MACC goes all out

Posted by AsiaViews | Oct 9, 2017 | 0 |

MALAYSIA

New Straits Times

Oct 5, 2017

THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had a very good year in 2016. A total of 982 cases were opened, out of which 932 people were arrested. The numbers of arrests, too, have recorded a hike: 841 in 2015, 552 in 2014 and 509 in 2013.

MACC may arrest even more this year. As this paper reported on Wednesday, MACC is investigating a case involving a few government officials from a ministry which is said to put the “Sabah Watergate” to shame. We can imagine the enormity of the case.

Just to put the “Sabah Watergate” in perspective: in October 2016, MACC seized RM52 million cash and froze another RM60 million in bank accounts following the arrests of two senior Sabah Water Department officials. The graft-busters also seized nine luxury vehicles, 94 handbags, and an assortment of jewelry and watches. Prior to that, MACC had, on March 21, charged former Youth and Sports Ministry senior officer Otman Arshad, 57, with 32 counts of corruption involving RM38.5 million in federal funds.

Monday’s revelation is said to involve some RM100 million, a case which MACC has been tracking for a year. Five officers of a named ministry were said to have worked with 10 companies to squander the money which was meant for projects worth between RM500 million and RM1 billion. The officers have been siphoning off the money for some years, without leaving any paper trail. If not for Bank Negara Malaysia’s Suspicious Transaction Report, which alerted the graft-busters when huge movements of money were sought to be transferred, MACC may have taken a little longer to bust them.

Money has a seductive appeal. It is not gender biased, either. To fight corruption, everyone must be roped in to quell the scourge’s seductive appeal. For some years now, MACC has embarked on numerous initiatives to stifle this disease. One such effort is the embedding of graft-busters within government-linked companies (GLCs). For this to happen, the management of the GLCs must extend a welcome hand. The procurement process is where most of the seduction resides. This paper knows at least one GLC which has embedded MACC officers within its organization. Other GLCs must do the same. Private companies, too, must take a leaf from this book. Another of MACC’s effort is its push for the signing of the Integrity Pledge and the No Gift Policy. We must not belittle such voluntary, internally-driven compliance initiatives as they go a long way in making the business of governance a transparent one.

The government, too, has made it easy for MACC to carry out its task of weeding out corruption. One such early move was the setting up of the special anti-corruption courts in 2011. If it took years before for cases to move through the courts, now they are adjudicated within 12 months. The government and MACC can only do so much. We, too, are part of the equation. As the saying goes, anti-corruption starts with us. Let us join hands to break the corruption chain and give seduction of money a pass.

(https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/leaders/2017/10/287483/macc-goes-all-out)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

MACC goes all out