The government has been urged to form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help address the issue of good governance by discovering the truth about the prevailing state of corruption, the extent of its practice and how to eliminate it as a way of life.

Gua Musang member of parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said the body must have the status of a court of law with the requisite judicial power so that it has enough bite.

"Having seen how effective the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been to South Africa in bringing that country together without any incrimination, many quarters in Malaysia think that there is merit in having such a body," he said in his keynote address at the 78th Rotary International District 3300 Conference in Petaling Jaya today.

He said such a commission must be able to provide amnesty to those who used corrupt means and abused their positions, while in power, to amass wealth.

"Upon coming into force, the commission could, for instance, declare a grace period of, say, six or 12 months or such other reasonable period to allow abusers to come clean and make amends for their misdeeds.

"During this moratorium no action would be taken against them. However, if it is subsequently determined that a declarant had not been truthful, then he would be pursued and the full extent of the law would be applied against him," he said.

Razaleigh said a corrupt person taking advantage of this amnesty would be required to go through a rehabilitation programme.

"He, and this includes both the taker and the giver, would also be required to declare that he would not practise corruption again and express regret for having indulged in it in the first place.

"The rehabilitation and the oath might sound drastic, but they are not so in the context of the corrosive effect of corruption on the national economy and on the moral fibre of the country.

"Given corruption’s endemic nature of late, the prescription for its permanent elimination is completely justified," he said.

Repeal or review OSA

The government should also seriously give a thought about repealing or reviewing the Official Secrets Act, said Razaleigh.

He said the public must be protected, by an act of law, against prosecution in its effort to have access to information, even if that piece of information embarrasses the government of the day.

"We must stop the practice of using, say, an Act meant to protect state secrets from being circulated, against anyone who brings the attention of the public to a scandalous wrong doing," he said.

- Bernama

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