The Kuching and Stampin divisions of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) are seeking to limit the Sarawak chief minister's term of office to less than 10 years, among other proposals to back the campaign against corruption.

The current chief minister, Taib Mahmud, has been in power for 25 years since he took over the post in 1981.

In a joint statement, the opposition party also called for a system of open tenders for projects, to ensure transparency and accountability.

"Keadilan Sarawak asserts that corruption is evil. It destroys a democratic system of governance, social values, ethics and integrity. It is a criminal act that will destroy the stability and security of a society," the statement said.

The divisions want the state government to immediately put in place "proper accounting and monitoring systems" for privatisation policies, projects and their implementation, and to abolish the awarding of turnkey projects.

Calling on the government to ratify the provisions of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the PKR divisions repeated their call for legal provisions to compel all federal and state ministers, councillors, senior department officials and directors of public offices and government corporations to declare their personal assets and those of their immediate family members.

"There must be an independent Election Commission to weed out money politics and any form of corrupt practice and to ensure that the electoral process is free, fair and just."

Improve public audit

Steps should be taken to prohibit involvement of senior government officers in business, particularly cabinet members and elected representatives, to curb cronyism and nepotism.

Independence is sought for the Anti-Corruption Agency in that it should only be answerable to the federal and state legislative assemblies.

In this connection, the party said the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 should be amended to better empower the agency to arrest and prosecute offenders.

The government should further improve the public audit and accounting systems and make public the reports to ensure greater transparency and accountability, the divisions added.