KANGAR: The Kangar Municipal Council has clarified that its integrity unit has already been established on May 11 this year.
This followed a statement by Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming, who said local authorities in the state, Kedah, and Kelantan had yet to set up integrity units.
Municipal council president Affendi Rajini Kanth said the integrity unit was promptly established on the same day he reported for duty as president.
"I'm not sure where this misunderstanding originated, and I don't blame Nga. There may have been some miscommunication," he said when contacted today.
The Kangar Municipal Council is the sole local authority in the state.
Earlier today, Nga said all local authorities in the three states, which are under Perikatan Nasional's administration, have not yet established integrity units.
He said this information was shared by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki during a recent visit to the ministry. (Hyperlink: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/1101488/no-integrity-units-lo...)
Nga said local authorities that have not complied with the Public Service Department directive have been instructed to establish their own integrity units immediately.
Meanwhile, Kedah's State Housing, Local Government and Health Committee chairman Major (R) Mansor Zakaria said the state government was reviewing the recommendation to establish integrity units for its local authorities.
He said the matter will be addressed in a future State Planning Committee meeting, and integrity units will be implemented if deemed necessary by the state government.
"This is true. We currently don't have integrity units for each local authority. This might be a new policy introduced by the federal government,"said Mansor.
"We will present it in the State Planning Committee meeting and see if it is considered required by the state. We will follow the committee's decision."