KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Cabinet Committee on National Governance today has approved a new guideline to replace the 1998 circular letter (No. 3) in strengthening the governance of Federal Statutory Bodies (FSB).
In a statement issued today, the Prime Minister's Office said the implementation of the guideline is a priority to support the Malaysia Madani agenda through the empowerment of statutory bodies.
"The committee meeting today has discussed measures to strengthen the governance of FSB through the reinforcement of regulations and procedures implementation for the management of FSB.
"In line with the principle of transparency, the committee also discuss on the new format for asset declaration by administrative members and members of parliament to be re-inforced.
"The new format will also be presented in the Cabinet meeting at the nearest time and the government is committed to strengthening the good governance initiative, in line with the Malaysia Madani aspiration," it said.
Among new guidelines outlined in the reinforcement of the governance, include strengthening the appointment process of chairman and board members of FSB based on transparent criteria through reviews made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), insolvency checks, screening of the police, as well as a capacity development programme for FSB board members.
Other guidelines include empowering the role of internal audit comprehensively at the federal statutory bodies level, including companies and corporations; strengthening the structure and membership composition of board directors by making the involvement of the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) under the Prime Minister's Department mandatory; and strengthening the detection, supervision and governance of FSB through a platform known as the Federal Statutory Bodies System (SBSys) for regular reporting to the Prime Minister.
"Statutory bodies are an important division of the public sector that requires good governance.
"The contribution of statutory bodies as public entities not only affects the country's economic growth but also supports the implementation of strategies by central agencies and other government departments.
"Hence, through the Madani monitoring system, the observation towards FSB will be more effective through the empowerment of ICU, Finance Ministry, National Audit Department and the Performance Enhancement Coordination Unit (PACU)."