The signing of an integrity pledge by the Sarawak state cabinet ministers and assistant ministers on Thursday has been described by Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen as “mere window-dressing and sugar-coating” to a corrupt system.

Instead, the ministers should have made their declaration of assets to the public, he said.

“It is not a true reform to the system,” said Chong, who is the MP for Bandar Kuching and State assemblyperson for Kota Sentosa.

Chief Minister Adenan Satem led his ministers and assistant ministers in reciting and signing the integrity pledge at Wisma Bapa Malaysia, Kuching.

In a statement, Chong said: “It is a great disappointment that in the ceremony of the signing of integrity pledge by the state cabinet ministers and assistant ministers, there is no requirement made for declaration of assets of those ministers and assistant ministers to the public at large.

“The signing of the integrity pledge is only a mere formality.  It is only a reiteration of the pledge that one makes (to serve the country and the state) when one takes public office,” he said.

Chong  said that with or without such a pledge, it was already an offence under the existing laws to be involved in corruption and cronyism, pointing out that even without signing the integrity pledge, none of those holding public offices could legally engage in such activities.  

Yet, corruption and cronyism were pandemic in this country, he said.

“To me, the signing of such a pledge is merely to tell everyone that the ministers and assistant ministers will not do something illegal. The irony is that, whether they sign or not, under the law, in the first place, they are not supposed to do something illegal.

“In fact, the pertinent question to ask is, whether they will be caught and be prosecuted if they do so,” he said.

Chong quoted former prime minister Abdullah Ahmaed Badawi’s National Integrity Plan (NIP) as a clear example of how such window-dressing stunts meant nothing if there was no true political will to clean up the system and transparency in the system.

 In 2004, Abdullah launched the NIP and even set up the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, he said.  

“Yet, the Corruption Perception Index ranking of Malaysia dropped from 39th position in 2004 to 56th position in 2009 when he retired from the office.  

“Corruption level got worse during this period of times despite his repeated pledges to fight corruption,” he pointed out.

‘Make the system transparent’

Chong believed that the only way to ensure that there would be no corruption and cronyism amongst those holding public offices was to make the system transparent, and for the ministers and assistant ministers, it was to make it compulsory for them to declare their assets to the public.  

“Public pressure and scrutiny is the essential ingredient for integrity in all government systems,” he said.

He asked what the point was for the ministers and assistant ministers to only declare their assets to Adenan when the public was kept in the dark.

After all, Adenan and his ministers were all colleagues from the same organisation, the Barisan Nasional, he added.

“Therefore, Adenan’s move (making his ministers and assistant ministers declare assets to him alone) is seen more as a move to consolidate his position as the chief minister and to keep his ministers in check, rather than a sincere and true effort to clean up the system and to inculcate integrity in his administration.

“It is just a tool of control for the chief minister over his ministers, not a true adherence to the principles of transparency and integrity.

“But if Adenan is true in wanting to clean up the Sarawak state administration and the system, he should make it compulsory for his ministers and assistant ministers (including himself) to make regular declaration of assets to the public, as is done in Penang under Lim Guan Eng since 2011,” Chong said.