Sarawakians more focused — Taib

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MAY IT GROW: Taib (right) waters an ‘SEDC Integrity Tree’ at the launch while Talib looks on. — Photo by Chimon Upon

KUCHING: Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud says he is generally pleased with the level of integrity among Sarawakians especially those at the top level.

“I don’t have the overall assessment. It is not easy to do so but one thing about integrity is that when a person approaches his job with total commitment his honesty will just become a sideline.

“My impression of our people, not only the civil servants, is that they are more focused on their jobs. You can see they are very committed and because of that I expect the degree of integrity among our people will increase from time to time.

“The main problem in the future is for the administration to have more power on the ground unless we equip them with good knowledge.

“That I think will take 10 to 15 years and if you don’t do that there will be problems on the way they can exercise their power at the lower level. For the top level I not worried,” he told reporters after the launch of the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) Integrity Day 2012 here yesterday.

Earlier in his keynote address, Taib urged all departments and agencies to continue their journey of integrity and not to stop at what they have achieved. They should keep on improving to do better.

“If we are complacent we will become mediocre and risk becoming irrelevant. Temptations come in various forms. Temptations know no boundary. They can happen to those from the lower level right up to the top.

“We have seen around us either within the country or outside that corruption and abuse of power has brought about the downfall of many, including the very powerful and influential organisations and individuals.”

Therefore, he said a system must be put in place to ensure greater accountability in the day-to-day management.

“Those found guilty should be dealt with firmly and speedily. Hopefully, this would deter others and prevent the problem from spreading. Like a disease, it must be stopped from spreading if it cannot be prevented from occurring altogether,” he said.

He said that many organisations today had made sure that they were equipped with compliance-based ethics programmes designed to prevent, detect and take action against legal violations.

However, aside from the normal punitive legal compliance stance there was also a need to foster an environment that encouraged exemplary behaviour, he added.

“This is where an integrity-based approach comes handy as it takes into consideration the combinations of concerns for the law with emphasis on managerial responsibility for ethical behaviour.

“Incorporation of this approach into the day-to-day operations of an organisation will prevent damaging ethical lapses while tapping into powerful human pulses for moral thoughts and actions.”

He said that SEDC’s corporate governance had thus far been strong and this would not have been possible if there was a lack of integrity among its staff.

“No matter what governance system you practise, no matter how many governance systems you have installed, it will not work if the people who manage systems lack integrity. The toughest choices, when you have to make those tough choices are made easier if you have a strong internal compass and you know which way it points,” he said.

Assistant Minister of Tourism Datuk Talib Zulpilip who is also SEDC chairman also spoke at the function.