KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government aims to be a pioneer and leader and to set the benchmark in implementing governance, integrity, and anti-corruption (GIA) management in Malaysia.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the Sabah State Integrity and Governance Division (Bigons) is steering the GIA's strategic efforts launched last year.
"These efforts involve all 132 state government bodies developing an Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan (OACP).
"The OACP implementation will be monitored virtually through the i-dashboard system," Hajiji said when launching the 2024 Integrity, Governance, and Anti-Corruption Convention at the Sabah International Convention Centre.
He said the integrity units for the state public service and local authorities will be established, and the complaints system will be upgraded to i-Adu 2.0 from 1.0, making it more user-friendly.
"A total of 44 government stakeholder officials have been commissioned as certified integrity officers by the Certified Integrity Officer Recognition Board to drive GIA efforts," said Hajiji.
He said Sabah has also become the first state government to mandate that the public service integrity song be played at all official government functions.
In 2024, he said Sabah successfully implemented ten integrity weeks involving ten ministries and the Chief Minister's Department, marking a first-of-its-kind initiative in Malaysia.
Hajiji said each state government agency has been instructed to create a GIA digital corner on their official websites.
As of September, he said, 50 state government agencies have been inspected and consulted to strengthen their governance.
"Additionally, since 2023, the disciplinary awareness programme has been implemented across 18 local authorities throughout Sabah," said Hajiji.
He said efforts to strengthen GIA management also include upgrading the state Finance Ministry to an Internal Audit Department from January this year, aimed at enhancing the administration's check-and-balance system.
He said the state Finance Ministry has also established a consultative and supervisory committee to monitor low-performing government stakeholders and propose solutions to ensure efficient management.
"The state Finance Ministry has upgraded the state company information system to version 5.0, enabling real-time monitoring of companies' financial performance and reports," said Hajiji.
The Kota Kinabalu Technical and Trade Training Institute had also become the first Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institution in Malaysia to offer an Integrity and Anti-Corruption Course, he said.
The first series of the shared responsibility corruption prevention initiative was successfully implemented in collaboration with the Sabah Inland Revenue Board, the Sabah Federal Secretary's Office, and the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Sabah branch.