KUALA LUMPUR: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) today presented several suggestions on combatting corruption, one of which is having a Freedom of Information Act (FOI).
Aira Azhari, senior research executive with the think tank’s Democracy and Governance Unit, today stressed on the need for an ecosystem where information was freely available to the public through an FOI.
Aira said this when presenting the main points from an IDEAS paper titled “An assessment of select procurement initiatives in the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023”. The paper was launched at “The NACP and the Road Ahead for Malaysia’s Procurement Regime” public forum held at a hotel here today.
“We urge the government to make enacting this FOI Act a priority in its efforts to combat corruption,” Aira said. The paper was co-authored by her and Faiz Abdul Halim, a researcher at IDEAS.
“Several proposed initiatives in the NACP may not be feasible unless information is openly accessible and readily available. Hence, the government should hasten the introduction of an FOI law,” she noted.
According to the NACP, the MACC found that from 2013 to 2018, the public procurement sector recorded the highest number of complaints (42.8%).
In the context of procurement, an FOI Act is an important tool to improve transparency and would help reduce cases of non-compliance in procurement. For instance, bidders would be able to check the contract’s full detailed evaluation criteria, and check competing bidders proposals, Azira said.
Among other suggestions:
- The government should undertake rigorous assessments of the economic, social and environmental impact of proposed projects and make the findings available to the public;
- Ensure that open tenders are the main method of procurement: In order to get the best value for money in procurement, the use of competitive open tenders should be prioritised unless there is a justifiable reason (eg only one qualified supplier) for using direct negotiations or quotations;
- Provide for the full-disclosure of results from tender committees: This measure would allow bidders and procurement officials to review and evaluate past winning proposals, the technical specifications of past projects, price details and so on;
- Ensure the proposed complaints mechanism has the necessary powers:
Regardless of the title, the mechanism should have the power to conduct investigations, access government information and issue meaningful sanctions; - Lower the threshold for open tenders: To promote the use of the open tenders, the threshold for the procurement goods, works and services should be lowered to RM200,000; and
Amend the OSA: The government should review and amend certain restrictive clauses within the OSA so as not to contradict with the introduction of the FOI law. This would allow whistleblowers, journalists and the public to freely check on procurement activities.
In his keynote speech at the forum, Anis Yusal Yusoff, deputy director-general at the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC), Prime Minister’s Department, spoke of the importance of building a culture of trust in procurement by developing an appropriate mindset.
He said: “Attitudes and mindsets cannot be measured by key performance indicators (KPIs) alone, they are intangible. The real engine to any delivery is the mindset. Mindset is defined by the culture we ultimately inculcate in the system. We each develop in the little areas we are in charge of. This culture has to be instilled, has to be imbued and it cannot happen right here and now.”