The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should be commended for tackling graft in “bite-sized pieces” rather than being overwhelmed by the problem, said an adviser of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA-ROLI).

Daniel Eric Stonecipher said that this, along with being sincere in their efforts and having the backing of senior politicians, makes MACC “an actual joy” for him to work with.

“There are days where you wake up and you feel as though corruption as an entity is just too overwhelming to take on.

“The thing that you need to understand about what MACC has done, in my view, is that they have broken it down to bite-sized pieces and are taking it on in a very coordinated step-by-step fashion, that will have a real impact.

azlan “There are a lot of countries that seemed to be overwhelmed by the challenge of corruption. Until you could take a strategic approach and act tactically like what the MACC is doing, I don’t think you are going to be able to make a significant dent (on corruption),” he said.

Stonecipher was speaking to reporters during an interview arranged by the MACC at the sidelines of the Annual Conference of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities in Kuala Lumpur today.

When asked to elaborate and substantiate his statement, he said, “You don’t take on a problem as big as corruption flying by the seat of your pants.

“It has to be planned; it has to be methodical. You would have to break down the areas and spheres of criminal activity where corruption is most prevalent – and they (MACC) have done that.

“They need to be commended for it and recognised for it and the more of that happens, the more the other countries will follow suit.”

MACC a 'leader'

Corruption Conference Stonecipher, who is also a delegate at the four-day conference, also praised MACC as a “leader” in advocating a stronger, formal and real-time arrangement for cooperation and information exchange between nations.

“Criminals have historically relied on the fact that governments have not done well in communicating,” he said, adding that anti-corruption agencies need to be “immediately and substantively communicate” with their international partners in order to tackle transboundary corruption.

When asked what Malaysia can do to improve its efforts to combat corruption, he said, “I don’t know.”