption.
“Rules can be broken through if there is no political commitment to clean-up the governance,” he added.
Meanwhile, former President of the Malaysian Bar Council, Ragunath Kesavan expressed his concern over the election of Paul into the Cabinet which is said to not being about any impact.
“Low’s appointment can be seen as something positive because he is not from political circles.
But what is of concern is whether he will be given the responsibility which allows him to carry out his duties or will he act only as an advisor.
“We have to wait at least five to six months to see changes,” he explained.
