Paul Low: New integrity units in government ministries
BY MARTIN CARVALHO AND MICHELLE TAM
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KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has announced a new, independent Chief Integrity Officer (CeIO) plan to report irregularities in ministries directly to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Paul Low, announced the move after speaking at a forum titled “Givers & Takers: The Integrity-Corruption Continuum” organised by PCORE (The Association of Voices of Peace, Conscience and Reason).
The CeIO plan, which was implemented in December last year, started off in the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry, the Youth and Sports Ministry, and the Works Ministry.
“We must have champions to carry out the transformation within a ministry, so we have set up integrity units to be headed by trained Chief Integrity Officer,” said Low at the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, who added that he hopes to implement the integrity units in seven more ministries this year.
Chief Integrity Officers will work with the ministry’s internal auditor.
Though they work in the Ministry, these officers will report directly to Low and MACC, and will not report to the KSU (secretary-general) nor to the minister.
“We need to ensure these people are independent of the ministry’s executive branch,” said Low, who added that the MACC will recruit up to 600 Chief Integrity Officers, both from within and without the ministries.
“In the first meetings with the different ministries, we tried to figure out problem areas and find solutions for it,” said Low.
Kedah will also be the first state to adopt such integrity units to better their administration, in particular local councils which come under the purview of the state government, and not the federal government.
“I’m discussing this with Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, who is very enthusiastic about the move,” Low added.
