KOTA KINABALU: Twenty-five State Reform Party (Star) candidates for the 13th general election signed the Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) election integrity pledge to safeguard the integrity of their political office.
Sabah Chapter chairman Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan, who is on the list, said the 25 finalised candidates included three leaders from Sarawak, namely its president Dr Dripin Anak Sakoi, Sarawak Chapter chairman Dr Patau Rubis and Star secretary-general Donny Ruing, who attended the Sabah Star Convention yesterday.
“Some people are very cynical with our leadership line-up but we will determine that our candidates have the integrity. We have professionals, doctors, businessmen, religious figures and many other credible candidates.
“We are the only political party in Malaysia which has committed to this pledge. It shows that we are very committed to promote good and transparent governance,” he said when delivering his speech.
Besides Jeffrey, Dripin, Patau and Donny, Sabah Star leaders who joined the signing ceremony yesterday included Awang Ahmad Shah, Daniel John Jambun, Dr Nicholas Guntobon, Jalumin Bayogoh, Guandee Kohoi, Rubin Guribah, Edward Linggu, Melanie Anol, Hasmin Azroy Abdullah, James Ait, Maklin Masiau, Marunsai Dawai, Jebon Janaun, Suwah Bulleh, Phillip Among, Haji Baharudin Nayan, Feddrin Tuliang, Pinus Gondili, Hassan Ahmad, Edward Podok and Ahmad Ibrahim.
TI-M president Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan who attended the convention, said it did not matter which political parties they came from but TI-M wanted them to promote good governance and be corrupt free.
In the pledge, the signatories will be monitored by the public by having a Twitter or Facebook account and they will have an email account from TI-M website under the election pledge section, and the public will submit comments to them while TI-M will look at the comments and answers.
“There are four points in the pledge. First, they will not accept bribes and engage in corrupt practices; secondly they will look at the interest of the people at all times; thirdly they will have good governance and fourth, they must obey the laws and regulations.
“We are hoping to change the Malaysian political culture, but so far, the response is quite slow. Before today, we only had five leaders who had signed this pledge, namely Nurul Izzah Anwar from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Khairy Jamaluddin from Umno, Jayakumar of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, Kula Segaran of DAP and Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. Only the young people signed,” he said.
Low added that Star was responding very positively because it responded as a group even though the pledge was not about the party but individuals who are committed to fight corruption.
He said TI-M had spoken to almost all the political parties in Malaysia, including Barisan Nasional (BN), and he said there are a few parties which are considering to sign the pledge.