BALIK PULAU: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has reiterated that it is strongly opposed to the formation of the proposed National Integrity and Good Governance Department (JITN), calling it “a waste.”
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad said that the allocated budget for the JITN could instead be utilised to strengthen existing law enforcement units, rather than forming a new one which would undertake the same duties as the MACC.
"This is definitely a waste. What is the (rationale for) this new JITN?
"Apart from the MACC, we already have Suhakam and the Integrity Institute of Malaysia and others that do the same thing.
"Our budget has been cut, we have zero budget to improve out assets. Why not use (the funds for the MACC) instead?" he said at a press conference yesterday.
Dzulkifli was responding to a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low, who told Utusan Malaysia that the formation of the JITN would help the MACC ensure that cases of abuse of power and graft are investigated thoroughly.
Low had said that the JITN’s formation was approved by Cabinet on July 28, in line with the government’s Transformation Programme for the institutionalisation of compliance initiatives in the fields of governance, integrity and human rights
He said that the JITN is an upgrade of the Integrity and Good Governance Division under the Prime Minister's Department into a full department.
However, the MACC rejected the proposal from the outset, and had called for the Ministry to review the Cabinet's decision.