KOTA KINABALU: Opposition leaders have been told not to mention unproven corruption allegations in their political talks as it could jeopardize investigations to be carried by the relevant authorities.
Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a member of Special Committee on Corruption, said secrecy is critically important, especially in the early stage of corruption investigation, and revealing any information before the investigation even begin could significantly affect its outcome.
“Do not make public or politicize corruption accusations against anyone. If you really have information, report them to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and let them do their job,” he said.
“Don’t go telling the media, announcing to the public at ‘ceramah politik’ whatever bits of information you have and let the alleged perpetrator get rid of whatever evidence before the authority can get to them,” he said, speaking at the MACC talk and dialogue here, yesterday.
The Kota Belud Member of Parliament said opposition leaders have the habit of making accusations and politicizing alleged corruption cases although most of them are unfounded or based on mere hearsay.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Sabah Barisan Nasioanl (BN) secretary, said the opposition seem to be more interested in spinning corruption issues to gain political mileage rather than to actually help curb the crime.
He said some Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been politicizing corruption and making baseless accusations against the State Government and its leaders, and even accused the MACC of being controlled by the BN government when no action is taken against the individuals they wrongly accused of corruption.
“They keep on claiming that Sabah is corrupt, that corruption is very rampant in the State. Everyday somebody would come up with some kind of accusations, claiming they have lodged a complaint and provided MACC with evidence that corruption has been committed by that person and this person.
“When you look at this so-called evidence, they are just documents taken from the Internet or other unreliable sources containing information or statements that are based on imagination of certain people, not actual facts.
“But if you keep telling people the same thing, some may start to believe it. And this is what they do, they create bad perception.
“If it is true like they said, that there is corruption everywhere in Sabah, the State would not be where it is today in terms of development and the State Government would not be recognized for clean and efficient financial management years after years,” he argued.
Abdul Rahman stressed that both the state and federal governments are very serious and committed in fighting corruption as can be seen from the various measures that have been taken to empower the MACC and other relevant authorities in dealing with this heinous crime.
For instance, he noted, the government has set up special courts for hearing corruption cases so that they can be tried and decided speedily.
Additional allocations were also given to MACC to further strengthen its capability to monitor and investigate corruption cases.
The autonomy of the agency was also enhanced with the provision of laws that prohibit even the Prime Minister from sacking MACC director, while the appointment of its officer had been taken out from the purview of the Civil Service Department (JPA).
At the same time, he said ,the Special Committee on Corruption together with four other panels, namely the Anti-Corruption Consultative Board; Corruption Complaint Committee; Operation Evaluation Panel; and Corruption Prevention and Consultation Panel, have been set up to monitor and assist the MACC in combating corruption.
However, all this would not have the desired impact without the support and cooperation from the public, he said.
The people must play their role, starting with saying no to any form of corruption, no matter how small the bribe involved, he added.
Also present at the MACC talk and dialogue yesterday was Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Sabah director Deputy Commissioner Haji Jalil Haji Jaafar.